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My Kjet dilemma.

2Many2s

New member
Joined
May 31, 2014
So a few years ago the harness on my kjet car took a dump, so i was going to change it, when i went ot do that i found a few other issues that needed attending to so i ripped out all the kjet , the old ac stuff and was going to put it back in, well that was like I said a few years ago, the car has sat in my garage since then.

I'm not sure I really want to tackle the project. What are my options here? I'm not gonna scrap the 81, it can sit in my garage until I can afford a 5.3 or i'll sell it for a $500 and be done with it but im nowhere near that stage.

Should I put it all back together, drain the two year old gas and hope i can get her fired back up? And at that, i dont want to.. so what should I pay somebody to do it if i were to do that being aware it may not start afterwards.

What would you do?

I daily a 2017 Alltrack so its not like i have any immediate need to get the car on the road.
 
What would you do?


You're asking this on TB?

car-crusher.jpg
 
Keep on driving that 2017 Vehicle you have.

KJet and its associated parts don't take kindly to being laid up for any period of time, especially used, possibly worn KJet parts.

That said, just put it back together, get some fuel to the fuel distributor , injectors with a good fuel pump and see if it will run. That is about all you can do. Kjet isn't rocket science it is just a cluster-feck of old parts that may, or may not work at this point in time.

*shrug*
 
2 door,4 door or estate?

12424878_184727838554525_1289558265_n.jpg


Estate, its the green car. The blue car i sold.

We have an 83 242 that we daily as well, that car is LH and runs perfect.

The 81 was running fine but the harness just decided to crayon and wires were touching so i ripped the harness out, that is where the car has sat for a few years, just a whole lot of life stuff plus I'm not a mechanic and i suddenly have found myself very overwhelmed. Heck if nobody was interested in the entire car i'd pay $500 for somebody to come help me lol

I'd be tempted to sell her for $500 as is. There is no rust, everything is there, lots of extra parts

Bilstein HD's with less than 15k on them IPD springs with less than 15k on them. IPD Swaybars.


12519322_1736750059881905_806857393_n.jpg


This is how she has sat, since Feb of 16, in my garage. Minus the AC Compressor hose and condenser up front. Removed all that since the AC never worked since I had the car.

This car is 100% Rust free.
 
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I wont crush it or part it. Well not yet at least. She's too nice, afaic she can stay in the garage til you know.. i hopefully can afford to pay somebody to put a v6 in her, but I'm also 35, not a mechanic and tired of working on my cars, I just want to drive and go places and ive discovered I like warranties and car payments do not bother me lol I love my VW, but at times do miss cruising the 81.

25025166_738004873064604_2621019713827766272_n.jpg
 
What would you do?

MS1. My son converted his 81 from the K-jet filth, built & installed a harness and had it running on ONE Saturday. Of course, you need an injector intake, etc, etc. This route is well documented... search and ye shall find.

2 year old fuel..... jumper the pump relay and run it all into a can for your lawn mower!
 
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MS1. My son converted his 81 from the K-jet filth, built & installed a harness and had it running on ONE Saturday. Of course, you need an injector intake, etc, etc. This route is well documented... search and ye shall find.

2 year old fuel..... jumper the pump relay and run it all into a can for your lawn mower!

The was another one of my thoughts, i guess given that the car can sit for awhile i could decide to go this route and start buying the bits i need.
 
Kjet isn't rocket science and certainly could be fixed. I love kjet and all it's horridness. However, You have already sent yourself along the path to the better injection options in there by removing the crap. It is the winter and it's cold. So since you can take your time with the car and you still like it. Use this time to gather the parts. They are volvo parts thus affordable and you can make the install when the weather gets nicer.

Or bail if you would rather not have a project car. Where are you? Years ago I helped hockey930 megasquirt his 760 on a weekend. Installed on saturday and running sunday. Sure it still needed cleaning up the harness and tuning but it was a straight forward install and with a few of us a good time while doing the work.
 
