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Andrewhans 240 LS Swap, Going for 8's

So it's been a while since I've updated this thread. Mainly been beating on the car, fixing what I break and improving on what I feel is lacking.

Had some friends take rolling pics of the car when they saw it out in the wild.
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Went to a local meet and got a photo taken while parking lol
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Even had the wife take some photos as practice.
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Had a cold day and when I backed the car out it looked cool.
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Was tired of running wastegate pressure so I purchased a 3port MAC solenoid, wired it into the MS3 Gold box and plumbed it like this. Using this method I am able to run anywhere from wasategate(5psi) to whatever the hell I feel like honestly. Already had it up to 19psi at 35% duty cycle. 10% DC is around 9psi. The more DC I add the more boost pressure pushing the wastegate valve shut, increaseing boost. There is a limit... but it's far higher than I will ever see or be able to use. If the solenoid loses power it fails towards wastegate pressure and not infinity boost.
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So during all of this I noticed my oil pressure slow decreasing. After every big pull it would be a psi less or so. I finally called it quits when I had 15psi hot idle and 28psi at 3k during cruise. Tore the motor down to find a cam bearing had spund. It fell out as I was removing the cam shaft.
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Luckily the rest of the engine was BEAUTIFUL! All the bearings looked great and I was shocked at how clean the motor was for 365k miles.
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And this is why I was so shocked the bearings looked as good as they did. The oil pickup tube, which was the first thing I really looked at was disgusting looking.
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While I had everything apart I figured it was a good time to test out a SSR to control my fan. This would be used as a test to see if I liked how it worked and I was going to use it later to PWM my fuel pump later on. It works great to control the PT Cruiser fan I have. Around 20%DC it will keep air moving through the rad fast enough while sitting still to maintain temp without ramping up to 100% which I like.


Something I learned is that there's a .56v drop across the load terminals. It’s just part of the design on this SSR. It’s also something I’m not comfortable with having on a fuel pump where I want every last bit of voltage to make it tothe pump. Half a volt is a lot to drop. I'll be keeping a standard 40amp relay until I can figure something out.

Around this time I also went and picked up the Ford 8.8” I’m going to swap in. Got a great deal I think. $130 and they set it in my trunk with a forklift. Didn’t even need to turn a wrench. The $300 Honda didn’t even flinch.


Getting it out was very easy and straight forward as well.


So again while it was apart I decided I should probly have a fuel filter of some sort because up until this point I only had the sockon the pump in the tank to filter junk out. Went with the Tractor Supply Special. Part number is 92010. 10micron, flows a TON and is ethanol compatible. The max pressure rating is 50psi but it has seen 78psi and not leaked a drop. I actually read about this on LS1tech from forcefed86. He hooked up 150psi of air to it to try and blow it up and it hung in there. Then he ran it for 3years I think with no issues. Good enough for me and DIRT cheap.It is big and was kind of a pain to fit under the car and did take 10sec to prime with a walbro 450 lol
 
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Decided I wasn't willing to pay the $110 to get 13 quarts of Dex6 in the trans and cooler so I started doing research on what drag racers use… turns out tractor hydraulic fluid is pretty damn good for the dollar so for $45 I had a 5gallon bucket of ORielly’s brand 303 Hyd Fluid. Can’t really tell a difference at all in the trans once it’s warmed up. Wont burn up like most trans fluids. Only real downside is that its clear and SUPER difficult to read on a dipstick. You gotta catch the light just right.


This is usually how far I drop the trans when I’m pulling the engine.


While it was apart I also replaced my center section with a new one from VS Racing. $175 shipped for a brand new 7875 center section. Can’t beat that!


Buddy of mine got worried enough about my new turbo to give me some mesh to put over it to keep the big stuff out. He said on his race cars he folds it over 4x but even this single layer I can tell is adding restriction to the turbo. Doesn’t spool as quick, not enough of a difference to where I’m going to remove it, but the difference is there.


