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Hackster's Lifted T56 swapped 940

No, the driver position is terrible on them, sadly. Your best option would be to get an aftermarket seat on manual 740 sliders.

As for the steering wheel, it's pretty much the same story, too big, too close to the dash, almost constantly gets in the way of your legs.

Its just too high in my opinion. I want to keep the couch like look of the interior so Ill keep the stock leather. I am thinking of a manual setup and chopping down the foams and having my upholstery guy make some modifications.

Steering wheel doesnt bother me nearly as much as sitting so high.

I know the manual seats have adjustments to lower seat(I installed them on my car have them set on the lowest point). I'm pretty sure power seats don't have any adjustment because of the seat motors.

They will go up to touch the bottom of the steering wheel....I mean who would ever need the seat that high???

Thanks for the input fellas, looks like Ill start looking for a 740 manual seat track.

Sean
 
I used some manual S70 seats on my 940. You keep most of the plushness and bring the H-point way down that way.
 
I am glad I am not alone in this sitting too high thing.

So I got home before the sun went down for the first time in what seems like ages, also the first sun we have seen in some time now.

I took this **** box for its first actual drive on city roads.

What a riot. I have a small vibration at takeoff still to work out but its pretty smooth everywhere else. Clutch is nice and smooth no chatter or slip, pedal feel is good, probably needs a little more bleeding still and possibly some additional pedal stop adjustment.

Tried out the seat heater and it works like a champ.

Manual, Turbo cars are just so much fun, its a bigish car but doesnt feel super big and heavy to drive. The lift and bigger tires give it an even cushier ride than stock.

Cranked up some tunes and had a great 5 or 6 mile cruise.

Now to tackle that horrid oil leak.

Dude at the gas station was like, are those just massive tires or is this thing lifted?? He was stoked.

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Gotta get the lights mounted up and then move onto some stereo improvements, maybe build some stuff this weekend.

Sean
 
That thing is sweet.
:cool:

Thanks!!

Cloth seats are a huge difference in ride height. The leather makes me feel like sitting on top of a chair, but the cloth is more of a normal seat feel.

Hmmm, glad I am not the only one that feels the seating position is weird. Cloth seats seem really hard to come by.

Non sun roof cars have more head room also, but harder to find.

Yeah I get that and totally agree with that, I couldnt really pick the options on the car =)

Managed to get a little mid week shop time after work yesterday.

Decided on a design for the front light bar, I wanted something to hold the lights and look proper, follow the contour of the front bumper but not look like a giant front bumper that doesnt belong on the car.

I started with some 1.75" .120 wall DOM tubing and took it to my small 25 year old press to see if I could get a gentle curve all the way across. A little time and patience netted me with a pretty good result. Not dented or crushed, just a nice easy radius.

I then came up with some simple flat plates that I TIG welded onto it to get the layout and a spot for the lights to land. Added some caps to the ends and the bar itself was close.

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You can see the radius in this pic, I think it matches the bumper pretty well.

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I wanted the mount to be sturdy but super clean. I took some 3" .25 plate and drilled holes in it. I then drilled through the bumper cover and into the aluminum support behind it in the corners of the flat for the license plate recess. Four more tabs and a buddy to help me align it and we have a light bar. I tapped the holes into the aluminum support to hold this thing.

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Threw on some Matte Hammered finish paint on it last night and started getting lights on.

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And the Final product. Also first commute to work in this ****box today. I have Orange Covers for the lights, just didnt get a chance to put them on before leaving this morning. I really want to see it with the orange covers on I think it will be much more era correct.

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I also managed to get the o ring replaced between the oil cooler and block adapter, looks like it took car of most of the bad oil leak, still has a leaking pan but seems like more of a seeper than anything else.

Really gotta work on the stereo situation if this is going to be a daily driver, some insulation for the shifter area and heavier weight tranny fluid, its loud and a little rattly, I hear that happens with the 4 cylinder to a t56.

Sean
 
Yess! Keeping it LH2.4 when you go to the bigger turbo?

Yeah, I dont see a reason not to. My other options is just an LS Swap. For the first time ever I think the LS Swap would be the cheapest way to go on this. I could keep the 3.73 rearend and T56 and just swap a cheap 4.8 in it and it would have much more torque down low.

