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LH2.2 Tuning For Non-Volvo Installation / X1/9 Dallara + K24 Swap

Installed the harness, Power stage & coil pack today. Removed the distributor, coil & standard terminal wire set.

Didn't start, so I checked the continuity for all the power connections. Every looked good. I had removed the ground for the stock power stage (which I forgot included the ECU ground), so I reattached that, and it tried to fire. Didn't sound right at all, so I reversed wires for 1-4 with 2-3, and it fired right up. I had wired IB1 to output 1 & IB2 to output 2 on the daughter card, OC1 to coil pin 3, and OC2 to coil pin 1

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- based on this diagram

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So, it seems the coil connections are inaccurate - I definitely have OC1 going to coil pin 3 & OC2 going to coil pin 1.

Coil pack & isolater board location

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Power stage & heat sink location

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Wires in place, distributor removed

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Switched to the Bosch PS

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and added the tach feed relay

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Fitted Honda S2000 seats & belts

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Chopped up the instrument cluster to move the tach inboard

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Volvo idiot light strips

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EDIT: revised idiot light wiring with diode to prevent backfeed

Added zener circuit for knock indication led

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Made an aluminum baffled expansion tank

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On the way to Carlisle behind my son's 85 744TD manual swapped.

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ticking along nicely

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We were next to the Fiat section this year, so no dilemma as to where to park :)

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Found that tach was unreporting rpm - I was wondering why it was going flat around 4500, that was mainly cos it was actually @6rpm. I hooked up a Volvo tach, and determined that 3K was actually 4K, 4K was 5K, & 4,5K was actually 6K :(

Problem was due to the conditioner circuit in the tach relay - swapped it out with a relay only connected to 86, 85 as per Bijilsma diagram & tach seems to respond properly now.

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EDIT - had to recalibrate the tach, it still under-reported after the relay switch

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Moved the knock sensor to the other side of the block - the port I was using was too close to the head - I never got any knock indications in any of the HG failures. No error codes when checking system. Water droplets on pipe are from where I cleaned the motor after taking the coolant port out.

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Going to hook up a det can so I can start adding some timing back to the current map.

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Using a 240 turbo 5bar OP sender & guage to monitor fuel pressure - it seemed to be dropping off under load. I had to raise base pressure to compensate for pressure drop when engine is hot. Setting the base pressure to 3bar hot, fixed the pressure drop issue. Problems of 8V non-cross flow head designs - fuel rail is obviously getting hot enough for fuel density to be an issue :(

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Blew another head gasket before I had a chance to test the det can.

Upon inspection, the fire rings over hang the bores on the foreward face. Not good. I did not catch that when I installed it 1K miles ago.

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fire rings overhang the bores by an amount equal to the gap between bore & gaske visible at the rearward face

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Where it blew out between 2&3. Head checked out fine & true by machine shop. Blocked was decked when motor was built.

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Also found 3 wasted lobes on the cam & shims (identical to redblock)

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Should have it back together tomorrow, as long as new cam shows up in time. Then I can take a listen using the det can to see if the knock sensor is not registering actual knock..

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very nice project!
Isn't this engine a lot like that of a Fiat Uno Turbo-IE ? Back when these cars were new they were very popular for tuning so there is some aftermarket support for these engines.
Maybe you can use a Uno turbo MLS HG? The turbo engine is a 1.4L so i have no idea if the bores are the same as those in your engine.
 
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The HG doesn't show any signs of fire ring damage from detonation, so that is one good thing. Now I have the det can pickup attached to the block, I will be listening while I check the timing changes.

Got the new cam in (223, instead of 231), slightly milder, makes the EMS much happier for cold start/warmup, perhaps the low cold idle & lumpy running contributed to the failure, I dunno. I had to regrind a bunch of Volvo valve shims down to the thicknesses I needed - in .001" increments - took awhile.

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Made heat shields to protect the fuel rail

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rerouted the fuel delivery to get the FPR away from the expansion tank

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tidied up the LH2.4 main harness inside


hard mounted the EZK116 ECU, had it velcro'd to the firewall mat previously

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Switching to Valvoline VR1. See if that helps down the road.
 
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For the intake mani temps people claim that the (forget the material name) spacers between the head and intake keep the heat soak temps way down.

phenolic ?
i used to have those on my 940T, can't remember if i noticed much of a difference so i must have been underwhelmed by them. Maybe it is different in a tight midengine compartment?
Point is, those studs still provide a heat conducting metal bridge between head and intake manifold. So even if you install those spacers your intake manifold will still heat up.
 
phenolic ?
i used to have those on my 940T, can't remember if i noticed much of a difference so i must have been underwhelmed by them. Maybe it is different in a tight midengine compartment?
Point is, those studs still provide a heat conducting metal bridge between head and intake manifold. So even if you install those spacers your intake manifold will still heat up.

Yes. If that's ur worry than I'd slightly enlarge the intake holes
 
For the intake mani temps people claim that the (forget the material name) spacers between the head and intake keep the heat soak temps way down.

Phenolic spacers can help on intakes. Volvo & Fiat (and others) used phenolic material for injector holders/spacers on K, D & L-Jet setups. Problem is, I don't have a cross flow head, so the problem is more to do with radiant heat off the exhaust, which the spacer would not address.
 
Don't know whether knock detection will work at all for you using LH, as it's very carefully tuned to the bore size and material of the engine block..
 
Don't know whether knock detection will work at all for you using LH, as it's very carefully tuned to the bore size and material of the engine block..

Interesting idea - it's carefully tuned to register a specific frequency range, yes. EZK 11x is not tuned specifcally to the redblock. B280 also used same setup, and other manufacturers :) The sensor placement is clearly most important.

I've run the car with a det can, and have no audible knock with the current setup - makes sense, since this last HG had no evidence of the obvious detonation damage to the fire rings.

See how it goes DTR :)
 
Getting closer to paint

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Put in a engine bay fan using a thermoswitch trigger, which has resolved the heat soak after highway runs issue. Added a timer circuit so it runs on for apporx 2min after shutdown if bay temp is over 203?F.

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Made a better fitting intake pipe, and added an air scoop to the engine cover to feed the K&N Xtreme

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Engine has been running well since last year's timing map revisions. I tried adding some timing back in over 2500 higher load areas, and got knock under load in 2nd. Reverted to previous no-knock map. I think I'll leave it be until I can actually log timing.

no bueno:
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all good:
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2K primer

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Volvo Passion Red 612 base coat

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Clear coat:

(modified Volvo C30 rockers)
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Much final sanding & then polish to go. After that, car gets 5" tape stripe that runs down the sides & across the back

3M 1080 G15 yellow (test swatch)

earlier clear coat - this orange peel was sanded out :D
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Yeah that's a million times better. So which flavor of K series is it?

Its a JDM '05 K24A3 (full iVtec int & exh) with the AST5 6 speed + LSD . I looked at the K20's, however I'm more interested in the low to mid range pull than the HP screaming at 9K rpm. I added the later intake cam that has a little more lift, and NPR RL5 pistons to bump the compression just a little. It's probably going to stay NA. should be around 220HP, which is plenty for a 2000lb chassis :)

I had to customize the intake, tucking the plenum under the runners and built my own headers to make it fit, along with all the cooling system revisions needed for mid engine install.
 
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