".....I was brought home from my birth place in a 78, 242 GT...."
Wow, they didn't have those when I was born. I think my first car trip might have been in a
fairly new 1937 Chevrolet, known with slight affection as the Green Goddess.
No clue where it is now.
My first suggestion to you is that it may be more satisfactory to be OC about getting it into operation than
having it perfect. Don't know where you are but you would be well off to find either a pick and pull with lots of 122s or a parts car of similar model.
That would make it much simpler than trying to buy the stuff new (although it is mostly available through GCP and VP.
I had the opportunity to visit both of their establishments in Sweden summer before last as part of a VCOA tour (¡JOIN NOW!) and I can say that it was astonishing to say the least.
Stuff that we would normally give our eyeteeth to lay hands on used but in good condition, they had new by the boxes and barrels full!
You would probably do yourself a favor to get a good pair of SU HS6 carbs with proper manifolds.
The dual downpipe exhaust manifold with the right pipe will add a few hp, and the SU Carbs, if properly tuned, will too.
(Caution - shameless plug:) Jim Taylor here in Bartlesville does a good job of refurbing SU carbs. (918) 333-3444
Many others do also, including Joe Curto in New York, Rhys Kent in BC, Tom Bryant in Maine, etc.
Getting the carbs refurbed will put good tuning into the realm of possibility.
It is impossible to do a reasonable job of tuning on worn SU carbs!
--
George Downs, Bartlesville, Heart of the USA!

Jay;

Welcome to the Forum!

...I believe you may never get Volvo entirely out of your blood...instead of expensive therapy, most here have elected to just wrench it away...

There's worldwide vehicle specific experience available to you here, combined with your undoubted knowledge and experience, you should be able to get to a point of having fun shortly...

Regarding IGN key...sounds like someone has removed all the pins which allow the lock cylinder to turn with a unique key, thinking that this will help with the broken key syndrome...actually it may indirectly...because one doesn't have to weaken the key by cutting, so it remains as strong as possible...the actual cause of the high return force (at Start Position only) which is responsible for eventually leading to fatigue and weakening, is the monster return spring in the electrical switch behing lock cylinder. A separate Start pushbutton, which eliminates the need to turn the key into the momentary Start Position is the accepted, permanent cure. More suggested reading: http://sw-em.com/service%20notes.htm#Body

On older cars, castellated nuts/pins were the norm, later Nylocks were used...I suppose if I didn't have either, I'd doublenut too...

Cheers