I put the bertone door panels in my car many years ago and have conditioned the leather a couple times a year but otherwise haven’t touched them. Recently someone else noticed the veneer panels are looking a little faded and could use some cleaning and oil to keep them in shape. It had not even …
Category Archives: 242 Turbo
do88 Intercooler
I have been thinking about upgrading the stock intercooler on the 242 for years. I’m not sure that it is the limiting factor in how much power the car makes, but I think it is close to being a problem if it isn’t the weakest link. Testing others have done show the stock intercooler becomes …
Cold
It has been a long time since the fun car has seen temperatures near freezing. I had almost forgotten that it had an ice warning led. The gauge is set to C so it isn’t that cold, just freezing. But that’s pretty cold for a car that has been summer only for years. But …
New Shoes
Volvo show season and good weather are getting close and yet the 242 is currently riding on a mismatched set of wheels due to a tire failure. As long as I needed new rubber I decided to make a change.
Instrument updates
After 15 years I finally replaced the old cracked dash with a good condition one and took the opportunity to make a few small updates/upgrades while everything was exposed and the wiring was accessible. Cracked old dash: “New” dash: Second big update was swapping out the analog ambient temperature gauge in favor of a digital …
Broken plastic
The 242 spent about a month parked outside a few hours from home and when I went to pick it up I found it plastered with dirt, pine needles, and a lot of bird droppings. I decided to take it through a car wash before I drove home, something I don’t think I’ve ever done …
Back seat swap
The weather was finally warm enough today to do some work in the garage, so I decided to swap the junkyard find blue rear seat in place of the brown one the car had when I bought it. Easy swap, no surprises, and it was surprisingly clean under the rear seat for a car that …
Muffler
There’s still one thing that I always have to take the car to the shop for and that’s exhaust work. At least until I can afford to upgrade the electrical in the garage so I can use the welder. The muffler on the 242 was disintegrating and I wasn’t having luck with any local shop …