242GT Malvo

Ardwerks

1980 242 GT Special
Introducing my car, I have always been into classic Volvos, starting with 122's and eventually settling on a 240 as the perfect allrounder.. I have owned this car for 5-6years. it has approximately 180k km as of writing I am the third owner (From Perth).

It started life as "GT Special" from my knowledge these specials where the last of the GT's sold here, featuring a two-tone black and silver paint job as well as US spec lights and an R-Sport cluster. My car was painted all silver sometime in the 90's before I joined earth.

Since owning the car I have done a lot of suspension work, first iteration being the DVS lowering springs I ran the car in this config for a solid 2-3years, What an absolute joy.

I then wanted to scratch my lust for BBS wheels and felt it was time to get it a bit lower, improve handling and for wheel fitment sake, Coilovers from BNE helped get the car lower as well as a few other bits, I wasn't happy with the rear wheel fitment, so much so that I also shortened the wheelbase from the rear by 20mm to get the best possible fitment. (I can provide more info on this job if it interests you), but I call it a success, no vibrations, pinion angle adjusted accordingly jobs a good un.. running this bne setup for 2+years drives beautifully, by beautifully

here's a list of components that landed on the car,

RBS Zender spoiler
Venitians painted black
Cibie airport driving lights
Nardi steering wheel

DVS
-Adjustable Pan bar T2
-Adjustable sway bar links
-Sway bar Polly Bushes
(I had a few question/concerns and Ash was a huge help during this build)

BNE
- Shortened Coilovers
-Koni Race dampers
-Eibach springs (350lb/in (R) & 200lb/in (F)
-Adjustable strut top mounts with Luxe steer
-QSRC V2 (a non negotiable for lowered cars)
-Split brake line clamps
-Hel braided lines F&R
-Adjustable Torque Rods v3
-Rear axle spherical bearings (stock rubber everywhere else) exp sway bushes
(i think thats everything) hehe

I also had the calipers rebuilt and ceramic painted by Adam at Loud projects.

The wheels are BBS RS28/9 16X8/ 7 FRONT (can't remember offsets after spacers but I can find out)

Most recent upgrade was converting AC to 134a new compressor/drier and x2 pusher fans to increase cooling, working good for now but true test will be when summers comes around. I would like to spruce up the engine bay (engine out) and give it some Love, its presentable but original at the moment. When I did my BNE order I also bought Recaro seat adaptors so looking to do some custom LX seats soon.

For the most part this is my daily, thanks for reading, and apologies if this sucks haha. not sure if these pics will even work.

My IG is TanWalltom, I rarely post but.

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Forg

I've never heard the term "GT Special" before, that's interesting. Not all the "1981" 242GT's had the GT dash with the race-car looking yellow dials (when buying my first Volvo & first GT circa 1999 I was looking mostly at those 'cos I preferred the quad-square lights - all the ones I looked at had the same interior/dash as a 1980 model-year car), that was a relatively expensive option, so regardless of whether it was part of a package sold new or someone optioned it, it's still pretty rare & exclusive.

But more importantly ... do you have more photos or a link to somewhere you've posted them?

Ardwerks

Forg
There was a site that had info on these cars but unfortunately the website is no longer active. I had screenshots somewhere of sales brochures that referred to them as "specials" from memory, not sure if all dealers referred to them this way.

will compile some pictures shortly 🙂

GingerNinja

Oooh lovely. Post some more photos if you have them.

Ardwerks

Here's a few more pictures,
Stock (no modification at the point)

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Below, DVS suspension setup, 25mm rear spacers

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Below Current BNE setup,

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And no the bike hasn't fallen off yet haha (even with spirited driving) Sea-sucker bike racks if you are wondering. Image description

below is a few pictures from the suspension install (R 225/45 F205/50 from memory

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Below is the rear control arms, modified to shorten wheelbase, also added reinforcement plates, you essentially weld the rear axle hole and re-drill 20mm forward you can see the original position highlighted blue, you also need to cut a section of the original arm away so it doesn't hit the rear axle when going through suspension travel (not final cut i made it look pretty don't worry) . see pics

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Below is the stock position of the rear wheel, as you can see the centerline of the wheel does not sit in line with the center of the arch, so as you lower the car it rubs quite a lot on the rear portion of the guard, 20mm doesn't seam like much but its enough to prevent rubbing and get that desired ride height (for my taste at least). This info/mod is probably common knowledge, but just adding for the sake of my thread.

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(before rear spacers where added)^

This what the wheels originally looked like they came off a Ferrari 308 so they where 5x108.
Front ET11 (10mm spacers)
Rear -2 (13mm spacers)
Rolled both guard

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Thanks Tom

242GT

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The last of Australia's 242GT were swap over by Volvo Australia to have the twin rectangular head lights , R Sport dash, satin black paint over bonnet , roof and boot.

This painting was done due to long term storage that caused clear coat damage before being sold via the dealerships , approx 30 cars involved.

Ardwerks

242GT
Ahh well there you go, I did not know about the clear coat, but now that makes more sense, thanks for sharing. where was that information/picture from is it in a book or magazine?

