Ken Lanham (qwkswede) 740 turbo wagon - 2.6L 16v roadracer

[qwkswede]

I'm starting slowly on this project thread business. So, bear with me as I slowly build this post up over some time.

Index of important threads and posts about Irene. (I'm doing some searching and sorting)

Engine, Trans, and Modification Info

A nice Stroker Connecting Rod Post (http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=20575&highlight=4g63)
How I built the stainless steel header and turbo discussions (http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=96409)
A link to details on the stroker crank on my OLD cob-website (http://www.denverspeed.com/242gt.html)
Modified Intake Manifold for High RPM Use (http://forums.turbobricks.com/showpost.php?p=2310597&postcount=198)
GM automatic swap. How to install a 700R4 behind a Volvo redblock. (http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?p=3084527)
Solid lifter conversion for 16V head and cam swap. (http://forums.turbobricks.com/showpost.php?p=3779790&postcount=554)


Performance Related Posts

Best Dyno Figures to Date - 578hp (http://forums.turbobricks.com/showpost.php?p=3408002&postcount=526)
Best ET to date - 11.43 (http://forums.turbobricks.com/showpost.php?p=3395917&postcount=495)


Videos

12.21 Pass at Bandimere Speedway - Spring 2009 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDtwHAbY00o)
Some Laps Around Pueblo Motorsport Park - Spring 2007 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0m-Id7MEc04)
11.4 pass at Bandimere Speedway - Fall 2010 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kI5mLCZc2Fo)


Let me set the stage a little bit. This red station wagon is my 6th or 7th Volvo, starting back in 1987 with a 244. OH my, that was a long time ago. I was really in need of a transportation/towing/junk hauling vehicle in early 2006. I looked at alot of Volvo station wagons and some other cars with room to carry stuff. Finally, Turbobricks and the local Craigslist came through and I located this wagon nearby and it was owned by another Turbobricks member. It was already pretty modified. Which scared me a little. I really just wanted some fun and reliable transportation. But after seeing the car in person, and driving it I convinced myself that I could maintain it, and drive it, keep it running like a Volvo should. I had another disassembled Volvo in the garage that was going to be a race car. I didn't really need two projects. BUT, I REALLY liked the car. So I brought it home in March 2006.

Here is how it looked then.
http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/6151-2/57678211_de_3.JPG

The rear
http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/6175-2/57678207_c6_3.JPG

And under the hood:
http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/6136-2/65023221_it9C2s4s.jpg

The motor was a nicely built B23FT, a Unitek 531 head, with a mitsubishi 15g on it. You can see the unusual power steering pump location, like an early 240 uses.

Then one day . . . to be continued.

[klr142]

:)

Specifics on the Unitek head? Where's it now?

[qwkswede]

I can't remember which "level" the head was. It was rather basic, in the Unitek style.It was a 531 with larger exhaust valves, some careful Unitek porting, Uniflo2 camshaft, and the other neat stuff they did to heads, like replacing the exhaust studs with a larger, stronger size, and careful machining.

Oh, and its just sitting here on the shelf for now.

[rallyvovo]

Oh, and its just sitting here on the shelf for now.


its true, its lonely!

[klr142]

I can't remember which "level" the head was. It was rather basic, in the Unitek style.It was a 531 with larger exhaust valves, some careful Unitek porting, Uniflo2 camshaft, and the other neat stuff they did to heads, like replacing the exhaust studs with a larger, stronger size, and careful machining.
Sounds perfect. Now if only I could wing it... Damnit. You planning on holding onto it for yourself? Or?

[qwkswede]

Well, for the several thousand dollars it cost to get into the US, I don't think I could justify selling it. I think it will just sit on the shelf until I have an 8V motor that needs it. Though I could be enticed by a trade for Garrett GT3076R

[qwkswede]

Then one day . . .with about 5,000 miles on the old B23/Unitek/turbo combo. I took it to drag strip for a baseline run or two. And while it is always disappointing to drag race at 6000 ft altitude. I did beat up on quite a few other cars that day. I was faily happy with the performance of my daily driver. BUT I ended up breaking the rear end on the second pass t. I ended up with the time slip below and a ride home on the tow truck: :oops:
http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/6906-2/385763-R1-040-18A.jpg
http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/5002-2/timeslip_740wagon.jpg

So I replaced the rear end, and 1 week later I found a piston and many other parts laying in the road behind my car. And there was a large hole in the block where they seemed to be escaping. I was pretty discouraged, and really needed a car to drive. This really had me in a bind. My 242 wasn't running as I was preparing to do a major rebuild on it. So now I had 2 dead cars.

http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/6801-2/kellys_graduation+014.jpghttp://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/6856-2/engine_hole.jpg


So, I came up with the only plan I could afford at the time.. I gathered up some parts in my garage to get the wagon running again. I had most of a 16 valve motor ready to go. With a few extra parts, it would be an easy drop in with a 740. I didn't have to worry about some of the tight fit problems like in the 242 body.

Mitsubishi 4g63 connecting rods were the key to building the stroker motor on the cheap. I scored the 16v head for $50, it needed some welding and a deck cleanup. I ported it some while I was working on it.
http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/6841-2/IMG_2628.JPGhttp://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/6827-2/123_2396.JPG

I built a couple manifolds for the intake and exhaust. The intake I didn't use, it was really for the 242 effort. The header is all stainless steel.
http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/6877-2/IMG_2934.JPGhttp://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/6847-2/IMG_3003.JPG

Here is the motor waiting for some action. It just ended up in my wagon instead of the 242.
http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/6871-2/volvo242gt0025.JPG

[242Bleek]

Sweet, nice to see someone is actually using a B23 for the 16vt. I plan on doing the same thing with one of my spare B23's...(eventually)

[qwkswede]

I just remembered I started this thread a few months back, and I should probably add a little bit more to it.
Until recently (May2007) the car was running nicely with the 16v turbo motor. I put about 5000 miles on it, just commuting and having fun over the last 6-8 months. I took it to the local road race course in Pueblo Colorado for a couple fun track days. It was really fun to pass much faster cars and really hold my own in a Volvo wagon. The car really goes pretty good for a station wagon, and remains relatively tame and comfortable, with some effort from me. Here it is sitting in the pits cooling off. It has a new/used red hood installed here.
http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/5881-2/CIMG0390.JPG.
Shortly after one of my May track days, I got the itch to really make some improvements to the motor. I really never got the most out of it up till this point. Ignition problems were always keeping the bost at about 12 psi or less. I really wanted to solve this problem and run some more boost. At about the same time, there was another 16v turbo project being built in my home city. It turned out that this guy needed some parts to get going. So, I used the opportunity to help out a fellow Turbobricks member and sold him my stainless exhaust header. It would give me the opportunity and a little cash to build an even nicer one, the second time around had to be better. Well one thing led to another, and I sold a ton of other parts I had been stockpiling to buy a nicer turbo to go along with the new header. The new turbo is a Garrett GT35R, with a .63 ar turbine housing. I got great advice and bought the turbo from RK Autotechnik (http://www.rkautotechnik.com/), owned and operated by turbobrick's member Doug aka Hank Scorpio. In the last 10 years, I have had several turbo cars. And this is the first time I've bought anything but junkyard turbos or things that I have assembled myself out of junk. Truly this is a turbo matched to the motor now. And it was time to celebrate! At the time I write this in July, its still not running. But things are coming along. Its been a long 3 months of welding and wrenching. Here are some photos of the progress.
http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/14550-2/CIMG0724.JPGhttp://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/14418-2/20070514+004.jpghttp://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/14630-2/cimg0521.jpghttp://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/14380-2/CIMG0986.JPGhttp://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/14767-2/20070718-23_36_10.jpg

I am also reworking the ignition system and some other megasquirt controlled items right now. I'll add that info to the thread a little later.
And if you would like to see more pictures of this build, feel free to dig through my photo gallery. Here are some links to the things shown here.

Header build (http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/v/cars/othercars/headers/200705_header/)
Other Pictures of Irene (http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/v/cars/irene/)

[adrianpike]

killer looking work on that header! :-D

[wisturbo]

Well your old Unitek 531 waits patiently watching you play with a 16v... Still got that custom intake you're not using?? hmmmm? Don't let that sit on the shelf too.. I might need to take that from you as well!
Ken, your wagon looks great and I'm really impressed with your level of work! I wish to someday make it to Broomfield to sit shotgun in that beastly wagon.

The 531 has been polished and waits for me to move back to WI so I can finish the B230ft build I've delayed, by moving back west.

Take care and safe travels down the strip!

[qwkswede]

killer looking work on that header! :-D

Thanks man, :volvo:


My keyboard died as I was nearing the end of the post above. Luckily the mouse was working, so I just hit the publish button before I rebooted the stoopid computer.

Anyway, One of the "before" items I wanted to drop in here is the dyno sheet. This was with the freshly built 16v stroker motor. T3 with a Grand National S-trim compressor. Something of a T3/T4 hybrid, and misfire problems from the stockish ignition. Well, it had good wires, cap, rotor, plugs, and a spark box. But there was a weakness in the factory setup at this level for some unknown reason. It will be interesting to see how this turns out with the new turbo and ignition.

http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/6192-3/SCAN0001.JPG

[VolvoPunch]

Wow nice welding skills that exhaust manifold and downpipe look great.

[BB-Q]

that header's looking awesome- props to you.

[qwkswede]

Some more details from the major rebuild during the summer of 2007. . .
I built some intake tubing for the new turbo system and NPR intercooler. Aluminum welding is fun. I wish my welds looked a little better. But just like my handwriting, they are functional but not beautiful. I'm not an artist either, but I keep trying.
http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/15948-2/20070826-23_21_18.jpg (http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/v/cars/irene/Engine/16valve_2_0/20070826-23_21_18.jpg.html)
http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/15960-2/20070826-23_29_58.jpg (http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/v/cars/irene/Engine/16valve_2_0/20070826-23_29_58.jpg.html)

With the new turbo and hardware in, I turned my attention to the engine management system. Of course, doing way too many things by myself, taking me way too long.
Soldering iron + radio shack parts + megasquirt = THIS! ---> MEGAMESS! One SCREWED up looking, feature packed Megasquirt n Spark Extra!
http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/16040-2/20070831-00_54_22.jpg
(http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/v/cars/irene/Engine/16valve_2_0/20070831-00_54_22.jpg.html)
Other engine control things include some coils from a Honda motorcycle.
http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/14809-2/20070725-23_49_54.jpg (http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/v/cars/irene/Engine/16valve_2_0/20070725-23_49_54.jpg.html)

Boost Control and Electric Fan Control, with more megamess wiring running everywhere still. This is a Saab boost control solenoid, and its plumbed to the Audi wastegate down by the frame rail.
http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/15940-2/20070826-23_20_30.jpg

In addition to all the engine work, I found a set of broken european headlights in the local junkyard, and decided to give the car a bit of a new look. I bought a lens from FCP groton, and assembled the new nose.
http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/16044-2/cimg1195.jpg (http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/v/cars/irene/cosmetics/cimg1195.jpg.html)

And thats where it is right now. I actually got the motor to start, just barely long enough to move the car to the driveway and wash it. But its having an overheating problem all of a sudden. So, I guess I'm not done yet. I hope its an easy fix. Im about ready to drive this thing.

[Matt Dupuis]

Ken, what's with that spoiler?

And I'd consider running that other intake you built, provided it was built with bigger, shorter runners than the foot long straws that came connected to the B234 intake.

But looking FINE.

[qwkswede]

Ken, what's with that spoiler?
And I'd consider running that other intake you built, provided it was built with bigger, shorter runners than the foot long straws that came connected to the B234 intake.

I was just trying that spoiler on for size. Its from my buddy's Porsche that you can see in the background. If you look closely, you can see somebody's hands holding it up. I'm not sure I need the downforce yet. But maybe, just possibe that I can pick up some more g's through the 80mph sweeper at the local track with that. It would certainly look dumb on the street though.

