figured I might as well post this thread here too...it's about 4 other places on the net as well...cheers!

Hello there!

I posted something like this on specialstage.com as well as some other forums...some of you know me, Tha VZA on various other forums...Viktor is the name, Volvo is the game!

Background:

I am just now finishing up my 1984 760ti 'street project car'...lots of mods there, so I have a bit of experience with Volvo's, I have had 4 in my lifetime (I'm 22), a 1990 740 GL(RIP), a 1991 245 (sold), the current 1984 760 (my baby) and my new addition as of July 2006, the 1979 242 GT.

I have been watching rally ever since I was little, but never really got into it per say until last year when I met some people who showed me that there is local rally around me and that it's easy to get involved with winter autoX'ing and TSD'ing...cue Shawn Bishop!!

I have gravel/dirt/mud driving experience from living in AB and working the oil patch, as well just taking my cars out on some gravel roads and having some fun. I love driving this terrain, more so than racing at a track, which I still find fun as well.

After reading a lot about 'how to get started' I came to the conclusion that, yes, maybe I should buy a pre built car...but I just can't do it...unless it's a Volvo...I love them too much and I think for me it's better to stick with what I know, plus where I live (Calgary, AB) there is tons of local support regarding Volvo modding (Avalanche Performance Technologies, Ian G, Athal C...etc).

The Plan:

This year's plan is to clear some debt and when I can, enter as many TSD's and winter autoX's (I did the Dec. 18 winter autoX, the Grey 245, last winter once, but it just couldn't take my abuse...plus it was auto) as I can.



Right now I have modded my GT a little bit, for street driving right now, added a 25mm front sway bar, did some bracing work, removed AC/re did PS pump, adding a K cam here in the next week or two...more duration, bigger lift...but that's it for now, just to run some TSD's and AutoX's like so. I think to start out I will purchase some cheapy gravel tires and get some skinny hakka 4's and that should be good for doing only TSD's and autoX'ing for the next 2 1/2 years.

I hope to be rallying in Grp. "D" (CARS/Rallywest vintage class) starting 2009 with the car fully prep'd as far as, suspension (Kaplenke Racing, a Volvo specific tuning company), safety, brakes, and a fully re-done body (the body is pretty clean but I am referring to some mild surface rust, paint, changing out the window glass, seam welded, basic stuff, etc) This car will however still be running the B21F, k-jet, stock motor with a 3.92 rear end...yay 100hp!

While preparing the car/rallying in 2008/9, I also hope to build a B23E motor on the side then drop into the car and try my hand at Grp. 2.

I know this may cost more than buying a pre built car but factors such as I love Volvo's too much, RWD is the best ever (IMO) and the only thing I have ever driven, I like working on cars, and why do what everyone else is doing...you know?

anyway, I'll be updating this thread with pictures/updates/maybe a video or two of the car (hopefully this is cool with the mods ) if anyone has any questions/comments/idea's to share/parts for sale/anything at all feel free!!!

here is the GT as it sits now...



ciao

Time for an UPDATE!

I'll try to make this chronological as best I can remember...but first time for a guessing game...the answer is below...what do ya'll think this is? (don't cheat and read the url...bad bad )



The Volvo in question first night it was home, on the summer tires that I had on my 760



A lower chassis brace I made, pretty much same design as iPD's



The driving lights I added, relay'd to the brights to be legal for TSD'ing



The first CSCC winter autoX event (the wagon is my buddy Raz)



While at the junkyard one day i found an early 80's US wagon with the skinny light bumper's which we didn't get in Canada, here's the front one swapped on



(the rear bumper will have to wait until I get the proper bumper shocks as the ones on the wagon were welded to a trailer hitch, which in turn was welded to the frame)

Next I thought about stripping the trunk for a spare tire mount/get rid of the sub etc.

here's what i found under the carpet...



eck...not good...but after much wire brushing...



looks a little better...

the triangle handle part is skinny enough so that I can slide the spare wheel over top of it, this will cut time when i need to change a tire because all I will have to do is loosen the nut a few threads then slide the plate out, then lift out the wheel

next comes the toolbox mount, using this for a towrope, first aid kit, and a small tool kit etc.



while reading the CARS rule book i noticed the bit about the tow hook spec's, so i made some...here's the front mounted to the stock tow hook location, the OEM Volvo tow hook does not work with the front GT spoiler i have, so that's why i had to make one, plus I think mine is better anyway!



and here is the rear, again using the stock mounting location, in addition to this it has a bracket around the bumper shock bolt



