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Thought it might be fun, although painful, to hear about what some have done to their Volvos. So, on my 81 245
New tires New bushings, all of them
New outer tie rods New strut mounts
New f/r sway bars (IPD) New shocks f/r (IPD)
New springs f/r Rebuilt differential
New u-joints and balanced drive shaft New center support bearing
New oil pan seal New oil pump spring and o-ring
R&R entire intake manifold system New flame trap box
Relocation of EGR valve New exhaust manifold gaskets New exhaust manifold bolts New exhaust man down pipe
New exhaust system (IPD) New motor/tran mounts
New timing belt/tensioner All new belts
New ac dryer, pressure switch New intank fuel pump
New tail gate wiring harness New fuel injectors
Tinting film, all windows New fuel pump relay/wiring
R/R hand brake cable New rad/heater hoses
Replaced distributer Replace/reseal front windshield
Paint/clear coat entire car New fan for a/c system
Replace heater fan motor New turbo wheels
I've probably forgotten some things and this list doesn't include all the fluid changes, alignments, balancing etc. I've done some of the work myself and had some done by a Volvo mechanic at his home. Still have stuff to do like remove/balance flywheel, replace front calipers, and redo front seat covers. Then I'll probably look at some upgrades. No, I haven' dared to look at the cost. I'm sure it close to 10k including the cost of the car.
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posted by
someone claiming to be
on
Wed Dec 31 18:00 CST 1969 [ RELATED]
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I've posted these before, but since you asked: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=53563&id=1189132524&l=75a2564d60
Since then, I've replaced the U joints and had the driveshaft balanced; replaced the rear wheel bearings, fuel injectors and added heated, adjustable mirrors.
--
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid
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posted by
someone claiming to be
on
Wed Dec 31 18:00 CST 1969 [ RELATED]
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I won't put a price tag on the following links, but I think you'll get the idea.... The end result at 306K miles is priceless!
http://www.ipdusa.com/nl-16-86
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8498733@N02/
I have done much more work to the car since then, but mostly maintenance issues.
jorrell
--
92 245 299.3K miles, IPD'd to the hilt, 06 XC70, 00 Eclipse custom Turbo setup...currently taking names and kicking reputations!
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posted by
someone claiming to be
on
Wed Dec 31 18:00 CST 1969 [ RELATED]
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Really roughly, off the top of my head:
-Bought in 2005 with AW71 and '94 B230FT already installed, running just slightly over stock boost levels.
-Bilstein HD's front adn rear (already had IPD sways on both ends)
-IPD lowering springs
-17X7 wheels and 215/45/17 Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD3 tires (really great tires, didn't last long, $$$$)
-Ford 'Browntop' injectors - LH 2.4 learned them, enabled me to go up to ~12, 14 psi
-Isuzu NPR intercooler - exceedlingly close to a drop in replacement for the stock intercooler, only much more effective - a couple more PSI, especially on hot days
-replaced the AW71 automatic trans with an M47 5 speed manual
-Clutchnet 'red' pressure plate and kevlar clutch disc
-Megasquirt ECU - just more of a fun science project, more than anything. Replaced the ignition and fuel computers
-DIY wideband O2 sensor and AFR gauge
-IPD Turbo cam - hey, it can actually rev a little now!
-3" exhaust from tailpipe to downpipe
-16t turbo upgrade (from 850 R)
-ported the turbo housing and exhaust manifold (opening to turbo is really small for some reason)
-940 electric fan in place of mechanical fan
-MSD 6A coil box and MSD Blaster coil
-IPD coil wires
-Summit battery relocation kit - removed battery from front left corner, placed it in the RR cargo cubby
-replacement hatch wiring harnesses from FCP (inop defroster, intermittent rear power lock)
-replaced stock 530 casting head with 531 (penta) head - with 37.5 mm exhaust valves and some mild porting - used the IPD turbo cam
-Cometic steel headgasket
-M47 broke 3rd gear (too much torque!) - swapped in a Mustang V8 T5 transmission
-one piece driveshaft to match
-Toyo T1 R tires - 225/45/17, cheaper, not quite as nice (don't feel as crisp in cornering)
-IPD adjsutable rear torque arms
-blew up the 8V motor - 25 psi and some iffy gas will do that
-junkyard '94 B230FT
-H-beam rods, forged pistons, machine shop work on block and short/short block assembly
-new Melling oil pump
-16V B234 head from junkyard
-Yoshifab timing belt tensioner and intake manifold adapter
-pair of TTR adjsutable timing gears
-Volvo 960 throttle body
-JGS Turbo exhaust manifold
-eBay (Chinese) GT3076R turbo
-Racetronix 1000cc injectors
-Innovate LC-1 wideband and analog AFR gauge
-setup up Megasquirt to switch between E85 (105, 110 octane) and premium (93 octane)
-G80 locking rear differential installed in 240 axle
-new throwout bearing - killed the old one on a long road trip - apparently it was lightly riding on the PP and a long trip was enough to overheat it and kill it. Luckily the swap uses a Mustant t/o bearing and I was able to get one. On the weekend, in rural Alabama, for $15. Swapped it in a driveway in 2 hours flat!
