PDA

View Full Version : Hammered 1981 242t rising from the ashes


krg1971
06-05-2007, 11:20 PM
1981 242t + 90+ b230T + I

Let’s start this thread by stating that this started as a favor to a friend for his son who had been left out in the cold by all the people he helped with their projects and then no one wanted to help with his (which one of us has never had this happen?). So I told the dad I would help just bring the car to me and I will work on it in my “spare time” to keep the costs down. I have not done a 2.2 conversion before but how hard can it be… right? I was told that we should have most of the parts, there will be a few things to get but since we don’t know what they are we can’t tell what is missing.
At the end of this article I will have a comprehensive parts list if this is something you are thinking about doing this is what you’ll need.

That being said my first look at this car came when it was delivered to my house via a flat bed trailer and a pile-o- parts in the back of gsellstr’s Ramcharger. The rear deck lid was off and a motor was in the trunk!! At this time I remember thinking to my self WTF have I gotten my self into!!
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa105/krg1971/Sep1004.jpg
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa105/krg1971/Sep1005.jpg
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa105/krg1971/Sep1007.jpg

This swap was originally supposed to be a LH 2.4 so that was how it was started - remove both engines and the transmission. Sent what we thought was a LH 2.4 flywheel to the shop to be surfaced and checked, and start making preparations for this swap I removed the bell housing and cut a 2” hole in the top of it so it would clear the crank trigger (this was easily accomplished by using a 2’hole saw and going very slow). Once the hole was made I took a die grinder and smoothed the edges. Reassembled the trans installed a new pilot bearing then came one of the many fun spots- lining up the crank trigger window on the flywheel. Needless to say this was the most critical part of this portion of the install because if it’s installed incorrectly the car won’t run. Two hours of why isn’t this right leads me to count the dimples in the flywheel. If your flywheel only has 44 dimples and space for 48 throw it away it is a rex flywheel and is not compatible. I was able to trade the resurfaced rex flywheel and 25.00 for a non-surfaced LH 2.4 flywheel. And now I’m waiting on the owner to send me some money to purchase the trans seal kit “I am as broke as the next guy and can not afford to float parts for someone else”
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa105/krg1971/Jan07_07.jpg
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa105/krg1971/Jan07_08.jpg

The next two weekends are assembly and installation of the motor and Trans.
And this is where I ran into my 2nd issue with the swap. I had this really cool euro down pipe to install and it didn’t fit…. scratch my head.... hey the oil filter is in the way!!! Ok so use the oil filter adapter from the B21ft - it fits much better. But wait the oil line for the turbo doesn’t fit now so if you have the funds to do so go with braided lines; if you don’t you can do what I did and use your trusty tubing bender to reroute the line (making sure that there is enough clearance for the alternator).
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa105/krg1971/Jan07_53.jpg


The next part was were I ran into multiple issues with the 2.4 install because this is in California and will need to pass a smog check all emission items that were there from the factory need to be there . This required lots of custom fabrication starting with the air cleaner box all the way to the inter-cooler brackets.

Before

http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa105/krg1971/Jan07_33.jpg
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa105/krg1971/Jan07_34.jpg
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa105/krg1971/Jan07_37.jpg

During

http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa105/krg1971/Jan07_39.jpg
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa105/krg1971/Jan07_43.jpg
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa105/krg1971/Jan07_46.jpg
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa105/krg1971/Jan08_02.jpg

After
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa105/krg1971/Mar04_87.jpg
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa105/krg1971/Jan16_20.jpg

It’s now closing on Christmas time and I’m ready to start the wiring part of this project.
This should have been fairly straight forward but after extensive reading of the wiring diagrams and diagnostic trouble code charts we determined that the lh 2.4 would function correctly without a vehicle speed sensor but would set a check engine light (this is an automatic fail in CA) and due to budgetary concerns the purchase of a vss rear end and late model speedo cluster were out …. So was LH 2.4. After much discussion it was decided that we would go with LH 2.2 because it does not have or generate diagnostic trouble codes and a lot of the stuff that I had already fabricated would work
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa105/krg1971/jan16_02.jpg

Well I thought that the harness was good until I started stripping the insulation off of it and found all three of the harnesses that I had found had some wire degradation so I was pissed and started building my own (correct colors only)