I may have to try that intake again at some point. It needs some more work to be finished. And my welding has improved a fair bit since that one. So, I may just start from scratch on something this winter. Its made up of about 2/3 of the factory B234 runner length. So they are shorter runners, but still the pretty smallish diameter. I'm thinking now, that something around 6" runners, and a little larger size would be good. And with a second injector rail for dual stage injectors. bwahaha!:shh:

[qwkswede]

October, 2007
It took a couple months to finally get megasquirt to play nice with my motor and I finally came up with what you see here. Notice I finally got the engine bay tidied up a bit too. If you look closely, you can see the the EDIS coil pack is mounted to a custom bracket I welded to the strut brace and the EDIS module is mounted above the brake booster. Its the only ignition variation I could get to run without massive misfire problems. It is referred to as msns-edis on the megasquirt efi forum.Its basically an entire transplanted ignition system from a Ford Escort. I tried the coil on plug setup, and worked my but off on the megasquirt variable reluctor circuits to use the wheel decoder code. Nothing worked 100% right until this.
http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/16722-2/cimg7696.jpg

--------------------------
With the engine running somewhat decent for now, I started turning my attention to some other things. I've had a set of Wilwood brakes sitting on the bench for a while. About this time, I was really itching to get out to the track before winter really set in, so I slapped these on in a single evening. The kit install was Sooo slick and easy compared to the mega-headache from the last few months. The adapters and rotor hats are from our very own Avalanche Performance. And you really appreciate the complexity of the caliper bracket when you finally see how it fits on the car. Its absolutely amazing.
http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/16847-2/cimg7702.jpg

http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/16790-2/cimg7704.jpg
__________________
So whats a guy to do with a running Volvo? Go for a little mountain drive with the other 16v turbo volvo in town of course.!!
http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/16754-2/cimg7686.jpg

[rallyvovo]

hehe, nice!

and damnit ken! why do you have to 1 up me right before we go to the track!? just kidding, should me a nice difference :)

ps AZENIS's are nutso in the canyon!

[qwkswede]

October 2007
<p>I had a pretty good day today. It was one of those days that makes all the long nights and swearing in the garage worth it. Watching your car perform like it should, and even better than expected is a great feeling. Here is how things happened today.<br />
I finally felt like I had Irene working well enough to take her over to the local dyno shop for some serious open throttle tuning. My expectations were not astronomcal. Realistically, I thought the motor was capable of low 400hp range after tuning and with enough boost. But I really didn't plan to push it too much today. I really needed to just spend some time tuning the AF ratios and timing with the feedback you can only get from repeated dyno runs.</p>
<p>So, I wake up early on Saturday morning, and load some small tools and a couple cans of 100 octane unleaded into the back of Irene. My dad is visiting right now, and he is helping me with the chores and a couple minor adjustments in the morning before we head out to Starbucks for human rocket fuel. Its good to have my dad around for this kind of stuff. We haven't really done much like this for quite a few years since we live far apart now. My dad has been selling new Volvos since 1973, and he's a true Volvo lover. I can tell he has been talking up his boy's wagon to the cronies at the dealership, so he is ready to have some hard data to go home and brag about Irene. There will be some good stories to tell for sure. I pull up to the dyno shop at about 10:15am, and there are several friends waiting there to see the action too. I have my own little cheering section it seems. The guys at the shop immediately strap the car down and get her ready for me.<br />
My goal for the day was to get some good tuning time, and end up with a safe driveable tune for the road race trip planned the next weekend. If I got a good hp number at the same time, that would just be icing on the cake. I had a previous best of 248 hp with the old smaller turbo, so I was sure I would make more power than that. But I;ve been working out alot of problems over the last 2 weeks. So when I made the first run, and the dyno operator tells me 490hp, I was a little skeptical, but very happy at the same time. Over the next 6 runs I tuned the fuel and timing maps; The maps needed quite a bit of work. I left the boost level alone, as it is controlled by the spring in the Audi wastegate right now, and not too easy to change. I resisted the temptation to raise the boost level, even though that evil voice in my head was telling me to run MORE and MORE boost. So after just a few iterations I was putting down 500+ hp. And when the smoke settled, I ended up with one very nice pull of 519hp. Here is the graph.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/v/cars/irene/dynoday/dyno_519.jpg.html?g2_imageViewsIndex=2"><img src="http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/17233-2/dyno_519.jpg" /></a></p>
<p>I am a bit skeptical about the calibration on the dyno. But any way you look at it, I'm certainly over 400hp. I was very pleasantly surprised it ran as good as it did. The new big turbo is obviously changing the power band way more than I would have imagined.<br />
Here are some more photos from the day.<br />
<a href="http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/v/cars/irene/dynoday/Picture+001.jpg.html"><img src="http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/17248-2/Picture+001.jpg" /></a></p>
<p><img src="http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/17258-2/Picture+005.jpg" /></p>
<p>We also made a few pulls with my buddy Tim's Porsche. It made a whopping 580hp on this dyno, but was having tire slip problems. It was tough to get this car strapped down tight enough for a good true number.</p>
<p><img src="http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/17273-2/Picture+009.jpg" /></p>
<p>Really, this was one of those epic days I'll remember for a long time. It is probably that Irene will make more power in the future. But this day really caught me off guard, and opened my eyes to what a proper sized turbo and header can really do for a motor.</p>

[Dug strickler]

WOW. Your car should be brown cuz it's the ****!

[Pops122]

I wish my welds looked a little better. But just like my handwriting, they are functional but not beautiful. I'm not an artist either, but I keep trying.

In my mind U R 2 an artist, that car is very nice.

[qwkswede]

I just finished painting an Aluminum hood for Irene. This was my first attempt at real automotive paint work. I filled a couple dings before spraying the red. My body work came out better than expected. Its not as hard as I always though it might be. You just have to take your time. I then used a 2 stage base/clear system from PPGs discount line called Omni. I had to put a fair bit of work into fixing some runs, and beginner errors. I sanded and polished the slight orangepeel too, But I was prleasantly surprised with the results. It came out looking really nice. I added some screens and cleaned up the holes in the hood to finish the job off.

The neat thing about this hood is that it weighs 18lbs. It think the steel one weighs almost 40 lbs. It is nice and light, and the vents really let the heat flee the turbo area.

Here are some photos from this little phase of the project.

Prime, sand, repeat.
http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/17755-2/DSC00112.JPG (http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/v/cars/irene/cosmetics/2007paintjob/)

Pouring the red
http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/17713-2/CIMG7755.JPG (http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/v/cars/irene/cosmetics/2007paintjob/)

http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/21498-2/dsc00213.jpg (http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/v/cars/irene/cosmetics/2007paintjob/)

All dressed up and posing for the camera
http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/22086-2/DSC00312.JPG

http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/22062-2/DSC00316.JPG

[Biesey]

that looks killer, definately suited for all the power that is housed under the hood! good work!

[B Mac66]

I'd like to request some videoage...if you would...thank you kind sir:)

[Raz]

Mrow? videos? Mrrrow?

[gear whine]

the ecodes, grill and paint job on the hook look ****ing great.
awesome job! car is killer!

All dressed up and posing for the camera
http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/22086-2/DSC00312.JPG

[rallyvovo]

hey ken, you never told me how traction was with the locker in? still make smoke of 2nd gear? err i guess theres still snow?

[qwkswede]

More vidoes eh? Maybe Rallyvovo can help with that when the snow goes away finally. There are some good scenic canyons 10 miles from here, and he seems to be the local Stephen Spielberg.

There are a few random vids at my youtube page: I think links are above, but here is a direct link to my entire collection.

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=ken377lx

There is some good track footage in Noah's account.
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=rallyvovo

---Quick update
As Noah mentioned above, I found a G80 locker at the local boneyard, and I installed it at the Beginning of December.
http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/23558-2/CIMG7805.JPG?g2_GALLERYSID=57e81d82a73ef6dffc4d2e4 83c77614f

It isn't exactly racing season in Colorado right now, and the car is in the garage alot. But I did get some days out on the dry pavement last week. It was fun for sure. It still burns rubber from 30 or 40 mph in 2nd, no problem. But now it just goes a little bit sideways too. Actually the open differential usually put the power down through both tires in a straight line. But I'm really anxious to see how the handling changes on the track with the locker. Im hoping I can put power down on corner exits a little bit better now.

I did the flyweight modification to allow lockup at higher speed. And from what I've seen so far, its working.

I had to buy a Dakota Digital speedometer correction box to accomodate the 48 tooth tone ring on the locker. But now my speedo, cruise control, and ABS is working again.

[Alex Buchka]

I'm not sure how many teeth are on the original tone ring but if it's 12 like on the '89 244 i helped install a g80 on you can just take the 48 tooth ring and snip off every three teeth.

[qwkswede]

It was 96 on the original. I would have to add teeth to the G80 ring.

[mikes02ls1]

Man your car is my idol, but i'm looking for a sheet metal intake, and cams to get more power... We need to talk more about your rod and pistons, like price and machine work..

[gear whine]

</p>
<p><a href="http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/v/cars/irene/dynoday/dyno_519.jpg.html?g2_imageViewsIndex=2"><img src="http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/17233-2/dyno_519.jpg" /></a>

is the graph just messed up or does it seem your afrs are a bit lean???

[qwkswede]

is the graph just messed up or does it seem your afrs are a bit lean???

Thats measured after the catalytic converter, It was about a full point leaner than what I read in my datalogs from the sensor in the downpipe.

[gear whine]

Thats measured after the catalytic converter, It was about a full point leaner than what I read in my datalogs from the sensor in the downpipe.

well thats good then. nice numbers and nice car


+1

[Mogwai]

Have you gotten to do anything more with the map or the boost pressure since this dyno? Have you gotten rid of that dip around 5000rpm?

[rallyvovo]

hes going to the track (drag) tonight with another MS brick so lets wait and see what goes down!

[qwkswede]

It is now Summer 2008, its time for a little update. The car is at about 182,000 miles now. The 16v turbo motor has about 15k on it now. Its still holding up just dandy. Recently, I had to get the car to pass the bi-annual emissions test for Colorado. After some tuning and installing a fresh "highflow" catalyst it passed. But man, that catalytic converter killed a ton of power. So, I recently installed an even "higher" flowing cat. . .
Notice the v-bands that make replacement quick and easy.

http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/28545-2/200806+004.jpg

About the same time as the exhaust work, I started experimenting with E85 for fuel. I really liked the power potential on E85, and it is actually saving me some money. Its cheaper than 91 octane gasoline by a good margin right now. And it is waaaay cheaper than $10/gal race gas with similar or better octane. I'm estimating about a 50hp gain after re-mapping my megasquirt. And I'm actually running less boost. The power lies in the new more aggressive timing settings.

After a few tanks of E85 my 20 year old fuel pump kicked the bucket. It was time for an upgrade anyway, I was slowly learning that the stock pump was causing the car to lean out at high output levels. I had a lot of faith in the stock pump, but really it was done at about 350hp on gasoline, and somewhat less on e85 due to the larger fuel requirement. Not bad really.
Here is the new pump. . .This is a Bosch -044 pump,and it flows a ton of fuel for a stock looking pump. The body is bigger than a walbro 255. Supposedly this makes for a larger armature for higher torque. This pump can flow 300lph all the way up to 80psi. So far its a great turbo motor replacement pump. And I think it cured the dip in power I was feeling at high rpms. A couple metric adapters and some hose, and its an easy drop in.
http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/28563-2/200806+008.jpg

I also fabricated some torque links and reinforced the rear subframe in the spring of 2008. These torque links are adjustable, have a rod end at one end, and urethane bushing at the other. They are the old man version of full solid links. I needed a little compliance to reduce noise. And actually, these are even beyond my tolerance level.
http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/26311-2/DSC00754.JPG

That was a busy spring. When the track finally opened at the end of April, I took Irene to the drag strip for the first time. Those meaty tires are American Racer wrinkle wall dirt tires. For a very inexpensive tire, they hook up quite nicely. Its an old tip I learned from my street racer buddies in the 80s. You can get these tires almost free from your local circle track racer. After they run a race on them they are retired.
http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/25937-2/cimg8013.jpg


http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/28635-2/CIMG8122.JPG

And a video from the track day too:
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/co6D_Q0F7fo&hl=en"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/co6D_Q0F7fo&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

The best ET so far was a 13.1 with my clutch slipping all the way through 4th gear.
On a separate run the car clicked through the speed traps at 111mph. The power is there. I just gotta put all the parts together and I'll have a 12 second pass.

