naterhater
Member
- Joined
- Jul 2, 2013
- Location
- Portland OR
This is the first time I've actually taken enough pictures to post a build progress thread about any car I've owned. Also, the first time in a while that I have owned a car long enough to make a thread worth reading about it. So here goes...
After I decided that my 1986 Ford LTD hearse was not worth keeping anymore I went car shopping on Craigslist and found this 1993 Volvo 940 Turbo Wagon for $900 in a town nearby. The car had been sitting for 2 years and was barely driven or maintained during that time which made the first 3 hours I owned it quite eventful. After I got it home and cut the stock exhaust off just after the downpipe I went to go for a drive. The thermostat was stuck shut, causing it to overheat, and after removing the thermostat and trying again, I later found myself bypassing the heater core to eliminate a hose that split. The third time was the charm, I finally successfully went for a good drive to see how fast it was, which was highlighted by a coupling in the intercooler piping blowing off and the engine completely shutting off. Other than the slight problems, the car was great!
Soon after, I had the old dry rotted tires replaced with some fresh Uniroyals. But I still had to take the overdrive fuse out to use the reverse lights without popping it.
Then the sweet mods started. First order of business was to make this awesome trunk carpet
Next came the exhaust, the stock system was badly rusted and needed new mufflers anyway. I fashioned a 3" downpipe back system with some mandrel bends, leftover pipe, a good eye, and a flux core welder.
This exhaust tip got a lot of heat away from the plastic bumper cover, and actually reduced the interior drone significantly.
The turbo cars run pretty hot, now boy I tell ya what.
After that, I had gathered a whole pile of maintenance parts as well as an IPD turbo cam to throw in when I did the timing belt.
I didnt have the plastic piece wit the stock timing mark for the cam, but I read on here that if you hold a piece of floss lined up with the center of the crankshaft and the bolt for the timing belt tensioner then it will line up perfectly with where the cam gear mark should be. This method worked great, I think this is the easiest engine I have ever timed. In addition to the T-belt and cam, I did a ton of additional overdue maintenance.
I drove it for a while after all this and it ran great, pretty reliable too. I love how good this car is for adventures
Yet this car's speed was not satisfying, and it leaked a ton of oil. Next came the 15g upgrade. I essentially removed everything that was in the way on the exhaust side of the engine and fixed the old/broken stuff. The turbo was leaking a ton of oil, as well as the oil cooler seals.
A few studs broke while I was removing the exhaust manifold. 1 caused me to almost ruin my head trying to drill it out. The second one I drilled and tapped flawlesly thanks to a cryo-treated cobalt steel bit, and this jig that I welded to help keep the drill bit straight and centered.
While I had the chance, I smoothed and mildly ported the inlet of the turbine housing. In order to minimize reversion you dont want to make the turbo into an expansion chamber since it necks down so quickly as the air travels to the turbine wheel.
I also did a more aggressive porting job on the outlet of my exhaust manifold. There was a lot of metal that didnt need to be there at the choke point, hopefully now it flows better and gets heat out of the already cracked manifold quicker.
While I was in there, I also installed the temperature and pressure sensors for the innovate motorsports oil gauge.
That T-fitting had to be machined slightly to accommodate the temperature sensor, unfortunately this made it too weak and it burst during a test drive, spraying oil onto the hot exhaust parts and fogging out entire neighborhoods on the careful limp home.
After all the drilling and tapping nonsense, reassembly began.
While I was at it, I completed my 3" system with the fabrication of this downpipe complete with bungs for the Innovate wideband sensor and LH2.4's oxygen sensor. It was a total pain in the ass.
Originally I was going to heat wrap the manifold to send more heat through the turbo, but since the manifold was cracked I decided it would be best to use the wrap on the downpipe.
It felt so good to finally get everything together and have my car back!
The turbo (flat housing 15g) is one that I had pulled from an early 90's 850 T5 at a junkyard and as i turns out the wastegate actuator is worn out. Therefore I have 2 boost settings, 7psi with the vac line attached, and 14-16psi with the vac line disconnected. Unfortunately LH can't handle about 13psi of boost so I am leaving the line hooked up until I can chip it.
