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monkecmonkedomobile

monkecmonkedo

monkecmonkedo

Bored Member
Joined
Mar 28, 2005
Location
Manchester Center, VT
Current setup:
1992 245 B230F+T, AW71L (Accumulator modded)
Custom 3.5" AMM
3” pipes/hoses
VW 2.0T aluminum aftermarket intercooler
940 NA radiator and e-fan
Stock 7xx Turbo 530 head, machined flat
IPD Turbo cam
90+ exhaust manifold
15G Turbo @ 15psi
Aftermarket 240 turbo exhaust
954 ECU and 148 EZK with Mike’s chips
FiveO Asphalt 850cc injectors (74lbs @ 2.5bar)
2.5bar FPR
Drinking E85
Kingsborne plug wires

I’d been holding on to the major parts to do a +T for over 6 years. They moved with me from Boston to Albany and were just collecting dust in my basement. I had a 1989 244 GL I was using as a DD and in November of 2011 was thinking about finally doing the +T when I happened across a 1992 245 with 158,000 miles on Craigslist. My first real car was a 1974 145 and ever since, I’ve had a soft spot for wagons. I decided to take a look just for the heck of it.

I was pretty amazed to find the car had been dealer serviced and had every record since new. In addition, it had a dealer installed LSD! This was the car my +T parts had been waiting for. I ran to the nearest ATM, pulled out the cash, and drove home in my new find. Here’s the picture from the listing:

IMG_20110926_170229.jpg


The car was originally red but the owner had it repainted in a Mercedes Benz color, DB877 Petrol Blue Green Metallic, or as I like to think of it “Super Sleeper Green”. I’d prefer the original red, but beggars can’t be choosers. Maybe someday I’ll have it resprayed.

I gave the wagon a thorough Stage 0 and was ready to mothball it for winter, but then winter never happened. I bit the bullet, seized upon the warm weather, and did the +T conversion. Here’s some Stage 1 pics with all the stock 7xx turbo trimmings.

2012-01-16_08-58-03_488.jpg

2012-01-16_08-58-52_324.jpg


Man, what a transformation a 13c is for a 20 year old car. But more power leaves you wanting even more power…
 
Last edited:
monkecmonkedo said:
But more power leaves you wanting even more power?
Click to expand...

So I took the next logical step, ditching the 13c and upgrading to a 15g. For the wastegate, I took an unconventional route. Most people seem to use a AC bracket or something else. I removed the 15g tag, drilled and tapped a hole in the flat area and mounted the wastegate there. I was a bit worried about flex, but it seems really solid. I did have to mod the end of the actuator rod, but in the end I think it worked out well, considering I don't have access to a welder and can't weld anyway. Here's some pics:

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2012-03-10_14-30-29_231.jpg


2012-03-10_14-30-16_398.jpg


I also installed a AEM wideband and a VDO vacuum/boost gauge so I'd have a better idea of what was really going on. Since I don't have a second O2 sensor bung, I'm running the AEM in Nernst emulator mode with good success, contrary to what a lot of others here have had happen.

Ironically, I didn't notice a massive power gain with the 15g install. It turns out, the wastegate on the 13c was stuck closed. I'd been running it essentially unregulated for 500 some odd miles. Oops. Still, never a hint of ping with 93 octane, even though the turbo air outlet temps must have been sky high. :omg:

Everything ran well, although I was getting <10.0 AFRs and "spark blowout" at 4500+rpms. Following advice of others, I leak tested the system and found lots of leaks. That partially cured the blowout problem and a new rotor did away with it entirely (I swear I replaced it during my stage 0, but maybe I got a bad one?). I still have 10.0 AFRs at WOT above 4000 rpm, but the stock ignition system seems to be able to light it off just fine. Still, 10.0 is way rich, so I began trying to figure out what was going on...
 
drturbo said:
So that's what you're going to use the cam in eh? SWEET!
Click to expand...

Youbetcha. :nod: I'm hoping the cam will wake this car up although I know it is nothing too dramatic. It still has an AW70 after all.

For the build log, I'm still months behind where I am now with this build, but the OCD part of me insists that I log everything in chronological order. I figure this way it adds to the info here on TB to help others in the future. I'm slowly working to add to the build thread...
 
I'm glad to see the PO had the hood and engine compartment painted also.Lucky you.
 