242GT

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Compliance December 1980 , owned 36yrs

Ardwerks

242GT
Love the Minilites

242GT

Put them on 10yrs ago , in the process of much needed restoration as it was a registered daily , race car , tow car and now will go to club plates.

Turbo converted in 2005

242GT

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242GT chart available on line

Forg

The last of Australia's 242GT were swap over by Volvo Australia to have the twin rectangular head lights , R Sport dash

Is that R Sport dash thing definite, or has someone seen a few so assumed that was fitted to all?

Because as I said, I looked at a couple 25 years ago, I mean their owners could have been full of poo; and neither had the R Sport dash. They had everything else, but not the dash.

The reason for the 264GLE front-end was 'cos the big facelift 244/245 with the smaller profile bumpers & smoother headlights had been released, and the 242GT was looking very old for a car which was so expensive. It can't be cheap having your top-of-the-range model (and hence greatest single dollar-amount of inventory) sitting around unsold long enough that the paint goes off.

Oh, a related anecdote ... I'm not surprised regarding the reasoning for the black paint (someone told me back then that it was a repeat of the paint on a limited edition 244 GL Executive model from 1977 I think, at the time I thought I vaguely remembered it but haven't found any online photos of one since). The guy I finally bought a 242GT from 25 years ago had owned one when new, his wasn't the "1981" so it had the silver paint, he was parking outside for work at the time and he said his clear-coat started peeling within the 1yr warranty-period.

242GT

Forg

R Sport dashes were part of volvo R Sport accesories division.

I've owned my 242GT for 36yrs and it had one installed as it was one of the repainted black top cars.

Volvo's clear laquer paint was very poor quality and just couldn't handle Australia's heat and UV sun and quickly faded and peeled , it's a common paint fault with other brands of cars as well.

242GT

Volvo had a accesories section called R Sport .

Non of the 242GT were biult in 1981 , mine is compliance dated 12/1980 , but like mine the last of them were sold in 1981 due to slow sales.

It's been around since the 1960's and the release of the 120 & 140 models hence the 142GT with R Sport dashes , R Sport also had springs and shocks , the 242GT also used a slightly different cam.

I have R Sport dashes totally rebiult for sale , for late 140 , 164 , 240 & 264 with the short dash shroud over the instruments.

I have LED with dimmer & traditional bulb available, all have new gauge facials applied , new circuit boards , speedo's dismantled and restored , fully repainted frames and gauge rings & indicator strip's.

I have both 4 & cylinder dashes available

Forg

it had one installed as it was one of the repainted black top cars

Yes but this is what I was saying earlier, I drove one & tyre-kicked another of the black-top repainted cars circa 1998 or 1999, the owners both claimed they were totally original but neither had the R Sport instrument cluster. I mean they could have both been lying about having replaced the cluster with a standard one, and I didn't know enough at the time to check the compliance or build plates to see if they really were late-build cars so they could also have been lying about the cars having been delivered new with the black paint & 264GLE headlights.
ie. this is why I was asking how sure you are that "all" the 264GLE-headlighted ("California front") black-top cars had the R Sport gauges when delivered new.

The only time I even saw an R Sport cluster in a car back then was the earlier-build car I ended up buying (which was still 1980 model year although IIRC 1979 build-date), at the time I knew little about Volvos or 242GT's and nothing about R Sport so I initially thought a weird-beard had got some textured aluminium & painted it black & fitted some vintage-style yellow-face VDO gauges themselves ... 'cos that's what it looks like. 🙂

242GT

The R Sport dashes were sold through dealers accesories side of things or found in wreckers in later years , theyre easily fitted , just need the VDO oil pressure sensor with the twin knurled & threaded pins or use a duel block to plumb up original sensor ( yes/no oil pressure sensor) & a VDO single read out pin , there a standard item easily found through car accessory shops , and VDO sensor that reads to 10bar will do the job

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Note sensor next to oil filter on my 1973 144 race car. Its a single pin sensor but you can use a twin pin sensor as well.

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I have fully restored R Sport dashes for sale for both 4 & 6 cylinder 140/164 and 240/264 short dash over hand models.

it's qiute easy to convert from standard dash to the R Sport.

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Ardwerks

242GT
Are you selling an R-sport cluster? How much are looking to get for the restored one? mine is immaculate but wouldn't mind a second so I can do custom black and orange gauges for the existing one.

Forg

Indeed, but not all Cal-front 242GT's got them as standard.

That's very nice resto work!!!

If mine didn't have a 1987 dash in it I'd be all "take my money" ... actually someone has retro-fitted the gauges into a 1981+ 240 dash using a custom aluminium piece, I've seen photos, but even though he made it fit perfectly it looks all wrong.

242GT

I know the car that the longer dash your talking about went into , Warick took it back out and went full digital.

It will be a very nice car when he's finished it , he's very thorough and detailed work.

I'm not sure whether all the California front cars got the R Sport dash , all the ones I've seen over the years did but that dosnt mean some didn't.