I havn't used the rear one yet, but I have rotted on the front one pretty hard spinning another Volvo 180 degrees around then towing it up hill a couple blocks, all in reverse

phew...still here?

next was to fix the problem of only having one tire traction, a big problem I found while at the winter autoX...Lincoln provided the locker



needless to say I LOVE having this mod...w00t!

however the little crap mudflaps I had on the rear got ripped off quite fast...they were only paper thin and held in with self tapping screws on the fender, I decided I needed to make some stronger mudflaps, I went to a local parts store and bought a big truck mudflap...step's/results below



the only mounting place to the car is at the "gas tank protection traingles", the other metal is just to stiffen the mudflaps up a little bit. If you wanna know what strong steel is try drilling thru a Volvo "gas tank protection triangle"...took me 25mins each side for the one little hole...

after driving for about a week I had realized I made the mudflaps a little to long and they would drag on corners etc, so I trimmed them a bit, this is them from the back as they are now



Regarding rally'ing in the future I went out looking for wheels, 14" for my winter's, and 15" for the mud/gravel's...from friends and the junkyard I found 5 more OEM 14" GT wheels (like the ones on the car right now) and 6 OEM 15" Sirius wheels...the sandblaster who does work for our company blasted and painted all 11, for really cheap too! here's what they look like

14" GT wheels ~13-14.5 lbs...soon to be wrapped in Hakka 2's (coming in the mail as we speak)



the 15" Sirius wheels ~15 lbs (not my pic, but this is what they look like)



so that's all I have for now...havn't taken pics of my exhaust but it's a cherry bomb turbo muffler DP back with side exit stylez, the airbox has been gutted and a drop in K&N filter is in there now, the tranny has also been short shifted, and a momo wheel installed

hopefully within the next month I will have the interior partially stripped, an adjustable/removeable co-driver footrest done up, another rear tow hook installed, and a metal sump guard fab'd.














oh and i know it's a bit late, but here's the GT on christmas day...




questions/comments always welcome, good or bad

thanks!

ciao

UPDATE!

some pictures from another winter auto-x i was at...












Trail of the GNU TSD Rally!

well the shiny side stayed up...ALL RALLY!!!

here's some pictures and stories...

Meeting at the Best Western in Rocky Mountain House for the driver's meeting/registration/technical inspection






notice something new...oh yeah...the mean azz tyres!!!




i am so in love with these tyres, they are most amazing thing ever...these are my first set of brand new tyres, ever, they rock! can't say enough or find the right words to describe them, they give you confidence

first stage went okay with the usual hiccups of rookie's...calculations messed up a little bit, learning the timing etc...but all in all it went okay














then...Raz hit the ditch...(although a lot of people without studded winter tyres were saying how hard it was to drive in these conditions)



i tried to pull him out, but to no avail...while i was trying this, a subaru ditched on the other side of the road due to some overplow on the road....so i tried pulling him out...



...and was succesful...



by this time like 3-4 other car's behind us had come upon this utter mess of car's everywhere...after we got going the rest followed, and everyone got back on track for stage 2













this is where it gets fun...coming around a corner at about 80 km/h i got greedy and "put the hammer down" before fully exiting the corner, here we go sidewayz, i let off the throttle...BANG the tires gripped and threw the car around the other way...

picture turning right, sliding a lil sidewayz, then whipping around backwards/sliding sidewayz again...all at 70-80km/h still...

needless to say i hit the ditch...really hard






















with the warning triangle set up and my navigator holding the tow strap ready to get towed out, i began to dig out the car with my nifty folding shovel







this is when i realized i wasn't getting out until someone towed me out, we had slid thru the snow-pack-bank and hit the frozen-mud-bank (which was also covered in snow) on the side of the road, lifting my rear tires off the ground, so i had no way of getting the car moving

sweep came not too long after though, i had the whole car dug out and ready to go, it was an easy extraction...i was alright with what had happened although my navigator seemed a little shaken up, he told me he thought we were going to roll once we whipped around

the rest of the stages went off without a hitch, no drama. went half off the road once in some deep snow which slowed us down but we didn't get stuck or anything really, just got back onto the road and slowly clibmed up a section of hill, then got back up to speed...the stages were lots of fun, lots of fast driving thru WICKED one lane roads thru the forest...such a sweet experience



^^^me and Jason (navigator) during a moment of rest waiting to start the next stage

here we are moving onto the second leg of the day...the night stages, which were so much fun and we actually ran faster during the night, i guess it was because i couldn't see all the danger's







so some day stages and some night stages, all really fun, learned a lot about my car and what it can do with some decent tyres on it, how much less i need to throttle thru corners and how well it handles on rough rough terrain, like 1-2 feet of air sometimes, just abused the thing! With a decent suspension/tyres/motor i really think this car could be a force to be reckoned with

SO...in closing, the goals of the rally for me was to A. Have Fun B. Finish the Rally and C. learn about rally'ing and improve my driving skills

all three of those goals got accomplished and that make's me happy...well worth the expense of tyres/time put into the car/entrance fee...WELL WORTH IT!

anyway...some more pictures

back in Rocky at the Rally conclusion...