For those of you following this thread, you probably know I'm running a VW/Audi aftermarket aluminum intercooler as detailed in this thread. The intercooler fits with about 1/8" inch to spare between the lower "frame" rails and sits flush with the top of the radiator core support. Really nice fit. I also tried using a VW radiator and dual e-fan, but no dice - the radiator is too wide by 1". It is really too bad, as the whole thing would have bolted together really nicely. Luckily Amazon has a no questions asked return policy. :oops:

Anyway, a couple folks suggested I try a 940 NA radiator and e-fan. I had the e-fan already, so I bought a 940 NA Nissins radiator from FCP, which arrived on Friday. Saturday was spent doing house stuff, so Sunday AM my car was still without a radiator. I was supposed to be at Volvos at Ikea but unfortunately, I just couldn't make it. I decided I'd dedicate the day to doing a bunch of upgrades all at once including installing:

940NA radiator
940 e-fan (Thanks crash81!)
IPD Turbo cam (Thanks drturbo!)
012 AMM (Thanks diponyou!)
48 lb Racetronix injectors
Sweet powder coated valve cover (Thanks 15A!)

So here's everything put together:

2012-05-06_18-57-04_785.jpg

2012-05-06_18-57-27_93.jpg

2012-05-06_18-57-40_7.jpg


As Mattis and Homer said, the 940 NA is the way to go. The only minor trimming I did was removing the two lower plastic tabs and about 1/8" of an injection mold mark on the passenger side. I did have to bend the upper radiator braces, but that was easy. The lower radiator hose was plug and play, and the upper hose I had to cut and add a 90. It is amazing that all the radiator braces actually line up and hold the radiator on the seams, just like the stock one. I'm really happy with how this all went together.:nod: In case your wondering what the little red dot is near the right side radiator brace, that is where the screw goes that holds a square piece of sheet metal in the radiator core support. I removed that so I could maximize the size of the opening.

As for the AMM, injector, and cam upgrades, all I can say is wow. Totally transformed the car. I'm still waiting for the ECU to really adjust to everything, but it is already a lot faster. I was really tempted to fill up with E85 (we've got a station 5 min from us) but I'm running on 93 for now. Not even a hint of ping. AFRs are down to 10 at WOT but I'm hoping time will lean things out. If not, a 2.5 bar FPR should do the trick.

Interestingly, I lost about 3psi of boost at WOT switching from the T to the IPD. I attribute that to the larger intake/exhaust overlap (32 deg for the IPD vs 8 for the T). I think I'm exhaust limited at 12-13 psi now, I'm just running a stock 2 1/4" 240 turbo exhaust. Time to plan on upgrading to a 3" when funding allows. When I do that, I may as well go for a bigger turbo too. :oogle: Still, the fun factor of the new mods should last me a little while at least.

Now I've got to focus on washing, waxing, and detaling to get ready for Carlisle. It isn't a beauty queen, but I can certainly clean it up a bit.
 
AW70 Killer

After exactly four days with the IPD Turbo cam running the 15G at around 12-13 psi (with a brief spike to 15 psi at WOT) my AW70 bought the farm. The ECU with Mike's chips had really started to figure things out and the AFRs were starting to even out with my 48 lb injectors. This setup was a lot of fun - lots of roll-on WOT action and therefore lots of transmission abuse, although I never even launched it from a stop. In the rain, anything more than light throttle around corners and the rear would break loose. On Thursday I noticed the transmission slip a bit, hitting redline in second with no associated acceleration so I parked the car until the weekend.

On Saturday I drained the pan (the fluid didn't look too bad) and while I was at it, I replaced the hard lines which were corroded. I didn't want to flush the transmission, as I was sure that would kill it. I just wanted to see if I could fix it enough to get me to Carlisle. I topped off the fluid and took it for a test drive. Slippage was better at first, but became noticeable as the transmission heated up. There's no way I trust this to get me to Carlisle and back. Darn. I guess I'll be taking my Classic.

On a side note, while I was under the car, I adjusted my WG actuator preload to half the pin. On the test drive, I hit 20 psi (took foot off throttle immediately) :omg: which means that I'm not exhaust limited to 12-13 psi, it was just that the WG must have been opening under throttle. Once I get the new transmission in, this should get really exciting.

So I'm at a crossroads and I need to make a choice on a transmission. I see several options after looking around here at others people's builds:
1) AW71L - this is the easiest since it is a drop in fit. It would give me an opportunity to do the accumulator mod and should be able to handle upwards of 300hp. With the locker, it would also give me better mileage, which is a plus. I can probably do this myself (I'm not afraid of it from a mechanical standpoint, as I've done swaps before, but I have to do everything by myself, in my driveway). I could have a shop do it, but I don't know of any local ones since I do all my own work.
2) T5 swap - not the easiest, but what better time to do it? This can handle gobs of power, will give me better mileage, plus the fun factor of having a stick. I'm not sure I want to tackle this myself (see above) but I live close to Syracuse and could have V-performance do it for me $$$$.
3) TH350/400 swap - again, not the easiest, but the sky is the limit for power handling. If I wanted to drag race the car, and I do, I'd be set. On the downside, I won't get a boost in mileage. I guess I could look for a locker variant of the above with an OD but I need to do more research.

