MoCounselor
New member
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2015
- Location
- Midwest, USA
Okay folks, I've decided to start a new build/project thread for my 242 as opposed to endlessly tacking it on to the 142/Project Viking Resurrection thread.
Here's the background for those of you who didn't follow that one:
I purchased a '71 142e back in February with plans to do a resto mod on it. As I dug further and further into it, more and more rust was found to the point that I finally decided to cut my losses, part it out, and find a new base. (Need 142 parts? go here: http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=320849)
I ended up picking up this 242 to replace it, which, if I'm honest, is what I wanted to start with and what drew me to the idea of a 2-door Volvo project in the first place.
Here are the specs on the car:
1983 242 dl
274k
originally a california car, and lived there up until at least 2003 (known by the title I got with the car, which is a Cali title issued in 2003)
White on tan
no sunroof, no power windows/locks, basically a stripper/base model car
m46
As little rust as possible for a 33 y/o Volvo that didn't live in the desert. (Literally, surface rust on the butt cheeks, 1 spot of surface under the passenger rear quarter window, and 1 spot of surface on the inner part of the driver's rear wheelwell)
The interior is/was a horribly sun-dried, faded tan. Dash had multiple cracks, door panels were really sad, arm rests looked like they were molting, etc, etc. But, it was complete.
The car had been sitting at my local indie Volvo mechanic's shop under his car port/on a concrete pad for the past 1.5-2 years. He took it in on a trade with a boat-load of spare parts for various 2-series cars in exchange for a non-running pv544 with rust.
Picked up the car for $600. Another $270 netted me a clean late-model black dash, quite a few various black interior parts, a pair of '75 chrome mirrors, and a set of Regil wheels from a 740glt with decent tread Michelin's.
After spending a bit of time working on the car I got it up and running. I'm still tracking down a vacuum issue, as the pedal is soft even after bleeding the brakes and installing new pads. It also idles really wonky if the iacv is hooked up, and it's running super-rich. Good news though: running a compression test with the motor fully warmed up netted 180 across the board. Not bad for 274k!
Immediate Plans:
-convert the car over to black interior
-clean the heck out of it, including bringing the paint back to life
-install the seats I picked up out of a 2003 Mercedes CLK with custom controls for the seats
-full stage zero
-get the vacuum issue sorted out, and get it on the road.
-Put a decent, usable stereo in it (my background is car audio, so I want something that sounds clean, can get loud enough to cruise on the highway with the windows down, etc)
Long term plans:
-throwing Ben's full catalog of suspension parts on it
-some sort of 17" wheels with sticky tires
-Edison's brake kit (most likely, although the Cayenne kit is VERY interesting too)
Even longer-term plans:
-something to make more power. (This is a wild-card for me right now. It could end up as a 5 cylinder swap, a ls swap, converting the b23 to dual weber sidedrafts, or even something really left-field like a flat-six swap. Only time will tell...)
Pics coming in the next few posts.
Here's the background for those of you who didn't follow that one:
I purchased a '71 142e back in February with plans to do a resto mod on it. As I dug further and further into it, more and more rust was found to the point that I finally decided to cut my losses, part it out, and find a new base. (Need 142 parts? go here: http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=320849)
I ended up picking up this 242 to replace it, which, if I'm honest, is what I wanted to start with and what drew me to the idea of a 2-door Volvo project in the first place.
Here are the specs on the car:
1983 242 dl
274k
originally a california car, and lived there up until at least 2003 (known by the title I got with the car, which is a Cali title issued in 2003)
White on tan
no sunroof, no power windows/locks, basically a stripper/base model car
m46
As little rust as possible for a 33 y/o Volvo that didn't live in the desert. (Literally, surface rust on the butt cheeks, 1 spot of surface under the passenger rear quarter window, and 1 spot of surface on the inner part of the driver's rear wheelwell)
The interior is/was a horribly sun-dried, faded tan. Dash had multiple cracks, door panels were really sad, arm rests looked like they were molting, etc, etc. But, it was complete.
The car had been sitting at my local indie Volvo mechanic's shop under his car port/on a concrete pad for the past 1.5-2 years. He took it in on a trade with a boat-load of spare parts for various 2-series cars in exchange for a non-running pv544 with rust.
Picked up the car for $600. Another $270 netted me a clean late-model black dash, quite a few various black interior parts, a pair of '75 chrome mirrors, and a set of Regil wheels from a 740glt with decent tread Michelin's.
After spending a bit of time working on the car I got it up and running. I'm still tracking down a vacuum issue, as the pedal is soft even after bleeding the brakes and installing new pads. It also idles really wonky if the iacv is hooked up, and it's running super-rich. Good news though: running a compression test with the motor fully warmed up netted 180 across the board. Not bad for 274k!
Immediate Plans:
-convert the car over to black interior
-clean the heck out of it, including bringing the paint back to life
-install the seats I picked up out of a 2003 Mercedes CLK with custom controls for the seats
-full stage zero
-get the vacuum issue sorted out, and get it on the road.
-Put a decent, usable stereo in it (my background is car audio, so I want something that sounds clean, can get loud enough to cruise on the highway with the windows down, etc)
Long term plans:
-throwing Ben's full catalog of suspension parts on it
-some sort of 17" wheels with sticky tires
-Edison's brake kit (most likely, although the Cayenne kit is VERY interesting too)
Even longer-term plans:
-something to make more power. (This is a wild-card for me right now. It could end up as a 5 cylinder swap, a ls swap, converting the b23 to dual weber sidedrafts, or even something really left-field like a flat-six swap. Only time will tell...)
Pics coming in the next few posts.
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