[linuxman51]

Man I like that torque rod setup, did you do anything with the frame at the top? oh wait no I can see that its still got the two bushings

[qwkswede]

Man I like that torque rod setup, did you do anything with the frame at the top? oh wait no I can see that its still got the two bushings

I didn't change the subframe mountings to the car, I just beefed it up. The solid torque links are noticeably stiffer on the shifts. The axle windup with the stock links makes for a spongy feeling on shifts, and throttle transitions. Thats really improved with the solid links.

I have to admit, I have them removed for now though. I made a few road trips the last month, and the noise was really bugging me on the road. My driveshaft needs to be rebuilt, and I think any little vibration suddenly gets magnified when you remove the rubber from things. I'll put them back in after I replace the U-joints.

[franzuz]

Did you decide upon what to do about caster/camber mods and tramlining? I have basically the same car (same color,rims, well not the engine of course),only changed the front for a940 one with HIDs to better see at night. Mods in sig. I will be installing 960 crossmember reinforcment plates this summer and am still thinking if it is worth to increase caster/camber. The car is a dd and is driven on well...russian roads..so tramlining is also an issue to face.
And good luck with your project!~

[qwkswede]

Did you decide upon what to do about caster/camber mods and tramlining? I have basically the same car (same color,rims, well not the engine of course),only changed the front for a940 one with HIDs to better see at night. Mods in sig. I will be installing 960 crossmember reinforcment plates this summer and am still thinking if it is worth to increase caster/camber. The car is a dd and is driven on well...russian roads..so tramlining is also an issue to face.
And good luck with your project!~

I adjusted the camber back closer to factory specs, and it seems to help some. But it is still a handful on rutted roads. It doesn't corner as well with the near zero camber though. Hopefully I'll revise the front suspension soon. I have all the parts in my shed for a coilover setup in front. I really think raising the front of the car so that I have some suspension travel will improve alot of the driving problems I have.

[franzuz]

What did the adjustment consist in? I'm considering my options. I wonder if mods with shims and strut mount redrilling will have negative effect on ride quality. I don't want to go coilovers for the time being as I'm in Paris and don't know when I'll be back in Moscow and have enough time. With kilen red sport springs my front is about 1~1,5 inches higher than yours and it seems ok for suspension travel...
\\edit: forgot to mention. I've got excessive tire wear at the outer edge of the front passenger side tire. any thoughts? alignment is done every time I change something.

[linuxman51]

Lets see the cams!

[qwkswede]

Lets see the cams!
sssshhhhh, I gots to have at least one little secret part in my arsenal.

[qwkswede]

Mini update.

The e85 is still cheap and the spread between gas and e85 grows larger and larger.
I payed $2.79/gallon this week for E85, and gas is $4.00 -$4.50 for premium. Thats the boring part of the project lately. But, its important to me. I drive the car to work quite a bit if I'm not riding a bicycle. And at 50 miles a day that really makes a difference.

I have been really thinking about this car lately and where I want it to go. This project really got into high gear after buying the $1500 turbo last summer. It was totally a budget build before then. Now I seem to have poured in alot of money and time. I'm past the point of no return. I have plans to put a nice paint job on the car next summer if all goes well. The car deserves to be nicely finished at this point. And I am probably going to retire it from snowy drives in the winter. It is becoming less utility and more for fun and show. I'm getting a bit too attached to go destroy it with salty snowy roads in the winter now.

Now for the fun stuff. . .

http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/29228-2/200806+022.jpg

http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/29173-2/200806+013.jpg

As Kenny Junior hinted above. The motor is going through some re-tuning. Its been running great with the old setup for about a year now. But, I got the itch to take it to the next level after learning about e85. Cheap race gas means you can get away with alot of silly things you might not try on pump gas. I'm hoping the car will run a very solid 12 second quarter mile before the summer is over; and I'm hoping for 115mph trap speeds. All of this will happen at the local 5800' altitude.

The recipe for more power includes:
1000cc injectors for more alcohol flow.
Bigger fuel pump for more alcohol flow.
A set of camshafts that should push the usable redline up to 7000+ rpm range.
Some stiffer valve springs to compliment the new extended power band.
And the main ingredient . . .
MORE BEWST The injectors are letting me push about 20psi safely now.

Cam specs for those that gotta know the inside scoop:
282 deg. duration at .015" lift.
.415" lift
with 109deg. lobe separation, same as factory.
Though, after the initial experimentation, I have about 12 degrees more separation dialed in with the adjustable cam gears. So its more like 120deg lsa now. The lower rpm torque and driveability really seem to like the reduced overlap. And the driver does too. Really, am almost an entire tooth advanced/retarded on the cam timing right now.

[Poik]

Looking good, did you get the numbers @ 0.050"? That's a pretty beefy cam, looks like it will like to rev pretty high. Was that all the lift you could get out of the stock cams?

I wish they had E85 here so bad!

[Booster]

lookin pimp, keep up the good work, as your build up has always inspired mine. tho im quite a bit a ways away from you

[qwkswede]

I could have gotten a bit more lift from a more aggressive grind on the cams. And the cam grinder thought there was another mm in them at least. Though, with that much shaved off the base circle, I would have certainly needed some fancy lifter setup. And I really held him back, I wanted some turbo friendly cams that were a slight step above the penta cams. And the cams can always go back for a bit more work in the more lift direction. The cool thing about this grind is that it was about .040" off the base circle, and the hydraulic lifters had no trouble soaking that up. i was pleasantly surprised. I really need to get a dial indictor on them and measure the .050" lift.. The cam card I got with them was measured at .015", which I thought was a little odd. But whatever.

Here is some of the initial datalogs with the cams. You can see the really late arrival of. . . well. . . everything. Boost, Torque, everything was really coming up late.

The first is with the PZ cams, the second with the American Cams. Full boost is 1000 rpms later now with the new cams. That hurts.
http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/22735-2/controlledboost.png http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/29247-2/slow_spool.jpg

Looking good, did you get the numbers @ 0.050"? That's a pretty beefy cam, looks like it will like to rev pretty high. Was that all the lift you could get out of the stock cams?

I wish they had E85 here so bad!

[Mogwai]

How's it pulling when the boost finally kicks in then?

[qwkswede]

How's it pulling when the boost finally kicks in then?

Well, at similar boost levels, the torque is definitely down. It no longer puts the rear tires in smoke when the boost comes on in second gear. But even without that huge torquey kick the extra rpm range gives it a certain warp drive feeling.

I'll know more tonight. I'm heading out to the drag strip to see if there really is something to the age old horsepower vs. torque question. As the Popular Hot Rodding Engine Masters Challenge always likes to point out; The bottom line is always the "area under the torque curve". Or stated differently, how long can you apply a certain amount of torque for. And I don't really have an answer for that question yet. The power comes on later, but stays later too. Soooo, it should be interesting. Stay tuned in. . .

[qwkswede]

Early July 2008

The cam experiment is moving along, and moved out for now. I ran the car with the new big cams, and I wasn't impressed. The big top end didn't make up for the huge loss in the sub 5000 rpm range. The car ran 13.58 and 110mph. It was down on overall performance a little bit. I was running bigger injectors, 5 psi more boost bigger cams, and removed 150lbs of weight. Still, I ran 2mph slower. And the car is lousy to drive. so i pulled the cams and put a set of stock U cams in for now. I'll probably re-think the aftermarket cams, and have them ground again.

Late July 2008
With the stock cams installed, and all the interior back in I'm back at the portly 3500lbs.
I seem to be staring down an unlucky number 13. The car is running great with the stock cams. The 21psi boost feels fantastic. So i went to the track again. The best I could run was a 13.30 and best mph was 112mph. So the car is moving quickly, I just am not getting the power down on the launch. And now, the new spec clutch is slipping too. :( Damn dissapointing. I'm back to the drawing board like Wiley Coyote. Minor tweaks now. I gotta get that 12 second timeslip this summer. I haven't been a drag racer for a few years. I tend to like the road course better lately. But damn if this isn't good stuff! Its been really fun running the Volvo at the dragstrip. All the employees know me by now, and are always amazed that someone brought their old volvo wagon to the dragstrip.

Check out a video buuhdee. . .
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[Rockmonton]

so is there another thready with anymore info on the 4g63 rod setup?

[qwkswede]

so is there another thready with anymore info on the 4g63 rod setup?
I added a couple links to post number 1 in this thread. I think I'll make it an index to some other posts and info about the project. That should answer some of your questions.

Let me know what else you might want to know. I originally started with $20 used mitsu rods and added nice ARP bolts. It wasn't a bad setup and I had the entire stroker shortblock assembled for well under $1000. But then at the last minute, I splurged on some Eagle 4g63 rods for $269 on ebay and blew the budget.

[Rockmonton]

sweet, thanks for the info and the dimensions that's more than enough for a cheap relatively off-the-shelf 2.6liter redblock, out of curiosity, what did the machine work for the crank cost, and approximately how much did the pistons cost?

as well, you did use the stock b23/230 crank right?

[qwkswede]

The pistons were about $500, with nice tapered bore tool steel pins, and sealed power rings.
The machine work on the crank was $250.

Though, I did all this in 2003/2004. The last 5 years have really changed the market. Drastic price differences in metal and labor mean that you can probably expect 50% more than that now. I'm building another engine with a buddy right now. And I'm always quite shocked at prices now.

[qwkswede]

While waiting and waiting for valve springs from sweden, I sorted out a nice valve spring upgrade for the 16 valve heads on my own.
The springs are beehive shape. This has alot of advantages. You can run higher lift cams because now that the coils don't stack on top of eachother the spring can compress farther without binding. The stock springs don't go much above the stock lift. They also use a smaller retainer that weighs about 1/2 of the Volvo retainer. They are also about 40-50% higher rate than the factory springs. No machine work or fancy tools needed. Its just a drop in.

Old vs. New Springs
http://forums.turbobricks.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5076&stc=1&d=1218784363
Old and New Retainers
http://forums.turbobricks.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5077&stc=1&d=1218784363
Partially Installed Set
http://forums.turbobricks.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5078&stc=1&d=1218784428
The valvetrain MESS - There is a lot of experimenting going on here.
http://forums.turbobricks.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5079&stc=1&d=1218784428
And here is the part info for the springs. - Eibach Springs pn: 25409-116 for Fjord 4.6L 16v.
And CompCams pn: 792-16 for the retainers. Ford 4.6s have the same 7mm valve size as Volvo, and you can use the Volvo keepers
http://forums.turbobricks.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5080&stc=1&d=1218784816

[740ATL]

hmmmmmm /yoda

[dbh86]

hmmmmmm /yoda

+1

Looks good btw.

[linuxman51]

fwiw, ken was also right about the stock 4.6 valve springs (cost: $3 appiece ~), they dropped right in with volvo retainers, go further down before binding, and are a higher spring rate than the stockers.

[RoadRacer4Life]

bad ass car man.. keep up the good work..

[qwkswede]

I was out at the local road race course in Pueblo today. And there were no bad surprises. Only good ones.
First, I switched back to gasoline for the long drive down, racing, and drive back. It was way to many miles for uncertain E85 fillups. I forgot how differently the car runs on gasoline. And I really liked how the car ran on a mixture of about 20% E85 and 80% gasoline. The turbo spools much quicker and the throttle response is much better on gasoline. The top end charge isn't as strong on gasoline. But thats because of lowered timing and boost to cover for the lack of octane. But the car feels really good not that I finally can control the boost to 12,13,14,15 psi on gasoline. The new wastegate from a few months ago is earning its keep. Lower boost with really good timing is just sweet on gasoline. The motor was running great.

