smoothys 242 Turbo Build

[smoothdurban]

As the car currently sits. See below for story and build progress.




Hello,

This is my thread in regards to my restoration of a 1983 volvo 242 turbo. Before I go deeply into the vehicle allow me to introduce myself

I am relatively new to this forum but not new to Volvo's or the restoration of them. My father is Viktor Zoldak owner of Zoldak Motors or "ZM" for short. His garage was formerly located on Highway 23 in Palmerston Ontario but it's currently in Windsor Ontario. My father Viktor has been repairing and working on Volvo's ever since I was in diapers. Needless to say I have learned a lot from him when it comes to working on Volvo's.

I have owned a variety of Volvo's throughout the years and my first build in high school was a 1969 1800s but I have owned several 200, 700, 900 series over the years.

But I have always loved the 240's for their simplicity and my current winter DD is my 1991 245 with over 372,000 km's (and counting)!

The car I purchased is a 1983 Volvo 242 turbo with intercooler. The car is silver with blue cloth interior and has an m46 transmission. The car belonged to a customer of my fathers who's original intent was to restore it. The car requires a considerable amount of cosmetic and mechanical work and after several years of ownership the owner finally decided to sell the car to me.

I purchased the car in July of 2013 with the plan to turn this car into my summer DD. The car ran poorly and suffered from all of the ailments a 30+ year car could suffer.

The plan I had was quite simple.

Strip the car, repair the rust, repair the engine, paint the car, and reassemble and drive.


below are some photo's of the car the day I brought her to the garage.








SPECS

B21FT Removed on 9/1/2018 with Low Compression after low oil
Kjet with UTCIS-PT WUR
Terminal 11 Trick
123 Distributor
Rebuilt T3 at 15 lbs
B230 Intake manifold
90+ Exhaust Manifold Milled and welded
Jao 3" downpipe to 2.5" Exhaust
HD Saab CBV
IPD turbo cam
KnockSense


B230FT Installed on 5/25/19
LH2.4 w Sbabbs chips
T Cam
IPD Turbo Cam installed 3/30/2020
Wasted spark via Bosch 2x2 coil and Mitsubishi J702T Igniter
19T
Full 3" Exhaust
STS electric cooling fan
Autocoolguy fan controller
STS Cam Gear
STS hydraulic clutch pedal w 240 master 740 slave.
Do88 Charge Air pipes and Intercooler
Do88 Radiator
Yoshifab Catch Can

Trans
M46 Removed 12/19
Tremec T5 with Hurst Short Throw Shifter (buzzing on coast down)
2.75 1 piece drive shaft from ShaftMasters.
YoshiFab Billet Flywheel with FX250 235 mm Clutch

Axel
3.73 Rear End
G80 LSD

Suspension
IPD Panhard Rod
IPD Torque Rods
Volvo HD Control Arms PN 1229923, 1229925
GAZ Front and Rear Shocks and Struts
BNE Adjustable Sway Bar End Links
BNE QSRC
BNE Camber Plates (ordered 6/19)
BNE Torque Rods (waiting to order once stock is available)
Wagonmiester Strut Brace

Wheels / Tires
17" Eiker E1's

[smoothdurban]

The first thing I noticed about this car was that it didn't appear to have too much rust. I had the opportunity to look the car over a few years before I bought it and as I recall I felt comfortable with the amount of repair required for this vehicle. It turns it there was a substantial amount of rust that I didn't account for which required extensive repairs.

On a side note the P1800s I restored in high school was much much worse then this build.

I decided to start with the floor. I found the complete drivers side floor was rotted out so I began cutting repairing the rust.

Drivers side floor front


Driver side floor rear


As I began to tear into the floor I noticed that the rust had crept under the seat support so that was also removed to gain access to it.

Front section removed


Rear section removed


front welded


rear welded


center section welded


Floor painted

[pwschuh]

Glad you're saving this one.

[Old Iron]

Cool car! Look forward to seeing how it turns out!

[smoothdurban]

So after I finished repairing the floor I noticed a small amount of rust around the rear wheel well and butt cheeks, so let the rust repair continue.

Rear Left wheel well repair.


Inner rear left butt cheek.


Inner right butt cheek



I also had some rust on the roof and passenger side a pillar so once more rust repair

Drivers Side Gutter


Passenger A Pillar










The few photos I attached are only some of the areas I had to address.

I ended us using a silicone bronze welding wire with my mig welder. I have mig welded sheet metal with carbon steel for many years and I have found it difficult to use on thin sheet metal. Silicone bronze wire flows nicely and grinds down very smoothly. I highly recommend using it for any sheet metal body repairs.

Below are some picks of some small patch I put in on the fender using the silicone bronze mig wire. The thing I like the best is you can see exactly where your weld is and you can use it as a guide later when prepping for body filler or primer.