I called in some help for this portion of the project as I am not that familiar with the wiring on these cars. Thanks to Steve O & Justin used to be H and is now S. 26 hours later (over two weekends) the harness was done and we decided to mount both ecu’s on the passenger side (this makes the wiring much easier and cleaner). We left as much of the drivers side harness as we could but still removed about 8 pounds of unnecessary wiring from the car and the LH harness. Steve and Justin laid out all the sensors and connectors and connected them to the ECU and EZK one at a time. Oh, by the way, the car had a Clifford alarm that was poorly installed which took almost a full day to remove and repair all the damage to the ignition switch harness which included replacing the fuel pump relay harness.
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa105/krg1971/Jan08_34.jpg
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa105/krg1971/Jan16_41.jpg
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa105/krg1971/Mar04_52.jpg
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa105/krg1971/Mar04_54.jpg
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa105/krg1971/Mar04_55.jpg
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa105/krg1971/Mar04_57.jpg

Now it comes time to try and start the car - hit the key no start. I have no fuel so I start checking the fuel system and found that both pumps are bad (crap). Must have been from the poorly installed alarm (really poor wiring by design). I had to also replace the harness for said pumps as it was melted. I removed the tank pump first (holy crap what a stench 3-4 year old gas that has gone past the varnish stage and go strait to what in gods name is that). Thank god for Volvo putting a drain plug in the tank … drain the tank and rinse repeat as necessary.
Out to the junk yard for a LH fuel pump and lines since they had to be changed why not up grade right?

Converting the kjet rail pump to the LH was pretty easy aside from the line. I recommend taking the whole thing all the way to the fuel rail (it will come out in one piece and negates the need for adapters for the steel line).

So now we have new pumps, lines and 5 gallons of high test fuel.
Try and start the car fires right up runs for 1.5 seconds and dies?????
What the heck! After checking every wire and component for 3 weeks I’m ready to light this car on fire and push it out side and invite all t-brickers over for a car/bbq. As mentioned earlier make sure the parts you have sourced are the correct ones. To be sure of this get them yourself because at this point I have rechecked all wiring at least 3 times, the timing belt has been reset 4 times, the distributor has been realigned and every component (except the distributor) and or sensor has been checked and replaced with known good ones. So off to the junk yard again to get some more ecu’s and ezk’s (by now they know me on a first name basis). Swap out the ecu’s ….no change still runs for like 1.5 seconds and dies (when it dies it back fires threw both the intake and exhaust.)
I have consulted many people on this problem and none had any ideas that I haven’t tried. So just for giggles I pull the retaining bolt for the distributor and crank the dist all the way counter clock wise nothing won’t even start now crank it all the way clock wise and she runs!!! Throw a timing light on it and its almost 20 degrees retarded!!!! Turn the dist back to its proper position and the car dies now I’m fairly pissed off what, the hell is going on. I give up for a couple of days I then start consulting green books and find a little known fact …LH 2.0 and 2.1 and 2.2 don’t use the hall effect switch in the same manor - 1 is a leading edge and 1 is a trailing edge so they are incompatible. DO NOT USE THE BOSCH 003 - it is the wrong distributor. You must use the 004 since they are much different. If you can look at them side by side the 003 is taller than the 004 and the center shaft on the 004 is smaller so the rotors are different as well.
I put in a 004 distributor and thank Jesus it runs and it runs good!!!!!
Check all the fluids and set the timing

Now its time to dig into the other pile-o-parts I have for this car that I was supposed to be helping the owner install (but due to the length of time that I have had this car he was unavailable to help). When I was disassembling the front end I noticed that the boots on the brake calipers were torn and there was rust on the pistons - this is not good but hey we are on a budget here so let’s try them any way so I replaced all front end bushings with poly, front springs with ipd lowering springs, strut cartridges with Billy HD’s, new rotors, pads and steel braided brake lines. The rear calipers were not as bad as the front’s - the pads were almost new so the pistons were not extended. The rear got the matching springs and shocks as well as steel braided brake lines.
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa105/krg1971/Jan16_24.jpg
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa105/krg1971/jan08_33.jpg
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa105/krg1971/Mar04_29.jpg
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa105/krg1971/Mar04_37.jpg
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa105/krg1971/Mar04_40.jpg
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa105/krg1971/Mar04_44.jpg
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa105/krg1971/Mar04_43.jpg
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa105/krg1971/Mar12124.jpg
Put some new seats (Sparco/Recaro rip offs) - needed to make custom brackets for them.
I also installed a 2 ½ inch exhaust from the down pipe to the tail pipe that exits just in front of the passenger rear tire (all Magnaflow I might add).