Second, with a little tuning, and even with 1000cc injectors. I managed 22mpg on the drive down. I turned off the EGO correction algorithms in megasquirt. This seems to have helped economy, though it will run rough with temperature extremes because it doesn't seem to compensate properlly. But that was a new mpg record for this car. I was happy about that. I was up from a prev. best of about 19mpg.

Last, the car was just ripping on the track. I reached a GPS recorded 118mph down the front straightaway. Thats frickin fast for a brick shaped object. And the Wilwood brakes are still doing the job of hauling the car down from those LUDICROUS speeds for Turn 1.

It was a great day. I had one small failure, the main charging wire broke from the back of my alternator and charging ceased. Luckily I bummed a ring terminal from a friend and got going again.

I'll see if I can post up some Video. I'm, not sure what i have yet.

[qwkswede]

I also tried out a new toy at the track this time. If I can actually figure out how to make it work properly it will be useful. It is a "cheapo" lap timer. I bought a $30 bluetooth GPS mouse on ebay. Its a Holux-M1000. And I have a T-mobile Wing smartphone. It runs the windows mobile 6 OS, and there are a ton of cool applications. I found this lap timer software and thought I would give it a shot.

Here is one of the few laps I actually managed to get a recording of:
http://forums.turbobricks.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5184&stc=1&d=1219898743

That was a really slow one. I was trying to map the course and just make the GPS work. I think I have it figured out now. So next time it should work better. I wasn't very careful defining the start/finish line. And it kept missing the lap resets.

[500dollar744ti]

you know, just like the rest of the automotive industry you are allowed to round up... your motor is 2.65 liter correct? so it is technically a 2.7! :-P

by the way, i love your wagon, good work on that... it is people like you, kenny, rallyvovo and all other great folks that have gone above and beyond the norm to keep others motivated, like me.

[qwkswede]

Some video from the track day this week. The car ran great, with the exception of a couple small oopsies. The main power wire broke and fell off the back of the alternator in my first session. Then in the second session, i got cut short when the pressure hose going to the wastegate fell off and the boost went straight to 25psi. It gave the car a chance to cool in the pits while I fixed the small problems.

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/qKiar9fXjiE&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/qKiar9fXjiE&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

[qwkswede]

I had a big weekend in the garage with the dragon lady. Things went quite well, no hangups or unexpected parts runs.

I pulled the transmission and swapped clutches in about 5 hours yesterday. Im now running a Clutchnet "2x" red pressure plate. its one of their most aggressive pressure plates. I was overpowering the best thing Spec had to offer for a Volvo. Clutchnet said I should be able to deliver 450ft-lbs with this unit. The pedal feels quite sporty now but it isn't annoying at all. I think the stock clutches in my old mustangs were stiffer on the pedal. I'm hoping this one can deliver the goods to put the power down in the higher gears with the turbo pouring on the boost.

I also fixed some exhaust leak problems and I decided to fix my stressed wastegate mounting for good. I didn't want to deal with broken pipes, and I didn't have any flex in that joint. So, I just made a new pipe for an open wastegate dump and sealed up the hole in the dowpipe. That will solve any problems with thermal expansion causing stress in the tubes. But, OH MY! I think I'm too old for that sort of noise. Now the good thing is that its the same quiet and mellow car as I cruise around. But when the boost hits, it sounds like a 747 taking off. Man! its loud in a very obnoxious whooshing way. Scary. I'll leave it for a while and have some fun. But Im afraid every cop in town could hear me when I stood on the gas going down the street tonight. The good news is that it feels fast. Er, maybe faster??? I'll find out soon.

Put a trailer hitch on the back too. It helps complete the sleeper look, and should aid the traction too. And I do still use this car for all sorts of utilitarian things.

The SE 7.0 gathering is less than a month away, and the car has never been better. My dad has booked his plane ticket to Colorado. All systems are GO. There isn't much more to do right now. Sure, there are some nagging oil leaks. but Im just going to travel with extra oil. I can't seem to stop the seeping from the head no matter what I do. I have one more speaker to install, and I want to wire up a jack for my mp3 player. but really I could get on the road today. No worries.

OH, the hitch is installed now, so the plan is to tow a small trailer to Alabama to carry tools, parts, fuel, and beer!!

[pooprah]

:party:

[qwkswede]

Another Big weekend. The SE 7.0 meet is just over a week away. Its been good motivation to keep working and sorting out little problems before I head out on the road.

This past weekend.
-Fresh Timing belt.
-Fresh alternator belts.
-Replaced the alternator ground wire, alternator rubber bushings, secured wiring in general. My car seems to be charging a ton better now. All the better for keeping the tunes playing on the hiway next week.
-Finished installing some 6.5" door speakers. Sound better but need MOAR powah than my head unit.
-chased some oil leaks. new cams seals, teflon paste on the oil feed fittings, and some other leaky oil fittings.

The car is running SWEET! The best it ever has. This coming week I want to do some cleaning to make sure it looks decent going down the road. And I need to remove those Hilary and Obama stickers and replace with confederate flags before I drive into the deep sound in a "Vovo"

All systems GO. My dad lands in Denver next Tuesday and we hit the road Wednesday morning!

[qwkswede]

The road trip to Alabama was fantastic. It was a great test for the car. Some of the highlights.


23-24mpg on gasoline on the highway. 18 or so on E85. That seems too low, I guess my gas tune is better at highway cruise.
The car can haul the mail to Krystal Burger with 6 people in it, without scraping!
Ran a 13.1@110mpg at sea level
Met alot of really cool turboBrickstas!!


Now for the bad parts of the trip.

Ran a 13.1@110mpg at sea level - I thought it should go faster.
I had to limp the car into Alabama with a blown turbo.


I got a loaner turbo from linuxman, and ran the 13.1 above with a lousy tune and a brand new turbo.

Here is the carnage that is going to cost me a chunk of cash to fix. A small piece of debris plugged the oil feed hole in the center section, the bearings were run dryer than they should have been, and it just all self destructed from there.
http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=31409&g2_serialNumber=2

[500dollar744ti]

^^^ ah yes that's the fully floating, self-centering turbocompressor haha.

[MikeSr.]

That car is on the cover for a reason- Red Volvo wagons rule!

[klr142]

Ran a 13.1@110mpg at sea level13.1xx?

Peter gets about 200miles out of a tank on his 960 running e85. I'm not sure how big his tank is though, but he's mostly running around mixed city and such.

[qwkswede]

13.1xx?

Peter gets about 200miles out of a tank on his 960 running e85. I'm not sure how big his tank is though, but he's mostly running around mixed city and such.

Yeah, thats my city mileage too, roughly.

[linuxman51]

i understand this piece of **** didn't do a damn thing on the dyno today.

[pooprah]

i understand this piece of **** didn't do a damn thing on the dyno today.

kenny, you're so thoughful:lol:

[linuxman51]

kenny, you're so thoughful:lol:

this ******* needs to post his latest dyno charts.

[qwkswede]

this ******* needs to post his latest dyno charts.
Buh dum dum dum. Thanks for the eloquent segue.

The Rocky Mountain Volvo Club organized a dyno day down at Mac Autosports (http://www.macautosport.com/). They run a nice shop with a Dynojet brand all wheel drive dyno. The volvo club these days is mostly front drive Volvos, and all wheel drive Volvos and I was the only older rear drive car at the dyno gathering. Thats the way it goes around here.

I pulled up to the dyno shop, and was chatting with another Volvo owner, and next thing I know there is a huge coolant puddle under my car! "holy crap batman!" Can I get a break from working on this damn car? It turned out that I sprung a leak around the front most freeze plug, and it was dumping coolant like mad! In an attempt to drive home, I grabbed some Barrs leak at the local auto parts store and poured it in. And to my surprise, it actually stopped the leak! 100%. I watched a couple of the R volvos make some pulls. One car put down 295 to the front wheels, it was horrible. The AFRs were 15:1, and I could hear it detonating like mad! Scary.. Another car made about 250. Not bad for some modified 5 cylinders. I got the itch, and Since I WAS at the dyno shop, whats a guy to do. . . But strap the car down and give it a go. I apologized to the shop owner in advance, in case i leaked coolant. His shop was soooo new and clean. I filled up with E85 around the corner, but my laptops have been haunting me and I couldn't get a good tune flashed to megasquirt. So, I took my gasoline tune, and just upped the fuel 30% everywhere on the map, and added 4 degrees timing everywhere on the spark map. I knew that would be conservative but a safe crude tune. I feel like I never quite have my game together when I need to.

At the bottom here are some of the dyno graphs, I made just 3 pulls and one the tires just went up in smoke. So really just 2 decent pulls.
The top picture is what the dyno guy handed me first, and the correction factor was turned on, based on the barometric pressure. They were using a "reasonable" CF. I saw a honda S2000 with some mods make 198hp at the wheels immediately before my turn. But I just don't like correction factors. So with some resistance, he set the factor to zero, and gave me the bottom graph.
http://turbobricks.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5414&stc=1&d=1224403354

http://turbobricks.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5416&stc=1&d=1224403819

[qwkswede]

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So one of the cool things about the dyno graphs, besides the great numbers was the smooth torque curve. I don't know if the inertial dynojet just smooths out the torque surges somewhat, but I have done alot of tuning since the last dyno session. I have better valve springs, better fuel supply, a different cam setup now with a pz exhaust and U intake cam. And I have a T04e 50 compressor with .63 ar t3 exhaust side. My GT turbo is still dead. It works though. The torque curve is way nicer than it ever has been in the past.

[Quin]

how did all the new school guys feel about your numbers?

[Mogwai]

Cool numbers! Quite a rich dip there around 4200rpm....

[linuxman51]

told you you'd like that turbo :-P Why did you cut the run off at 6k (curious)?

[klr142]

Yeah, seems awful low rpm for such an awesome 16V. :-P

[qwkswede]

It was far from an ideal dyno session. I was running the laptop to watch the AFR's in the passenger seat, hoping that I guessed rich enough for the E85. I was definitely safe there. But there was no tuning time to really sort that out. But whatever, it was working. From my street driving I have noticed that the power doesn't really die when you go really rich with E85. It is wasteful, but it doesn't really hurt power. And it may actually increase power somewhat. Some people I have talked to don't agree with that entirely. I need to try it on a dyno one day with 10:1, 11:1, 12:1 afrs and see what you get.

In the past I really haven't had much power above 6000 rpm. I told the guy driving to shoot for 6500. He got scared I guess? The penta cams were always dying around 5500. This cam setup seems to smooth out the power delivery. Its less torquey in the midrange, but the motor does rev nicer. Honestly, I was a bit surprised that the torque was holding on like that at 6000. Scroll back a page or two in this thread and take a look at my previous dyno sessions, its a totally different looking torque curve. With the stock 16v intake, I think the stock intake cam is maybe a better match. I was getting a weird double torque curve with the penta cams. I can only think there were heavy resonance tuning peaks from the intake/cam combo before.

[qwkswede]

how did all the new school guys feel about your numbers?

The new school guys are always blown away. They really couldn't believe it. And then there are a few that are surprised that my Volvo drives the rear wheels. Either way, the car is always making alot of friends and showing people something they likely haven't seen before...

[pwschuh]

Great job Ken! That correction factor stuff is a pain. One of these years you need to just take it down to a flatland facility and take all of the guesswork out of it.

[linuxman51]

Great job Ken! That correction factor stuff is a pain. One of these years you need to just take it down to a flatland facility and take all of the guesswork out of it.

he was going to, but the dyno broke.

[RoadRacer4Life]

Ken thats really crazy power man but i knew it had it when you were blowing down some serious sweet times at the track and only at like 10 psi..
Congrats i am glad to see your hard work starting to pay off..
-Sam

[Dfer10]

damn ken thats BA i was out of town elk hunting or i would have came with my new R yea i know fwd but its fun. Amazing #'s i must say for not even having it all tuned out like you want.

[Lucky the Smiling Pirate]

yeh man, totally awesome:)

also, use the corrected numbers when you're talking to people who look like they wouldn't know to demand uncorrected stuff;-) it's more impressive:-D

[500dollar744ti]

which exhaust wheel is in that thing and what boost level were you dynoing at? just curious. great numbers too, i'm sure you realize that.

