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Mike K's '79 242 Barn Car Revival

Working on my polishing technique. I took the test lip down to 100 grit with a foam block and got through most of what I wanted to. I think they'll come out nice. This is 100, 150 and 220. Only 7 more grits and three steps of buffing to go! Then all over again 3 more times... oy. Wouldn't be so bad but I'm sanding through my fingertips faster than aluminum!

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The Cometic gasket arrive quickly, but man they are not cheap. Head can go on for good tomorrow. Spent today installing freeze plugs retainers. Bit of a pain, just slow and tedious. That and I was pretty concerned about breaking a tap off. Managed to get through all 16 unscathed. Here's hoping for no leaks.

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As I recall two generations told me I should have built a v8 :lol:

put the studs in and plopped the head on, hopefully it doesn't have to come back off for a while. Would have torqued it down but need to go get a 12-point socket, whoops.

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gashog said:
...all in the wrist, young grasshopper! :nod:
Where did your Dad get his automotive worldliness?
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Hi Mike thanks for asking.
I'll provide some of the detail because this is a family site in a lot of ways, and for the fathers and sons that read this, maybe it will be interesting or they will have their own parallels.

My dad, Mike #1, was swapping engines, frenching headlights and tunneling antennas, doing all that stuff when body work was with lead, bee's wax and a paddle in the '50s. He then moved in to the supercharged Studebakers, which were followed by a string corvettes, the most interesting being a 64 fuelie roadster with side pipes, though big block C3s followed. He's an engineer, a real car and aircraft enthusiast who made his side money buying and selling repos from GMAC, eventually partnered in a body shop and at 85 still loves everything automotive, (will still light the tires up on his Lexus SC400) which brings the story to me, Mike #2.

I was always in the garage with him handing him tools, and when cars started going thru garage almost weekly, I became the "company" mechanic when I was about 16, circa 1972. When I got my license, my dad's DD was a 69 pace car Camaro with a 396 and 4 spd, and my mom drove a blue and white stripe W30 442 - I melted a lot of tires! While my friends were pressing shirts for 19 cents each, or working minimum wage for $1.90 an hour, I was making $10/hr for mechanical work (brakes, suspension, exhaust and stuff), $100 for an engine swap, and $25 to shape a car (now called detailing). Of course I had one of the nicest cars when I was in HS, with a motor and tranny built by my dad and I, with the body work and paint done by me (not handed to me by rich parents). 20 years later as my son, Mike #3, was growing up, I was flipping Saabs, and he spent plenty of time handing me wrenches.

Mike #3 really teethed on his dirt bikes, which he eventually ended up racing. We spent countless hours either riding, fixing, or traveling to races. I credit that time for the bond that we have. He had a clone 900 SPG, 9000 Aero and the like, but it was really this Volvo that has brought him to a very accomplished level. As you might read into this, my dad and are both happy and proud to see what he is doing now.

Enough about the family, back to his 242!
 
mikezohsix said:
Hi Mike thanks for asking.
I'll provide some of the detail because this is a family site in a lot of ways, and for the fathers and sons that read this, maybe it will be interesting or they will have their own parallels.

My dad, Mike #1, was swapping engines, frenching headlights and tunneling antennas, doing all that stuff when body work was with lead, bee's wax and a paddle in the '50s. He then moved in to the supercharged Studebakers, which were followed by a string corvettes, the most interesting being a 64 fuelie roadster with side pipes, though big block C3s followed. He's an engineer, a real car and aircraft enthusiast who made his side money buying and selling repos from GMAC, eventually partnered in a body shop and at 85 still loves everything automotive, (will still light the tires up on his Lexus SC400) which brings the story to me, Mike #2.

