Cbevis 262 Bertone

Being in Minnesota...you don't see many viable options when it comes to rare cars. You see them every now and then and there's no shortage of guys in here even that have them availible but...I'd been hunting for a viable 262 Bertone since 2000.
1980 Volvo 262C Bertone Coupe.











It's not all puppies and butterflies though....I've got work to do. The tail end has a bit of ass rot going on but for the most part the car is pretty damn solid.


Oh....and there's already a V8 in it.


It's no LS1...but it'll get me by! It's a '72 350 interceptor rebuilt with a mild cam grind 7k miles ago. I'll ditch it eventually.....or, maybe I won't. Who knows?

I do know that all the upgrade parts I was previously going to install on the 240 will be going in this car though .

Had a running issue a while back....Two coils later, I think I've nailed down what the overall issue is here. The guy I bought this car from (and who also did the motor swap) mentioned that I should always keep an extra ballast resistor in the glove box because for some reason this electrical system likes to eat them up. That struck me as kind of odd....with only 7k miles on the build you wouldn't expect there to be cause for continually replacing a stupid little ballast resistor...

At any rate, when the original coil blew I figured maybe that had something to do with. Guess not because I just replaced the not even two week old new coil with another coil and, curiously, the car still wont start. Well....obviously the coil is not the problem. Must be the distributor...

I've got a Mallory Unilite distributor on this motor. I'm assuming the previous owner used it because of the close proximity to the fire wall, a normal OEM system with the incorporated coil on the top will not fit. That sucks because this distributor is a $320 unit that I do not want to replace. OEM is a significantly cheaper route. As luck would have it though, I don't actually have to replace the whole thing...just the ignition module. That's only $80.

Here's the punch line though. After I look up the part number for this thing I notice a 'manufacturers note' at the bottom. According to Mallory, it's suggested that you use an Active Power Filter in line between the distributor and coil. Why? So you don't fry one or the other! Coil provides the + to the distributor via the ballast resistor and the distributor provides the - to the coil. When they were installed new on this build I guess they wore out at similar rates, killing ballast after ballast, until the coil eventually bit the dust. I replaced it making it the far stronger link in that chain which caused the ignition module to fail...this active power filter is supposed to alleviate the strain on all three...

which it did...2,000 miles later and no issue.

Suspension time...thanks Mr. Kaplan

Nice car. It will be a blast to take out on Friday and Saturday nights!

well....god damn....

My niece and I did stuff:


6 hour bolt....damn thing was stuck but good



We only got the rears done. I had a couple questions on the fronts that needed answering before I put in the time to install them. But...here are some comparison shots of old versus new


I thought the outer diameter of the bearing races were the same and only the inners were different.

not so much......guess not.

now I need new late model 200 hubs....anyone? Anyone?

I also finally got the right carb hat for the motor.

I need to throw a 30 or 45 degree bend in there and an extension because i'd like to get it on the other side and down into the hole where the battery used to be (driver side)

I've had the front done for a while now....I just haven't posted any pictures because I was waiting on new hubs. But.....I'm bored so:



I'm not really sure what I'm going to do here. I need to wait for the strut bar to show up before I start cutting anything but my main objective is to have full access to those camber adjustments bolts. There's a spacer on the top of the camber plate for clearance that I can use as a template to grind out the strut tower. I'm wondering if at that point I can just eliminate the spacer plates and get another 1/4" of spring travel.

And the roll correction. Such a simple concept. Well done Mr. Kaplan...

I want to see how she does at that mid point first....then if I'm feeling froggy, I'll bring it all the way in!

EDIT: I'm thinking about lopping off the factory tie rod hanger too....hmmmm.

Yeeeeaaaahhhhhh....I'm going to need those wheel spacers sooner than later. The old Hydras provide some significant wheel rubbage on the front.


However, preliminary findings are that the car looks damn good! I've still got about an inch and a half to go on the front and I haven't even STARTED lowering the rear yet!

Strut brace is ON!





it's a bit overkill but..... 0_o ....does the job DAMN well! And I even still have room to change my wires without having to remove the thing. It's a good thing I acquired that new carb hat too. The old top hat K&N filter would not have worked.