-Mazda RX7 4 piston aluminum fixed calipers on adapters up front with 11 1/4" diameter Volvo 960 rotors
That brings us to the present day. It dynoed 304 HP at the wheels a couple of months ago, and the best 1/4 mile time so far is 13.2@104 mph.
I've got some more things planned for this spring:
-Custom intake manifold - replacing the 8V intake manifold and adapter
-new 16V head - with some porting done, maybe some bigger valves?
-New Megasquirt controller - currently MS1, going to MS3X.
-performance 16V cams
-Ford V8 'beehive' valve springs-Ditching the crank sensor (and it's reliance on the dog-dish flywheel) and replacing it with a DSM crank sensor built into a dstributor body
-Coil-on-plug ignition
-lighter flywheel, stronger clutch
That will probably use up the amount of money I want to waste on it this year. Hopefully put the car into the 350, 375 WHP range.
Next year:
-tubular header
-better turbo
Hopefully put the car into the 400 - 450 whp range.
Probably need to do some sort of axle swap at some point as well. Volvo axles are tough, but they weren't built to handle that much abuse. Have a Ford Explorer axle swap in mind...
As bought - a real creampuff '93 Classic edition (#1141 out of 1600) with extremely nice paint and flawless tan leather interior and very professionally swapped Turbo drivetrain:
Really, I think it had new upholstery installed,seats were *barely* sat in:
This wasn't how it looked from the factory, but it's how it SHOULD have looked!
Now - doing duty as a bike/family hauler (two tandems and a single there):
Running mid/low 13's at the drag strip:
Under the hood:
--
'63 PV544 rat rod, '93 Classic #1141 245 (now w/16V turbo)
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posted by
someone claiming to be
on
Wed Dec 31 18:00 CST 1969 [ RELATED]
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You sir have a mental disorder that requires immediate incarceration in an institution for the criminally insane. BTW, BITCHIN LOOKING RIDE WHAT A SLEEPER
Regarding the '94 B230FT ENGINE YOU SALVAGED AT WRECKING YARD. How do I identify this as being the referenced motor above? I assume you'd already discerned this particular engine was the sturdiest as well as highest potential for producing max H.P.? And further since this torque monster puts out the numbers I take it I should buy the trans & rear diff at the same time? As a cost Vs. Benefit analysis
would I be ahead looking for an early '90's turbo wagon and starting here/at this junction.
Wait you managed to scatter the trans so Just buy the engine and begin looking for a Mustang tranny? I've the same life long sickness you currently suffer from, too much horsepower is just enough.
1fat cat
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posted by
someone claiming to be
on
Wed Dec 31 18:00 CST 1969 [ RELATED]
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If you want to learn about pepping up an old redblock Volvo, Turbobricks.com is the forum to learn from.
The reason I got the late model B230 donor motor is because the last iteration of the B230 had piston oil squirters installed, these keep the piston temps down. I think the main reason Volvo put those into the motors was to allow them to run tighter piston clearances (less thermal expansion to account for) - because they'd been getting customer complaints about piston slap noises on cold engines for a while. But in a turbo engine - keeping the pistons cool is a really good thing as it helps prevent detonation. Of course, you can put squirters on any engine, but might as well get one from the junkyard with them already in it if you have a choice.
Running through the engines backwards in time:
93+ B230 - Has the stronger rods, has oil squirters. Distinguishable from earlier B230's by the timing belt - rounded teeth on the belt and gears.
89 - 92 B230 - Has the stronger rods, *might* have oil squirters? - apparently Volvo put squirters in some of them, but it's spotty. Distinguishable from earlier B230's by having large cats in bumps along the oil gallery on the right side of the engine - to make room for the oil squirters, even though they didn't install them as standard for another 3 years. And distinguishable from later B230's by the square toothed timing belt teeth.
