Big headed Volvo freak

[clitti]

Has any body seen the 242 T in this little film before?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2Do0VTcQDE

Some Welsh lunatic bought this car from Yukspeed in York,oh yeah it was me..................!

[clitti]

I must apolagize for my smug factor,but i was just having a conversation with a friend who asked me how many Volvos i have had and which one I'd enjoyed owning the most.I said the ex works 242 T but in reality its always been the 300 series that i've held a torch for and heres the proof.

Red 3 dr 360 GLT THB776Y "My first"
Black 5dr 360 GLT
Red 5 dr 360GLT
Silver 3dr 360 GLT 2.3
Yellow 3dr 360 GLT 2.3
Silver 3dr 360GLT
White 5dr 360 GLT 2.3 D365TJN "My Guardian Angel"
Green 5dr 360 GLS 2.3 E899XNC "The Rev Machine"
Green 3dr 360 GLS "Totally stripped out,welded diff,no windowed field car"
Blue 3dr 340 "Present Project Car"
Green 240 GLT A485KWR "The Big Green Fun Bus"
White 240 Torslanda "£10 Car"
Beige 242 DL LHD "Reborn as a 242Turbo"
Red 242 DL "Lost in Kuwaiti customs"
White and blue 242 turbo Ex David Gillanders,"330HP Of pant messing joy"
Blue 262 Coupe "Devoured by our arch enemy,oxidization"
Gold 440 Turbo "The king of power understeer"
Red 850 2.0 10 V "The gutless Slug"
Silver 850 2.5 20 V "The dry ice machine"
Green 850 TDI "Wheres the Cambelt Gone"
Silver S60 D5 "The European Jetsetter"

Has the jury come to a verdict?
It has your honour.We find the defendant guilty of being a complete Volvo freak..............!!!!!!!

[shimon340]

interesting 242 T. Was this car built privately? you say works car but did Volvo Uk build it? I wasnt aware of an official 240 rally team. I know the volvo original cup is big in sweden and that includes rallycross.

volvo build a touring car based on the 240 and won in the 80s but I forget which year.

where was the 242T you own raced?

[clitti]

The 242 T was built by Gartrac for Gillanders in 1984.He won his group in 1985 in the car and I believe that it was sold to Malcolm Wilson at some stage, after that a private race team took it saloon car racing.I bought the car in1998 did a couple of hill climbs with it.I wanted to take it road rallying but you can imagine the local motorclubs faces when i sugested that i would be entering the local road rally in it. I eventually advertised it in CCC magazine and a friendly Swede met me in Newcastle and drove it onto the 24hr ferry crossing and took her home.I almost shed a tear when he drove off in her but a night out in the Barhar Beach Club in Newcastle soon cheered me up.A very difficult car to drive it was.Like a 1.1 fiesta under 3000rpm and like an exocet missile as soon as it spooled up,but great fun none the less.

[foggyjames]

Interesting car, that 242. Group A homologation papers exist for 240s and 360s...and it was possible to buy shells from the factory, back in the day. Sven & Bilbo's 360 rally car is an ex-works Group A shell, I believe.

The powerplant sounds similar to the ones used in the ETCC cars - low compression B21 (hence the lack of bottom end), and about the right power figure. Remember any more details about it? The Group A touring cars were quite radically diifferent to the factory spec cars.

cheers

James

[clitti]

When i purchased the 242 it had been partly stripped down.But luckily enough all the parts were still in the car but not on it.When I got it back to the garage it was just a case of emptying out all of the parts to see what was there and what was'nt.It had a brand new Safety Devices cage still in its wrapping so i fitted that first.Rear calipers needed refitting as well and the injectors needed unblocking and that was about it.I'll try and remember the specs so here goes.
2.1 Nelson built engine.330 HP (APPROX)
Hybrid turbo with in car adjustable boost
V8 fuel distributer. 2 outlets feeding 1 injector
Adjustable fuel regulater
AP paddle clutch
AP pressure plate
Lightened flywheel
Alloy bell housing with quick release feature for the gearbox
Getrag M51 box with dogleg first and 1.1 5th gear
Fully floating rear axle
ZF LSD 4.8 Ratio(i think)
330 mm discs all round with AP 4pot forest calipers
Twin fuel pumps,swirl pot.all fuel lines and brake lines metal braided
Bias pedal box and hydraulic handbrake

Thats about all i can remember.

[foggyjames]

That sounds very much like a Group A engine setup - I believe they used a K-Jet fuel distributor from a V8. Some also had what looked like an EFI setup which delivered water injection.

If it's not a rude question, what did you sell the car for in the end? A 'real' ex-ETCC car is worth serious £££

cheers

James

[volvorsport]

i remember the advert , and i can remember kicking myself for not trying to buy it . i was down in wales at the time . did you sell some of the spares off like the wheels/axle ?

[clitti]

I kept the car at a garage i was working in at the time but due to lack of space i had to keep it outside.It killed me to see it outside in the rain,which we get alot of here in Wales,so i advertised it in CCC magazine and a man from Sweden came over and bought it for £3800 so i only lost £200 on it.But i bet its worth a small fortune now.I didnt keep any of the spares coz the garage was being sold and i did'nt have anywhere to keep anything.I'm kicking myself now coz the 15"x10" 5 spoke Revoloution wheels would be ideal for my 300 cross 240 project car.The only thing i did keep woz the Gartrac built sumpguard which is about 6 foot long and 12mm thick which i will be using on the project car

[shimon340]

hi

I know volvo has at least one of their ETCC cars preserved but as with all such race series, they built maybe 6 or more cars for the year. Volvo heritage doesnt keep them all, they keep one example and the other identical ones get sold on. From memory, the BTCC S40s and 850s, once heritage had their cars (and the non driving or standard drivetrain mockup advert/photoshoot cars) were moved to Sweden for the STCC and then sold onto private racers. it makes sense that such an ETCC car could be in the open market now They also ended up in the australian touring cars

I did once see an ex-BTCC S40 from the winning 1998 series for sale but it was a little outside of my budget

[foggyjames]

Yes, you do see former ETCC 242TIs for sale from time to time. Not cheap, though...

cheers

James