[BassGuy]

Hey cool! I've not seen one of these in ON yet. I'm only in Sarnia. Could probably pop down some weekend or something if you want a hand.

[smoothdurban]

Thanks.

As I mentioned in the post my father owns and runs a garage. If you need any service for your Volvo he would be more then welcome to help.

These cars didn't hold up to well on salty Ontario roads :(

This one was undercoated to a ridiculous degree. This itself caused problems when trying to remove it to actually get to the paint in the engine bay.

Originally Posted by BassGuy

Hey cool! I've not seen one of these in ON yet. I'm only in Sarnia. Could probably pop down some weekend or something if you want a hand.

[Kasper]

Good start, looks like a fun project!

[smoothdurban]

I have seen a few people repaint their engine bay and I must say it is very inspiring.

I decided to have mine repainted with the whole body. To save some money I decided to do the prep work myself. I started by wire brushing the entire engine bay then using POR's marine clean and then their metal prep and finally painted the engine bay with POR 15 black and covered it with their self etch primer.

The body shop will be painting the engine bay when the paint the whole car so when I get the car back from the paint shop we shall see how it turned out.

Wire brushed engine bay


POR'd


Primed


I should be getting the car back from the paint shop in a few weeks so now time to focus on the engine.

[smoothdurban]

The engine on was my next area of focus. Aside from it being dirty it had a few vacuum leaks which caused some minor issues with the kjet engine management system but all and all aside from some cold running issues the system worked very well for a neglected 30 year old engine management system.

Needless to say I had a decision to make. Do I keep the original functioning Kjet B21ft engine? Do I install a a B230 with lh2.2? or do I got all out and build the 16v turbo that I have always wanted to do?

Timing and financial constraints have kind of swayed me to reuse the original B21FT.

The engine only had 111,000 kms on it (65,000 mile) and, aside from some minor acceleration issue at cold, the engine ran fine and performed very well.

here is what I started with. This is one of those instances where I wish I took more photos but unfortunately this and the photo at the beginning of the build thread are the only two I have.




The plan on the engine was simple.

Clean
Reseal
Repaint
Re condition the head
Replace head gasket and bolts
replace all vacuum lines
replace all kjet sensors
I replaced the turbo cam with IPD's turbo cam
I replaced the stock exhaust manifold with a 90+
Added flexible oil feed and drain lines for the turbo.
I kept the stock turbo as I have 2 rebuilt T03 sitting on the shelf
New injectors and seals
73°C thermostat
New belts
New AC compressor
Rebuilt alternator
A good used wiring harness


When I was reassembling the exhaust manifold I broke one of the studs (which is odd as I usually break them upon removal of the manifold.

I decided to use time sert thread insert. It was pricey but well worth it and easy to use.











I also replaced the pilot bearing on the crank shaft. Some guys who work in our prototype shop let me in on packing the bearing with grease and then simply pressing the pilot bearing out. It was a neat trick and worked really well. I used a spare clutch alignment tool I had laying around and the pilot bearing popped right out.












Here are some photos of my engine before I drop it into the car



















Up next will be the M46 transmission

[Fitzy]

Progress looks great! I wish this was my car and motor! Makes me want to get to adding the 90+, stainlesss turbo oil feed/return.

3 things caught my eye...

I think you actually want the 82*C thermostat?
You put a 90+ exhaust mani on but not b230 intake mani? (keeping it stock on purpose?)
With all that work be put into this car I would suggest ditching the crappy Volvo K-jet lines and have some custom lines made up from SpecialTAuto.com.

[smoothdurban]

Originally Posted by Fitzy

Progress looks great! I wish this was my car and motor! Makes me want to get to adding the 90+, stainlesss turbo oil feed/return.

3 things caught my eye...

I think you actually want the 82*C thermostat?
You put a 90+ exhaust mani on but not b230 intake mani? (keeping it stock on purpose?)
With all that work be put into this car I would suggest ditching the crappy Volvo K-jet lines and have some custom lines made up from SpecialTAuto.com.

I went with the 72 from FCP to keep a cooler operating temperature. Now that I think about it its probably a little to cold.

The 90+ Exhaust manifold I had sitting on the self for 10 years. It was cracked but I had it welded professionally. As for the intake it was really a matter of preference. I have several b230 intake manifolds sitting on engines but I always like the flat look of the stock B21FT manifold.

Custom fuel lines would be nice but at some point one has to draw the line when spending $$$. This car is not meant to be a show car but a DD. If I find fault with the fuel lines down the road I will certainly have some custom ones made up. For now the original ones will have to do and other then gaining access to the WUR they are pretty easy to change.

Update ****************

John just quoted me a reasonable price for this so I think I will have them done.

