redblockpowered converts from 240 to 940

[redblockpowered]

The patient, awaiting surgery. Tape airbox has been present for an absolutely shameful amount of time. I bought the Skandix kit off of FCP (7x) as a part of the attention the car will be receiving over the next few days.



Getting the glue off of the lid will be a pain. This should be the last time the car runs with the 016 MAF. My nice rebuilt one I got from Craigslist (with a gold EZK, for $50 total ) is earmarked for my dad's 245. I bought a reman 012 MAF from James M on here, who deserves a strong recommendation. Thanks!

We made the bracket for the GFB G-Force 2's boost control solenoid in the garage from a little sheet, patterned after the stock MAF bracket. It's very tidy and one of my favorite details of the car. However I do still need to get some hardware for it so the solenoid isn't ziptied on. The large, more visible ziptie is for cable management.

The rubber intake hose came off of Gitnit240's 940 parts car after mine developed a hole you could stick your thumb in.



Looking a bit more brown and crusty than I'd have liked under the airbox. Safety glove protects the 13C from harm.



Engine bay side of the airbox has this snorkus capped off. Might be a neat 3D printing project to figure out a way to use it to draw in additional cool air.



Other side features this nozzle. Much debate was had over its purpose and flow characteristics with regard to power output. Eventually I did the math and found that a 46 mm hole, even with a discharge coefficient of 0.95 compared to the ~0.6 of a flat plate with a 70 mm hole in it, will only flow ~63% of the air that the larger one can at a given pressure drop.

So the purpose of the nozzle is unclear to me. Something about maintaining inlet air velocity? Noise reduction? Maybe someone smarter than me will chime in. Both holes are beyond adequate for stock power levels. Looking at the parts catalog, I see the more powerful B204FT does not use the cap/plug on the engine bay side of the airbox which tells me more flow than the fender inlet was needed for ~200 hp according to the factory.

Both the intake snorkus nozzle and the cap are easily removable in a reversible way so perhaps some practical testing is in order.

I left all the foam in there since I didn't see much potential for foam ingress into the engine and I'm not one for gratuitous turbo noises.



Next, the 13C came out. No problems with hardware, thankfully, but notice the wear on the CHRA and turbine wheel where excessive shaft play allowed for some self-clearancing. Still good for (more than, after I got rid of the T cam) 184 whp though.

I was a little uncomfortable with all the white on the exhaust side but further reading suggests this is only concerning if it's REALLY white.



Nothing too exciting going on in the turbine housing. A little melty near the wastegate seat and a little more white. I'd like to point out that the 15G conical housing is actually a 7cm^2 piece and not 6cm^2 like the 13C turbine housing. A mild flow improvement for what should be a mild upgrade.



And finally some fuel system upgrades to go with it. The pump is a Porsche K-Jet pump (0 280 580 967) and the regulator is a Porsche 944S 3.8 bar unit (0 280 160 263). Not pictured are Buick 3800 injectors (0 280 155 811). The extra fuel pressure is because that's where the injectors were designed to operate, and the injectors were picked because of their higher flow rate and spray pattern appropriate for a single intake valve.

[redblockpowered]

Sitrep: Car still disassembled. Whoever installed the last fuel pump was a tremendous hack. Glad I got to this stuff before anything happened...

[esmth]

How do you plan to mount the big boy maf to the airbox?

[redblockpowered]

Originally Posted by esmth

How do you plan to mount the big boy maf to the airbox?

I cut the end off of the original airbox outlet and added a silicone reducer from do88. On the airbox side a little piece of exhaust tubing sits in there for structure. It's cut fairly precisely so it just about bottoms out when the coupler is fully tighten. It took a couple tries to get right.

As for physically retaining the MAF, it seems like it's free standing in the original 960 application so I didn't worry about it. Silicone on either side should isolate it well from vibration.



I depinned the resistor pack and bypassed it. Everything to do this is available through Volvo, including a new connector body if you want it (through Volvo Classic so it's not here yet).



Fancy new injectors (0 280 155 737 from GM 3800, flowed at 408 cc/min) and pressure regulator (I forgot the p/n but it's a Delphi intended for 1987 and 1988 Porsche 944S, should be 3.8 bar)



The exciting situation under the car. It had a hard starting issue when I bought it (bad FPR) and I think this was someone's attempt at fixing it with the parts cannon. Insulated butt connectors that weren't heated, and 1/2" universal fuel line along with wiring that was about three times as long as it should have been. One of the hose clamps also exploded as I was undoing it.