[linuxman51]

which exhaust wheel is in that thing and what boost level were you dynoing at? just curious. great numbers too, i'm sure you realize that.

stage 5, and 20psi.

[qwkswede]

yeh man, totally awesome:)

also, use the corrected numbers when you're talking to people who look like they wouldn't know to demand uncorrected stuff;-) it's more impressive:-D

Yeah, I do use this philosophy, especially when people ask me to compare to their oem hp ratings. "Its pretty much 500hp at the flywheel or somethin, but im too busy laying third gear burnouts to talk to you"

It was nice that the dyno guy gave me both graphs. I still really want to do the dyno experiment at sea level. I know turbo motors don't have the same performance loss at altitude that NA motors do. But there has to be something to gain at sea level. On the trip to Alabama, I noticed right away that the car sounded different when I got below 1000' ASL. It was louder, idled with more authority, and it spooled quicker. That was right before my turbo blew chunks.

I know there are quite a few more 16v turbo cars that should be laying down some good numbers in the next several months. Its going to be cool to see some more action from you guys. Everyone knows Kenny Howards car is fast. Mine is the 400hp dyno queen apparently. Whos gonna get the first 500hp dyno chart here? Maybe a low 11 or 10 second pass?

[qwkswede]

Cars status update.
Crap keeps falling apart lately. The Barrs leak is stopping the coolant leak still, I need to replace the freeze plug though before I get left on the roadside somewhere. And my clutch hydraulic line has sprung a leak. So my clutch just goes to the floor sometimes without releasing the clutch. Sucks.

But, there is one last day to get some runs on Sunday at a track in Pueblo, 2 hours away. I'm going to try to get down there for one more shot at a 12 second run before the end of the year. Hopefully the cold track will give some resemblance of grip.

[Captain Bondo]

Dude that is a fantastic torque curve. Is that still the "borrowed" turbo? It seems a good match...

[qwkswede]

Dude that is a fantastic torque curve. Is that still the "borrowed" turbo? It seems a good match...

Yah, this borrowed turbo is really awesome. The 50 trim wheel is something I would have thought too small for my engine. But really its not at all. It does surge a little more than my GT3076, but not horribly. I haven't even turned the boost up on this turbo. Reviewing the data logs from the dyno day last week, I was really at about 17psi. Hehe.

And I also put a Heebspeed racing sticker on the back window. Kenny says its worth 30 horsepower. :nod:

[linuxman51]

Dude that is a fantastic torque curve. Is that still the "borrowed" turbo? It seems a good match...

Yes, and hell yeah its a good match :-P

[pwschuh]

And I also put a Heebspeed racing sticker on the back window. Kenny says its worth 30 horsepower. :nod:

Heebspeed sticker only good for 30 HP at sea level in Alabama. At altitude in Colorado, figure 17hp tops.

[linuxman51]

someone needs to post the latest and greatest :-D :-D :-D

[BrickLove]

Sounds to me like someones been dippin into the 12's:-D

[pooprah]

itd be about time

[dbh86]

:nod:

[klr142]

Kenny, you're hilarious.

Ken, what's the scooooop?!

[qwkswede]

http://forums.turbobricks.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5467&stc=1&d=1225087322

I only got 2 runs today, the crowds were huge and there were alot of organized races going on. After waiting for a couple hours, they finally gave a few of us time only guys a crack at the track. I took advantage and hot lapped 2 runs while I had the chance. One of them was the 12.65 above. Then I packed up the car and headed for home. The track in Pueblo has great traction. I could have left much harder, but I always have tire spin problems. Next season I want to run on some real slicks. With 118mph, I should see a low 12, or maybe better!

I am really happy with this motor now. Its been together for almost 3 years now, about 20k miles. And it has lived a hard life. Road racing with the oil so hot and thin that the oil pressure needle drops near zero at idle. 30 high boost drag runs, a road trip to Alabama for SE7. The shortblock has been fantastic. Im actually a bit surprised it has held up so well.

Here is hoping to log another 20k miles! And better ETs next year!

[CHESH740R]

Great news Ken, I think that finally validates all the hard work you've put into that car especially the entire weekend of work at the Se meet.

Now spend the winter fine tuning it and get into the 11's

[qwkswede]

Its that time again, the cold air is here at night and the days are getting very short. Surprisingly, we haven't had a snow storm yet.

But Im ready now. I picked up a spare set of 16" wheels and snow tires for the wagon. The 16" hydras fit over the wilwood brakes with no problems.

The traction on the dry pavement is horrid, I turned the boost all the down to the base wastegate spring level, about 10-14 psi I think. I was spinning the tires enough to go sideways down the hiway at about 60mph in 4th gear at full boost. That was fun once, but not really necessary for the winter. :) And probably a bit dangerous.

It was a great year. Take a look at the tread comparison from my summer and winter tires if you don't believe how much fun I had. 4 or 5 track days on the road course, a long road trip to Alabama, and lots of street fun. One year and ~10k miles on a set of tires. Heheh. That's not exactly long tire life.
http://forums.turbobricks.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5513&stc=1&d=1226559891

http://forums.turbobricks.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5514&d=1226559872

[qwkswede]

I really like these wheels on my car.

Still no snow though. :(

[500dollar744ti]

haha, now ultimate sleeper status.

[dbh86]

haha, now ultimate sleeper status.

Ya that's what I was thinking... until i glanced at the hood and remembered those vents...

It looks great ken

[qwkswede]

The new Garrett center section has arrived and the turbo is assembled. I'll need a long day to install it, and weld up my downpipe. I was throwing around the idea of something larger than the GT30R, but have decided to call the project done for now. I need to keep it running, and have some fun with it for a while.

Now that the clutch is holding and all the supporting parts are working nicely, I want to get on the dyno with the GT30 at about 25+ psi boost to see if I can break 500hp.

[DecalServiceBrett]

the new garrett center section has arrived and the turbo is assembled. I'll need a long day to install it, and weld up my downpipe. I was throwing around the idea of something larger than the gt30r, but have decided to call the project done for now. I need to keep it running, and have some fun with it for a while.

Now that the clutch is holding and all the supporting parts are working nicely, i want to get on the dyno with the gt30 at about 25+ psi boost to see if i can break 500hp.

yay for progress!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Captain Bondo]

Sweet- Can you do a run at the same boost pressure as the "loaner" turbo for the sake of science? Would be interesting to see the difference!

[DecalServiceBrett]

Sweet- Can you do a run at the same boost pressure as the "loaner" turbo for the sake of science? Would be interesting to see the difference!

loaner turbo? which one is that? I can't read :D

** oh, to4e 50 trim.

wow, i have a t04e 54 trim over here.. What kinda turbine housing/wheel?

** went and read some more, stage 5 wheel. But what kinda housing :)

[qwkswede]

loaner turbo? which one is that? I can't read :D

** oh, to4e 50 trim.

wow, i have a t04e 54 trim over here.. What kinda turbine housing/wheel?

** went and read some more, stage 5 wheel. But what kinda housing :)

Its a standard 5 bolt outlet Garrett Housing. .63AR

Hey Bondo Ken, I will surely do some similar boost runs. It will be informative. The problem is that the big number dyno is really far away, and not so tuning friendly. So I doubt I'll go there again. I like the load bearing setup here in town better. Its nice to be able to set the rpm rise you want, and hold the engine in one spot under load to tune.

[qwkswede]

A new turbo is on the way. I need to get Kenny Howards turbo off of my car and returned. It has been a great ride. For most cars around here, running on the street for fun the t04e 50 trim is a great turbo.
I should try to do some sort of scientific comparison with the turbo swap. Maybe I can dig up a datalog with the 50trim accelerating down a known road in a known gear, and then run the new turbo at the same boost down the same stretch of road. I don't have many logs from the last few months. Really I have just been driving the Volvo like the beater that it is. And right now it has snow tires and a cracked header. So I can't get much of a run right now. I can try though.

The new turbo?
Its going to be a Precision sc6265, with the new billet cnc machined compressor wheel that they released earlier this year. This compressor is a little bigger than the GT35R wheel at 62mm/82mm. But because the blades are machined very thin, and it flows like a 67mm turbo. I was going to buy a 67mm, but was taked out of it because the numbers from the smaller billet wheel have been so great. The precision guys thought it would be a downgrade to go to the 67mm turbo, and cost more. I was also thinking GT40, but same answer there. This 62mm outflows the GT4088 journal bearing turbo.
Here is a picture of the billet wheel. Its really cool stuff.

[AHox244+T]

Billet cnc machined compressor wheel , good stuff right there.Thing looks like a work of art.

[maxman142001]

wow!

I wonder how many hours it takes to machine that?

weight of wheel?

[RvolvoR]

what size turbine housing?

[shaved240]

what size turbine housing?

.68 t4

[qwkswede]

.68 t4
Thanks for pointing me this way J. Just what the doctor ordered.

[linuxman51]

thats a touch small on the hotside eh? :-P

[qwkswede]

thats a touch small on the hotside eh? :-P

Im not from Northern Sweden. Those guys like to roll with those 1.06 AR housings.

[qwkswede]

NICE HOOTERS!

http://forums.turbobricks.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5678&stc=1&d=1230934235
The twins have arrived. One of these billet beauties will be going on the wagon.

[Reverend]

Nice squirrel cages. They for an R/C car or something? :D

[Captain Bondo]

and a cracked header.




Are you sure you turbo flange is absolutely flat? These collector failures don't make sense...

[qwkswede]

Are you sure you turbo flange is absolutely flat? These collector failures don't make sense...

Yeah, its flat as the earth!
What do you think?

I do have to say that the flange to collector weld was the toughest to keep backpurged because of all the open area on the back side of the weld. And when I re-welded in Alabama, I didn't back purge at all. so there could be some weakness there because of dirty welding.

I am going to add some bracing when I put the new T4 flange on the header this week. The new turbo weighs a good bit more, I need to take some stress away from the header I think.

[Captain Bondo]

I don't know what to think other than that weld should be about 1/4" thick if done right and it flat out shouldn't fail there. ;-)


I doubt backpurge is the problem, you shouldn't even need backpurge there- on Gab/Phil's bottom mount the turbo is actually pulling the flange rather than sitting on top of it, and has been chugging along for a year- I think this issue is process related and there's probably a way to fix it for good, which is the only reason I bring it up, not to dog ya bro. Just seems weird.


There just isn't a lot of load on that particular joint, relative to the amount of weld surface area - as long as the flange is flat it shouldn't be a weak point at all. You are welding 0.109 to a 3/8" plate so you should have a nice fat weld at around 110-120 amps with 1/4" or larger "legs" on the fillet. You should have a puddle right at the max comfortable size you can reasonably have for 1/16" filler. Really it calls for 3/32".


I suspect that the "toes" of thew weld are thing and the weld istelf might be undersized...

[qwkswede]

I never take your criticism bad Kenny, I always learn from our conversations. I think I have some pictures from the original collector build. It lived for 15,000 miles, no problem. And one of the things that might have cracked it the first time was when I scraped the exhaust on the ground going into Kenny's garage in alabama. It broke the hanger that connected my downpipe to the bellhousing, and shoved upward on the turbo with some pretty good force. That was when I first noticed the break. The crack is below the weld, as always its not a weld that breaks, its the metal near the weld. The crack is parallel to the flange around the collector and about 3/8" from the flange. The turbo could have almost fallen off the car the first time. I repaired it and put a few thousand more miles on it before it started cracking again.
http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/10519-3/CIMG0701.JPG

http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/10523-3/CIMG0702.JPG

[Captain Bondo]

To honest the whole thing looks pretty overheated... if things are looking flat/grey like that and arent shiny chances are you are overheating the metal and damaging the grain structure in the process.

I know with fairly high degree of confidence that failures like you describe (along the "Heat Affected Zone") are a result of overheating and/or poor filler choice. The material along the edge of the weld was heated over 1500 or so degrees and was held at that temperature for some time while you were welding.