85 - 89 B230 - The 'efficiency' engine? In any case, whatever Volvo was after they used weaker 'skinny' connecting rods, and a center thrust bearing. Just a somewhat weaker motor design. No problems in the turbo cars, at stock boost levels. But try to hot rod one of these and you're on thin(ner) ice. Get the tuning wrong, ping it a little under boost, and you'll likely bend and break a rod or two.
83 - 85 B23 - in some ways purported to be the strongest motor (all stock components).
As for the transmission - The M46 (4 spd OD) and M47 (5 spd) are both pretty much identical internally - gears 1-4. Same design, just the M46 hangs an electrically activated OD on the back end, and the M47 has a more compact 5th gear in a housing bolted on the back end. Both of them, however, share a weak 3rd gear. 3rd gear resides at the end of the output shaft, farthest from the bearing support on the back side of the case, and more dependent on the support from the input shaft. With some miles on the bearings, this just allows 3rd gear to push away from the layshaft a little more when under torque - and this will eventually lead to a failure. A very rough ballpark HP figure (gleaned from numerous failures among the turbobricks crowd) seems to be 225 HP.
Not hard shifting, just full throttle in 3rd gear. Vrooooomm*gigantic metallic Velcro ripping sound*... Car made it back home as a 4 speed, though.
Automatic AW71 transmissions can handle more power, I just swapped mine out early on because I just like driving a manual. Even if it was faster with the automatic (no lifting during shifts - the boost continues unabated). As you go up past 250 hp or so, you might need to tinker with the valve body some - the fluid accumulators that smooth the shifts start placing stress on the trans internals as they try to smooth shifts on that much HP by slurring the shifts slightly. Disabling the accumulators makes the shifts more abrupt, but saves the clutch packs.
Rear axles are fairly overspecced in Volvos, the main limitation on their life span is the traction of the rear tires. Get sticky enough tires on a normally aspirated 115 HP car and dump the clutch hard enough, you can break it. Conversely, leave normal tires on your 450 HP beast motor and you'll have trouble launching it without spinning, but the axle will survive. So in vague terms, at whatever point you find yourself contemplating some slick drag tires, you might need to be thinking about how to get your car home afterwards when the rear axle grunches.
A 93+ 940 turbo would have the nice engine already in it, a couple of down points for me are that they only came with automatic transmissions, and the rear suspension is a little weaker on them (instead of the stout 4-bar of the 240, they have a center mounted torque beam that can bend). And just from a style standpoint, I like the 240's looks more than the 'where'd my french curve go? Oh well, I'll just use this straight edge' styling of the 700/900 cars.
The HP level of the car is, however, one of those goals you'll repeatedly arrive at, then see it recede again. When I first got the car, it probably had 140, 150 hp, felt nice and peppy. Then after a few months, I wanted more. And each time I made it faster, I'd be at first again impressed, excited, then gradually just used to it and wanting to go a little faster. Currently, it's a bit brutal - the engine is a little peaky and the power comes on in such an intense shot that you can only use it in little tiny bursts on public roads. But it's still perfectly fine in 'daily driver' mode - the electronic boost control only kicks it into full-tilt mode when the pedal is all the way down, avoid that last bit of pedal travel and it acts like a perfectly sane 160, 180 hp car.
The upcoming projects of mine are just sort of completing steps. The 16V engine was initially built with a few shortcuts, just to get the car on the road and driving. I think once I get the last few things done I'll finally be content and happy with the car and stop fidgeting with it.
hah
--
'63 PV544 rat rod, '93 Classic #1141 245 (now w/16V turbo)
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posted by
someone claiming to be
on
Wed Dec 31 18:00 CST 1969 [ RELATED]
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I have a 94' 945, and I'm dealing with the ECU going out. This makes my car run poorly when it does want to run. I think my best bet is putting a standalone ECU in it, I'm looking at speeduino right now, but my transmission is the AW71. This leaves me with the question: can I replace the ECU on an automatic transmission car? I'm not sure if it is the same or a different computer that controls the trans. Any pointers in the right direction would be greatly appreciated.
- Nathan
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posted by
someone claiming to be
on
Wed Dec 31 18:00 CST 1969 [ RELATED]
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Hi,
You are asking a question on the wrong tab for a 900 series car.
You are responding to a thread that you got by asking a question by probably using a search engine.
You just didn’t recognize how old the thread was. It happens all the time.
Start your own thread by posting it on the 900 tab
Hopefully Dave Steven’s can answer it for you.