Took the car for its maiden voyage and I was very impressed with the power (could not get any traction until 3rd gear!!!), but the car was pulling hard to the left. I still came back from the test drive giggling like a 15 year old school girl. The left front rotor was very hot, not glowing but very hot none the same. I jacked up the left front wheel and tried to spin it which immediately showed that the left front caliper was dragging - back to the junk yard to get calipers for the front. With the new/used calipers installed the car actually drove quite well much more reasonable to drive but very quick none the same. Brought it over to the alignment shop and when I picked it up I got the… this isn’t a stock Volvo is it… from the tech who had forgotten to wipe the rubber off of the rear quarters.

This project took way longer than I had anticipated and for that I apologize to the owner of the car but hopefully he’ll tell you how much fun it is to drive!!!


OH here is some pictures of the finished product
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa105/krg1971/mar12111.jpg
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa105/krg1971/mar12113.jpg
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa105/krg1971/mar12116.jpg
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa105/krg1971/mar12107.jpg
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa105/krg1971/mar12105.jpg
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa105/krg1971/Mar12108.jpg

The instalation was so "factory " the test only smog shop didn't even notice that the car was not K-jet any more!!!!!! and it passed well below average
And here is the parts list

Parts "New"

fuel injection relay
spark plugs
spark plug wires
distributor cap
distributor rotor
front calipers
ball joints
control arm bushings
sway bar bushings
sway bar links
shipping
coil
oil filter
coolant overflow feed hose
coolant overflow return hose
upper rad hose
catalytic converter
muffler
90' elbow
4 Band clamps
2 u clamps
shipping
motor mounts
transmission mount
water pump
thermostat
clutch cable
turbo coolant lines
timing belt
crank shaft seal
intermediate shaft seal
cam seal
rear main seal
pcv hose
wire
shrink wrap
connectors
elect tape
solder
clamps

Parts "Used"
90+b230 engine
distributor
power module
fuel pump" frame rail"
fuel pump in tank
fuel line complete
ignition ecu
fuel injection ecu
fuel injection relay pigtail
ballast resistor
eng wiriinstallationng harness
interior wiring harness
idle air motor
throttle position switch
heated o2 sensor
mass air flow sensor
air box "fabricated part"
heat stove "fabricated part"
heat stove hose
turbo oil lines "fabricated part"
front calipers
coolant over flow reservoir
coolant overflow reservoir bracket "fabricated part"
fuel injectors
fuel injector rail
fuel injector resistor block
power steering brackets
alternator brackets
timng cover

Parts that came with the car

front rotors
front pads
front brake lines
front struts
front springs
rear brake lines
rear pads
rear shocks
rear springs
inter cooler
lower rad hose
heater hose's
down pipe
Flywheel
hood
hood hinges
tires
seats "fabricated part"
oil filter adapter "fabricated part"
transmission
oil cooler "fabricated part"
transmission bell housing "fabricated part"
engine
battery
oil cooler lines "fabricated part"
clutch

shellshock
06-05-2007, 11:27 PM
Wow. What a task. Glad to see you saved another Volvo from becoming junk :)

Good Job! :D

Hank Scorpio
06-05-2007, 11:35 PM
Looks great bud!

Aoder1
06-05-2007, 11:36 PM
i agree, looks awesome man

krg1971
06-06-2007, 02:26 PM
Wow. What a task. Glad to see you saved another Volvo from becoming junk :)

Good Job! :D

Looks great bud!

i agree, looks awesome man

Thank You

The car belongs to sweedsterspeedster and is need of a trans swap now so if anyone can give him a hand "in the SF bay area " let him know . He would like to do a T5 swap and is willing to pay for services rendered. I just don't have the time to give him a hand right now.
" To many other projects "

---Keith