The grey color you see in general is where chromium and nickel have been overheated enough to react with carbon in the atmospere and in the material itself and cause "carbide precipitation". This result in a hard, brittle grain structure with very poor ductility.

The cure for this is to not overheat the material, and ensure that you overmatch on fill rod- in other words, use a filler rod with a higher nickel and chomium content that the base material, and a low carbon content. This is why you see 304 welded with 308 or 308L.

If you heat soaked that collector (looks like you did) and were welding too much at a time, that will do it. I am assuming you were using 308 or better filler rod yeah?

[qwkswede]

The filler was 308, base metal 316. And The thick flange was probably sucking enough heat from the weld that I was really pouring on the power to make the weld. I never have problems in the tubes where I am welding 2 similar thickness metals. The filler rod could have been on the small size, I'm sure I used the same size 1/16" that I use for the tubing. And that thick flange probably would be better with more filler it sounds like. I'll be a more careful this week. I'll be re-doing that one again.

To honest the whole thing looks pretty overheated... if things are looking flat/grey like that and arent shiny chances are you are overheating the metal and damaging the grain structure in the process.

I know with fairly high degree of confidence that failures like you describe (along the "Heat Affected Zone") are a result of overheating and/or poor filler choice. The material along the edge of the weld was heated over 1500 or so degrees and was held at that temperature for some time while you were welding.

The grey color you see in general is where chromium and nickel have been overheated enough to react with carbon in the atmospere and in the material itself and cause "carbide precipitation". This result in a hard, brittle grain structure with very poor ductility.

The cure for this is to not overheat the material, and ensure that you overmatch on fill rod- in other words, use a filler rod with a higher nickel and chomium content that the base material, and a low carbon content. This is why you see 304 welded with 308 or 308L.

If you heat soaked that collector (looks like you did) and were welding too much at a time, that will do it. I am assuming you were using 308 or better filler rod yeah?

[Captain Bondo]

I would weld about 2" at a time and let it cool and then do another 2".

If you can get 316L filler, that'd be a bonus.

[qwkswede]

The header crack:
http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/43214-2/DSC01805.JPG
The old GT30R next to the new Precision sc6265
http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/43160-2/DSC01796.JPG

My collector isn't the best shape to feed a T4 flange. I may have to do some adapting. I cut some stainless to fill in the gaps around the colector. I'll be a bit more careful with my fitting this time. If I can keep the gaps very small then I can keep the heat low and hopefully make the stainless live a happy life.

http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/43232-2/DSC01808.JPG

[RvolvoR]

why dont you just cut the collector down a bit?

[Captain Bondo]

Yes, cut it down till it fits. Zero gap would be better. Problem is with a gap like that, unless you jam tinfoil in it except for 1" at a time, you'll never get good back purge, or coverage at all for that matter. When you are "bridging" a big gap, none of the purge gas actually stay in there and covering where you are welding, the backside of the weld ends up just garbage, and you need more heat as you said, and it takes longer which puts more heat into the material than needed,

I *just* took a pic of a collector to flange fitup last week, this fitup is essentially airtight, FWIW (airtight fitup and clean material and a 5 year old could weld it to be honest. Like paint, it's more the prep than anything that makes or breaks it):

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll214/WatsonFab/rsi/DSC01590.jpg


After you do a rough cut on the end of the collector, use a 4.5" flap disc on a 4.5" grinder to level it out flat.

If it doesn't look like you can easily cut it doen to fit, I'd be tempted to make a new collector, since tha one might just be burnt now no matter what you do... but if you can cut it down to fit might as well try it.

[qwkswede]

Well, the problem is that the collector was made to fit a t3 square flange hole tightly. The T4 is more rectangular. I filled in the sides with some pieces of flat bar, and got the flange to seal up pretty well. I added some bracing too. It will hold for a while Im sure. I'll build another generation from scratch if this one breaks again. But the welds seemed nicer this go around. With the colector being the place I start, I don't know that I could ever get a new collector to line up with all the tubes again. I may as well just start over again.

The new turbo is certainly more lazy. And strangely, I seem to be having some boost creep issues as well. I would think those two things would not occur at the same time. A bigger turbo with a less backpressure should need less wastegate flow to slow it down.

I need to turn the boost up to a reasonable level and see if it stabilizes. But tonight the first time I stepped on it the boost climbed steadily to 22psi at 6500rpm. Im just running 91 octane race gas right now. So I certainly didn't want that to happen. It felt fast though. :)

[qwkswede]

Hey Kenny,
That is some great fitup there. I was pretty close with the last T3 collector I built. But not quite like that. Is that center hole in the flange just standard T3? or did you make the flange fit the collector shape?
I got busy and didn't take pictures. But here is the new turbo sitting on the header.
http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/43767-2/DSC01814.JPG

Ready to run again. . .
Just in time for the next snow storm.

[linuxman51]

intake manifold! intake manifold! intake manifold!

[qwkswede]

Im with you on the intake manifold. I really need to work on an intake improvement. That is going to be a fair bit of labor though. Im not quite ready to deal with that just yet. I have been working nightly on a 1968 Camaro project that is taking up my space in the garage right now. I was lucky to get the new turbo installed.

So I can give a preliminary update on the new turbo. I have been driving with it for a couple days now. Here is a full throttle run in 3rd gear from 3200-5200rpm. The P trim turbine wheel is living up to its lazy reputation. And strangely, I seem to have a boost control issue again. I would have thought that a bigger more efficient hot side would make the wastegate's job easier. But I think it is quite the oppositte. There is very low exhaust back pressure now. So the open wastegate isn't doing much to divert flow at the new low pressure. Weird. This dyno graph is with the wastegate set at about 15psi for the old turbo. And now I get 22psi?
http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/44435-2/slow_spol.jpg

[linuxman51]

yeah you're going to run into that. I had issues with both of my turbos creeping at wg pressure. You might also just simply not have enough gate to reign the turbo in.

have you measured exhaust back pressure?

[qwkswede]

yeah you're going to run into that. I had issues with both of my turbos creeping at wg pressure. You might also just simply not have enough gate to reign the turbo in.

have you measured exhaust back pressure?

No I haven't measured the pressure. Have you ever done this experiment? I should try to do this, I need to drill my manifold for an EGT probe anyway. It would be a good place for a piece of copper tube running to a boost gauge.

I must say that the car does run nice off-boost now. I have never driven a non-turbo 16v, but the car is mildly quick even before the boost gauge swings above 0psi.

I think I'll have to learn to flat-shift if I want to keep the boost up between shifts. I should investigate that clutch operated spark cut feature in megasquirt.

[linuxman51]

not sure, i think you're on the right track tho, re how to hook one up. I haven't done it yet, but I might while the header is off.

[Volvorules]

I think I'll have to learn to flat-shift if I want to keep the boost up between shifts. I should investigate that clutch operated spark cut feature in megasquirt.

Flat-shifting is just rediculously awesome. Oh yeah and it's faster too. I just really love the 4 foot flame that shoots out of my sidepipe and lights up the highway :)

Well, used to. Now the only thing lighting up the highway is the sparks from my engine block pieces being scattered :(

[qwkswede]

Flat-shifting is just rediculously awesome. Oh yeah and it's faster too. I just really love the 4 foot flame that shoots out of my sidepipe and lights up the highway :)

Well, used to. Now the only thing lighting up the highway is the sparks from my engine block pieces being scattered :(

Do use the launch control feature too? To build boost at the starting line? I hear that one can be ridiculously hard on turbos.

[Volvorules]

Do use the launch control feature too? To build boost at the starting line? I hear that one can be ridiculously hard on turbos.

Yeah, I used it on my last trip to the drag strip. I can't imagine that it would be that hard on the turbo since I only use it for 2-3 seconds at a time. But yeah, launched at about 10psi on the slicks, cut a 1.66 60 foot as my best :)

[RoadRacer4Life]

Yea Ken launch control and flat shift are the only way to go with the turbo you are running now.. Kenny H dosent have that option with the low stall thats why we are using N02 to get his turd out of the hole.. Make sure when you setup your clutch switch that you make it adjustable as to where it engages so you can dial in your launch control.. if its too loose you will slip the clutch too hard and if its too tight you will bog the second you think about moving your foot off the clutch.. Good luck and i think you are really going to like that turbo..

-Sam

[qwkswede]

I'm still thinking about the flat shift. I need to get under the dash and figure out how to mount a switch.
Meanwhile. A box arrived on my porch today. It contained this. Its a 60mm h k s clone from xspower.
5727
So lets see who wins this boost control battle now, the wastegate or the turbo.
5728

[Captain Bondo]

Sweet man- I picked up one of the ebay gtII copies too- it seems to be pretty decent, and apparently they are dimensionally exactly the same as the hks ones, so if it screws up you can install a "real" one with no plumbing changes.

Only downside is your 2.5" wastegate dump will make a 3" dowpipe seem oddly small. :rofl:

Also, 2" sch. 10 is a perfect fit for the flange on the inlet side.

2" sch 10 for inlet from the manifold, and 2.5" 16 gauge for the exhaust side work out nice.

[Karl Buchka]

if it screws up you can install a "real" one with no plumbing changes.

Only problem I see there is that a real one costs $900.

[Captain Bondo]

Only problem I see there is that a real one costs $900.

the risk you take for shopping chi-com. :-D Sometimesyou get a deal, sometimes you end up with a turd, so you have to be prepared for the consequences should it not work out.

I was just about to buy a GT2 and was cringing at the price when I heard about the ebay ones so i figured why not. 60mm or bust. :cool:

[qwkswede]

Aye, its big. Ridiculously big.

Anyway. I just broke the car. 5 of the 6 bolts that hold my crank pulleys on snapped. They must have loosened and the wobbling broke em. I limped the car home slowly on 1 bolt. It was enough to keep the trigger wheel spinning and the car running, albeit roughly. Damn. what am i driving to work tomorrow!

[klr142]

Effing huge. Soo much weight. :lol:

[Poik]

Does your cruise control work Ken? Otherwise you can use that switch. Although I think I tested it and it is closed with the cluch pedal up, and open when you depress it so it would have to be modified or used with a relay or something.

[Dug strickler]

Sic project. High horsepower 740's are taking over!!!

[qwkswede]

About the flat shift idea, I was thinking about that cruise control switch too. I wasn't sure how it operated open/closed etc. My cruise control does work, and Id like to keep it that way for now. But if it cancelled from the brake pedal alone, that would be fine. I don't turn it off with the clutch pedal usually.

Last night was the first time I tried to run it quickly through some gear changes. I got some new tires that have a little more grip, and I could actually power through the 2nd - 3rd gear change. The drop in boost and slow uptake is quite noticeable. I think I really need to sort out the flat shift. I'll get a closer look this weekend.

Im not sure when I will get the wastegate installed. But I took it apart last night. And the tolerances and general quality seems quite high. I put my mityvac on it. And everything is sealed nicely. The valve stem seems tight inside the guide. It opens and closes nicely with pressure on the signal port. I think its going to be a good gate. Especially for the money.

[Volvorules]

Ken, FWIW, a buddy I worked with had an extra clutch switch from a mid 80s camaro. I welded a tab on the clutch pedal for it to sit against, and another tab on the pedal brackets to hold the switch itself, and one screw, voila! It's really easy, and it works great. Oh yeah, and free stuff is good :) You could probably pick one up cheap if you've got a JY around.

[Captain Bondo]

Effing huge. Soo much weight. :lol:


Nah- the nice thing about the GT2 design is it's quite light. I bet his audi wastegate is way heavier. A 60mm GT2 weighs about as much as a tial 44 believe it or not.

[DecalServiceBrett]

Well, used to. Now the only thing lighting up the highway is the sparks from my engine block pieces being scattered :(

I do recall:-(

Dude, that 60mm Wastegate is pretty nice, if it works as well as the HKS, at 1/10 the price, use it :-D

[klr142]

Nah- the nice thing about the GT2 design is it's quite light. I bet his audi wastegate is way heavier. A 60mm GT2 weighs about as much as a tial 44 believe it or not.Yeah, but the turbo, intercooler, massive piping, larger fuel pumps(haha), too... :lol:

[DecalServiceBrett]

Yeah, but the turbo, intercooler, massive piping, larger fuel pumps(haha), too... :lol:

With all that massive scoot to boot!