I was always in the garage with him handing him tools, and when cars started going thru garage almost weekly, I became the "company" mechanic when I was about 16, circa 1972. When I got my license, my dad's DD was a 69 pace car Camaro with a 396 and 4 spd, and my mom drove a blue and white stripe W30 442 - I melted a lot of tires! While my friends were pressing shirts for 19 cents each, or working minimum wage for $1.90 an hour, I was making $10/hr for mechanical work (brakes, suspension, exhaust and stuff), $100 for an engine swap, and $25 to shape a car (now called detailing). Of course I had one of the nicest cars when I was in HS, with a motor and tranny built by my dad and I, with the body work and paint done by me (not handed to me by rich parents). 20 years later as my son, Mike #3, was growing up, I was flipping Saabs, and he spent plenty of time handing me wrenches.

Mike #3 really teethed on his dirt bikes, which he eventually ended up racing. We spent countless hours either riding, fixing, or traveling to races. I credit that time for the bond that we have. He had a clone 900 SPG, 9000 Aero and the like, but it was really this Volvo that has brought him to a very accomplished level. As you might read into this, my dad and are both happy and proud to see what he is doing now.

Enough about the family, back to his 242!
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This is really neat.
 
Volvos save lives and bring families together! Yep there's a lot of history, experience and skill in the chain - easy to feel like I'm way behind in that company. I was all bikes until I cared about driving my girlfriends around town, then took a pretty long break from caring about cars until my mid-20's. The foundation was there but this car has been all about learning. I did learn about tapping holes when I got my first KTM though! First bike I had with delicate, light weight 8mm head hardware and boy did I strip everything I touched for a while :lol:

Meanwhile, back at the ranch:

I had the RSI flywheel surfaced and it came back perfect. Glad it's not an expensive piece on the scrap pile. I am going to jump in on the YoshiFab group buy for the steel wheel/Clutch Master stuff, but with that being open ended I am anticipating reassembling the car with this wheel and my clutch net stuff. At the least it will get me going so I can get it fired up and put some break-in miles on. Maybe by the time the new setup is in hand I'll be ready to do the hydraulic clutch conversion.

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Already March tomorrow? I better buy some tires.
 
mikezohsix said:
Hi Mike thanks for asking.
I'll provide some of the detail because this is a family site in a lot of ways, and for the fathers and sons that read this, maybe it will be interesting or they will have their own parallels.

My dad, Mike #1, was swapping engines, frenching headlights and tunneling antennas, doing all that stuff when body work was with lead, bee's wax and a paddle in the '50s. He then moved in to the supercharged Studebakers, which were followed by a string corvettes, the most interesting being a 64 fuelie roadster with side pipes, though big block C3s followed. He's an engineer, a real car and aircraft enthusiast who made his side money buying and selling repos from GMAC, eventually partnered in a body shop and at 85 still loves everything automotive, (will still light the tires up on his Lexus SC400) which brings the story to me, Mike #2.

I was always in the garage with him handing him tools, and when cars started going thru garage almost weekly, I became the "company" mechanic when I was about 16, circa 1972. When I got my license, my dad's DD was a 69 pace car Camaro with a 396 and 4 spd, and my mom drove a blue and white stripe W30 442 - I melted a lot of tires! While my friends were pressing shirts for 19 cents each, or working minimum wage for $1.90 an hour, I was making $10/hr for mechanical work (brakes, suspension, exhaust and stuff), $100 for an engine swap, and $25 to shape a car (now called detailing). Of course I had one of the nicest cars when I was in HS, with a motor and tranny built by my dad and I, with the body work and paint done by me (not handed to me by rich parents). 20 years later as my son, Mike #3, was growing up, I was flipping Saabs, and he spent plenty of time handing me wrenches.

Mike #3 really teethed on his dirt bikes, which he eventually ended up racing. We spent countless hours either riding, fixing, or traveling to races. I credit that time for the bond that we have. He had a clone 900 SPG, 9000 Aero and the like, but it was really this Volvo that has brought him to a very accomplished level. As you might read into this, my dad and are both happy and proud to see what he is doing now.

Enough about the family, back to his 242!
Click to expand...

