Rear Wheel Drive Newsletter - August 2009
Page 5: Chris Strong 242 Customer Feature

I started to look into what cars might be available to replace it as my daily driver. I had always been intrigued by the 242 body but I had never owned one.  I wanted to find one in good shape that was pretty much untouched and had a working a/c so I wouldn't be stinky when I got to work everyday. Along came a tbricker (pbryantr) that offered up his 1981 Volvo 242DL which sported the original B21MPG with Chrysler ignition and M46 gearbox, both with about 300k miles on it. As I had hoped, the car was pretty much stock, with the exception of having IPD 25/23 bars, Bilstein HD's on all four corners and rolling on a set of Falken Azenis wrapped around gunmetal Virgos.  When we met up for the test drive, my first impression of it was very good and I knew right away that I was going to buy it. During the test drive which included about a 1 mile trek on the highway and back, I was 'subtly' encouraged to kick the rear out when we made a turnaround on the service road. From that point....I was sold!  I made the purchase without my usual bickering over a dollar here and a dollar there.  I paid his asking price without a second thought.

After starting to drive my 60 mile round trip to work everyday, I was falling pretty fast for this car which is affectionately known as Ingeborg.  While Inge was not the fastest car on the road, she made up for by being frisky and nimble in the turns making it an absolute joy to drive.  Although having to answer the very common question, "Why a Volvo?", I was convinced that I had something very special here.  But soon, my plans for keeping it stock began to change.  I was attending local meets and realizing that I could make this car into whatever I wanted it to be, just by spending a few bucks with IPD, in the local junkyard or at either of two Volvo specialty shops in the area.  It wasn't long before I decided I had to lose the 4x4 look, so I took a set of 245 springs and brought out the cutting wheel.  After a couple of trials on the front, I got the stance I was looking for and while I was at it, I swapped out the rear 23mm bar for a 25mm unit, since bigger is always better, right?  This made the curves on the Farm to Market road outside of town the testbed for the capabilities of the car.  Each time stepping up the speed a bit more to see just what it could do....and it always did....and very well.

Along came a lead on a flathood and a matching grille so I could get the front end sorted.  But I can't put an orange hood on a white car....  It was time to pay a visit to a friend's shop to see how much he would charge to shoot the hood for me to match the car.  After looking the car over and finding that there was very little rust and very little bodywork to accomplish, he quoted me an outstanding price to repaint the entire car.  I quickly decided that I would leave it with him so he could get started on it.  Everything came off for a clean start and when I got it back, I started the reassembly.  New corner lenses, skinny bumpers, turbo trim, etc...  I got some new tires since the Falkens were getting tired and painted the Virgos dark bronze.  She came together pretty well, and I still have not had to do anything to the driveline.  I did mod the exhaust however...  At one point running dual outlets, which rattled, then cutting off the duals and dumping two turndowns out of a Flowmaster right to the ground under the backseat.  Even on a short trip, the resonance (or the fumes) would numb my brain and I decided to mount the muffler under the bumper.  While this looked and sounded good, it seemed to put people in danger while following me as it would sound like gunfire when I held it in gear and decelerated.  People were literally witnessed ducking for cover when I did that.  I finally settled on a Turbo muffler which has been the best yet.

You may notice that it does, in fact, have a trailer hitch on it.  I have a small utility trailer that I pull with this car that has carried everything from building materials, complete engines and engine hoist and even a king size mattress set.  (That one got the most looks).  But when not pulling the trailer, the car has seen an autocross event as well as made charity laps around Texas Motor Speedway.  It is truly a universal tool of a car and just keeps on going!

While in the UK last year, I recruited the help of yet another tbricker.  Chesh ran me around the countryside so I could hunt for the centercaps that am currently using.  Fortunately, as soon as we pulled into the breakers lot, I saw them on a 245.  Perfect.  All I needed then was to have my front number plate made while I was there, so we ran over to Ant Graphics and I borrowed his moose artwork for my custom plate.

Yes, Texas requires a front plate on your vehicle.

No, so far, I have not gotten a ticket for it.

Yes, I did just knock on some wood.

A few months later, I parted out an 84 242T that had black interior and power accessories.  Naturally, I began swapping over the original blue  for the new/er black interior.  Black carpet and panels were all good from the parts car, but the seats left much to be desired.  I used some front charcoal cloth seats from an 86+ and modded them to tilt forward with the use of 242 hinges.  Luckily, I found a perfect matching backseat about a week later.

Being a Volvo owner, you probably know that you or your friends constantly have a supply of "extra" parts lying around.  In my case, I had a flawless pre-81 dash that was given to me that I decided must go in the car.  So, over the Christmas holidays, the swap began.  Initially, the dash swap went well, but subtle differences in the wiring harnesses prevented me from doing a plug-and-play on the instruments.  I decided to abandon the pre-81 Volvo cluster and build my own with aftermarket gauges.  Although the result is very pleasing, I do not look forward to doing it ever again.  Now that I was happy with my new power accessories and newish black interior, the headliner looked out of place in it's dirty off whitish vinyl.  To complete the interior, I applied some jet black ultrasuede material to the headliner board.  A few black bits from the turbo car finished it off nicely.

My latest acquisition is a set of 16x7.5"  ARE wheels in sunset gold (aka honey-mustard).  New BFG's with 215's up front and 225's out back filled up the wells.  So much in fact that some mild trimming had to be done on the rear wheel arches.  This wheel/tire combo really brought the appearance of the car into another dimension for me.  After rebuilding the front end and having the alignment adjusted, it feels very solid and goes in a perfect straight line at whatever speed you want to "test" it.  For additional exterior styling, I decided to try out the el cheapo ebay lip spoiler and I think it was just enough to finish the rear end properly.

I still have many big plans for this car.  I intend on replacing the seats with a more modern pair with better bolstering, new carpet, custom door panels and sound system.  I will also be replacing the driveline soon.  This is where I start losing fans...  There are five vehicles on my property right now and they are all Volvos.  I just picked up a '95 960 over the weekend to part out so I can do a B6304 swap into the 242 .  I am doing a bit more research before I jump into it, but I am very excited about the possible result.  For now, I intend to keep it stock, with the exception of air intake and exhaust.  This motor was rated at 204hp and has an auto behind it, which I intend to use until I figure out a way to get an M90 in my hands.  Also the parts car is a wagon, so it has a live rear axle that I hope to steal parts out of to transplant into the 240 as well.

Getting this car to where it is now has been a blast.  I look forward to many more years of tinkering, polishing and hopefully the addition of forced induction to the V8 later down the road.  I appreciate all of the kind words I have received regarding my car as well as the camaraderie I have experienced while putting this car together and going to meets and cruises.  The Volvo community is by far the most diverse and eclectic group of folks I think anyone could ever gather together, but they are the most supportive, helpful and downright entertaining group.....

.....In the world..... 

Volvo. for life