Managed to put almost 100 miles on this thing yesterday. A few things to note.

Transmission is loud with the 4 cylinder. I need to get some foam for the top of the transmission and try to quiet it down. Ill probably go with a thicker fluid as well to help with the gear noises transmitted into the car and build a proper shift boot as well.

On 5 lbs of boost its actually pretty fun to drive around. Its not fast, but its not slow either. running 70 mph is right about 3000 rpm in 5th. 6th is useless with the 3.73 gears.

I love 240's.......this thing is much more civilized and modern than any 240's I have been in Its pretty comfortable to drive and be in. I like that things are better assembled and easier to work on.

Stopped in at Stereo King and picked up some better than OEM quality gear to install. Nice Kenwood head unit with phone, bluetooth, good processor and 4 volt preout. I had some new in box Hertz 5" separates for the front so I got a set of matching 6x9's for the rear deck and a single 10" sub for the boom.

Managed to get the deck and separates up front all installed last night. Sounds 1000x better than the stock crap that was in there.

Couldnt sleep last night, woke up at 2:30 showered and got ready and spent a few hours in the garage before heading out to Eugene at 5 am.

Managed to pull the rear seat and get the 6x9's all installed. Sound deadener on the rear deck, fixed the 3rd brake light and hopefully reduced its rattling and got the rear deck and headrests installed before heading out. Only have the sub and amp left to deal with, should be able to get the lights wired up too.

not 100% sure if Ill build a custom sub enclosure or go with the prefabbed one. Custom ones always sound better.
 
Nice fab work on that light bar! Any concerns about the cooling system function with that wall of LED lights?

If the T56 will handle the torque of LS, absolutely do it.

I daily a 9 series, and have owned (and love) the 2 series. I will agree, the "more civilized" nature of the 9 benefits it's use in DD service. They are great highway cruisers to boot.... although with that rubber, I'm doubting that is a concern for you.

Tires...... I sure wish you had put some NITTO Ridge Grapplers on that guy; we can't keep any of them in stock and our dealers are clamoring for more (both TOYO and NITTO products). However, we don't make any 15" product in the States..... maybe the Japan plants might.

Fun project!
 
Nice fab work on that light bar! Any concerns about the cooling system function with that wall of LED lights?

If the T56 will handle the torque of LS, absolutely do it.

I daily a 9 series, and have owned (and love) the 2 series. I will agree, the "more civilized" nature of the 9 benefits it's use in DD service. They are great highway cruisers to boot.... although with that rubber, I'm doubting that is a concern for you.

Tires...... I sure wish you had put some NITTO Ridge Grapplers on that guy; we can't keep any of them in stock and our dealers are clamoring for more (both TOYO and NITTO products). However, we don't make any 15" product in the States..... maybe the Japan plants might.

Fun project!

No real concerns about the cooling system, there is lots of airflow around the lights, E fan and these have big radiators, should be just fine.

Believe it or not, I plan on logging lots of freeway miles with it, the tires look huge, but really they are a 29" tall tire. They ride good and are quiet. I was surprised how civilized it is especially on the highway.

Sounds like you work for Nitto? I have a few buddies that run them with good luck. I have had a couple of less than good experiences with Toyo's quite a few years back so have stayed away from them.....dont hate me though.

Thanks for the props on the light bar, was a fun little evening project that turned out alright.

Sean
 
What a weekend!!

I was stopping by Roys place to grab a few small parts on my way home from Eugene after work on Friday. Thanks again for the good stuff Roy.

We were shooting the **** about seats again. He mentioned a friend had some manual seats but they were cloth....I was in. He called his buddy Joe about a half hour back to the south and Joe was cool. Send him over so I was on my way. Roy said they were in good shape too.

I get to Joes and meet Joe. Cool dude, really into volvos. Go down into his basement and there are two seats, covered in some cat hair but in excellent shape, like as close to new as you could get. I was stoked. $100.00. I mentioned I will have to scrounge to find a rear seat and he asks if its a sedan or a wagon. Sedan....I have the rear seat too. Ill throw it in!!

Not at all planning any of this ahead of time and rain pouring down. I loaded all of this stuff up in the back seat of my dodge.