I don’t own a 900 series vehicle but when I ask a question to him he is an encyclopedia of fixes for lots of older Volvos.
I have learned not to go and blame a ECU until a last resort as there are a mirrored of other things that can cause symptoms of poor operation.
He is very through with explanations and writes nice responses.
Phil
Oh. By the way welcome to the Brickboard.
I see you are in the Michigan area and Dave is in Canada so you could be almost neighbors!
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posted by
someone claiming to be
on
Wed Dec 31 18:00 CST 1969 [ RELATED]
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I bought it brand new in 1986 for $18,000.00 and change, including taxes, title, registration fees etc. It had 27 miles on the odometer. Now has 327,000 miles and climbing by about 400 miles a week.
I won't pull out the binder (!) with all of the service records, but major repairs off the top of my head have included:
-Replaced head gasket and had head reconditioned, incl. valve job (not necessary but head was off)
-Engine wiring harness
-New clutch kit
-Rebuilt overdrive
-A few sets of motor mounts/tranny mounts
-Steering rack
-Rebuilt power steering pump
-Blower motor and heater core
-Rebuilt A/C compressor, converted system to R134a
-New bushings in the rear suspension
-At least three sets of ball joints, and two sets of tie-rod ends
-New radiator
-Three water pumps
-Two air mass meters
-Three catalytic convertors
-Two complete cat-back exhaust replacements
-Two starters, one alternator (plus three sets of brushes)
-Two pre-pumps, one main fuel pump
-Have replaced the wiring in the tailgate at least twice
I also had the car professionally painted in 2008. This was not a MAACO job and cost over a grand. Also had the driver's seat rebuilt and all of the seats recovered with new leather in '06. That was also pretty dang expensive (local auto upholstery shop that does mostly bimmers and Mercs).
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posted by
someone claiming to be
on
Wed Dec 31 18:00 CST 1969 [ RELATED]
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‘89 wagon--about 215K miles-Let's see--over the 6 years we’ve had it-new starter, new a/c compressor, drier and expansion valve, converted to r134; new windshield, "new" (to me) great black leather seats, (rest of interior immaculate), new suspension including rack and pinion, front and rear heavy duty anti-sway bars along with new HD shocks front and rear, new struts and HD springs. All rear (and front) suspension bushings replaced mostly with poly bushings, all suspension parts replaced with upgrades when possible. New paint-(dark-ish metallic silver/grey), new power steering pump, new heater/ac blower-(Volvo-not after market)- installed “anti-sway” (I think it’s called-not sure,)-bar from top of struts to firewall. Doors, in and out, and glass and map pockets all close to immaculate also. All upholstery, carpet and headliner excellent! Rear cargo area also excellent. Back hatch new shocks. Replaced weak Volvo horns with VERY loud horns from salvaged BMW 325i. Great horns! Side windows, except for front side windows, have very light tint. Of course all regular maintenance cared for ie: oil/filter every 3k, air filter, belts and hoses, regular tune-ups, tires when needed-brake pads-rotors etc-normal maintenance stuff. Transmission, motor almost like new-no leaks, no oil consumption. A solid drive! Just wish I could get 40 mpg!!
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posted by
someone claiming to be
on
Wed Dec 31 18:00 CST 1969 [ RELATED]
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I wish I could get 40 mpg too. My 240 is just a 250.00 work car that cost less than 1000.00 to fix everything wrong and still have a decent car and so far no problems at 412,000 miles. I got it with 289,000. I had to retire my 95 960 wagon after 489,000 miles it just drank too much gas and oil and had no heat.
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posted by
someone claiming to be
on
Wed Dec 31 18:00 CST 1969 [ RELATED]
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HUMBO,
I have replaced the turn signal bulb on the left side. I also replaced a vacuum hose. It is very interesting, but the original trunk lamp had a mercury switch in it. I freaked the **** out and removed both the trunk and hood lamps. I also removed the passenger seat and have no intention of reinstalling it, because it is much more pleasurable to lie down with someone then to sit next to them. It is especially true if the other persons legs are not thickly hairy.
One time the battery cable came loose, I wiggled it back on.
Goatman
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posted by
someone claiming to be
on
Wed Dec 31 18:00 CST 1969 [ RELATED]
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Everything has either been replaced or serviced over the past 450K, EXCEPT for the starter. It is the original. I do have a spare sitting on the shelf when that day arrives. (I hope I didn't just jinx myself.)
--
'86 sedan with 450,000 miles on the original engine and automatic transmission
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