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Olga the Second Revised

Finally got the new parts in the mail yesterday. Everything balanced and shiny!

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Broken vs. Not-Broken

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Just one problem, my housing is not big enough for the 60 trim wheel... I bought another turbo that the seller thought was a 60 trim to get a compressor housing on the cheap, but no luck. Turned out to be just another 50 trim :-( So, I made a call at work and was able to get some technicians involved to up the professionalism!

With a 5-achse CNC it's easy to shoot out the parts you need with the right model, difficult part is not having the geometries for the new wheel... So we went around and saw what fun toys, I mean tools, we had at our disposal.

Our first lab had a pretty nice unit, but only gave us a window of about one square inch. The lab next door works at the micro level and could have measured the hills at valleys of the polished turbine surface, pretty nice, but the turbine is a bit larger than 170 microns... On the other side of the machine park we found some more appropriate materials for that which had to be done.

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Quick pic of a working model, not the final result...

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So a couple of hours later we had a "prototype" made up and checked the fit as best we could.

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The new turbine should be a direct replacement, but the radii and trailing edges actually had some different angles once compared to the stock compressor housing. So I'm glad we measured the turbine and not the housing. Tomorrow morning we'll machine the housing with the current model which has a 0.6mm (0.0235") wheel to housing gap and see what becomes of it! Measuring the stock housing, the 50 trim has a 0.45mm gap, but the stock 6+6 blades are shorter and smaller in diameter than the billet wheel. So that's why I went with 0.60mm, otherwise with the journal bearing play allowing the shaft to tilt, the tips might risk scraping against the housing. Worst case scenario we need to try again. No problem though, I got another housing or two laying around the garage :)
 
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Got the turbo installed friday night, had to R/R the thing three times to get the housings properly clocked. Could have avoided that by marking the exhaust housing beforehand :oops:

Thing looks good, but I should have gone with the smaller diameter with the 0.45mm gap. Definitely have 0.15mm to spare before the turbine would rub against the housing when trying to push the turbine to the side. Meh. I'll have another housing machined with a tighter tolerance, but swapping them out can wait till I remove the turbo again another time.

Gappy gap gap?

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Still looks good though

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And then I found a much more solid intake pipe than the one I cobbled together and had been running. It's from a 1998 2.0 turbo V40 and has the original pre-heated inlet for the crankcase breather hose. Really happy with the original look of it! :-D

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Just gotta do something about the recirc valve inlet... the necessary part has been ordered! I'll get rid of the shiny screw as well...

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At the moment I had to re-install the turbo with the stock exhaust housing, future plans (spring/summer 2019) are to swap with the cossie then go with 3" downpipe and a comfortably quiet 2.5" exhaust.

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All in all the powerband has improved at lot; it's much smoother all the way up till the redline. The 50 trim rapidly lost steam after 5500 rpms, and was really peaky around 3000. The motor now has a flatter yet brutal torque curve that feels like an S60R.
 
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Great. Cool solutions! Glad to see it's running good again after the bad luck with the turbo.

Good choice on the Cosworth housing, have a similar setup with such a t3 on the 16v 760 and it's a nice combination!
 
I am looking forward to installing the other housing! What's really holding the engine back now is the stock air filter and stock exhaust. But all in good time :-)

After installing the do88 I didn't notice anything with quicker spool, but the motor did gain a little bit more punch and a few more rpms before the 50 trim would fall on its face. Dollars to powers it was the worst upgrade I've done so far, and besides the motor being slightly more peppy in-town, at my previous power levels where I swapped it in I didn't expect to see much improvement. Once I open up the exhaust and get the intake done it'll be a worthwhile piece that'll compliment the build.

@JW240
I'm a bit jealous of your big ole' lathe! But I've never seen a green interior before, sweet stuff!

I've been considering converting to LEDs, are they still holding up on your DD? I think I'll put that on my list of things to do in preparation for the fall/winter...
 
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@JW240
I'm a bit jealous of your big ole' lathe! But I've never seen a green interior before, sweet stuff!

I've been considering converting to LEDs, are they still holding up on your DD? I think I'll put that on my list of things to do in preparation for the fall/winter...

Thanks! It's a bit of a beast haha.