I bought fancy new metric fuel hose and stainless steel Norma hose clamps from excellent local business Belmetric, to go with my new Bosch pump (K-Jet pump for early 80s Porsche 911) and filter.

There's more to the fuel system story but I need to take/find some pictures before I post it. In any case, the car is all together now and running pretty well. I'm pretty proud that I was able to touch fuel, cooling, and oil flow systems on this car and have it immediately work when I went to start it with no leaks.

I am having a pair of issues I do need to investigate, however:
1) Boost regulation is pretty poor, shooting for 14 lbs I end up around 12-16 even if I attempt to control for engine load/gear. This may be that the EBC is calibrated poorly, or I am having issues with the 15G wastegate.

2) Fuel flow seems to not be as advertised. Injector constants in the tune seem to work best when set to assume the injectors are flowing about 380 cc/min. I wasn't able to verify fuel pressure before I started the car so I'm wondering if this regulator is not as advertised. I need to clean the Schrader valve on the rail or something so it works correctly without making a very dangerous mess.

All in all a successful result. I do need to book dyno time again, however...

[redblockpowered]

Update: Fuel pressure 3 bar at idle, so sounds like about 3.5 bar fuel pressure. That leaves injectors. Perhaps there's something I'm missing but there is no chance the 0280155737 injector, rated at 363 cc at 3 bar, flows some 400+ cc at the same pressure when rebuilt.

I reset injector constants under the assumption they were flowing as rated from Bosch and running at 3.5 bar and the car runs pretty well.

[redblockpowered]

I'm thinking there's a mistake on the injector flow printout and the 410 cc is what they flow at intended operating pressure (3.8 bar in an L67 3800). Honest mistake, still provides more than enough fuel flow for my application.

Took the time to set wastegate preload to 7.5 psi. Hopefully this combined with new EBC settings resolves the boost control issues I have been having.

I wasn't expecting to feel as much of a difference with the 15G as I do, even in this moderately detuned configuration.

[redblockpowered]

Also: inlet snorkel is definitely for noise reduction.

Still having boost control issues. Seems to overshoot the target in low gears (exclusively 1st and 2nd), as if it is sticking closed just a little bit. Interesting to note that it feels about where it was before in terms of power level around 10 psi.

I have another wastegate off of the $40 16T I got on eBay and didn't use, I may try that after doing some research.

Runs smoother and quieter than it did before as well. Honest. Will be exciting to see how fuel economy changes once I stop fiddling with boost control.

Idle vacuum is a little lower than it was last time I played with the EBC. I'll check valve clearances and cam timing again at some point, I think when I put the V15 in I set the valves a little tight.

[Swedbrick]

How did you mount the 850 t5-r exhaust housing on the manifold, those come with studs originally right? Is it just a matter of drilling those out to a bigger size? I assume you are running the kinugawa 7cm3 housing upgrade?

[klr142]

Originally Posted by redblockpowered

Idle vacuum is a little lower than it was last time I played with the EBC. I'll check valve clearances and cam timing again at some point, I think when I put the V15 in I set the valves a little tight.

Tighter clearances will reduce idle vacuum further, but it's not a large cam so it shouldn't really matter. You don't want to go too tight on a turbo car's exhaust lobes to reduce the heat that goes into the valves, too.

[redblockpowered]

Originally Posted by Swedbrick

How did you mount the 850 t5-r exhaust housing on the manifold, those come with studs originally right? Is it just a matter of drilling those out to a bigger size? I assume you are running the kinugawa 7cm3 housing upgrade?

The housing had two studs, which came out using doubled nuts. The holes got drilled out after the studs were unscrewed. I'm running a factory 7cm^2 conical housing. I can't tell if there were two conical housings used, or if there's a misconception about the conical housings but this one is certainly much larger inside than the 13C housing and in fact has a big 7 right on it at the end where the original turbine housing has a 6.

Originally Posted by klr142

Tighter clearances will reduce idle vacuum further, but it's not a large cam so it shouldn't really matter. You don't want to go too tight on a turbo car's exhaust lobes to reduce the heat that goes into the valves, too.