[didenpx]

Glad I checked out this build; subscribing! great project. Definitely going to find some of the SB wire.

[smoothdurban]

After completing the engine I decided to work on sealing the transmission. The Original M46 transmission didn't have any major leaks and worked fine. So I decided to replace the rear OD output shaft seal and gear box input shaft seal. To replace the input shaft seal I needed to remove the bell housing and thus replace the bell housing gasket. The clutch fork was severely corroded so I sand blasted it and POR'd it. I drained all the fluid from the m46 and refilled (overfilled but I will set this to the right level once installed in the car) with Type F ATF. I then proceeded to tilt the trans first forward to check if there where any leaks through the new bell housing gasket or input shaft seal. There was none I then tilted the trans back sitting it on top of the rear ouput flange and noticed a small leak which appeared to be coming form the shift rod sleeve :( Upon further inspection it appears Volvo put a small pin hole type vent there so I have confidence my new seals will work.


I installed the machined flywheel, clutch pressure and friction plate. Then I mated the M46 to the engine. I will be sending the starter out for a rebuilt just to be sure it won't fail me down the road.










My body man has informed me my car should be ready this Friday so I am looking forward to getting this thing back from paint and begin the reassembly process.

[peterwgpa]

Will be following this thread. Love your work and the saving of another

[Hoggster]

What kind of clutch is that? Where did you get it and how much did it cost? Is it rated for more than the stock engine output?

[smoothdurban]

Its a Spec Stage 1 SO041 Clutch. They go for about $279 but I got mine cheaper on ebay

heres a link

http://www.clutchcityonline.com/spec/volvo_240.htm

[smoothdurban]

I wasn't very pleased with the idea of re installing my original 30+ year old starter on my engine so I was going to at least send mine out for a rebuild




Until my father dusts off this beauty and says, "it yours!"




I guess anytime you get a freebe it helps out.

The prongs will need some modification but other then filing one of them down it should do the trick.

[Sharingan 19]

Wow, real nice work being done here! If I lived in a climate were cars were commonly found in this condition I'd have probably picked up a different hobby lol.

I just pulled apart my m46 today, the OD unit was recently rebuilt, but it doesn't look like the rest of the seals were touched. I already have the input/output seals, but I didnt even know a bell housing gasket existed. What do you think about sealing it with RTV?

[Mueller]

You really need to slow down, you are making a lot of us (me) look really bad!

Car is going to be better than new when you finish it!

[Jack]

looks good (I crushed cars with a lot LESS rust)
btw instead of grease use wet bread next time in the pilot bearing - less messy

[smoothdurban]

Originally Posted by Sharingan 19

. What do you think about sealing it with RTV?

IMO I only use RTV if the sealing surface is badly pitted or not properly cleaned (with alcohol to remove all oil). We use it to seal transfer cases at my work and it works very well. The problem is that most people put to much of the stuff on and when the sealing surface sandwiches together it squeezes the excess into the the t-case which can create problems down the road. It really a matter of preference. I did use it to seal the oil pan, front/rear crank seal housing and the thermostat. On my M46 I was able to get the bell housing gasket surface very clean as so I didn't use it + I didn't want to run the risk that some small particulate breaks loose and clogs up the OD hydraulics.

Originally Posted by Mueller

You really need to slow down, you are making a lot of us (me) look really bad!

Car is going to be better than new when you finish it!

Slow down? I have been working on this since September 2013. Most of that time was spent battling rust. Wait until I get the car back from paint and you will see how fast I really work. But little by little the car will come back together.

Originally Posted by jack

looks good (I crushed cars with a lot LESS rust)
btw instead of grease use wet bread next time in the pilot bearing - less messy

Next time send them up here!

[smoothdurban]

I went to the body shop to check in on the progress made on the car. It looks like significant progress has been made and they body shop says the car will be ready to paint Thursday. With that being said it looks like I will be busy this weekend.

Here are few photos of the progress made thus far.

[Old Iron]

Wow, looking good!

[Sharingan 19]

Originally Posted by smoothdurban

IMO I only use RTV if the sealing surface is badly pitted or not properly cleaned (with alcohol to remove all oil). We use it to seal transfer cases at my work and it works very well. The problem is that most people put to much of the stuff on and when the sealing surface sandwiches together it squeezes the excess into the the t-case which can create problems down the road. It really a matter of preference. I did use it to seal the oil pan, front/rear crank seal housing and the thermostat. On my M46 I was able to get the bell housing gasket surface very clean as so I didn't use it + I didn't want to run the risk that some small particulate breaks loose and clogs up the OD hydraulics.

Yea, the sealing surface was fine, but not fine enough to get by w/o a gasket, and since I wasn't going to pay for one and wait for it to arrive....I used a thin layer of RTV.