I recently bought a flathood off of 78' 242 and the hood is aluminum. It only weighs 7-8 pounds maybe. I talked to my mechanic and he said they didn't have aluminum hoods. I then checked it with a magnet. It is aluminum. I have asked around and nobody has ever seen an aluminum hood and I'm wondering where it came from. Anybody know?

You are the proud owner of what many consider to be an urban legend. I know several people who claim to have seen one and the part number is listed in the R Sport catalog but they are rare indeed. The closest I came was the parts guy at large indy shop who claims he had one sitting in the back of the warehouse for years. He never did find it. Well done!

Skip
'93 850GLT
'83 242TI Flathood

They were rare. Can you post pictures of it, specifically the underside? I'm wondering if the bracing is shaped different. Does it look any different from a standard 240 hood?
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forums.turbobricks.com

Most likely an aftermarket part. Were there any engine modifications in the 78 242 that you know of, some "racers" do almost anything to reduce weight.

Dan D.
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Dan D. '85 245 DL 'Puff the Magic Wagon' , '93 945 .
Delanisdjd*at*msn.com
Parting out 87 240 wagon email me with needs.

No, it wasn't even a turbo.

Was the car a 242GT by any chance? The GT would have been silver originally with black and orange stripes- quite possibly long gone, but the GT parts may still be there:
squared off, low front spoiler
square foglights in grille
navy blue corduroy seats with brown stripes
orange trim stripe on dash
strut-to-firewall braces under the hood
big sway bars (but you'd have to measure them)
special spoked 14" alloy wheels

The 242GT in the US market received the same anemic B21F engine as a regular 242DL, or a 245, etc. They almost all had sunroofs and almsot all had the M46 4+OD trans.
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Rob Bareiss, New London CT ::: '87 244DL/M47- 229K, 88 744GLE- 218K, 82 245T-181K Also responsible for the care and feeding of: 88 745GLE, 231K, 87 244DL, 239K, 88 245DL, 246K

I'd bet it was a factory item. In the 70s, Chrysler put aluminum hoods on a number of Plymouth Dusters and Dodge Dart Sports, and in the 80s, GM put aluminum hoods on many of the full-size RWD sedans, among others. Once you have the dies to stamp a steel body panel, it's a fairly simple matter to press them in aluminum. Carmakers did experiment with this quite a bit trying to increase MPG.

It might be worthwhile to carry a little magnet in your pocket every time you walk through a junkyard looking for Volvo parts, to see if you can find more. I'd never have known about the hoods on the big GM cars if I hadn't seen one where an engine fire melted through one.
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1991 245, 61k miles, looking for a 5 speed 92-93 245 cheap.

Ok , thanks for the imput everybody im going to try to answer all the questions at once...No, it was not a GT car...I'm sure it is a factory item...and no, the hood looked the same as any other hood that i have ever seen

oh and i would post pictures of it, but my camera is not working at the moment...i will figure something out...

I have a '78 242GT that I'm parting out and it doesn't have an aluminum hood. I did see a '77 242GT with an aluminum hood that a Volvo mechanic had at Volvo of Westport, CT in the mid-80's. I wanted the car really bad, it had been converted into a turbo, and was full of R-Sport parts. The guy decided to sell it to me after I bought the '78.
You can always tell the aluminum hood becasue the silver paint doesn't stick well and flakes off on the GT. His car had perfect paint except for the hood, really stood out.
Nice find!
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'89 245 Sportwagon, '96 960 sedan

"You can always tell the aluminum hood becasue the silver paint doesn't stick well and flakes off on the GT. His car had perfect paint except for the hood, really stood out."

Prep of surface and choice of primer are critical. I can't cite a particular product, but you need to talk with a paint supplier before you do it. Insist that the paint shop use use the exact primer/finish coat combination the paint mfr specifies, and also to follow instructions exactly for stripping the old paint and preparing the surface.

Aluminum building products are (successfully) painted with enamel. Same issues apply for cars except for greater heat with a car hood.

Good luck.

Doug Harvey

My 97 960 had the tenisoner pully freeze up and toss the timing belt {new belt at 67k now has 82k} I was returning a movie to blockbuster and the car was idling when it went.I replaced the belt, tensioner ,idler pully had the car put back together and we had no compression . Now my regular mechanic has called a volvo specialist and his prices are obsene.He wants 2300.00 to fix the head but says it could go as high as 3300.00 if the head can not be machined. He says I should replace the engine with one he has with 86k for 2600.00 I smell a rat. I know I can get a new gasket set and 24 new valves from FCP Groton for 650.00 . -SO MY BIG QUESTION IS. Can my very good but not a volvo specialist mechanic do this repair? It is just a inline 6 thats easy to get to. HELP!



e

"You can always tell the aluminum hood becasue the silver paint doesn't stick well and flakes off on the GT. His car had perfect paint except for the hood, really stood out."

Prep of surface and choice of primer are critical. I can't cite a particular product, but you need to talk with a paint supplier before you do it. Insist that the paint shop use use the exact primer/finish coat combination the paint mfr specifies, and also to follow instructions exactly for stripping the old paint and preparing the surface.

Aluminum building products are (successfully) painted with enamel. Same issues apply for cars except for greater heat with a car hood.

Good luck.

Doug Harvey