The h4 leds are holding up excellent. Since the install I covered more than 20k, lights always on. The ba15s in the front, one started flickering. Rear brake lights still perfect. For a 7xx I think the lights with braided cooling fins could be easier to fit, even with the cap on the back of the light bucket. Oh and I think there are various versions available now with other color than 6000K,even seen 3000K now. Maybe fits the car better and less suspicious at T?V?
 
Well, did a little researching about replacing the H4s with LEDs and that's a total no-go with the TÜV. You can replace lightbulbs in the interior with LEDs, but none of the external lighting. Didn't think the european laws would be so strict about lamps and LEDs, but no possiblity to get an exemption means no... bummer!
 
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Loved getting to see your car in person! All of your mods looked real clean and OEM. Wished I had the time to get a ride in it. Keep it up :)
 
Back in the garage for an hour our two, just tidying up a couple things. Been having a problem with the starter not engaging when the car is really warm. Exciter wire connection on the starter was a bit loose, with a pair of pliers bent it back to a nice fit. It's an intermittent problem, so it's not like you fix one thing and it's all of a sudden gone. Ended up not changing anything... Found some suspicious wires behind the ignition switch, like someone tried to install an alarm? Anyway, the big pink cable that runs voltage to the starter had been pig tailed together and wrapped in electrical tape. Getting out the solder gun fixed that, and it's just that kind of thing that keeps me busy most of the time. Getting everything back to the original condition, redoing wiring hack jobs from whenever in the past to a solid soldered fix etc. Just a good feeling when you know that wire won't be making any problems anytime soon. Anyway, could definitely tell right away that that was the problem. Super! Starter now engages crisply like never before.

And I also thought I had fixed the trunk leaks, nope, not quite! There wasn't a mass of water flowing in anymore, but after a long hard rain there just a bit of moisture in the trunk that took a while to find the point of intrusion.

But again, the panel glue was the weak point on both sides! But this time it was beneath the rear tail lights...

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Got out the body panel glue and squished it in good.

Smear it, smear it everywhere!

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Fixed!

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Now I need to wash the car at some point... getting pretty dusty. We got this wash box place around the corner that has pressure washers with really hot soapy water, most effective wash in town!
 
Still got a problem with my MAF and a bit of one with the idle control valve. Every now and then I get the 1-2-1 code, but no real drivability problems. At idle the control valve is slow to react, letting the rpms drop down to 500 and then recovering after a few seconds. It's a brand new unit, so it's not gummed up and in need of a cleaning. As far as the wirings, I already renewed ALL the grounds, stripping the wire and soldering on new connectors, now it's the positive leads I'm after.

I think I found the culprit hiding in the shadows, and I don't know if that spade connector wrapped in electrical tape is supposed to be there... The way the relay box is crispy and brittle leads me to thing the wire burnt through at one point and was spliced together on the lazy.

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Crusty...

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...and corroded

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Got to robbing my spare relay box and replaced the crusty power supply wire with a fresh one, maybe that'll solve my problems. Otherwise I'll have to get deeper into the wiring harness...

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Oh the rust of it all!

Before I saw this I believed the car to be completely free of rust, but I discovered a little spot that turned into the beginnings of what could have a big problem.

Underneath the heat shield above the second muffler I saw a small spot of rust. I took of the heat shield and found a few spots getting in position to wage a war. I was really surprised to see Volvo didn't even apply a coat of color to these areas or a layer of underbody coating. Also behind the heat shield of the over-axle pipe I found two spots of rust and so I threw down the gauntlet on this junk!

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Nope, no way this is going to be left to fester with winter coming... I grabbed a wire brush and removed the crap out of all the crap and treated it with a heavy coating of this stuff that turns rust into epoxy and a thick layer of underbody tar.

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Now this is much better!

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I found a few other spots that looked like they could eventually become a problem and gave them the same assault tactics.

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On a side note, If my car was a beer, it'd be this one!

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Further maintenance issues addressed: I'd been chasing after an oil leak around the back of the valve cover. Replaced the valve cover gasket with no change and eventually traced it back to the main seal in the spark distributor.

Old vs. New

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Nice little kit and everything is back to normal!

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Then in my steering there's been a clunk from all those years of living off of a dirt road in Florida. I took out the column to find a pretty definitive answer as to what it was.