^^^ ice cream hell yeah! i ate two of them :clap:

and back at home in Calgary!









talk to ya'll later!

ciao

Info about the GNU!

transit 1 = 16.50 km
stage 1 = 25.56 km

transit 2 = 31.49 km
stage 2 = 33.63 km

transit 3 = 11.60 km
stage 3 = 30.02 km

transit 4 = 1.55 km
stage 4 = 21.44 km

transit 5 = 40.76 km

Leg 1 (Daylight) = 212.55 km's total...transit km's = 101.90...stage km's = 110.65

transit 6 = 9.07 km
stage 5 = 22.41 km

transit 7 = 17.68 km
stage 6 = 23.04 km

transit 8 = 1.78 km
stage 7 = 26.95 km

transit 9 = 62.35 km

Leg 2 (Night) = 163.28 km's total...transit km's = 90.88...stage km's = 72.40

get on with your "miles" shenanigans...

entrance fee was $75 CAD

and yeah no sh1t i gotta watch the whip back thing!!! kinda glad i had that commando bumper still on the rear...we hit that frozen mud pack pretty hard

MORE PICS!







ciao

UPDATE!!!

So work has has been taking up too much time and I havvn't been able to enter as many TSD Rally's as I would have liked to this year...but so is life! I still havn't lost the rally bug though!

First, mods done to the car...

It was suggested by a few people to stiffen up the rear tow hook with a brace piece, I did use the rear tow hook at The Trail of the GNU TSD in the winter, pulled out a ditched Subaru, it held up fine and dandy, but making something a little stronger won't hurt it...





another suggestion was to make some sort of attachment points for a strap to go over the spare tire as what I had may break...well it survived the first rally and then a few weeks later it snapped off, so I re welded the post (stronger now) and made some points for a strap to attach...





some people had said that the scissor jack isn't the best thing to use because of how unstable they are...so i modded the jack, 19mm bolt welded onto the end there to raise it, larger base also attached...






so with a little more work done and a gravel/mud TSD coming up it was time to shop!!






grrrr.....evil tread! haha

SO...now that those pretty Sirius wheels (which were blasted and painted ) have some rubber on them...let's go get lost in the forest shall we?

Thanks to the CSCC for hosting "The Loop Rally", again based out of Rocky Mountain House, Alberta!



OH I FORGOT TO SAY! I got bored and was tired of the GT's mess of grey primer, rust, and whatever non stock colour shade of silver it is now...spray paint FTW!!





















so what ya'll think? went with the GT colour scheme, sorta, and for 45mins of "work" I am generally okay with it


yay tires!



and some more decals because vinyl does add wheel tq's...new hood emblem...



and courtesy of Shawn Bishop...



...RIP


So how did the rally go? well there was much navigational error, and by much I mean too much...but we're learning still! Also having a wet distributor cap after driving through a few small lakes didn't help our cause, stalled Volvo in the middle of the forest is a sad site, but we dried it off and it fired right up, I mean it is NA K-Jet!! haha

Goals for me this rally were to

1. improve/get more confident/comfortable with left foot braking - accomplished (don't hit the brake like a cable clutch anymore, haha, instant lock up! got better doing this)

2. test the car on some rougher terrain and not break anything - accomplished (except a huge rock that hit the windshield (on the highway) travelling up to the rally, showering me with glass while going 110km/h, that wasn't too fun)

3. finish the rally and not place last - accomplished (6th overall, 1st in Novice Division...and no we WEREN'T the ONLY Novice entry)

4. HAVE FUN! - you know I did!!!


oh and I mentioned the lakes right?...haha....yeah.......
















I got some holes to patch up I think!!! hah





got some cleaning to do!!!


and just because...here I am with OOLA (oo-luh)...