I spent a few hours on Saturday cleaning up the seats and getting the cat hair off and getting them cleaned up.

The pics just dont do this any justice the hair was like a coat. But the seats were almost perfect so who am I to judge.

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Friggin minty seats!!

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I had been working on the audio system last week.

Kenwood head unit, Hertz 5" separates, with the mid in the door and the tweeter in the dash

Hertz 6x9's in the rear deck

Hertz old school EP4 4 channel amp

Fosgate P2 DVC sub.

My buddy Andrew and Scott stopped by on Friday night and both lent a hand. Thanks fellas.

I had a few little issues, bought the wrong sub the first time around so had to return it on Saturday for a 4 ohm version.

Pre fabbed box will go away after I build something cooler and fitting for the trunk but for the time being this will work.

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Got the lights all wired up and operational too.

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They are oh my god bright. If anyone is considering them for $99.00 each its a great deal. 32 Cree LED's and a proper mount and everything.

https://www.amazon.com/Primelux-8-inch-14400-Lumens-Driving/dp/B01GZST326

I went junk yarding for stuff to seal up the shifter hole. Grabbed some insualation and some shift boots to try out, got some ok speaker grilles and some OEM switches to mess with for more lights. I think I need a good backup light.

Managed to get something cobbled together for temporary use until I can dig up an oem console and shift boot. I feel like those will be extremely rare and hard to find.

Got the service engine light reset and washed it up and slapped some stickers on it.

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I still have a bunch of little stuff to take care of, stage zero, replace all the hoses, figure out the shutter in the driveline on takeoff, rebalance a couple tires, make the strut mounts adjustable and get an alignment.

Although I have to say this is one of the better driving Volvos I have been in, pretty comfy and civilized without being boring. Its daily driver status now.

Sean
 
Those seats are in amazing shape, that was a major score and at a very good price! This thing is turning out to be another great looking Volvo, your garage is looking like every Volvo enthusiast's dream...now you just need a 122 2 door or Wagon. :cameron:
 
Those seats are in amazing shape, that was a major score and at a very good price! This thing is turning out to be another great looking Volvo, your garage is looking like every Volvo enthusiast's dream...now you just need a 122 2 door or Wagon. :cameron:

Yeah I was shocked at the condition of the seats as well. Garage is getting there, you know it wont last too long though I have a pretty short attention span when it comes to cars :roll:

Managed a little shop time last night. Adjusted the pinion down from 6 degrees down to 3 degrees with my adjustable uppers. I am at the point that I need to rotate the bushings on the axles and chop off the nipples on them to get more rotation and get the pinion down. Its really a terrible design in my opinion but its what it is.

I also spaced down the carrier bearing to try it out.

Between the two it made a significant improvement on the harsh vibration on takeoff. I am probably 80% better than when I started.

This morning I added an additional 1/8" shim for the carrier bearing and it got even better so I am headed in the right direction. Ill probably add in one more 1/8" shim in there and call it done. Running out of real estate on the hole for the driveline in the back crossmember. Ill probably need to run a limit strap on the rear so the driveline doesnt hit under droop at this point but Ill take that over vibrations.

Been driving the car everywhere. Its pretty fun, about time to crank up the boost......no, no. Alignment, stage zero, then crank up the boost oh, camber adjustment, then.....:wtf:

Never ends with me. I probably need to get back on my Tan car at some point.

Sean
 
Do you find anything more complicated with the car being so much newer than most 240's?

It has more stuff going on but its not overly complicated at all. I am actually quite impressed with how much better parts are made on it. Door panels that actually stay on the door, interior is much quieter, has some sound deadener in the doors, floors and firewall. It does have SRS system in it so airbags, seatbelt retractors and sensors but its early stuff and pretty easy.

In all, I find it a super easy car to work on.

Dumb suspension compared to great stuff on a 240 but for what I am using it for.....daily driver its nice, compliant quiet, still has enough power even stock to be kind of fun. I would totally own another one.

Sean
 
As always, interesting build. Pretty clean starting point with this car, like the color combo. I'd love to see a more "typical" Hackster build on a nice 9 series.

Glad to hear you like the platform.
 
Add about a 1/4" spacer (more if needed) between the center support cross member plate and the center support and that will reduce or eliminate the take off vibration.
 
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