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The orange + blue 76 242

rearwheelpeel

rearwheelpeel

Slow Learner
Joined
Jul 22, 2014
Location
Fayetteville, Arkansas
I bought this 1976 242 from a tb member about a year and a half ago. His son drove it up from Philadelphia to Rochester Ny, so the fact that it was ready to make that drive was enough proof that I wanted the car. I have had a few 240s, and 4 different 7/9 cars, but a 242 was always kind of my dream Volvo, and the color/colors on this one really appealed to me. The car originally came from Arizona, and still has a sticker under the hood from Swedish auto werks in phoenix. It is amazingly rust free.

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The interior was rough, so that is what I wanted to change first. I started by removing everything - carpet, dash, seats etc.. I then cleaned everything as best I could and started laying down sound deadening. I probably went a little overboard with that?

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New carpet in, time to get some correct 242 seats. I tracked down a set from another member here, stripped them down to basically just the frames and added new grids and seat bottom foam from wagonmeister. I had vp auto make me new seat skins using blue fabric from the 740 era. It was my first time reupholstering seats and I?m very happy with the outcome. Now I have proper folding coupe seats that are practically brand new.

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Vp auto had nos 242 door cards in brown - I snagged a set, should?ve bought them all?

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Added a Nardi wheel, r-sport cluster, and some fancy chrome dash trim?

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Redid the headliner in black headliner fabric

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I used my covid cash and Biden bux for a full kaphlenke suspension set up - coilovers, luxsteer mounts, sway bar links, panhad bar, ipd 25/25 sways. I also finally had a car to put my A.R.E. 398 wheels on, my first ever purchase through turbobricks!

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The car is in storage for the winter here in Rochester, but I?m still popping the hood when I can, taking one part at a time right inside my apt and making it perfect, then putting it back in the car. I?ve got parts piling up inside for install in the spring. The whole car has already come a long way. I don?t have any plans to change the paint.

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Kl Headers for next season:
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My current goal for the car is to have it running and driving as well as possible with the current engine set up. I?d love it to be a somewhat reliable driver. I have learned so much in the past year and a half, so I?m hoping the next few will bring more progress. I wouldn?t have this car, nor would it be anything near what it is today without the help of this forum and it?s members. I?m sure many of you can look at these pics and say ?hey I sold you that part!? Thanks for all your help everybody.

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The door panels look awesome. I really slept on those.... I had seen them in Jan 2020 and should have not waited. Lucky you are. What is your coil spring setup. Are you using Bilstein or Konis?
 
I'm loving everything about this. Please tell me you are keeping the paint just like it is?!?

This funky orange blue with a beautiful interior is just fantastic!
 
I won’t touch the paint, I love it just how it is. I’ve had cars that had perfect paint and it was stressful to do anything but look at them. I want to drive this car and enjoy it. I went with koni race dampers front and rear, so far I’m pretty happy with the way everything rides and handles but it still needs some dialing in.
 
The front seat upholstery is new yes. It was made by vp auto in Sweden using the original 75- seat skin blueprints. The only fabric in blue that they had to use at the time was this striped fabric they told me was used on 740s at some point. So it is still Volvo fabric. It has new foam backing underneath, and out of the 3 seats I disassembled the old foam was completely disintegrated. The new foam makes all the difference. I’d say they are about as comfy as a 240 seat could be.
I have done a thousand other little things to this car, so I will continue to update as I find/take more pictures of my progress.
 
This car is awesome!

Did you replace the seat back foam, or just the bottom cushion? I've been trying to come up with a solution for my seat back foam on my pre-86 seats, and from what I can tell, only the later style seat back foam is available. Your seats looks great!
 
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Wheetie said:
This car is awesome!

Did you replace the seat back foam, or just the bottom cushion? I've been trying to come up with a solution for my seat back foam on my pre-86 seats, and from what I can tell, only the later style seat back foam is available. Your seats looks great!
Click to expand...

I did not replace the seat back foam, just the seat bottoms and grids. I did end up using a passenger side seat back for my drivers side, just because the ones I had were in much better shape than the divers side backs. I just had to cut out/move the spot for the switch from the right to left side of the seat back, and then fill in the unused hole (right side) with some extra foam. I glued on sections of an old flannel sheet over the back grids and on the side bolsters of the seat backs to give them extra strength, it really worked well I think.

Radtap said:
I'm a sucker for the early dash and rally cluster, what is that AC switch out of?
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That switch was in the car when I got it. I have removed the entire climate box so for now it’s just for show. It might be unique to the early 240s.
 
Put in new hella h4 lights from ipd. They are very tight in the housings, so much so that I’m scared of breaking them when twisting the bezel back on… but they are in, just need adjusting.
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Started hooking up my relay board for fogs and a horn. I modified the washer fluid bracket to hold the board.
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I’m working on fixing up a gt grill with broken tabs, it’s proving harder than I thought to get everything aligned correctly and epoxied well. Keep an eye out for another post in the wanted section if I can’t make this one work… I discovered later cars have holes cut out to mount the fog light brackets in the lower core support, my 76 does not. It has turned into quite the job just to mount two fog lights….
It is 25 degrees here today and I can no longer move my fingers. Just two more months till spring!
 
Ya the GT grills fit the fog lights pretty closely.

The trick is to take the pins out of the top push it back a little then lift the grill and swing the bottom out first so it doesn't hang up on the fogs.
 
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Wheetie said:
This car is awesome!

Did you replace the seat back foam, or just the bottom cushion? I've been trying to come up with a solution for my seat back foam on my pre-86 seats, and from what I can tell, only the later style seat back foam is available. Your seats looks great!
Click to expand...
I have excellent condition seat back foam if you need it.
 
One of my first Volvos was pumpkin orange - it's a great color for fall in NY :)

Car isa coming along nicely!

Will you bring it to the summer Euromeet in Ithaca one year?
 
I installed a headlight harness from wagonmeister along with a new battery + cables. I’m very happy with my custom tie down. The engine bay is starting to look pretty good.

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