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Somebody at VW loves old Volvos. Why?

monkecmonkedo

Bored Member
Joined
Mar 28, 2005
Location
Manchester Center, VT
Because the VW MK5 intercooler is pretty close to a drop in fit for a 240 and there are tons of performance parts for them like this China version of an APR intercooler. :oogle:

2012-03-24_16-54-20_622.jpg


The core size perfectly fills the entire open space in the radiator core support of a 240 with the top of the intercooler sitting just below the sheet metal lip of the radiator core support (the RH side in the picture is sitting up a bit because the hose connection is sitting on the battery but I'll be trimming 3 inches or so off those behemoth hose connections and it will fit). A little gasket work and the intercooler will be sealed against the sheet metal to ensure all airflow goes through the intercooler.

2012-03-24_16-45-14_571.jpg


Passenger side:

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Driver side:

2012-03-24_16-46-13_503.jpg


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And another benefit is that VW mounts their radiator to the intercooler and their fan to the radiator so no more modifying an e-fan to fit. Everything VW will be pretty much plug and play. Even the radiator hoses are pretty close to matching up. Again, lots of aftermarket high performance stuff for Vdubs, like this Mishimoto all aluminum radiator.

Now I just need to get the hoses to make this all fit. I'll update the post once I'm done.
 
$299 shipped. Not the cheapest option, but I think this is the largest core you can fit in a 240. All the other Chinabay/cheapo intercoolers I saw were odd sizes. I'm guessing prices will drop since these are knock offs. Search for "Transverse VW Intercooler" if you're interested.
 
hmm, maybe a little less wide, would do better. the tanks seem to mostly do well, save if the core narrower.

When you get tubes made, post pics.
 
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I finally got all the pipes and hoses from www.siliconeintakes.com in today. It only took about an hour to pull the old intercooler and put the VW one on in, pretty much plug and play. I still have a bit more to do, I ran out of time and didn't get the idle air hose hooked up so I haven't driven it yet. Tomorrow I need to pick up a 1/2"male NPT to 1/2" hose barb for the idle air hose.

All in all, it is a pretty good fit. A little tight near the battery (I had to use a shorter battery, luckily I had one) and anti-lock brake valve. I could have trimmed a bit off the rh side aluminum hose barb, but it fit OK without doing it. This would be a perfect fit for a pre-ABS 240. I used all 3" hoses but I could have gotten away with 2.5". Hopefully I don't get too much lag from the bigger hoses.

Later this week or this weekend I'll put the radiator and dual e-fans in. The VW radiator core is 50% bigger than the stock Volvo one. If it all fits as good as the intercooler, this looks to be a nice mod.

Here are some pics:

Before:
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After:
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2012-04-18_19-50-58_803.jpg

2012-04-18_19-51-07_727.jpg
 
Neat. I've been rolling around ideas for the IC in the '77.

Been out of VW's for a while. What years are Mk5's?
 
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