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1983 242 AKA Wallie

TheRacer02

Member
Joined
Jun 24, 2010
Location
Glendale,Az
So I had some money burning a hole in my pocket back in 2017 also was really missing my old 245 and found this 242 on offer up for 1200 messaged the owner on offer and got no response from the seller figured it was gone...Then about a month later I got a message back found out that it was not sold! So I went to go look at the car it was in so so shape had a blown head gasket ended up getting it for 700 after going back and forth with the owner.



Now at this time I didn't know my exact plans for this car just fix the head gasket? rip it apart and do a simple +T build or slap some ITBs on the B23 and make it a fun slow car.

So I decided to rip the head off and see what I was dealing with and go from there. After I pulled the head off I discovered that the head gasket has been blown for a very long time and that the cooling system had pure water in it for a long time.




So then I made the decsion that I was going to pull the engine and transmission out of the car and clean up everything and do a simple rebuild on the engine and slap some ITBS on the car.



Once it was out I cleaned up everything after many many MANY cans of oven cleaner and high strength degreaser it became clean...ish





now that everything was cleanish I wanted to tuck the engine bay to clean it up more. This is where things get interesting. I started buy pulling the drivers side fender to re run the headlight harness in the fender.



during that process I was looking at the battery tray and it was rusted out..so out it came then
I found another small amount of rust that needed to be fixed.




after welding up the small patch I started to attempt to weld some holes I made while removing the battery tray out that became a royal pain in the ass with the thin sheet metal. so I just cut it all out and replaced it with new steel



now after all that we could not just leave all the random holes in the bay to make it smooth so got to welding again




now with all the holes welded up


I then started some body work




while things started to look smooth and I was loving how the engine bay was turning out. but something was missing. Thats when it clicked time to bring some of my off-road passion into the Volvo.



after some playing around and making way to many templates. I got the plates made




then welded them in



body work them



and this is where I am now with the car. I have not figured out what I am doing with the engine just yet I picked up a b230F for the car but....this was the number 2 rod bearing



but more action to come...I the engine will the next installment off this build as more money comes in.. still recovering from life issues, exciting things to come lets just hope i have the skills to pull them off
 
So far so good. Love the plans you have for it. Looking forward to watching this one.

You had me at wire tuck, but welding the holes made me subscribe. Can't wait to see more!


Thanks guys I look forward to this build also really want it done so I can just drive! I really miss driving a classic Volvo. I am excited to see where my mind takes this car. possible air ride and lots of carbon fiber ideas bouncing around in my head.:oogle::oogle:
 
That is a flat top piston high compression B23. 10.3+:1 vs the B230 that you picked up is ~9:1. Shave the head a bit on the B23 and you will be in 10.8 - 11:1 territory. A little head work, a fat cam, ITBs, a decent header and good exhaust and the thing will be a terror.

When you say ITBs, I presume that you are looking at side draft carbs - or ITB fuel injection?

You could always have decent rods and lighter weight pistons made to make even more power.
 
That is a flat top piston high compression B23. 10.3+:1 vs the B230 that you picked up is ~9:1. Shave the head a bit on the B23 and you will be in 10.8 - 11:1 territory. A little head work, a fat cam, ITBs, a decent header and good exhaust and the thing will be a terror.

When you say ITBs, I presume that you are looking at side draft carbs - or ITB fuel injection?

You could always have decent rods and lighter weight pistons made to make even more power.

Itb fuel injection thinking about running 4age 20v itbs or r1 set up. Car will be ran with ms2.
 
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The beginning of some exciting stuff today. Both blocks (b23f and the b230) are heading to the machine shop after talking with the builder he wanted both and we will decide which to build once we both choose the best candidate for machining.
 
Small update. Ordered camshaft/valve springs from kl racing. Waiting on short block to be finished up head is still at the machine shop getting ported and polished. Started to paint the engine bay will be purchasing more paint tonight.

 
Engine bay is looking nice! Out of curiosity, did you add in drain holes at the bottom of those pockets under the strut tower? I'd be a bit concerned about water collecting there now that they are partially blocked off.
 
Engine bay is looking nice! Out of curiosity, did you add in drain holes at the bottom of those pockets under the strut tower? I'd be a bit concerned about water collecting there now that they are partially blocked off.

Yes I did. When I washed the bay after all body working and primer sanding i realized they needed drainage. Drill two holes in the lowest spots for drainage. It should be more then enough.
 
Cool project; I like the strut tower stiffening plates.

You may want to look into the differences between B23 and B230 short blocks before letting the machinist tell you which one to use - lots of changes in the bottom end between the two. What year did the B230 come out of? If it's an early skinny-rod B230 ('85 to '89 I think) then it may be best to build the B23 instead.
 
Cool project; I like the strut tower stiffening plates.

You may want to look into the differences between B23 and B230 short blocks before letting the machinist tell you which one to use - lots of changes in the bottom end between the two. What year did the B230 come out of? If it's an early skinny-rod B230 ('85 to '89 I think) then it may be best to build the B23 instead.