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1. remove "daily driven" stickers
2. make it run for cheap

optional
1. upgrade to lh2.2
2. then upgrade to MS

when finished
(realize you spent so much time and money on a car thats still slow and should have stuck with K-jet)
 
1. remove "daily driven" stickers
2. make it run for cheap

optional
1. upgrade to lh2.2
2. then upgrade to MS

when finished
(realize you spent so much time and money on a car thats still slow and should have stuck with K-jet)

That daily driven sticker was the death keel, car was perfect, put sticker on one week later harness pooped.

I would dump endless amounts of money into the wagon if I could. I just do not have the time or money to do so at this stage, later maybe.

The wheels went with the 72 Wagon :)
 
Well it is an 81 B21F. Probably the weakest kjet setup the US got. I've had 81 and 82 models and they were the slowest 240 other than maybe a diesel. But that race would be close. My 81 M46 B21F wagon was even saddled with a 3.31 rear to make it worse.

Your car looks nice and is worth fixing imo.
 
Kjet isn't rocket science and certainly could be fixed. I love kjet and all it's horridness. However, You have already sent yourself along the path to the better injection options in there by removing the crap. It is the winter and it's cold. So since you can take your time with the car and you still like it. Use this time to gather the parts. They are volvo parts thus affordable and you can make the install when the weather gets nicer.

Or bail if you would rather not have a project car. Where are you? Years ago I helped hockey930 megasquirt his 760 on a weekend. Installed on saturday and running sunday. Sure it still needed cleaning up the harness and tuning but it was a straight forward install and with a few of us a good time while doing the work.

Eastern Washington, about 4 hours from portland.. I wish i lived closer to portland I'd just pay somebody to have the car up and running for me.


TBH the ultimate goal was to have a 5.3 swapped in when I had the money but a car accident and law suits have really put a crimp in that plan for maybe the rest of my life :p I can dream.
 
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You still have the car and are close to a great area for Volvo enthusiasts. I can empathize with the lawsuit crap. It just sucks getting involved with lawyers in general. Once the weather gets nicer maybe you will want to spend more time on the project. Or as the weather gets nicer more people will be looking to buy cars so you have time to decide. Wish you well with it.
 
Get on the FB VOPNW group and get in touch with Justin Kern. Buy his DCOE carbs. Put them on. Tune it, and drive it.

-J
 
Thats a remarkably nice 245 there, great color too. I'd love to snag that one from you .

There are alot of KJET naysayers , and for good reason - mainly because its an aging fuel system but all you need is a good CPR, fuel pump and good set of injectors and there isn't really much to go wrong on it. The fuel distributor is the main link and hard to get parts for if you gotta get into one to service it but that is the most robust part of the KJet system and I've only seen fuel distributors fail from sitting for long periods of time - like a decade or more.

But it is a robust system and it looks to be yours 245 (and parts) have been stored well. So it would be easy to get running again on KJet. That harness is the main issue, as a 1981 has more to it than basic KJet like my 1976 242 which is just spark and fuel and nothing else to really fuss over.

KJet can offer great performance but it requires the utmost of patience and dilligence to get working well. Once that is said and done though it is super reliable. The ol' swap over to MS and LH injection crowd to me is fine , but putting crabs on a B21F? That's just silly.

I'd say hang onto it, track down a harness (which is going to be fairly difficult on a 1981 CIS/Kjet combo) but it can be done. I daily drive a 242 with KJet, dialed up for performance and it runs way more stout than if I just put a stock LH 2.2 on it. And MS too even. (I've ran MS on my cars).

Anyways, I'm just sayin.. Your KJet stuff is fine. Fix it , hopefully you can find someone to help, or just do it yourself. It really isn't that difficult!
 
kjet is your cheapest option since the car is already all setup for it and you just have to put it back in. I'm sure Dave Barton or RWC could come up with some good wiring for you.
 
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