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As the Engineers and Designers Intended: 1983 245 Turbo

4-cyl

4-cyl

In too deep
Joined
Aug 23, 2008
Location
Seattle, WA
The 240 Turbo was a marvel of the early 80s; fuel injection, a turbocharger, high quality parts, and a strictly functional design. Any concept put into production, however, loses a bit of technology and individuality as bean counters chop away at what is “unnecessary.”



My goal with this 245T is to build it as the engineers and designers would have wanted. It should do everything that a production car should with incredible ease, but those items, both mechanical and cosmetic, that were deemed unnecessary expenditures or simply not available in 1983 (but a better solution), will be incorporated along the way.


Accomplished thus far:

Engine -
Head and valve gaskets
All front and rear oil seals
All vacuum hoses replaced w/ braided fabric line
do88 turbo inlet, intake, and intercooler hoses
New K-jet injectors
New K-jet seals
Used CPR
Fuel filter
Fuel pumps
Fuel accumulator
Throttle body cable
Used Idle-air Control Valve
Battery lines
PCV box
NOS replacement engine wiring harness
Rebuilt turbo-side wiring harness
Engine mounts


Transmission -
Resealed transmission
HD transmission mount

Suspension -
Full iPD poly set minus the TABs
Bilstein HDs
Ball joints, tie rods, top hats

Brakes -
*Have stainless lines to install

Interior -
New heater core and blower motor
Rebuilt donor black leather interior
Installed VDO boost gauge in PSI to replace clock
Rebuilt power window switches

Exterior -
Rack removed and plugs placed


I should mention that my mantra is “Maintenance is key.” This car will by my daily driver. Much of this build thread will focus on maintenance—getting and keeping the wagon at 100%--from K-jet stumbles to the smallest o-ring one can think of.


 
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I started with the original wiring. It was a mess.



Along the way, I happened to break off the spade connector (spade and connector were rusted together) on what should have been the Thermal Cutoff, but after a bit of confusion, it was found that the car had two Temperature Gauge Sensors! How lucky I was to have broken that, or I may have never figured it out. Poulson01 was awesome enough to send me an extra Thermal Cutoff for free!

 
After removing the hard lines, it was easy to see that the Control Pressure Regulator was pretty gummed up. I disassembled, cleaned, and put it back together with new vacuum lines.



The check valve was installed after this photo was taken.

 
With everything removed, I started cleaning up the block before I replaced the PCV box. I decided to clean the nasty valve cover as well. Then I found this?



At which point, things escalated quite quickly.



I found what I thought to be the culprit in the #4 fire ring.



The machine shop checked the head. They said it was within spec, so I didn?t have it machined.
 
While I was waiting on the head gasket kit, I started cleaning everything else up including chasing the threads on every nut and stud possible.



Then, I soldered up the new wires I got from Dave Barton, and connected them to the OEM replacement harness I got from philski o’flood.

 
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With the head gasket kit still in the mail, I turned my attention towards the interior. The door cards are perfect, but the seats were roached.



I got everything out, and went to town with the vacuum.



The seat rails were pretty hard to move, so I put some silicone grease where possible. One of the rails on the passenger?s seat was incredibly stiff. I found that a quarter had somehow become wedged at a 45˚ angle inside the rail! That took an hour to remove?



I?ll post pictures of the now finished interior when I get the car back out into the sunlight.
 
4-cyl said:
At this point, I need to drop the transmission to get to (what I think is the problem) the pin.
Click to expand...

Yep, that can happen. pretty easy fix. you can actually get to it without dropping the trans, but if you're looking for a reason to yank the trans... have fun!
 
blkaplan said:
Yep, that can happen. pretty easy fix. you can actually get to it without dropping the trans, but if you're looking for a reason to yank the trans... have fun!
Click to expand...

I think I may have been a bit vague. From under the car, it feels like the shift rod has come unattached from the trans via part #12. Part #10 is still attached to the shift rod (as is part #9). As far as I know, there's no way to get at that pin with the trans still bolted up (without hacking up the tunnel), but if you know how, I'd be happy to read your advice!

 
TheRacer02 said:
:omg: The attention to detail is amazing!! Please keep going with amazing pictures.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I'm glad someone is enjoying the thread so far. So many people have given me help here, so I thought it would be good to get more information out there into the ethers where possible.
 
For that #12 pin, lower the transmission as long as you can (so that the head rests gently on the firewall. Then use a mechanics pic that has a 90 degree tip and slip it under the pin and rotate the pick so that it pushes the pin upwards.
 
Mugatu said:
For that #12 pin, lower the transmission as long as you can (so that the head rests gently on the firewall. Then use a mechanics pic that has a 90 degree tip and slip it under the pin and rotate the pick so that it pushes the pin upwards.
Click to expand...

Interesting. So you're saying it is possible to rotate the engine back far enough to get a clear sight line to the pin. I'll give it a shot next weekend. I'm pretty sure the main seal is ok for now, so I'd rather not pull the trans.
 
That is going to be one nice build!

I think the cars would have been way better if the Engineers really had it made the way they wanted it....you know the damn bean counters squashed a few great ideas! :)
 
That bulge in the fire ring on #4 is what I was talking about. That's where the big coolant passages vs small coolant passages issue comes up.
Do a Google and you'll find pics showing the different cylinder heads for sure.

This is all trivial really, but it's still interesting. The larger coolant passages leave less aluminum to grab that fire ring right where it's pushed out on yours.

Edit: P.S. Sweet build! :clap::cheers:
 
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