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242GT 1979 Group C Race Car

I never knew about Group-C, and Volvo's presence in it, until your build thread & back story.

As a fellow owner of a 1979 242, your build is one of my greatest inspirations!

Cheers,

Myles
 
End of year update. Sorry no pictures at present. Like I said they always take longer than first thought. My partner in crime in the car spoke to our mechanic today and significant progress has been made in the last couple of weeks. We are now targeting Mid February for a shake down for the car although it is unlikely to be all stickered up. This will be the first of a number of shakedowns planned and our first race meet should be July 2014.

Work sorted in past week

1. Fuel system all sorted.
2. Dry Break fuel filler fitted along with flap in boot to match original race spec.
3. Race seat and harness all fitted.
4. Roll cage modifications complete including side intrusion protection and other changes.
5. Inlays fitted between boot and rear seat and on rear parcel deck.
6. Fitted new injectors and seals

Jobs in the next couple of weeks.
1. Fit new clutch and pressure plate and change gearbox oil.
2. Fit new bushing to shifter along with new knob and overdrive switch.
3. Fit new brake pads all round.
4. Modify exhaust and fit new side pipe. He is not happy with the current factory replacement exhaust to first join. It is hanging down a little low so he is going to cut some off it to get it as close to floor as possible before fitting the side pipe. Don't want to rip it off should we ever venture over any major ripple strips which is always possible.
5. Fire the car up and tune.

Planning to get car back to us by second week of January and mechanically it will be track ready.

In the past week we have sorted out our supply and fit for the race stickers so that is all ready to go once we give him the go ahead.

We are starting to get very excited and hanging to get it back into our own garage to get the paint sorted and the interior in from the donor car.

The next update in the new year should have some photos

Have a merry Christmas and a safe 2014 one and all.
 
Happy to report that Substantial progress has been made. We are presently on target to have a mechanical shakedown on the track mid February. It will be without grill and interior after which we will return car home and perform paint, transfer mint interior and sticker work. It will then be returned to make up dummy drop tank to match race day and have final inspection and photos before sending off final paperwork for historic logbook and Historic certificate of Description. At present we have reinstated the dry break fittings but do not intend to hook up to tank. Photos not best quality but give an idea of progress. The Dry break fitting into boot and flap is pretty crude but we have tried to recreate the original as much as possible. We picked up some brand new Kumho Slicks 200/580/15 and these have been mounted on the Bathurst Globe rims but we will shake down the car using the semi slicks.

Here are the progress pictures

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Nicely done. Even in this relatively tame incarnation I always like seeing proper race cars come together.

I'd be interested to hear more detail on how you've sealed the bulkhead against fuel, specifically the C pillar.

And have you braced the front lower control arms?
 
Awesome.
Although roll cage design back in the '70s and '80s was frighteningly basic. It's a surprise more drivers weren't killed!

This car is features in a few photos in the '79 edition (cant remember what number in the series that is) of The Great Race books. (published by Chevron Publishing).
if you don't have them, my Dad has the full set, up until the end of publishing at #31, so I can dig through them and scan relevant pages.
 
Thanks for comments and will give more details once finished and Ash we do have the magazines from 1979 so all good. Thanks for your offer though

Peter
 
Awesome story and so glad you are resurrecting this great piece of Volvo race history!

That roll cage scares me though. The front down bars should not be bent like that. Those will easily collapse in a big roll over. Also the rear down bars to the fender wells do almost no good. They should be tied into a suspension point or at least a structural frame rail area. If your rules allow you to pass through the rear firewall, attack them to the frame rail at the rear shock point.
 
Yes thanks to Alan Moffat for that description. Must check the race records to see where he finished that day (no Disrespect to AM and his achievements).
 
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Update

How time flys. Car now runs for the first time in a very long time and sounds sweet at high revs all be it very rich at present. A little work still to be done changing out for a working WUR and adjustment to timing and fitment of a permanent exhaust. Car will be getting picked up within 2 weeks for return back to us for paint and stickers but mechanically it will be track ready apart from a final spanner check. Things are finally starting to move again.

