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JW's 1991 240 wagon

Looks like alot of blowby in your catch can ?

Lookin' good as always JW !

Thanks!

In 2 weeks of driving (maybe 500 km?) the 33cl bottle got about 1/4th filled with beer-colored liquid with a few drops of oil in it. Mostly looked like condensed water to me (smelled a bit like fuel+oil). I cant see any vapor in the clear hose when the engine is running, the hose is semi-see-through (the hose is faded so it almost looks like there is always smoke in there hehe). I was wondering if it was a lot of blowby stuff or not.
 
Time for another small update. Still going strong.

p6114194.jpg

Bought an underdrive pulley at KL-racing, 120 mm diameter. Racing-blue! Was cheaper than a new Volvo harmonic balancer. The underdrive part isn't really important to me although it could help a smidge with improving fuel economy and the water pump won't cavitate as fast when the engine sees higher rpms.
 
your planning on reaching 8000+rpm? :-P
benefit is less rotational mass. 3 beltrows, good buy, i need to remeber that...just like your gearbox/downpipe support bracket < a thing of beauty!

how is your car holding up? is it reliable?
 
Thanks!

In 2 weeks of driving (maybe 500 km?) the 33cl bottle got about 1/4th filled with beer-colored liquid with a few drops of oil in it. Mostly looked like condensed water to me (smelled a bit like fuel+oil). I cant see any vapor in the clear hose when the engine is running, the hose is semi-see-through (the hose is faded so it almost looks like there is always smoke in there hehe). I was wondering if it was a lot of blowby stuff or not.

must be blow-by watervapor , E85 burns very clean.
 
your planning on reaching 8000+rpm? :-P
benefit is less rotational mass. 3 beltrows, good buy, i need to remeber that...just like your gearbox/downpipe support bracket < a thing of beauty!

how is your car holding up? is it reliable?

8000 rpm? in my dreams :lol:
No plans to turn up the rev limiter yet, i rarely go over 6K anyway, although it keeps pulling very good up to those rpm's :)
Martijn gave me a water pump with the stamped impeller (almost brand new one from a rebuilt block). Those water pumps can cavitate at higher rpm's I've been told. This pulley minimizes the chance that it will cavitate.

Yeah the support is nice to have. my exhaust never scrapes on the road, not even on speed bumps and (easy/light) dirt roads. No resonances etc.

Car is holding up great, no problems. I need to tighten some suspension stuff, still a few clunck noises on speed bumps, need to replace fuel filter and install a better radiator, small stuff. Has been reliable so far, the road holding is good too!
Today I did a few tests where traffic allowed (=no traffic) and noticed that it suffers a bit from the wagon pendulum effect (front end stays planted but the back tries to come around slightly after steering input), especially when (engine) braking. Maybe i need to adjust the shocks in the back? and drag less crap around in the trunk :-P


This... i need to get around fixing mine for 3" its not suported anymore.
Anymore updates on the car?

I bought this last month, time for musica.
p5244191.jpg

Ebay special Alpine MRV-T300 amp, 2x50w rms, €15 :-D. It is a small amp but don't be fooled by the size of the ball bearing it is resting on, thats a ~200mm unit (used as a Presse-papier as you can see).
Not sure where/how I am going to install it yet.
 
Today I did a few tests where traffic allowed (=no traffic) and noticed that it suffers a bit from the wagon pendulum effect (front end stays planted but the back tries to come around slightly after steering input), especially when (engine) braking. Maybe i need to adjust the shocks in the back? and drag less crap around in the trunk :-P
What swaybars do you have on it? Sounds sort of similar to having too large of a rear bar and too much roll up front, just like all 240s...
 
What swaybars do you have on it? Sounds sort of similar to having too large of a rear bar and too much roll up front, just like all 240s...

25mm front (with spherical bearing endlinks) 22 mm rear. Good to get feedback from you, you have tried+tested+autoXed much more than I have :)
 
25mm front (with spherical bearing endlinks) 22 mm rear. Good to get feedback from you, you have tried+tested+autoXed much more than I have :)
Cool. Maybe next will be a set of Ben's roll correction spacers then. :) Once they're available, anyway. I can't wait to see what they do for my car.

