Jon's 1978 LS Swapped Volvo 242

Right off the bat, it was very clear- Dwight’s craftsmanship, communication, and dedication was going to make the build on my 1978 Volvo 242 a good time. Now that I’m a year into driving the car, this has only become more obvious. I drove it more in 2025 than I did in the three years prior, with no issues. That’s saying a lot for a vehicle I picked up in California in 2018, drove home, and have owned since. I treated the drivetrain with absolute disrespect last year, it survived multiple passes through the burnout pad at Hardcore Happening, burnouts at my shop and my friend’s garage, all on top of 2000 miles of rowing through the first three gears hitting the limiter, dropping the clutch, etc. I didn’t have him swap in a BTS-cammed iron 5.3, T56, Ford 8.8, on sticky tires for nothing.

Dwight’s insight and abilities allowed us to use a mixture of kits for the swap on the Volvo platform and a number of custom pieces. I came to him with a vision of the end result and he helped steer me away from unnecessary rabbit holes. I mean, if I could do all this sort of work, I wouldn’t have needed his help, right? I trusted him to have the right connections to get the axles made, to modify the driveshaft to fit, things like that. The custom intake that’s notched to clear the radiator fan is one of my favorites- it’s so clean. Not to mention custom radiator mounts, a custom relay cover and the CLEANEST looming of wiring in the engine bay. His custom aluminum bezel to fit the Holley dash display within the OEM dash is so clean, it’s obviously not stock but it doesn’t scream at you. Same goes for the custom fuse cover that was missing since before I bought the vehicle. Other things that made a world of difference like custom risers for the NOS Recaro seats, utilizing the factory sliders, aftermarket adapters, all to give a proper seat position for me. He even went so far as to paint the block the period-correct red that the Volvo engines got.

What else can I say? The exhaust sounds perfect- it lets the cam show through but isn’t annoying like a straight pipe. The tune from Boosted is great, 385/375 from an LM7 with a cam is more than enough for me (over triple the power this car had when it was new). The wheels and fitment that Dwight, Giancarlo at DarkLab and Liam at Rochester Coatings & Finishes cooked up? Mint. I can’t wait to drive this thing even more this year. The thrill hasn’t worn off. That’s worth every penny in my book.