Peter
 
Good news today. Car mechanicals now complete and track ready with exhaust due to be fitted next Tuesday and she is ready to pick up and bring home for paint. We ended up fitting a NOS fuel distributor which we lucked upon, Reco WUR, New injectors, new fuel lines, Reco air idle and she now runs like a dream apparently and should remain trouble free for a long time. The fuel system apart from some original fuel line is brand new front to back. We intend to run leaded Avgas both for bang as well as fact it does not go off in between meets like the new fuels. We now know that fuel cleanliness is critical for trouble free Kjet motoring.

Will take some update photos as we progress paint.

Peter
 
Not many visible changes but some journey pics of car on way home and back in its cave. As I said car is now track ready mechanically and we have to take it for a number of quotes for paint and panel then strip down trim and windows etc for a tidy up. We have not washed the car and don't intend to until paint sorted so photos are as returned from its 18 month sabbatical at the mechanics

Back on trailer for late night haul home

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Here it is next day with a bit of daylight before unloading. The peeled paint on door is due to old sticker removal and there is a slight crease above rear wheel arch from previous motorsport endeavours. Passenger side has the correct 1979 mirror and drivers side 1980. This will be corrected to 2 1979 mirrors on final assembly

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Shot of new exhaust. Extremely happy as it sounds sweet. We are running it and intend to run it on leaded AVGAS. Can also see some of the pre existing bodywork damage around top of rear wheel arch that needs attention before painting

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Another showing side as well as exhaust

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A shot of our newly reconditioned WUR - rest of fuel system renewed as well. Can see new fuel lines too

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Some front on and side on in its special place. The stuff on the bonnet is just dust.

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As I said will collect some more shots during next panel and paint stage as well as final assembly with interior back in place etc etc

We bought some reco 1979 mirrors from a fellow member this week so they will be making their way onto the car and the rougher ones we have at present will make their way to the spares cupboard. We also picked up a spare Mint grill and original spotlights and brackets of Ebay and they too have gone to the spares cupboard

Here is a shot of spare Grill

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And finally here is another picture of the car back on 28/10/1979 at the Rose City 10,000 Winton Raceway we have found and this is what the final product should be returned to with some minor tweaks

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It's beautiful! She is really coming together nicely, surely it wont be long before its out on the track screaming in anger. Oh and you need to give us a video clip to hear it running with that exhaust.

Also give me your insane shed :-P
 
Big day today

Here she is getting closer to paint. First job of the day was to shout it a wash. First wash in over 5 plus years. Then took it for a drive down a long driveway and managed to pull second gear before testing the brakes. It was that much fun I had to do it 4 times. Very impressed with the way it pulls. After the fun the work started and we stripped out all glass, lights, locks and door handles, bumpers, trim, hoodlining, Race seat and harness and put an old original seat in just for something to sit on, Finally we put some old wheels just in case painter gets a little wayward.

Before heading off to painter we need to fix a couple of minor rust spots, roll 3 guards and fix a number of small dents.

Work well progressed

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Here she is after the days efforts

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We are hoping to get it to a track by the end of the year. This will be for some testing and shakedowns. Expect first race meet to be in 2015
 
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K had a busy weekend. We wanted to tidy up underneath before she goes off to paint next Saturday. So with some old fashioned hard work and simple tools and a good days work here are the results. Photos don't really do finished product justice. We are not going for a show car look and may just tidy up a little after painting the car but the main thing is seeing everything clearly for condition monitoring and ease of working on vehicle.

During

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The best example in the photos I think is

Before

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And After

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As an aside here is the new race seat and wheel (Not) . The cage is now going to be painted body colour so the old milk crate enables us to still drive it as needed. K also fitted up all the brackets to the cage for the window net so as not to wreck a newly painted cage after paint.

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Getting very exciting now as next shots should be during and after paint
 
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