[qwkswede]

http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/46175-2/dyno_20090131_composite.jpg

[qwkswede]

Here is the best run fished out of that spagetti. It was 519hp and 525 tq. I was running out of fuel on this one though. 95% injector duty cycle and the AFRs were creeping into the 12s. The fuel pressure gauge was also falling suspiciously. So I stopped at 21 psi. The progression i the curves above was great though. It is all due to ignition and fuel tuning, with the exception of the one really high line with extra boost.

http://www.denverspeed.com/gallery2/d/46181-2/best_dyno_20090131.jpg

[pooprah]

damn! do you think they corrected the altitude adjustment thing so the numbers are real?

[linuxman51]

I told you that you need an intake on that beast, believe me now?

[qwkswede]

you can see the CF in the data table there. I haven't seen a dyno software package anywhere that doesn't use a correction. Not that I have seen yet anyway. At least its there on the sheet from this place. This was a very very nice Superflow awd dyno, that typically reads quite low. Its not the fluff dynojet that I was on a couple months ago. The power is definitely improved with this turbo.

Kenny, stop trying to sell me an intake. Mine doesn't leak, its fine. . . ;)

[linuxman51]

you can see the CF in the data table there. I haven't seen a dyno software package anywhere that doesn't use a correction. Not that I have seen yet anyway. At least its there on the sheet from this place. This was a very very nice Superflow awd dyno, that typically reads quite low. Its not the fluff dynojet that I was on a couple months ago. The power is definitely improved with this turbo.

Kenny, stop trying to sell me an intake. Mine doesn't leak, its fine. . . ;)

your torque curve ****ting itself just past 5k with that turbo says otherwise...

[linuxman51]

(yes, that would be kenneth calling out kenneth about his 16v. OH YEAH!)

[qwkswede]

The turbo Volvo world. The only place where being named Kenneth is a good thing.

[Karl Buchka]

Who the hell said it was a good thing?

[linuxman51]

there's only three of us dispensing beatdowns on the forum. being a Karl yourself, I wouldn't expect you to understand.

[dbh86]

If your name starts with a K, I'm out to get you...

Very nice numbers! Needs more boost and nitrous for the spool.

[Karl Buchka]

If I'm not mistaken, there is only one Kenneth dispensing beat downs right now. The second is too busy failing to even make it a quarter mile, and the third hasn't moved his car more than 20' in the last 10 years. :-P

[linuxman51]

If I'm not mistaken, there is only one Kenneth dispensing beat downs right now. The second is too busy failing to even make it a quarter mile, and the third hasn't moved his car more than 20' in the last 10 years. :-P

dont hate the player that didn't scrap his car :-P

[rdeeming]

The second is too busy failing to even make it a quarter mile

It is challenging to get out of the water and to the staging line. :-P

[Karl Buchka]

dont hate the player that didn't scrap his car :-P

Bigger and better things my friend. Some people are just too numb skulled to quit while they're ahead. :-P

[qwkswede]

Still, the Kenneth's demand respect. You will respect the k k k k keeeneth

[dieselboy]

Respect. Is there a video?

[Stephen]

holy hell man. thats ridiculous. bravo!

[rdeeming]

About time TB starts a "500+" daily driver club? :cool:

[dbh86]

about time tb starts a "500+" daily driver club? :cool:

please!

[SteveMD]

Respect. Is there a video?

Sure is :)

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/MrV0c9ETnWo&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/MrV0c9ETnWo&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

[str8krewzn]

Sweet power, Good to see everything is holding up good

[dirtbike]

Those are some great numbers Ken...
Congrats from across the pond :)

You jumped 100hp and 90ftlbs in 300rpm and 200hp and 130ftlbs in 1k rpm (4100 to 5100), that must be one helluva shove in the kidneys.

I was surprised that it picked up so much with a relatively small change in boost, the 100hp gain came from 0.3bar and the 200hp gain came from 0.6bar increase in boost, baring in mind this isn't a dyno queen with a sky high rpm limit.

Laters
Nick

[linuxman51]

its a bigger turbo, less restriction on the hot side.

[Captain Bondo]

its a bigger turbo, less restriction on the hot side.

Werd up. People shouldn't be suprised. Is the whole EBR thing sinking in yet guys? :-D

[qwkswede]

Yep, the motor now makes more horsepower with the same boost most definitely. I just can't keep the boost down under 20psi with the current wastegate setup. But I am running the same boost I always have since I discovered E85. This new turbo is really working. The swedes who inspired my turbo choice would have probably sized it with an .81 or larger turbine housing to really drop the backpressure. I'm glad I didn't do that. It is almost too laggy for me as is. But I'm starting to see the light in their way of thinking. Id love to compare what I have now with the 6262 precision that has a much lighter weight but smaller turbine wheel, and size it with the .81 AR housing to make up for the slightly smaller wheel.

My impressions of this low back pressure turbo engine theory are as follows. First, its obvious that it works, and will make more peak power with less boost. After driving around for a month with this new turbo, I think that I have gotten used to the laggy turbo, and it doesn't really bother me anymore. The off-boost performance isn't that bad, Even below 3500rpm with no boost this car runs better than my stock NA 8v 740. Its fairly driveable, just like an NA volvo down low. You can floor it, it makes no boost but it accelerates. And eventually, after enough time and rpm the boost comes up and the car really takes off. Or just downshift and the boost is there in .5 seconds or less.

Now, what would be nice would be this same peak torque but without the steep drop off at 5500 rpms. I'm sure Kenny is on the right track with the intake manifold tuning. Its a fair bit of work to fix that right now. Though I will eventually do something about it. It will make the slow boost response much more tolerable if I could drive between 4000-7000 rpm when I am having fun. And then just use the lower rpms for economy driving.

The days are getting long enough now to commute by bicycle. I may take the wagon off the road for a couple days and fit the bigger gate in the next week or two.

[qwkswede]

Its an interesting way to look at it. The motor is making 180 ft lbs at 3000rpm. Thats pretty good, with just a couple psi boost. But yeah, if you open the throttle at a very low rpm like these dyno pulls, and let the engine really pull slowly up through the rpms. It is a pretty interesting ride. The traction just goes away when the torque hits in 2nd and often 3rd gear. I usually have to back off the throttle a little to keep it hooked up and off of the rev limiter.

Those are some great numbers Ken...
Congrats from across the pond :)

You jumped 100hp and 90ftlbs in 300rpm and 200hp and 130ftlbs in 1k rpm (4100 to 5100), that must be one helluva shove in the kidneys.

I was surprised that it picked up so much with a relatively small change in boost, the 100hp gain came from 0.3bar and the 200hp gain came from 0.6bar increase in boost, baring in mind this isn't a dyno queen with a sky high rpm limit.

Laters
Nick

[DavoS40]

Awesome job man, the powerband is pretty reasonable for a 4 cylinder at this altitude. I'm running a Hy35 on my 8v setup and it looks like your power comes in around the same rpm as my setup, except it rises an extra 200hp! (Just got mine dyno'd this morning, posted sheets/vids later, but 310hp/310ft-lb uncorrected!)

[qwkswede]

Awesome job man, the powerband is pretty reasonable for a 4 cylinder at this altitude. I'm running a Hy35 on my 8v setup and it looks like your power comes in around the same rpm as my setup, except it rises an extra 200hp! (Just got mine dyno'd this morning, posted sheets/vids later, but 310hp/310ft-lb uncorrected!)

Nice, thats solid. I was at a cylinder head shop in Fort Collins this week picking up a 16v head for "rdeeming" Rich on here. They guys said there was some Volvo nut around the shop there. I was wondering if it was you or some other Turbobricks member.

We didn't break 300 on Zach's 8v, but got close. But I was afraid to push the boost very high on pump gas. Its a new build, and needs to run for a while.

[qwkswede]

I have a couple winter improvements to do for Irene. I vowed not to blow a bunch of money on the wagon right now, and save up for the 242 project. But I gotta have something fun to drive for now.

My new wheels came in this week. I'll get the slicks mounted soon, and maybe take em out for a test drive around the block. These should shave a few tenths from my 1/4 mile times.

http://forums.turbobricks.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5783&stc=1&d=1233973441http://forums.turbobricks.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5781&stc=1&d=1233973441
This is a little test project I started playing with. I'll have to see how this takes shape, but the prototype will likely go on rdeemings engine.
http://forums.turbobricks.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5782&stc=1&d=1233973299

[DavoS40]

Nice, thats solid. I was at a cylinder head shop in Fort Collins this week picking up a 16v head for "rdeeming" Rich on here. They guys said there was some Volvo nut around the shop there. I was wondering if it was you or some other Turbobricks member.

We didn't break 300 on Zach's 8v, but got close. But I was afraid to push the boost very high on pump gas. Its a new build, and needs to run for a while.

What was the name of the shop? Probably be a good place to take my head to get the big intake valves installed, since there's already a Volvo nut there.

[qwkswede]

http://www.amsautomachine.com/
They did good work and were pretty fast.

[Dfer10]

wow ken you just keep pushing the envelope, pretty sweet

[bwb3]

where'd ya get the wheels, what are the specs on those bitches?

[DavoS40]

http://www.amsautomachine.com/
They did good work and were pretty fast.

Ah sweet, those are the guys who did the machining on my bottom end a few years ago, definitely did good work.

[qwkswede]

The wheels are from Diamond Racing Wheels. They are 15x8 w 5in. backspace, and weigh about 19lbs each. Volvo bolt pattern too, so no adapters required. They are a perfect width for the baby slicks I'm mounting. Unoftunately they don't come in a narrow width for the front, I'll probably paint some volvo steel wheels to match for drag days.



where'd ya get the wheels, what are the specs on those bitches?

[RvolvoR]

26" slicks?

[Ruben]

So diamond racing wheels can be had in 5x108? Lug or hubcentric?

[qwkswede]

Yes they do the 108 bolt pattern, I don't think they are hubcentric though. I'll know more when I bolt em on the car. They are supposed to be used with the race style tapered acorn lugnuts that should handle the alignment.
The slicks are 24.5x8.5

[qwkswede]

Made a little progress tonight on an intake manifold idea. I don't have time or engergy to soak into a scratch built intake right now. So I will try this idea. Cut apart the stock one, port the hell out of the inside, shorten the runners a bit, and add some needed plenum Volume. It will be interesting to see if this helps the top end at all. Because it was relatively easy to do.

[dbh86]

That should help the flow imbalance too. Looks good!

[str8krewzn]

Umm Ken, i think Longer runners, better top end,shorter runners better low end power?

i Could be wrong tho

[linuxman51]

no, shorter runners, better top end. longer runners for that tq down low.
And if you aren't going to run out and toss it on the car, drop it in a box, I can test it relative to the stock one.

[Dfer10]

nice looks good ken. sorry missed ya on sunday, i guess i thought people would stay little longer but everyone was pretty much gone when i showed up close to 1

[qwkswede]

Nah. Think like a Tuba. Thats a mile of tubing for really low frequency sounds right? Trumpets have really short tubing length for the high notes. I need more high notes.

And more cowbell too.

Umm Ken, i think Longer runners, better top end,shorter runners better low end power?

i Could be wrong tho

[qwkswede]

A couple more pictures of how the intake modifications went down. I have some time this weekend. I should be able to finish the work on this.

[qwkswede]

The drag strip opens in a couple weeks and I have a little work to do before then. A winter of daily driving and neglect seems to have open the door for some gremlins to sneak in.

I do think the head gasket may be blown. "BHG". I'll probably be tearing it apart this weekend for a closer look.

[DNAsEqUeNcE]

cometic!

