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1983 242 Turbo Flatnose "theory"

Southern Cali is a mecca for junked 240s. Last year I stumbled upon a black 242 turbo in San Diego. It had the flat nose front end and the grey flat nose grille. it did not appear to have been converted. It has a sunroof and it was auto. It had the turbo plus system. I took that and the grille as the car was kinda beat. Not bad for $20.
 
Turbo Plus system on the 83 cars? I doubt it.
To the best of my knowledge no 240 Turbo ever got the Turbo + system, even as an accessory. Turbo+ was only listed as an accessory for 700 series cars.
What the Intercooled 240 Turbos (including the 83 flathoods) got was called the "Intercooler Boost System". It was basically an RPM relay, solenoid, a couple relays, and a large amount of wiring that served to raise the boost level from the non-intercooled 6.5psi to the intercooled 10.5? psi at engine speeds above 3750RPM. All the 83 flathoods should have that, but it was a part of the intercooler package, not an extra feature of these cars.
 
neptune said:
Turbo Plus system on the 83 cars? I doubt it.
To the best of my knowledge no 240 Turbo ever got the Turbo + system, even as an accessory. Turbo+ was only listed as an accessory for 700 series cars.
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Different system, same name. The 240 had it, just not the "it" that the 7's had.
 
flathood stuff

I've worked on a few of these 83 flathood cars and the only special parts I've noticed are that the intercooler design fan shroud is different than the later production version and they seem to have a flat flywheel clutch that can hold upto an intercooled cars torque.

I'll check my friends for the stamping on the strut tower. Overall any of the model year 83 2 dr turbos could have been ordered with the Intercooler trim package and sold here. The five hundred were needed for homologation but that doesn't mean US dealers didn't order a lot more than that with the package.

Enjoy the road,
 
dbarton said:
...perhaps the US was the best place to hide them (oops, did I say that?).
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Agreed.
dbarton said:
I believe the reason Volvo chose to put a flat hood on a 1983 US model was that the hood was a specifically homologated part for better aerodynamics and they needed that hood to be on whatever car they chose for the 500 unit run. They could just have easily chosen a Euro version 242T for the 500 units, but I guess we'll never know for sure why they didn't.
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I think you've already provided the answer with the former. A Euro 242 wouldn't have satisfied US lighting reqs right?
So let's speculate and call this "How to dupe the FISA":

- Supply 500 cars to the US with the flat hood and special homologation parts in the trunk as "customer options" (You could, in theory actually fit the parts to some cars).

- Get the inspectors over to pass them.

- Remove any special parts whether actually installed (rare or unlikely) or from the trunk, barring maybe a rear spoiler in one or two instances (favours for dealers to keep them quiet?)

*This last step is important. Volvo has built a reputation as producing SAFE, RELIABLE vehicles. DO NOT send them out customers with unproven performance parts that will seriously compromise these values!

- Seeing as they already have US approved lighting, the cars can now be sent on their way into the biggest Volvo market in the world, to be lost among the thousands of 240s already there (until eagle eyed enthusiasts begin looking for them).

This then, is in keeping with Pat's theory concerning the original 500.

Igor
 
igor said:
Agreed.
So let's speculate and call this "How to dupe the FISA":

- Supply 500 cars to the US with the flat hood and special homologation parts in the trunk as "customer options" (You could, in theory actually fit the parts to some cars).

- Get the inspectors over to pass them.

- Remove any special parts whether actually installed (rare or unlikely) or from the trunk, barring maybe a rear spoiler in one or two instances (favours for dealers to keep them quiet?)
Igor
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If 500 special parts were bought and deposited in the cars, then is it possible to track the original supplies of these special parts? Would Garrett have record of Volvo ordering 500 T04 turbos? What happened to these special parts? It sure would cost a lot to buy them then dump them...
 
opeterson said:
What happened to these special parts? It sure would cost a lot to buy them then dump them...
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Bearing in mind that this is all conjecture, you only need to create the appearance that 500 cars are thus equipped, or are waiting to be. I would be surprised if 500 cars were all rigorously inspected.
 
I don't quite get the point of Volvo wanting to "dupe" anyone.
Group A rules weren't particularly stringent; about all they'd needed to do was produce a bunch of 242's that happened to have a B21 engine, a turbo, and an intercooler. Seems to me they produced a few more than 500 cars that meet that description?
 
I met with two orginal Flahood owners. One told me that she got the Group-A spoiler as a "dealer option" when her husband got the car. It may be that it came with the car, and the dealer decided to make the new buyers "pay extra" for it. By the way she had the spoiler in her grage and since it was collecting dust for many years, she toss it in the trash! Ouch!!! The second owner also a woman, had to order the Flathood from a local dealer. Therefore, it did not have a window sticker. However, she gave me the orginal contract when I bought the car from her.
 