****ty Ebay MAP sensor was once again reading different from my boost gauge so I decided to end it once and for all.




Sick of fuel delivery issues I was hoping to fix them but going to a true 3/8 feed from pump outlet to fuel rail. Unfortunately it didn’t solve it completely. I think I am completely out of pump over 12psi. I can hold a stable 11.3 or so AFR through the RPM but fuel pump pressure drops like a rock to 46psi or so. I also upgraded the power wire to around a 10awg wire(Im going to go back and run a true 8awg to help it out). Ran a dedicated ground wire as well instead of just grounding through the fuel pump hangar and tank.


 
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So in preparation for overheating season I picked up a 940 Radiator to throw in when Im tired of driving 60mph to keep temps in check. Currently 70 will see it climb to 212-213 on a 90deg day while hovering around 60 with keep it down near 200-201. 57mph lets me hang out at 197-198.


Buddy of mine made a deal with another friend for me to get a free gen 3 5.3 shortblock and pair of 862 heads. I had to pick up the ENTIRE setup for him though lol. What you’re seeing is a COMPLETE 5.3, including entire front chassis harness. I was even able to close the trunk and drive home with out issue haha. It was a fun day. I get the shortblock and heads and he gets everything else.

Pretty sweet deal if you ask me!



I just wanted to throw in how I like to install these balancers. About 2 min of heat to the snout of the balancer and it slides on without damageing the seal.
 
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This one of my first drives where I was just kind of testing everything out. I was checking for oil pressure, boost control and making sure it didn't overheat. In the video I said the boost was out of control but it was just set to 17psi or so and I was letting out before it stabilized.


We are now up to date!

On Thursday there was a test and tune about an hour away from my house. The weather was cooling off and was decent enough for me to enjoy being there. I loaded up the car with a few spare tools, water, laptop, inverter, tablet and phone.

My goals were to make a pass in the 12's and run over 110mph. Please keep in mind I am still on the factory open diff with a 195 width, 600 tread wear rated tire. I had a blast and made the drive there and back with out issue! I also turned the boost down to 10psi to guarantee I had no leanout issues from fuel pressure. Just like at the 1/8th mile track I was leaving fresh black marks across the finish line. The prep was REALLY good the first 1/8th mile and I was actually able to floor it in 2nd and have it hook at 10psi. As soon as the 1/8th was over it became a pedal fest till I crossed the line.

This is my fastest mph


This is my best ET and second fastest MPH


All in all it was a great time and I'm really proud of the car for making the drive, making 6 full passes and making the hour drive home. Sorry there were no videos of it. I didn't know anybody there.
 
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Finally got the AEM 3.5bar MAP sensor in the mail. Cant wait to get it installed and see how it performs and compairs to the old ebay(china) GM 3 bar.

 
Switched out the $7 ebay GM 3 bar MAP that was leaking. Need to retune the whole map almost haha.

AEM brass 3.5 bar so far is working great.

 
I don't want to get my hopes up too high but I think I should be VERY low 11's at 125mph on 14-15psi an maybe even dipping into the 10's with a slick.

I have a full second of ET to easily gain by dropping my 60' from a 2.3 to a 1.8 which is a pretty mild 60'. Then add power and be able to put power down in first, second and third should really shave off time.
 
Finished the fuel pump wiring upgrade. Went from the BOSS 8awg amp wiring kit denmah suggested. Im not sure its cut out for the 20amp load the walbro 450 can demand.

Heres a photo of the 8awg BOSS wiring vs a true 8awg wire. Massive difference.


So I not only replaced the cable I also went and upgrade the ****ty fuse from the kit to a decent quality 40amp ANL fuse holder. Much lower voltage drop there as well now.

The final piece of the puzzle was the actual relay. I had a golf cart relay laying around so I threw that in there.


Finally I did a voltage check at the battery and the output of the relay. Its so much better than before. I had near a 1.5v drop from battery before. Im down to a .3v drop which I am extremely happy with. The pump should be running strong enough to where Im going to have to retune the whole map lol.

 
Also grabbed a set of used slicks from craigslist. 24.5x8x15 MT ET Drags. They are tiny but they should hook very well compared to the ****ty 195 street tires.