The next order of business will be fixing everything that is wrong with it on the intake side, doing a valve adjustment, and generally getting the car ready for performance chips and more boost. I will definitely update this thread when more work gets done.
p.s. I put more effort into this post than any college essay I have ever written.
After I decided that my 1986 Ford LTD hearse was not worth keeping anymore I went car shopping on Craigslist and found this 1993 Volvo 940 Turbo Wagon for $900 in a town nearby. The car had been sitting for 2 years and was barely driven or maintained during that time which made the first 3 hours I owned it quite eventful. After I got it home and cut the stock exhaust off just after the downpipe I went to go for a drive. The thermostat was stuck shut, causing it to overheat, and after removing the thermostat and trying again, I later found myself bypassing the heater core to eliminate a hose that split. The third time was the charm, I finally successfully went for a good drive to see how fast it was, which was highlighted by a coupling in the intercooler piping blowing off and the engine completely shutting off. Other than the slight problems, the car was great!
Soon after, I had the old dry rotted tires replaced with some fresh Uniroyals. But I still had to take the overdrive fuse out to use the reverse lights without popping it.
Then the sweet mods started. First order of business was to make this awesome trunk carpet
Next came the exhaust, the stock system was badly rusted and needed new mufflers anyway. I fashioned a 3" downpipe back system with some mandrel bends, leftover pipe, a good eye, and a flux core welder.
This exhaust tip got a lot of heat away from the plastic bumper cover, and actually reduced the interior drone significantly.
The turbo cars run pretty hot, now boy I tell ya what.
After that, I had gathered a whole pile of maintenance parts as well as an IPD turbo cam to throw in when I did the timing belt.
I didnt have the plastic piece wit the stock timing mark for the cam, but I read on here that if you hold a piece of floss lined up with the center of the crankshaft and the bolt for the timing belt tensioner then it will line up perfectly with where the cam gear mark should be. This method worked great, I think this is the easiest engine I have ever timed. In addition to the T-belt and cam, I did a ton of additional overdue maintenance.
I drove it for a while after all this and it ran great, pretty reliable too. I love how good this car is for adventures
Yet this car's speed was not satisfying, and it leaked a ton of oil. Next came the 15g upgrade. I essentially removed everything that was in the way on the exhaust side of the engine and fixed the old/broken stuff. The turbo was leaking a ton of oil, as well as the oil cooler seals.
A few studs broke while I was removing the exhaust manifold. 1 caused me to almost ruin my head trying to drill it out. The second one I drilled and tapped flawlesly thanks to a cryo-treated cobalt steel bit, and this jig that I welded to help keep the drill bit straight and centered.
While I had the chance, I smoothed and mildly ported the inlet of the turbine housing. In order to minimize reversion you dont want to make the turbo into an expansion chamber since it necks down so quickly as the air travels to the turbine wheel.
I also did a more aggressive porting job on the outlet of my exhaust manifold. There was a lot of metal that didnt need to be there at the choke point, hopefully now it flows better and gets heat out of the already cracked manifold quicker.
While I was in there, I also installed the temperature and pressure sensors for the innovate motorsports oil gauge.
That T-fitting had to be machined slightly to accommodate the temperature sensor, unfortunately this made it too weak and it burst during a test drive, spraying oil onto the hot exhaust parts and fogging out entire neighborhoods on the careful limp home.
After all the drilling and tapping nonsense, reassembly began.
While I was at it, I completed my 3" system with the fabrication of this downpipe complete with bungs for the Innovate wideband sensor and LH2.4's oxygen sensor. It was a total pain in the ass.
Originally I was going to heat wrap the manifold to send more heat through the turbo, but since the manifold was cracked I decided it would be best to use the wrap on the downpipe.
It felt so good to finally get everything together and have my car back!
The turbo (flat housing 15g) is one that I had pulled from an early 90's 850 T5 at a junkyard and as i turns out the wastegate actuator is worn out. Therefore I have 2 boost settings, 7psi with the vac line attached, and 14-16psi with the vac line disconnected. Unfortunately LH can't handle about 13psi of boost so I am leaving the line hooked up until I can chip it.
The next order of business will be fixing everything that is wrong with it on the intake side, doing a valve adjustment, and generally getting the car ready for performance chips and more boost. I will definitely update this thread when more work gets done.
p.s. I put more effort into this post than any college essay I have ever written.
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