Yes indeed, I was saying my clearances probably could use a good checking and (probably) loosening as I remember setting them on the tight side last time I did it.

Having a fuel pump that isn't constantly screeching is a joy in a daily car.

[shoestring]

Originally Posted by Swedbrick

How did you mount the 850 t5-r exhaust housing on the manifold, those come with studs originally right? Is it just a matter of drilling those out to a bigger size?

We drilled them to the exact size of the other holes. It was not necessary to overbore anything. I think it was 21/64th, but I'm going off my memory, which sure ain't what it used to be.

[Swedbrick]

Originally Posted by shoestring

We drilled them to the exact size of the other holes. It was not necessary to overbore anything. I think it was 21/64th, but I'm going off my memory, which sure ain't what it used to be.

Interesting, on my straight 7cm housing I did the same, but it never lined up correctly. I have a friend who has a stash of conical 7cm housings, so I'll try to fit one of those then. The studs on mine posed quite a fight, so possibly I ended up off center after the drilling out of those

[redblockpowered]

Originally Posted by Swedbrick

Interesting, on my straight 7cm housing I did the same, but it never lined up correctly. I have a friend who has a stash of conical 7cm housings, so I'll try to fit one of those then. The studs on mine posed quite a fight, so possibly I ended up off center after the drilling out of those

These studs weren't so easy either so I guess I can see that happening. I do still have the angled housing off of the 16T that will probably go on if/when I move to larger exhaust. It'll need some finagling to fit nicely on the manifold and clever exhaust packaging. Or I just buy the JT tuning downpipe. Who knows.

[redblockpowered]

Broke heater control valve oops

[redblockpowered]

The car sat for about a week while I waited for the Volvo heater valve to come from FCP. The top of the old one broke off and the car unloaded all its coolant around the corner from my house. Luckily I was close enough to drive it home air-cooled without any consequences. The new one was much lighter and had longer hose barbs than the one it replaced. It was also fully plastic instead of having a metal vacuum diaphragm.

I ended up having to crush the end of the heater hose so I could pull the hose barb remains out with a pair of pliers.

I made some extra fun money in the Gamestop hullabaloo, so maybe it's time for a new clutch and flywheel. (or intercooler or exhaust or something)

Also took my breather box out and cleaned it with carb cleaner. Didn't have any of the good AC Delco Top Engine Cleaner (used it all cleaning out all the nasty old turbos I buy) but it did the job. Couldn't hardly blow through it before, can do so easily now, so job done. Seems like it runs a little nicer now but that may be placebo. Reduced oil leakage would be cool too.

[redblockpowered]

Fixed this, put a big hole in another coolant hose, and decided to stop screwing around with ancient rubber. I had the expansion tank hose and heater valve hoses left to do, so I ordered those. Honestly it's a problem I knew about before it actually failed so I feel pretty dumb for not just doing it while I had the chance.

The recent cooling system excitement had me worried about possible HG issues, so I pulled the plugs (extremely normal looking) and ran a compression test (125-120-120-125, crappy but normal for low compression/aftermarket cam it seems). Car certainly not running like it has any meaningful issues, so I'll chalk it up to a rubber hose that was far past its use-by date.



Tried to clean the nasty expansion tank with all sorts of soaps and vinegar and all that other nonsense. Fail. Still can't hardly tell where the coolant level is without removing the cap. Guess I need a new one.

And then it got cold and snowed just about every day for two weeks. Finally finished the job on the hoses yesterday on my day off from school. Fiddled with the tune some in an effort to improve off-boost and warmup behavior. The engine in this car feels really good and I'm very much looking forward to getting on it on the dyno again.

Since the car's been sitting in the snow it has become somewhat noisy. Brakes and accessory belts especially. I assume it'll go away after a few days of driving. Whatever.

[carver]

Originally Posted by redblockpowered

Tried to clean the nasty expansion tank with all sorts of soaps and vinegar and all that other nonsense. Fail. Still can't hardly tell where the coolant level is without removing the cap. Guess I need a new one.

Have you tried BB's and some CLR cleaner. Yeah as in BB Gun ammo. Throw in a handful and some CLR and shake the coolant tank every which way. Rinse and repeat until clean.

[redblockpowered]

Originally Posted by carver

Have you tried BB's and some CLR cleaner. Yeah as in BB Gun ammo. Throw in a handful and some CLR and shake the coolant tank every which way. Rinse and repeat until clean.