Meh, he could just throw later rods and pistons and be fine. Push comes to shove, adding a thrust bearing half to the cap of the thrust bearing makes the block just as strong as a late model block.

Would always pick a 230 over a 23. Noticeably smoother and more free-revving. Much easier to find parts.
 
Cool project; I like the strut tower stiffening plates.

You may want to look into the differences between B23 and B230 short blocks before letting the machinist tell you which one to use - lots of changes in the bottom end between the two. What year did the B230 come out of? If it's an early skinny-rod B230 ('85 to '89 I think) then it may be best to build the B23 instead.

Meh, he could just throw later rods and pistons and be fine. Push comes to shove, adding a thrust bearing half to the cap of the thrust bearing makes the block just as strong as a late model block.

Would always pick a 230 over a 23. Noticeably smoother and more free-revving. Much easier to find parts.


You both are right I have sold the b230 block I had. I needed more room in my garage. The b23 is on a engine stand slapped together the bottom end one night because I was bored and didn't want to lose parts. Although that engine is not going into the car.

I have another b230 from a 740 being cleaned up from a local member. That will be going into the car. The head will be getting work done in the next few weeks. Still waiting on klracing parts to show up for that.....and now that the bay has been painted I can start working on the wiring and some other fun stuff :-D
 
Wow has time flown!

So over the last few years! Yup Years! I have been working on the car on and off...but as we all know LIFE got in the way...from quitting my full time job to buying a business.. COVID and dog surgery's, a loss of motivation due to loosing my dad to bladder cancer in a matter of months. needless to say the Volvo has been getting dusty...and just buried in crap in the garage. Now that things a settling and I now have more time on my hands I have been back in the garage! And making progress again (still a lot of work to do though)

So when we last left off we were waiting on the machine shop and dealing with engines...

Well a year and a half later I got the head back from the machine shop. Fully rebuilt KL Racing stg 4 cam Yoshifab upgraded valve springs new valves for KL Racing etc.

The Block is a B230ft

Trans that's now in the car is an M46 (no more aw70 :) )

xRCkk6dl.jpg


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Then I went and picked up an STS machine adjust cam gear and installed the timing belt

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More updates to come today!
 
More updates!

So during my wait for my head to be rebuilt. I switched my attention to the the interior. I have a rough idea on what I want done in there or so I thought....we will get to that later.

Removed the seats and was left with this.

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some of it is my crap because at this point I knew at least the dash was coming out extremely cracked and just looked like crap more to that later in the build. So I started to just to clean the interior always nice to start fresh. Which turned out pretty nice for a quick trash pick up and deep vacuum.

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I was planning on pressure washing the carpets so I ended up pulling them out found a good amount of money under the carpet I don't really know how it got under the carpet but WIN :nod:

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After pulling the dash I was looking over the wiring I noticed a lot of things not working in the car the day I brought it home so I started with the wiring behind the dash Lots of butt connectors and random things from past wiring fixes to additional wires being added to existing circuits etc.

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So then after seeing the mess of wiring and thinking about gremlins that would eventually pop up I decided to pull the whole chassis harness out at this point there isn't a single wire left in the car. I went and ordered a wiring kit from Rebel wire which is a great small company that hand build all there kits with heavy duty, flame proof ,SXL wire and that also gave me some modern blade style fuses

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New chassis harness that will be installed later

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Around this time I quit my job...My wife and I were planning to purchase a Yoga studio she had been teaching at for a few years and the owner offered it to her as she was burnt out due to keeping it running during Covid. My new job was to run the studio and get it back to a profitable business which fast forward a year and half later we are and its running smoothly. My main motivation was to free up my time so I can get back in the garage and work on my own business to bring in "fun money" so with all that said progress on the Volvo came to stop. Then I was able to free some time up and started working on the trunk of the car. I knew what I had planned for the car. I got a whole air lift air ride system from my last job. Dealers hate modified cars so win for me.

First thing was to put the battery in the trunk (which might move now) but here is the process of building a nice flat floor for a small battery...

dusted my CAD skills off..
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Transferred templet to alum plate
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Final battery mount minus the wiring connections and pass throughs to run wires to the starter etc.
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Then on the drivers side I deceided to mount the air compressor for the air ride set up.

Little test fit for a mount.
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Mount for compressor made
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Fully mounted air compressor
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While I was working on our business I had a factory manifold sitting at an aerospace machine shop waiting to be milled flat little did I know that shop was just blown smoke up my a** and never wanted to do anything for me after going all around town looking for a machine shop to mill the turbo flange flat no one would touch it. either too busy or got rid of all there manual mills for CNC style mills and couldn't fixture it ( basically bs) Even tried to buy a Bridgeport mill sitting out back of one of the machine shops just rotting away and they wouldn't sell it to me!

Luckily I found a hobby machinist/fabricator who knocked it out in a day.

Before
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After
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And then I had to take care of the cracks on the backside of the manifold.

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Got down in there for clean metal and to get decent penetration with the welder.
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Drilled some holes to stop the cracks from continuing did it for both cracks just didnt take a picture of the last one.
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and welded it all up (not my best welds but it will do)

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and a nice chinabay 50 trim all bolted up.
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