Another thing that helps give the feeling you describe is the stance of the car, more rake increases that feeling of the rear wanting to swap places with the front under deceleration. Some of it is normal for the car want to tighten in, but if it's really feeling like it wants to loop around, stiffer front, softer rear, and/or less roll in front, and/or lowering the rear/raising the front will help.
 
Cool. Maybe next will be a set of Ben's roll correction spacers then. :) Once they're available, anyway. I can't wait to see what they do for my car.

Another thing that helps give the feeling you describe is the stance of the car, more rake increases that feeling of the rear wanting to swap places with the front under deceleration. Some of it is normal for the car want to tighten in, but if it's really feeling like it wants to loop around, stiffer front, softer rear, and/or less roll in front, and/or lowering the rear/raising the front will help.

During my visit to the N?rburgring I had a chance to test the car properly and there I didn't experience the issues i described before. Maybe because I drove a bit slower there because I had to get used to the track, I dunno. The car performed well. Very predictable and enough power to haul around the track up the hills with ease, even with 4 people in the car. Brakes didn't fade. The tires are the weakest link now, first a set of good tires with 16/17" rims. Maybe Tethys. It depends on what I can find for a good price.
About the handling: I did put a few shims between the rear spring top mount to make the car sit a bit more level, it was really leaning backwards with the lowering springs. Maybe that changed things too (in a bad way).


Pic of my car at the parking lot. No pics of it on the ring though except for one that Homer took, need to put that one online. There are a few in-car movies that probably will find their way online one day.
eu50035.jpg


Before the N?rburgring meet I swapped the radiator, spark plugs (Volvo Penta, one heat range colder than stock) and some other stuff together with Homer. No cooling problems on the ring. Oil went to 95-100C, water temp went just over the middle. Not bad for another second hand (turbo) radiator.

The engine-mounts have always been a bit on the weak side, especially with now it is turbo. After the N?rburgring I noticed more driveline vibration. So I decided to make a 3rd engine mount:

p7294420.jpg

Engine 'shock' of a Volvo 440, fixed to to the intake manifold and the Joshifab strut-firewall brace. We'll see how it holds up. After a short test drive it seems like it reduced the movement of the engine although the shock might be a bit weak. No interior noises though, except for some driveline vibrations on engine braking low speed, but I need to improve the transmission mount first since I think that is the cause of that issue.
 
Engine 'shock' of a Volvo 440, fixed to to the intake manifold and the Joshifab strut-firewall brace. We'll see how it holds up. After a short test drive it seems like it reduced the movement of the engine although the shock might be a bit weak. No interior noises though, except for some driveline vibrations on engine braking low speed, but I need to improve the transmission mount first since I think that is the cause of that issue.

Hey hey, slick looking mount there.

Now that you mention the transmission mount thing, i do remeber that long ago when i installed a Getrag in my 240 Turbo, i used two mounts at both sides of the transmission instead of just one at the back like the standard Volvo solution, and that did seem to reduce engine movement.

How was the 'Ring this year, did you go under 10? ;)
 
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Hey hey, slick looking mount there.

Now that you mention the transmission mount thing, i do remeber that long ago when i installed a Getrag in my 240 Turbo, i used two mounts at both sides of the transmission instead of just one at the back like the standard Volvo solution, and that did seem to reduce engine movement.

How was the 'Ring this year, did you go under 10? ;)

Thanks, yeah the mount turned out good.
About the transmission mount, I found a semi good 240 engine mount (exhaust side), I'll try to make that one work.
On the Nordschleife I drove a ~12:30 (have to check GPS logger to get accurate time). Not bad for a first lap with 4 people in the car and being very social for other drivers :)

In the meantime I found this:
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Volvo R-sport steering wheel, made by Momo. Not sure which model it is, it has p/n 8360887. After some good cleaning the leather came out great! The hub is for a 740 so i need to source a 240 hub though. The hub fits (same spline count/diameter) but the hub jams on the 240 horn contact ring etc.
 
De aap komt uit de mouw! Real Polaris wheels. A definite upgrade over Virgos. (i have no idea what that means, something with apes possibly :-D)

Plan: media blast, powdercoat in nice color, save up for good tires.

I vote for silver or white.
 
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