SO yeah...good times as always, learned some things, got a little better at driving and picking lines that won't shock the spine and jerk the car around as much, slow and steady this rally thing is coming...

questions/comments good or bad always welcome!!!

ciao

So, if I were to give you a '78 GT roof (no sunroof)....how long would it take you to correct that little problem (sunroof)?

Looking awesome! Good inspiration for the puke machine!

Sweet! Nice work Vik!
So where is all the water coming in? I'd take all the carpets etc. out and leave' em out. Easier to clean up I'm thinking.
Love those tires. They look soooo mean.

way to go on the sixth overall n first novice

Great man!! That rocks, I can'nt wait till there is another brick in CARS. When do you think you will be caged and ready to stage rally? Group 2 is brutally competitive - Aaron's civic is a monster and all those damn VW's...its time to put them in there place with the GT!! Have you done Jorge's rally driving school yet? He taught me alot about RWD racing. I am arranging a trip out to Rocket Rally to do a session with Pat Richard - I hope it will really help my driving. Best advice i ever got was to have an amazing codriver - cause when you are going 160km/hr over a crest - dear lord you hope he is right that there is no L2 on the other side!


h.

me being inquisitive again....

L2 means...?

You rock hard

james - haha, it'll be fixed whenever I fix it...I don't use it anyway, the hand crank is kinda fubar'd so I just shut it once and leave it alone...by the way I'll PM you too here later today

greg - water is coming in from a hole in the driver's side rear wheel well, and somewhere else i really don't know, but it pools behind the driver's seat on the floor, driving home I was thinking it's about time to strip the carpets (back there anyway) just to patch up holes and clean everything

kat - thanks!

houston - caged? hopefully next winter, ready to rally? who knows haha...gotta find a cheap B23E so I can tear that apart and rebuild it, as well as getting suspension done, yadda yadda yadda...yeah I know Aarons civic, also the various VW's...it'll be fun competing in GR 2 forsure

havn't been to any driving schools except some "street driving" schools which were kinda lame, got in trouble for drifting the skid car haha but I have spoken to Jorge before, I was going to get in touch with Pat as well, I was thinking of taking a stripped chassis up to Rocket so he can dip and cage the car, we'll see if he'll stray away from scooby doo's to do it!

and yes, I think with a more experienced navvie we could have prob done quite a bit better, but it was only our second rally each, so no worries right now, although I do scare him a little more than I think he should be whenver the tail whips out a bit

by the way JVL told me you were getting some 50mm struts....you must post pics and I will be coming to see them!

kat - L2 = left 2 or 2 left...depending how the driver wants it said to him...a slower left turn where going 160km/h would def make you crash out lol...gotta show you the "turn chart" used in rally

raz - no you rock hard!

ciao

There is one drain plug in the back floor and one under the sheetmetal that comes out on the front floor by the front jack point. Probably where it is coming in. For a rally car, screwing the plugs in and taking a center punch and punching holes angled down and backward might be the ticket to let any water that does get in the back drain back out easily.

Pooling back there is good in that it means your floor back there probably isn't rusted out and your windshield probably hasn't leaked much.

Still, it is a fantastic time of year to strip some sound deadening and rustprooof the floors from the inside. Wait for a nice cold day with the carpets out, grab a 20lb bag of dry ice for like $20 and put it on parts of the floor and take a mallet and have some fun. The stuff just jumps off with a little cold stuff on a cold day. You might need a screwdriver here and there.

Then, you need a dab of solvent with the car inside to wash all the glue off and have nice clean floors.

Jeezus James. Why didn't you tell me all this stuff when I was stripping my 242???

Your brain burns hotter than mine. I am new to shell prep. I got lucky almost and just thought of it at the grocery store and confirmed the notion on rally anarchy and with fellow VRI class mates.


Liquid nitrogen works AMAZINGLY...like pour it on and one smack and the sound deadening dies. Unfortunately, thanks to the laws of fortress amerika where we are all safe, it is pretty tough to come by. Dry ice works pretty good in a big bag though. Just have to be patient if it is the least bit warm out .

I have yet to discover a graceful/chemical free way to remove undercoating...short of acid dipping the whole damn car....I dream of a car fresh without monkey tape and all that ish. Thankfully, on an 85- 240 it is about as thin as a wafer anyway. There wasn't much left on the exhaust side of the '78 242GT parts car with 330K miles on it, so that control arm bushing cup cleaned up lovely in the blast cabinet. The intake side suspension I got to solvent wash off...ick. Undercoating irritates me, but my car has very little, so I get to re-rust proof it so it doesn't disappear, which is arguably even less fun.