Forg said:
I don't quite get the point of Volvo wanting to "dupe" anyone.
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I don't mean to offend, I was just being facetious. Similar to what has been stated earlier, I'm sure every serious manufacturer has tested the rules in motorsport.
 
o thuis may be a dumb question, but the front end on the red one w/ primer front end what would i need, to give my 245 that look (if i dont sell it first...) i love that 83 look but havent seen enough of them to study up on the required parts,
 
Forg said:
I don't quite get the point of Volvo wanting to "dupe" anyone.
Group A rules weren't particularly stringent; about all they'd needed to do was produce a bunch of 242's that happened to have a B21 engine, a turbo, and an intercooler. Seems to me they produced a few more than 500 cars that meet that description?
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The original homologation (first 5000 242 Turbos) satisfied the rules to enter the car in Grp A with no more than a T3 turbo and 6 port injection, however, they would never win any races with a stock turbo, stock fuel injection and plastic intercooler, capable of perhaps 250 hp if pushed. The race versions were eventually pushing over 350 hp. They would have never had a chance if they didn't find a way to push some real power, hence the evolution car ('83 "flathood").

The original development of the go-fast parts was not necessarily for the European Touring Car series. Volvo teams were doing it long before for the local Swedish racing programs, which apparently allowed the parts without homologation. They had most of the high-performance parts before ever considering ETCC.
Dave B.
 
i don't know if this tidbit is true or not - when i was selling my flatnose a local guy came to look at it. he said that the first of the two pieces of tape on the underside of the hood where put there when the group A parts where put on. and the second when they where removed. he knew alot about 242 turbos, alot more then most. don't know if it is true or not, but it doesn't seem likely.
 
i know its a different kind of racing, but i agree with the 500 car theory, because if you look at MOST racing, from nascar to tha trans am series, but 500 has seemed to be a lucky number, look back to 1964, MOPAR came out with the HEMI, they only released a very small amount of these "Street" hemi's, Ford with its Imfamous "Sohc" motors which were in the falcons and other models in both Nascar and NHRA, Pontiac with its 1969 Trans Am, 1968 with mopar again the Charger 500 (hell its in the name and it wasn't a wing car like the charger daytona's and Plymouth superbirds) Ford with the Boss 429, and Super corbra Jet Mustangs and again with the NHRA and NASCAR usage, the 68 AMX was used in the Trans Am series, again in 1970 with the AAR 'Cuda nd Challenger T/A's... know i know that these are domestic examples, but the history is there... and if there was 5000 cars that were released, i guess we lucked out...Kaz
 
I have read from somewhere (some volvo historic book) that only a lilttle over 5000 factory turbo 200-series cars were ever built, and that should include all the 242, 244 and 245 turbo cars. Europe never got the 242 turbo officially. And the R-sport turbo-kit cars are not included in that number. The R-sport turbo kit was an dealers option. It was a tune-up kit for carburretted cars. I don't know if you guys there in the 'States got those ever.

So therefore 5000 homologiation cars sounds a bit off.

I for the life of me can't find the info on production numbers anywhere now, so i can't say for sure it is so.

So does anyone here know for sure how many factory 200-series turbo cars were made?
 
Great discussion! Although the rarity of this car will always be in question (even in my mind), I am glad I ran across one. I can see that it is nothing more than an intercooled '83 242 with a flatnose and S.O. stamped on the shock tower plate. I consider the mystery surrounding these cars a very small bonus to owning one........for what it's worth.

I wish it was a BOSS 429 Mustang though, we know how many of those were produced.
 
Wagner said:
So does anyone here know for sure how many factory 200-series turbo cars were made?
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Yea, I want to know the answer to this simple question that nobody seemed able to answer too.

Do I think the ETCC racers are the homologated flatnose sold in USA? I say no. Because the flatnose has the old style turn signal (the narrower one) that required the old style fender to fit. The ETCC touring cars had the new turn signals. Would all those race cars had their fenders replaced? Very unlikely, and for what reason? Although the homologated flatnose's nose looks very flat, it's flater than the race car's. In other words, it's using the '79-'80 euro narrow grille, unlike the race car's '81- euro grille. And obviously, if the race cars are made from homologated flatnose the headlamps will need to be changed too. Therefore, I don't think anyone would spend so much time modifying the front end instead of modifying the mechanicals for every single race car.

In other words, the homologated flatnoses are there just to trick the inspectors that they are the racing flatnose, hoping that when they see the real race cars all they would remember is how the nose is flat and nothing else.
 
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