[euroshark]

Ken, I was behind you turning left on Miramonte from 287 southbound a couple of weeks ago... in a low '87 BMW 535is. Your car sounded beastly and I appreciated the little show of acceleration from the stop sign! :)

[qwkswede]

Ken, I was behind you turning left on Miramonte from 287 southbound a couple of weeks ago... in a low '87 BMW 535is. Your car sounded beastly and I appreciated the little show of acceleration from the stop sign! :)

haha thanks. So what are you doing hanging out on the Volvo forum?

Snow day today, its a good chance to get a closer look at whats going on. I will have to order up another cometic. I'm not sure that I have a spare in the right thickness. I think it will go together with better studs this time. I'm sure I can make the gasket seal better, but I just fear that the gasket isn't really the problem. Something funny might be happening with the tune. I know the 1000cc injectors are right at their capacity. Could have been lean once or twice. I don't know what level you need to start worrying about o-ringing the block or doing wilder things to hold the head down. But I suppose I could be close to that. This gasket does have about 25,000 miles on it.

[euroshark]

So what are you doing hanging out on the Volvo forum?

I picked up an '87 760 turbo wagon in January and it turned out to have an absolute turd for an engine. I got a replacement this weekend so hopefully it will take the role of daily driver for me in the next month or so... I am so sick of driving my old Toyota pickup!

[dieselboy]

thats better! You know people always ask me the best way to cut alumn i tell them skill saw or table saw they always give me the no way look.
http://forums.turbobricks.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5897&stc=1&d=1236349344

[qwkswede]

I started diagnosing my problem last night.
Compression: 152,152,156,152
Spark Plugs: look like new almost. E85 makes the plugs eerily clean.

still wasn't sure where my disappearing water problem was coming from.

Hooked up my brake bleeder to the water tank and put 2 psi on the cooling system. And there it was, freeze plug number 1 spraying like an italian naked baby fountain.

Im doing a good 25,000 mile check anyway. I can't believe this motor is doing so awesome for this many miles with the level of beating I give it. I don't know how many times I have had the oil so hot and thin that the oil lite comes on when the car idles. I really need to improve oil cooling if I run this thing on the road course again.

To do:
-fix the freeze plug for good
-pull the turbo and mount the 60mm wastegate so I dont' have to run 25psi all the time.
-drop the AC stuff and lighten the car up.

Did I mention that the dragstrip opens in a little over a week? Its helping the motivation to have a goal. That and I sold my other 2 volvos and there is snow on the ground. So bicycle commuting is a little dodgy right now. Need my car.

[linuxman51]

jbweld on the freeze plug.

[qwkswede]

jbweld on the freeze plug.

ah yes. I think this stuff should be sold in a special volvo labeled tube.

I need to pop out the old one, and hammer in a fresh plug with a little jb sealant I think. Patching the old one in the motor with jb weld around the outside didn't hold for more than a couple months.

I use the early style freeze plugs in the B23. They are a pain to make work right apparently.

[rdeeming]

Loosing interest in this project and tired of riding in the BMW to get coffee.

[supraboy]

when you cut the mani did you use justan ordinary carbide tipped blade? thats just friggin cool, ive never seen anyone do it that way.:omg:

[linuxman51]

Loosing interest in this project and tired of riding in the BMW to get coffee.

so build your own foool

[qwkswede]

when you cut the mani did you use justan ordinary carbide tipped blade? thats just friggin cool, ive never seen anyone do it that way.:omg:

yep, carbide tipped blade. I did my first one with a handheld circular saw. Rich had the fancy table saw kind and cut this one.

But if you go to an aluminum vendor, thats the way they cut the stuff too. Abrasive wheels clog. Band saws are slow. Carbide tipped saws are great on the soft aluminum. They just rip the big sheets to size like plywood.

[qwkswede]

so build your own foool

yeah fooo.

I'm going out to race my bicycle this weekend. My wagon is just hiding in the garage right now. I'll get to it eventually. I don't have the motivation or time for heavy fabrication work right now. I may need to assemble a new header to make this big wastegate work. Or I could cut a hole in the strut tower. That might be the easier solution.

[rdeeming]

so build your own foool

lol at the rate I am going its almost considered to not be building one. I do feel like a fool for getting all sucked up into building a Volvo much less a wagon at times.

[linuxman51]

yeah, those feelings of self loathing and self deprecation seem to come with the territory.

[pwschuh]

I do feel like a fool for getting all sucked up into building a Volvo much less a wagon at times.

And there you have it. I'd feel like a fool for building anything but a Volvo wagon. I mean, why would you?

[qwkswede]

I tried to warn him. This car does not have the pussy magnet.

[linuxman51]

you don't park it outside then. cats love sleeping on volvos.

[rdeeming]

you don't park it outside then. cats love sleeping on volvos.

That cat would not be a sleeping cat.

[DNAsEqUeNcE]

yeah, those feelings of self loathing and self deprecation seem to come with the territory.

As well as being an *******?

[linuxman51]

As well as being an *******?

the volvo has nothing to do with that.

[rdeeming]

Another day and another boring slow ride to get coffee in a BMW.

[rdeeming]

Another day and another slow ride in a squeaky S10 truck to get coffee.

[pwschuh]

Another day and another slow ride in a squeaky S10 truck to get coffee.

Wait wat? I thought you got to ride in a BMW?

[qwkswede]

Wait wat? I thought you got to ride in a BMW?

There are several options for transportation that runs other than the Volvo. lol. One day we take the bmw, another we take the S10, sometimes we take the VW bus. Sometimes we walk.

But alternative transport conversations aside, I actually found some time on my Memorial day to sit at the bench and install the new monster size wastegate. I still need to plumb the dump tube, I would like to feed it back into the exhaust. Its scary loud with an open wastegate dump.

Hopefully this thing will run again soon.

[lunar240z]

lookin good

[qwkswede]

Yes, the sad part is all this effort is so that I can run LOWER boost.

I'm trying to have the car ready for an upcoming Volvo drag day. June 7th! Oh man, thats just around the corner...

[qwkswede]

Making some progress this weekend too. I have the car about halfway assembled again. If my day job doesn't cause me to have to work all day sunday, I may actually get the car running again this weekend. No cams or intake yet, but one step at a time im getting there.

[qwkswede]

sniff sniff. whats that smell? OH, its the sweet smell of ethanol burning in my garage again. I need another day before I start commuting to work in the wagon again, but soon. I have so much hot exhaust stuff packed into the passenger side of the engine compartment. I have no idea how to keep from melting a couple important things. But I'm working on some ideas.

Crossing my fingers for a happy week. Maybe I'll actually make it to the track Wed or Thursday, then again for the big Swedish car show on Saturday. We have a small Volvo section reserved at the import drag day. Id like to run a 12 again with the new turbo, and new intake. Then I need to start figuring out how to really use the power to push into the 11s. I fear I will need bigger injectors before that happens though. I have a couple new tricks up my sleeve this season.

[Captain Bondo]

Maybe it's just the pic- but it looks like you only used 1.5" schedule 10 for the wastegate pipe?

I would have cut the hole in the collector bigger and used 2", it fits the flange way better.

Ah well even if you did I imagine it should still flow a lot more...

[qwkswede]

Dude, I would have used the larger pipe, but you have to understand that 2" pipe is larger in diameter than my entire collector. There was no way to mate that to the area where the tubes merge. So its 2" near the wastegate, and steps down close to the header collector. It will work way better than my old wastegate setup im sure. Though there was no easy way to mount it with room so that it doesn't melt things. I'm scratching my head and slowly testing to see what will need some relocating. My alternator is pretty close to the wastegate now.


Maybe it's just the pic- but it looks like you only used 1.5" schedule 10 for the wastegate pipe?

I would have cut the hole in the collector bigger and used 2", it fits the flange way better.

Ah well even if you did I imagine it should still flow a lot more...

[qwkswede]

Just had another quality night in the garage. I installed some new camshafts tonight. Driving impressions will have to wait till tomorrow so I don't wake the neighborhood.

These are a new top secret grind from Sweden. Made with lov in the motherland.
I can tell more later if they are worth a darn. Next performance update to come this weekend. Volvos are gathering at the slow 6000' alt. Track

[linuxman51]

how do they run? it'll be several weeks before I find out on mine.

[dbh86]

how do they run? it'll be several <s>weeks</s> <b>months</b> before I find out on mine.

fixed :-P

Good to see your car is getting back together quickly.

[qwkswede]

how do they run? it'll be several weeks before I find out on mine.
No comments yet. I started it this morning and thought about driving to work. But I had a bad misfire. Maybe the plug wire that I pulled the end off last night. I didn't have time to investigate before work. But the lifters seemed to be dealing with the smaller base circle just fine without the lash caps.

I'll try again tonight.

[qwkswede]

Camshafts and hydraulic lifters seem to be a problem. I have 30-50 psi compression in a couple cylinders. Something isn't working right.

I just yanked the cams out, and did a leakdown test. Its 5% or less in every cylinder. So everything seems good. Thank yoda I didn't bend any valves. The stock cams are going back in for now so I can make the races on Sunday.

I'm pretty frustrated with this 16v valvetrain problem. I think its time to wort out some solid lifter setup. I have already talked to Arrow Precision, and they can crank out a couple sets of custom lifters. Im starting to think thats going to be necessary to run any regrind cams.

[qwkswede]

Track Update.

I made 3 good passes today and one gruesome pass when I tried to powershift for some extra tenths and missed 2 gears. Got me the LOSE in the 2nd round of eliminations and my day was over. The old getrag just won't shift fast. As long as I move the lever slow and deliberate, it goes into gear no prob. But those big heavy gears and 30 year old syncros just don't allow really fast shifts. Not much I can do about that. I want to try the flat shift soon to try and keep the turbo spooled even during a slower shift. But the gear changes are never going to be super quick with this trans.

The track and tires were good.
1.71-1.79 60' times on all my runs.

Best ET run, 12.21@117mph -- lifted this one to keep from breaking out.
Best MPH run, 12.35@120mph

Another year, another 1/2 second faster. Not bad, I was happy with that. I really want a 12 second pass this season but I didn't think everything was ready for it today. Fun Fun Fun though. The volvo always gets way more attention than any Swedish Kleenex box should.

Couple of my favorite Volvo pictures ever:

[Roger-Dee]

Wow, congrats!

Are you still running the stock volvo axle?

[qwkswede]

Wow, congrats!

Are you still running the stock volvo axle?

Yep, Volvo Eaton Locker, and stock axles. The locker doesn't seem to "lock" in the burnout box though. Not sure whats up with that. I get sweet 1 tire burnouts. But it seems to launch OK when there is traction and the tires aren't spinning. the power seems to go down to both wheels when it needs to. I think the flyweight mechanism is unlocking the axle in the burnout box though.

[Karl Buchka]

Congratulations on the awesome times Ken!

And ****ing LOL at that second pic.

[linuxman51]

good times and good mph!

my time still stands, however. :-P

[qwkswede]

The 11s are going to tough. With a really good clean pass I think I can maybe squeak in there. I may have to go to the other track at 5000' altitude to do it.

The launches were really fun with the slicks.

[Volvorules]

Congrats Ken! Nice work, and good pics with the chicks too :)

What slicks were you running, new ones or the same that you had at SE?

[qwkswede]

Congrats Ken! Nice work, and good pics with the chicks too :)

What slicks were you running, new ones or the same that you had at SE?
Thanks. I was actually expecting more crazy NOPI madness since it was the "street tuner" show. But in colorado we got only a couple bikini girls. It was pretty cold out there today too, so those girls were pretty brave. Had to give them a warm place to sit near the turbo for a little while.

I bought some M&H true slicks. Little baby size, but they hook good. 24.5x8. They are on some 8" wide steelies so the car handles pretty good on them too.

Here is a little Video that just came through from one of the Rocky Mountain Volvo Club guys.


<object height="344" width="425">


<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/qo_vH9nNS8M&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></object>

[qwkswede]

And the funny part about that run above. Thats the one where the shifter knob came off in my hand going for 3rd gear. You can see the car hesitate there for a second while I tried to figure out what was going on.

I'm sure the volvo drivers understand the notorious Volvo shifter problem. Most people thought I was making it up.