In other news...I've got about 80% of a halfway decent system pieced together. Nothing fancy...sounds good so far though. The car came with a set of older (cerca 2006 or 2007 I think) Legacy GT 6x9s.......eh. Properly amped, they sound pretty good actually. However, I was having a real bastard of a time finding a solution to my front speaker issue. The stock mounting points can only accommodate 3.5" speakers and only 1 3/8" deep.....which really doesn't exist in the realm of decent speakers. So...I'm going with a set of Infinity PERFECT 5.1 5.25" 2-Way Components. I'll slap the tweets in the stock location and perforate the door panel for the 5.25". I have high hopes...

Anyhoo...here's what's in the trunk.

a pair of SVC 4ohm Kicker 10" subs, each in their own ported enclosure powered on a 500 Watt V-Power Alpine Class D Mono amp backed up on a Digital Monster one farad cap....for the kids. The speakers are hanging out on a 300 Watt V-Power Alpine Class A/B 4 channel amp. The front are wired up...but no speakers yet. At the head is a cheap but effective Pioneer HU. Cheap is more than OK when you're using a 200 Watt Kicker 12 band sound processor so...no worries. Plus, if it looks low key....it's less likely to get stolen, lol.

Alright. So this is what I came up with for a solution to my shallow door issue.

Half moon cut out for the 5.25 woofers. Again, I used Kappa Perfect 5.1's for this because that is ALL the clear i had back there and the only place to put a normal sized speaker.

with a corresponding hole in the door card and the tweeter cut in to the OEM spot...here's what my door looks like.

I knew it was going to be an issue....but given this was very literally the ONLY place to put a speaker, I decided to take my chances. As low on the door as that guy is, I come into clearance issues with the threshold trim. I think it'll eventually warp in my favor (lol) but I think next spring I may end up trying to find a new solution to the current plastic there.....we'll see.

Sounds AMAZING.

and....photoshop preview of the wheels I'm throwing on...

MarkyB86 said:

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With the appropriate spacers, I'll be riding very flush to both fender and quarter. Rolling starts next weekend....


And that's where my project sits at the moment. I've only been working on it for about 8 months....the progress is coming along.

v8volvoman1 said:

Nice car. It will be a blast to take out on Friday and Saturday nights!

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Thanks! I hope so....It still needs a lot of work obviously but...I'm getting there. This seasons projects are going to be rust reclamation, disasembly and paint. I REALLY hope I can get it done before next winter. Also, all the little minor gremlins that come with an old car. I need to replace the blower motor...at a minimum, I want my defrost back, lol. I have an interesting over heating issue. It presents like a bad thermostat but....the old one boils and opens fine...I don't know. Just another to-do item.

Yea for Midwest! Looks great and I bet it's a whole nother world with all those new suspension components!

You coming to Midwest Madness this June?

wisturbo said:

Yea for Midwest! Looks great and I bet it's a whole nother world with all those new suspension components!

You coming to Midwest Madness this June?

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No joke....but I'm too much of a wuss to give 'er the hammer with those tires running so close to the springs, lol. Soon as I get those spacers and wheels installed though....I'm givin' her hell!

Not sure about Midwest Madness. I'd like to say yes, but I never know what my schedule is going to be until a week prior and I've got Door County cabin time in early July. We'll see....I'm not NOT going to try and make it.

EDIT: Is the madness still happening in Eau Claire? Or has it moved to the Dells?

Dang, nice shop. Cool 262 too. Jelly about the shop/lift though.

Man that car looks GOOD! Not too hot about the American boat anchor engine though. Which trans? Turbo 350?

Following along....looks like it's coming along nicely!

shellshock said:

Man that car looks GOOD! Not too hot about the American boat anchor engine though. Which trans? Turbo 350?

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Well...to each there own I suppose. 350s make cheap power...and they don't even have to be efficient to do it, lol.

Having said that, i'd like to throw an LS1 in there at some point. I've got aspiration to do a red block build but not on this car. The v8 sounds mean in there....

Turbo 350 indeed. Auto tragic FTL. Actually....B&M quicksilver ratchet shifter FTL. I like it, but I'm not IN like with it....you know?

Had never seen this color on a 262c, it actually looks very good !

Keep up the good work.