245DL gone Turbo!

Volvomaniac medical reports from Finland!
Part 1: my 245DL from 1977
All the pictures can be seen on my website: http://www.volvere.fi/245DL.htm

I bought this car for the first time in 2009 ( Yes, I have purchased it twice now!). The car was all original DL with B21A and M45. Nothing fancy just a common work horse. Looked like this at the time:







I had a B23E and M46 and some good chassis parts already in my garage so I started a little project which almost immediately got out of my hands (as usually)?
So, I managed to buy a whole B21ET K-Jet system and original IC and completed it with a Mitsu 16T turbo.







My friend promised to help me with the engine swap so we started to take apart the car. The engine room got some new paint before the new parts.





The B23E was a 1983 which had a 398 head and a K cam so we only had to get a lower compression rate for the turbo. We made new pipes and hoses for the IC and of course lots of maintenance parts were needed. Some parts got a shiny "black chrome" painting.







The "Phase I" setup was like this:
- B23E engine converted to "B23ET" with K-jet
- Mitsu 16T turbo and original intercooler
- higher fuel pressure and boost up to 0,6 bar
- M46 gearbox and 3,54 ratio rear axle
- Lesj?fors front springs and shortened 245 progressive rear springs
- Yellow Koni sport shocks
- Superflex bushes and new joints all the way
- IPD 25/22mm anti-sway bars and adjustable panhard
- 3" exhaust all the way with Simons mufflers





Then the rest of the car needed some update too:
- original front spoiler and the roof spoiler
- U.S clear blinkers
- 14" GT wheels for the winter tyres
- I also fitted the GTX quad headlights and grille







The interior was updated with leather seats from 244, Volvo shifter boot leather cover, original shelf to the middle console and R-Sport steering wheel.



After that the car served me very well as a daily driver during the winter 2009-2010. In the spring I decided to sell it because it was quite rusty and I had some other projects waiting.
I thought this was the end of the story but little did I know?!

So this is just the end of the part 1, I'll be back with the sequel a little bit later...

What wheels are those (not the steelies, the second set with snow tires on them)? I like it a lot, looking forward to the second part. We've got matching 245s.

doperide07 said:

What wheels are those (not the steelies, the second set with snow tires on them)? I like it a lot, looking forward to the second part. We've got matching 245s.

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Thanks!

The wheels are Volvo 240 14" GT accessory wheels made by ATS. These were sold in late 70's and early 80's. I got them blasted and painted for the winter.



In that picture you can also see the rust quite well.

I love it! This car was inspirational for me when I built my own early 245 with a Turbo. Unfortunatly mine is quite rusty as well...

Part 2: The flathood strikes back!

I sold the car to a local car mechanic who started the rust job. He did quite a big job and never drove the car more than about 2000km. He swapped the windshield, front fenders, rear wheel arches and welded several parts of the car. He also swapped the shaved rear hatch which I sold to him with the car. Then he painted the whole car in the original color. Paint job was just a garage paint, not so fine but at least the car is now painted only in one shade of "middle blue"

And about two months ago, September 2011, I purchased the 245 back home. I already had the 15" Volvo 140 steel wheels which I wanted to get widened. But the wheels never got ready before the car was sold. So I needed a suitable car for the wheels.
I also had the early 264 quad round headlights and I really wanted to try them on the car.











I had earlier purchased some other original Volvo parts and now I got the right car for them. The GT gauge cluster was just fully restorated and the 4 spoke R-Sport steering wheel was waiting also (I still have the 3 spoke as well). And I had the very rare 140 series accessory "Cockpit" gauges for ampers and oil temp, they look very similar to GT gauges. I ordered a custom gauge face for the original boost gauge from Dave Barton and those extra gauges are now fitted to the radio hole.









Now the car is waiting for the another winter to come. I have just swapped the original headlights and the snow tires for the cold Finnish winter.

I still have some nice original Volvo 240 accessories for the car so we'll see what will happen next to the car? If I don't manage to sell it again before that??



All the pictures can be seen on my website: http://www.volvere.fi/245DL.htm
(with the finnish subtitles )

Well this car is very nice, like all of your cars

This guy is one of the best people from Finland. I've done quite a bit of cluster work for him. Awesome thread.

the car looks awesome. I need to save up some money and get my hands on a 240 wagon.

Car looks great now, def like the dual rounds best! The Steel wheels look awesome too, how wide are they now!?

volvere said:

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I love this picture, never seen those wheels look that good. Sweet car.

love the wheels!

RP80242GT+T said:

This guy is one of the best people from Finland. I've done quite a bit of cluster work for him. Awesome thread.

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Thanks Roger, I really appreciate that!

But I really would like to here that sentence from my wife? She might instead think that I am more likely one of the best people at spending money on old Volvo wrecks!

Thank you guys!

Those steel wheels are made from the 140 series wheels. I wanted the possibility to use older style big hubcaps. I have one set of Volvo hubcaps too, but those cheap chromed Baby moons sit very nicely.

The outer rim halfs are from some newer FWD Volvo, now the setup is 15" x 8"
Tires are Toyo T1R Proxes, 195/55-15 front and 205/50-15 rear.

you make me want to get a pre '80 wagon... I bought a yellow '77 that I never went and picked up, then sold it. I'm just so torn between keeping the 242, or going to a wagon... can't really do both right now.

volvoracer82 said:

you make me want to get a pre '80 wagon... I bought a yellow '77 that I never went and picked up, then sold it. I'm just so torn between keeping the 242, or going to a wagon... can't really do both right now.

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Wagons make much better DD without sacrificing much performance. Dooo ett

My 1977 242 GL restoration in Canada with the same rims, the five spoke type.
These rims are very rare in Canada, took me a couple of years to round up 4 of them, and then when I got the rims, the center caps were very difficult to find also

I just installed the original accessory GT leather steering wheel from the 70's!



Seems to be quite a precious steering wheel? Here's a one for sale right now in Sweden:
http://www.tradera.com/volvo-240-nos-tillbehors-ratt-gt-skinnratt-i-kartong-auktion_302204_152287992

Highest bid is now 4500 Swedish crowns = $668 !!
Yes, it is NOS, but still...

Not quite as fancy or costly, but took me quite a while to find a NOS GL horn pad and steering wheel for my 1977 242 GL restoration, but I finally got one from France, although the shipping was not all that cheap!

Your car looks freaking awesome. Do you have european lamps in the quad round headlights, If so do you know from witch car they came from?

On my 242 GL restoration I planned on putting the 7" round Bosch headlights with Volvo written in the glass. I bought a set from the Swedish eBay Tradera. But when I got he lights I was surprised to find out they would not fit my headlight buckets.
Turns out the early 240 headlights in Sweden were a larger size, they called them 180 mm, and the ones over here by their standards are 165 mm. I have been trying to pick up the larger buckets, and have partially succeeded, by getting the metal front part round bucket inserts, but still need the flat part on the rear of the bucket that mounts to the car.
Numbers for the lights, 180 mm Bosch number 0 301 813 101, Volvo number 1215281.
165 mm Bosch number 0 301 600 108, Volvo number 1212963.
Photo of the lights comparing one to the other shows how much deeper the 180 mm light is, I would guess at least 40% more reflective surface and probably a much better light, esp. with 80/100 watt bulbs which I plan to put on my restoration.