 
Didn't like how hot the relay I had was getting. I think it may have been an old starter relay and not a golf cart relay. I changed it out to a true 80amp battery isolator to make sure I never have issues with it overheating. $13 well spent. It sounds like somebody taps the floor of the trunk with a hammer when it kicks on haha
 
Got the slicks mounted. I was not prepared for how squirely they get on the topend. Really caught me offguard lol. Going to a local 1/8th mile track this Thursday for a test and tune. Im hoping to be in the 6's. We'll see though.

 
also, higher tire pressure cuts down on squirrly-ness. I like the bias ply ET streets, very slick-like, but with a little more sidewall stiffness.
 
in4downvote? lol (kidding,I didn't do that)

looks good, go runnit!

Lol, I appreciate it. I get that some people don't like these builds when they aren't pretty to look at.

Back to the previously scheduled program!

So the times weren't astounding but I was very happy with the MPH and the data I gathered while at the track.

Turns out the walbro 450 is a lot more of a beast than people give it credit for. It needs plenty of voltage and available amperage to work well. I took a screenshot of my final datalog on my best pass.

Setup is a single walbro 450 in the stock hanger, with a true -6 feed from pump outlet all the way to the rail. I have a true 8awg wire from battery to pump relay in the trunk then it steps down to a 10awg wire from there to the pump hanger. Once inside the hanger it is stepped down to the wiring the pump comes with.

I also increased the voltage of the entire charging system. I now have a steady 14.5v at the battery when everything is fully hot. 15.3v batt when cold. With my upgraded wiring this gives me 14.2v at the pump relay output post. I'm probly going to end cooking the battery but it's a $45 pick n pull special sooo.... Not terribly worried about battery life.



As you can see I have rock solid fuel pressure at 14psi at a 6500rpm redline. AFR's are exactly as commanded(I'm still working on the tune) Previously the fuel pressure would tank extremely hard at 8psi and be down to 40psi near 14psi of boost. My dutycycle is in the mid to low 70's right now and I have a LOT of fueling left on the table... oh yeah this is on e85 as well. Content was 83.3% This was a datalog of my best pass. Timeslip further down.

Just wanted to throw this out there for those who think this pump is done at 10-12psi. These 450's when given the juice needed are monsters.

Here's my best timeslip of the night with slicks(7.668 @ 101.3mph). Still has too much power in first so I partial throttle in 1st, and as soon as second hits I floor it and ride it out. Car is a TON of fun on slicks. 24.5x8.15 slicks.

 
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Got the final piece of the fuel pump puzzle. Going to have the MS3 GoldBox trigger this at 4-5psi to boost voltage to the pump. Going to turn the voltage back down to very slightly above normal. I want 13.9-14v at hot idle. When triggered this will boost voltage to 17.5v at the pump only. We will see how much it shorten pump life but this is the go to method for some other chassis that have a pump that is near the edge of being not enough.

12v in from Batt on fused(40a) red, good chassis ground on black, direct pass through when off on orange and when triggered orange outputs 17 ish volts. Ground trigger is Brown. DC-DC converter with passthrough.


Also bought an e85 gas cap for personal enjoyment reasons lol
 
Fully installed. Wow, does this thing work great. I should see a drop in DC on my next logs. At normal batt voltage the walbro 450 is over running the factory truck regulator just barely, around 61psi at idle, when the voltage booster comes online fuel pressure rockets to 86-87psi. I will not be running the pump at 17v all the time.

Used a spare programmable output to remove a ground signal from the unit at 135kpa. Completely removed the Hobbs switch, wiring and extra hose setup that was non adjustable at 4psi. Now it's completely programmable. Very happy with the outcome.
 
Going to enter a local 1/8th mile race tonight at a local track. Nearly $2k 1st prize but I'm gonnna get my ass handed to me lol Going for fun and to see how it does against some of the local cars. Still open diff, 373 rear gear. Gonna drop tire pressure to 12psi and reduce boost to wastegate in first and go all in from 2nd gear through 3rd. Should knock some time off my 60' and hopefully pick up some mph by getting into the boost sooner.

On my fastest pass (7.668@101.3mph) looking at the datalog from the time I tipped into the gas to 100%tps was 5.2 seconds... I spent a LOT of time rolling into the throttle to try and keep from spinning in first. I'm going to be a LOT more aggressive this time.
 
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