I'm leaning towards 1, since it is the cheapest and easiest, but I worry that I'll toast another transmission and have to do this all over again. I'd really prefer not to do that. 2 has a lot of plus side, but is a much more expensive option. I'll have to call V-Performance to see how much they charge for the full install. 3 doesn't look as attractive, except for the fact that a lot of the guys on here with really fast cars run TH transmissions.

In the meantime, I need to get my Classic buttoned up. I'll be using it as my DD and taking it to Carlisle. I have a lot of unfinished small projects to do to make it roadworthy/presentable.
 
I opted to go with a AW71L. I found one from a 1995 Volvo 940 NA with 111k on the clock for $125. I get it tomorrow. I hope to do the accumulator mod and have it in the car before the end of the weekend. I'll also be adding in a stock auxiliary transmission cooler then something more elegant later (VW water cooled trany cooler?). I realize after reading that the lockup torque converter may not be optimal for a turbo car (seems they did have them stock in EU so maybe NBD?). This is my DD for now and highway mileage is important. We'll see how much abuse this can take. I wonder what the next weakest link is in the car... driveshaft pretzle? :) Hopefully not my axle/LSD.

Ultimately, I'm going to go T5 but I really want to get my car back on the road fast. Driving a bone stock 245 that really needs suspension work the last few weeks hasn't been much fun. I'll start collecting parts and this fall/winter I can take the time to do a manual swap. Hopefully the AW71L holds together that long. From what I've read, others run them up to 300-350 hp so I should be good for a while.
 
yeah the 71 should be able to handle just about anything you throw at it, especially if you do the accumulator mod first.

im picking up my t5 this weekend, then i need to talk to someone about a clutch and get it ooon :-D
 
slow240 said:
yeah the 71 should be able to handle just about anything you throw at it, especially if you do the accumulator mod first.

im picking up my t5 this weekend, then i need to talk to someone about a clutch and get it ooon :-D
Click to expand...

My clutch setup sucked at first. Sucked horribly. After about a week and a half, the clutch has bedded in and most of the slip is gone. I'm still not all that fond of having a lightened dished cast iron flywheel near my ankles...I'm talking to JohnV about drilling an 8.5" flat FW for the Saab 228mm pressure plate since he won't be doing another run of billet flywheels for the foreseeable future.
 
knox motorsports should be able to do that for you, and thats what im going with as well, i have the flat flywheel now, my only problem is that i dont have a spare flywheel, or car :lol:


/threadjack
 
My AW71L is in. I found one in RI with 110k on the clock for $125. I'll probably catch flack for not installing it myself, but I really didn't have the time and wasn't really thrilled with swapping the trany laying on my back in my driveway. I've done it before and it isn't fun. Luckily, I stumbled across a great local shop in Rensselaer, NY - Randall Automotive. Randy is a super guy. Most shops wouldn't touch a junkyard trans that a customer brought in, let alone let that customer help do some modification (Accumulator mod) the shop had never heard of before. While we we're doing the swap, they installed a new rear main seal, kickdown cable, and filter. I should be in good shape for a while and won't hesitate to go back to them for work.

I picked up my car on Friday. I haven't beat on it too much yet, as the ECU has been relearning my setup, but I can tell it feels solid. I took the opportunity to recheck for boost leaks and was surprised to find two rather large ones - an intercooler hose had loosened up as had an idle air hose. I think it is good practice to recheck after a few thermal cycles. Once those leaks were fixed, it held 25 psi without a problem. I'm still leaking a bit out of the throttle pivot point under the spring, despite using two valve stem seals instead of the original dried up one. I guess I've just got to live with that and relatively speaking I'm sure it is minor. I'm running a rock solid 15psi now and looking forward to upping the boost.

Back to the transmission... I easily handled a brakestand even with my sticky Pirelli tires. The stall speed seems to be around 2600 rpm or so. It will be fun to launch it. I drove around 300 miles on Sunday, all highway, and got 25 mpg, a big improvement over my prior 19 mpg. It handles more power and gets better gas mileage? WIN. :nod: One thing I noticed is that the lockup converter makes it feel "buzzier", likely due the effectively taller "gearing". Like others have said, I can feel the lockup engage. I had to adjust my driving style a bit, instead of flooring it to pass, I found it more effective to drop out of overdrive with the thumb button while accelerating. This instantly puts me at full boost and makes for really quick passing. I've got to say, its more fun than my friends' 2010 Infiniti G37XS. It may not actually be faster, but it feels like it is.

I feel like the intercooler, 940 NA radiator, and e-fan give me a great platform to build on. Running at 76mhp on the highway with the e-fan on, my temps are really low. I've got cooling to spare and will probably use it to add a larger water to oil cooler and transmission cooler. Plus, I should never have to worry about overheating even on the hottest days.

2012-06-10_13-43-01_767.jpg
 
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