Awesome family history - thanks for sharing! Reminds me a bit of my dad and grandfather. Both named Earl, both heavily into aircraft & cars, both taught me self-reliance and the right mindset for working on my own projects. My gramps owned an airfield, flew Stearman biplanes, trained pilots for WW2, and later became a gunsmith and designed a few aircraft himself. My dad designed and built his own single-rotor Wankel engine in 1959 when he was 14 years old, and for almost 50 years he has designed and developed experimental optics and systems for submarines with the Navy. I am not Earl #3 in name, but hopefully in spirit!
 
Jordan said:
Glad you put those parts to good use! Looks great.
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Hey, thanks! I cleaned out Paul's garage pretty well. Still have your radiator and e-fan set up to go in as well.

edit: I'm glad I got a good deal on the plating work because I'm going to spend a lot more on blasting and powder coating than I was anticipating... sheesh. Building the car was pretty reasonable, FINISHING the car is proving to be quite expensive.
 
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Stiggy Pop said:
Hey, thanks! I cleaned out Paul's garage pretty well. Still have your radiator and e-fan set up to go in as well.

edit: I'm glad I got a good deal on the plating work because I'm going to spend a lot more on blasting and powder coating than I was anticipating... sheesh. Building the car was pretty reasonable, FINISHING the car is proving to be quite expensive.
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Thats exactly where I flopped. Getting all that stuff ceramic coated was about $1000 if I remember right
 
Jordan said:
Thats exactly where I flopped. Getting all that stuff ceramic coated was about $1000 if I remember right
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Ouch, yeah I can definitely see how it would add up like that. Well think of it this way: I spared you the pain of watching it turn brown and flake in a few spots :lol: Most of it held up well though, the turbo still looks really good. The powder guy actually talked me out of doing ceramic on the intake manifold and doing regular PC instead... said it would hold up better over time.
 
I put a few coats of etch primer on the barrels of the wheels, will get finished in silver.

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I finally managed to finish the first lip, I think I have between 15-20 hours into this. The next ones will go a bit quicker since I know to go straight to 100 grit, but it is definitely a time consuming process. Satisfying though!

Once I got up to 800 I could start seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

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Last sanding step was 2000, at which point you're starting to put a polish into it.

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Finally time to fire up the polisher. This is brown tripoli compound on a stitched cotton wheel, run in a 'cut' motion: move part against the rotation of the wheel with medium pressure.

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pretty pleased with this.

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Next I used a white diamond compound on a loose leaf cotton wheel, in a 'color' motion: move the part with the direction of the wheel with light pressure. This really puts the deeper shine into it. It was a little tricky to keep the wheel from building up compound and leaving black deposits on the part but I got the hang of it. Last and final step was a nice firm rubdown with Mother's aluminum polish and a hand buff.

Yes! This is what I wanted.

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Here is the finished lip next to an unfinished one for comparison. Not bad for a 31 year old wheel.

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One down, three to go. Can't wait to assemble a wheel once the centers are back from coating.
 
Mesoam said:
Get some Zoops on those to keep the polish nice
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Thanks for the tip, I'll do some research on it. Otherwise I'll be doing a whole lot of touch up polishing with the Mother's. Not totally unreasonable since it's a limited-use car but it'd be nice to maintain this finish. I had thought about clear powder or anodize but I feel like any clear coat is just going to yellow and haze over time? It'd also be a shame to do all the work and lose some of the 'wow' shine to the top coat.
 
Stiggy Pop said:
Thanks for the tip, I'll do some research on it. Otherwise I'll be doing a whole lot of touch up polishing with the Mother's. Not totally unreasonable since it's a limited-use car but it'd be nice to maintain this finish. I had thought about clear powder or anodize but I feel like any clear coat is just going to yellow and haze over time? It'd also be a shame to do all the work and lose some of the 'wow' shine to the top coat.
Click to expand...

POR15 Glisten
 
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