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Last trip back home I found a doner 740 in the junkyard and brought this beauty back in my suitcase with a few other goodies.

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Great thing, my wife doesn't ask anymore why I'd want to bring back car parts, rather she was right in there ripping out parts and asking if we needed this clip or that panel! So proud of her :grin:

Last update of the day and the only upgrade to post, my freshly powdercoated geminis (the black ones that were hanging out for quite some time) got some nice 225/50's, just before I swapped back to winter tires :lol:

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Classic stance at the garage parking lot with an alternate junkyard background :oops:

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That's it for the moment, upgrades have reached a point where it's a stable/reliable build and now I'm focusing on the little things here and there that squeak or rattle or whatever.

Just enjoying the daily driver status after a long time spent restoring it :cool:
 
Thanks, appreciate it you guys!

As a daily it's been a blast, even my wife likes driving it and actually kinda grins if we need to trade cars for a while. Just commuting around town feels like it should, just a plain old Volvo in all its factory glory. :ninja: But when you want to, the tires light up with ease and the power delivery feels like a large bore V8. The last thing holding back the motor is the stock exhaust, but I'm still shopping for parts that will keep the factory silence with a 3 inch system and isn't sold in polished stainless. Suspension wise she's quite nimble in the corners. Brakes are also a dream, massive upgrade from stock with a solid, predictable bite.

The only thing that's a negative is my short drive to work and the 50 km/h speed limit the whole way there :lol:
 
Damn, looks great! I really like the 80's vibe it gives out.
On a side note, I'm also getting my girl, which you've met, to start thinking about cars in a different way haha. She was probably as heartbroken as me when my 940 got totalled.

Anyways, curious to see the final touches on this build, usually you do things your own way which proves quite interesting!
 
Impressive!

Well Jerry, I finally found the time to read your entire build..... you should be proud of the machine you've restomodded! I appreciate the "stealth mode" you have to maintain in Europa to keep the TUV satisfied. I realize how fortunate (or is it stupid?) we here in most of the States, as the county I live in here in NW Georgia doesn't require any emissions or safety inspections! As a result I don't have to worry about how the engine bay looks as you have to create that OEM look.

While there is plenty of love for the 7/9 wagons on TB, I don't feel near enough is given to the sedans. My 940 took a 20 mile run up the interstate this afternoon..... longest drive it's been on since I took it down in April 2017 for my final round of improvements. I want to get a couple tanks of petrol thru LH2.4 so it can learn my new 012 AMM and S60R injectors.... I'm resisting the temptation to open up my 19t and see what she'll do. Like that T3/T04 hybrid you've built and I'll follow along to see what the Cossie brings to the table. I was damn tempted to build a similar turbo but finally settled on the 19t from ARD Tuning.

Again, very nicely done...... yours might be my new favorite 7/9 sedan on TB!

Duane
 
Again thanks for the positive feedback guys!

@MrKrabs, hope you were able to pull a few prime parts from your car before the insurance hauled it off, bet your girl would have fun ripping out the parts like mine does! :cool:

@DET17, one of my next mods is to install a paper cone filter like what I posted in your build thread. Stealth mode of course... But I'm not into making things inconspicuous to hide it from the governing powers (I have several pages in my vehicle registration documenting all the mods), I just really like driving a sleeper that looks the part inside and out. If I ever put a vinyl sticker across the windshield, it'd be "Stilla vatten k?r djupa", in a punk-rock glitter foil! :run:

Will keep tabs on your build, hope you don't have any hiccups getting LH to learn.

And for the record, I didn't build a hybrid, just a 60 trim T3, nothing special here :ninja:
 
nice to see some updates! The SE body kit and geminis are a perfect match :) Are you going to paint the hood or keep i white?
Did the steering make one clunk everytime you steered to one side? might have the same problem on mine.
 
nice to see some updates! The SE body kit and geminis are a perfect match :) Are you going to paint the hood or keep i white?
Did the steering make one clunk everytime you steered to one side? might have the same problem on mine.

I plan on repainting the entire car keeping the stock blue color, but it's not a priority right now. Until then I might still find a blue hood to swap out, just to save myself from having to paint the underside :-P
The steering clunk made noises like an expired ball joint. Anything that jerked the wheels left and right was quite annoying...
 
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