I've heard of it, but didn't try it. I figure this one is probably gross beyond cleaning and is due for replacement. It's hard to even see the coolant level.

Looked into a few odds and ends recently.

First:



Figured out why my cruise doesn't work. It was easier to get at the stalk screws than expected, with a 1/4" wrench and a Torx screwdriver bit thing. Found wires broken at the stalk. I'd really like to just get some new wires/terminals and service that instead of getting another equally brittle used stalk but as far as I could tell the stalk doesn't come apart like that. A little disappointing given my normal experience with these cars.



My very sneaky Velcro mounted GFB boost controller is somewhere in this image. In reality I don't remember why I took this picture.



As a well documented person who can't leave well enough alone and ECU calibration enthusiast, it's rare for this part of the car to be assembled. Success!



Found these washers in the garage and thought they were maybe control rod washers that came with the rod bushings I bought some time ago. They weren't, so the excellent M3-like caster I crave will have to wait.

Dad and I did a string alignment (mostly him, I helped with setting it up and then was just ballast while he twiddled the tie rod adjusters) on this car a while ago that I forgot to post about. This was when the new front suspension stuff went together. Did the "camber mod" at the same time but only ended up with about half a degree of negative camber, and could only do it on one side to get an even alignment which perturbed me. I can't find any evidence of broken or bent parts anywhere and the bushings are all new, the camber was just off by a degree left to right. On the plus side, ended up with 5.7 degrees negative front caster (thanks factory 15" wheels) and 1/16" total toe in. 940s have a pretty significant positive front scrub radius and fat control arm bushings so it's likely to gain a lot of toe out in operation relative to other cars. Tire wear seems even and we were very careful about keeping the suspension level and settled. I am much more satisfied with this driveway job than with the alignment I paid for, even though it was a pain.



Troubleshooting a door rattle led me to finding this little fella hiding in there. At first I was concerned someone had balked at the cost of a Volvo door lock actuator and tin snipped this horrid thing into the door, but the wiring was cut and there was no evidence of it continuing into the car. I guess someone had a power lock remote thing to go with this car at some point. It was piggybacked onto the normal actuator rod with a little brass thing with a pair of set screws.

Must have happened around the same time as the very silly aftermarket alarm it had when I bought it. A pair of hardware store screws and a piece of aluminum held it into the door. The bracket couldn't be tightened enough for the actuator to not rock on the door, causing the rattle.



This door is my least favorite part of this car. It's hacked up, the bottom is crusty, and there's a big ol' dent near the handle. While I was in here I whacked it with a 2x4 and a hammer. When this car is fancy enough for Bring a Trailer I hope someone reads this part of the thread and laughs.



Begone, circa 1998 aftermarket scum!

[Stiggy Pop]

I'd spring for an OE tank if you decide to get a new one, the aftermarket tanks I've had were leakers at the welded seam.

[redblockpowered]

Good to know, honestly not surprised given the state of a lot of aftermarket plastic stuff.

[Swedbrick]

That door is butchered, man what a mess to resolve

Elbert bos makes replacement harnesses for the cruise control if your looking for one, 50€ iirc. I did have to recrimp one of the terminals however, which bugged me for a while, since the brake pedal didn't always turn off cruise.

I have a couple of those washers btw, they are about 80grams, so I could get them to you for 15€ fresh from my last skandix order as I got 3 sets of 2;)

[redblockpowered]

Changed the dipstick tube seal, which had evidence of allowing a pretty significant amount of leakage. The old one shattered across the garage when I tried to pull it off the tube. Would have been very fast but I tweaked the dipstick tube a little pulling it off without noticing and it took a bit to figure out why the bolt hole no longer lined up.

The door is a bit of a disappointment. The bottom is kind of rusty and there's a dent in the side so I figure eventually I'll just get another one. Shame there's a VIN sticker on the driver's door. I'll have to document the process well so there's plenty of evidence the car didn't get smacked into.

Luckily I found a local source for the washers. I'll get on that, and the cruise control and maybe the expansion tank, but school has been kicking my ass the past few days. Will have to wait a few weeks and get back to throwing money at the car.

Couple fun things planned soon. I'm volunteering at a trackday at Lime Rock this weekend so should have enough volunteer credit for a free trackday, plus I shelled out for an autocross on the 17th along with a few friends.