redblockpowered converts from 240 to 940

3.73s before. Too muscle car for me.

The Wavetrac locking action is just right. The stockish suspension is a little soggy. 190/110 spring rates and 25/19 bars not enough. If I could figure out a way to run more front bar I'd do it.

Ok, Grandpa...

Hah, yes, those springs are soft soft soft. I would run more spring before more bar, though!

klr142 said:

Ok, Grandpa...

Hah, yes, those springs are soft soft soft. I would run more spring before more bar, though!

Click to expand...

I drive this car almost 100 miles a day during school (mostly through construction zones these days, ugh...) I need to make sure it's comfortable above all.

Anyway, diff install pictures:



This wasn't too much of a struggle.



Had lots of cleaning to do so I didn't fill the center section with grime.



Goodbye G80. You won't be missed.



Test fit 1: Fail! Needs more backlash. We found 1031 and 1041 specs are different.



Test fit 2: Not enough of a change. Baby steps.



Final wear pattern. Happy with it.



And here's a fantastic picture of the coast side.



Measuring backlash.



Pretty much dead on. I think spec says to shoot for 0.0045". We measured in a couple spots around the ring gear and they were all the same.



Some notes taken during install. I think everything but the wheel bearings got changed. I checked the Kaplhenke tone ring for diameter before installing as well and it was maybe hundredths of a millimeter off. Needless to say, the speedometer is exactly the same.



And all back together, ready for action.



Shortly afterward I re-sealed most of the front of the engine with Volvo stuff (front cover/cam seal/intermediate shaft) which went mostly well other than the fact that I broke one of the front cover bolts off in the block like a doofus. It came out easily, thank goodness. The electric ratchet had more beans than expected.

All in all a massive upgrade.

That’s a lot of mileage a day! (100)

Also, finally got this in the mail after months of waiting:















I bought this from VP Autoparts back in March and getting it here has been an ordeal. First it was coming in June, then it missed the boat (literally), then in August when the next container came they (Ferrita) thought it had been shipped in the previous container since they couldn't find it when going to pack that shipment. Communication between VP and Ferrita revealed it had been lost under some shipping pallets. It ended up getting airmailed to me through VP, and they included a pretty nice cooler bag thing as a reward for my patience. I'm pretty impressed that at no point did I have to flag anyone down to get an update on what was going on with the exhaust. VP Autoparts customer service was on it the whole time.

Fortunately the fit and finish is excellent and the install was completely painless, other than removing the rotten Starla exhaust that was on there. Exhaust tone and performance improved significantly, and I'm excited to have a stainless exhaust on there since I drive this car in the winter.

Unfortunately performance improved enough that this car now needs a more performance oriented clutch solution.

w00! You can always turn down the boost to fix that clutch problem...

Shiny! When will we get the celebratory exhaust note video?

As a parent and neighborhood homeowner I appreciate that this exhaust actually sounds less crappy/cheap/boomy than the stock system it replaced. I would say it has a very modern and mature 4 cyl turbocharged engine sound, Focus ST comes to mind. Stock, not boy racer.

Read the entire thread yesterday, love what you're doing with this so far. Keep it up! I enjoyed the nerdy bits about springrates, although I didn't really understand it. Makes me want to read into chassis tuning more and more so I can get my car from that other Swedish brand dialed.

The Ferrita exhausts are awesome, not too loud and a very nice tone in my experience. Good choice, looks nice!

reiernumans said:

Read the entire thread yesterday, love what you're doing with this so far. Keep it up! I enjoyed the nerdy bits about springrates, although I didn't really understand it. Makes me want to read into chassis tuning more and more so I can get my car from that other Swedish brand dialed.

The Ferrita exhausts are awesome, not too loud and a very nice tone in my experience. Good choice, looks nice!

Click to expand...

Thanks! The chassis setup stuff has taken a lot of reading but so far feels worth it. I'm really happy with the exhaust, in fact it seems a lot less buzzy than the Starla that was on there before in addition to the better tone which is a pleasant surprise.

TTV flywheel is in the mail and 850R clutch is here already. Hoping the lighter flywheel isn't too much noisier. Sticking with a Volvo clutch with factory type pedal pressure/behavior was a priority.

Drove to Vermont. Route 4 to Rutland is a nice trip.

TTV flywheel and 850R clutch are in, and have been for maybe a month or so. Was expecting to just tolerate the extra gear noise and lightweight flywheel behavior so I can have increased holding capacity but I actually really love it. Faster, smoother shifts are a welcome change and the package feels a lot more lively in general.



Put the recommended (by Wavetrac) Motul in the rear axle after break in period.



Bought a silly thing to play with that will probably get its own thread eventually.



Got to drive on track for the first (non-paced lap) time! Cool!



Went back to the dyno, but under increased load (?) the ignition system couldn't take it and it missed badly so wasn't able to finalize the tune like I wanted. Frustrating. I bought a new coil since it was the only thing that I hadn't replaced yet but I fear the real issue was oil contamination on the cap and rotor from a failing (non-serviceable, ugh) distributor seal. Either way no more misfire and I'm ready to go back.



Drove over a big branch or something after a big storm and bent the hell out of the radiator. Got new birthday present radiator and replenished with fancy pants Genuine Porsche™ coolant. It's pink.



And I changed my oil.

Drove through a weigh station on my lunch break. 3340 lbs with me/tools/full tank of gas, so curb weight comes in just under 3100? Hard to be mad at that without any weight reduction efforts.

Also, car has paint on the roof now. I've been so so excited for this and the result did not disappoint. Finally feels like a nice old car I bought on purpose and not some ****box I paid $1000 for because I needed to get to work that Monday.





My friend Zack machined up this adjustable cam gear for me. Four degrees retarded got me to the 1mm intake lift at TDC spec'd by ENEM (well, 0.92 mm as measured by me)



Also inspected level of clearance for big tire. Outlook not so good.

w00! Congrats on the paint and clutch and flywheel and differential! All great things.

What did you notice retarding the camshaft 4 degrees from stock as far as driving experience goes? Could you feel the powerband change? I know what it does for a non-turbo car and have definitely noticed the change, but I'm not sure how it applies when you're manipulating airflow to a turbo.

Also, what are you seeing as a problem with tire clearance? I see no contact from here...

klr142 said:

w00! Congrats on the paint and clutch and flywheel and differential! All great things.

What did you notice retarding the camshaft 4 degrees from stock as far as driving experience goes? Could you feel the powerband change? I know what it does for a non-turbo car and have definitely noticed the change, but I'm not sure how it applies when you're manipulating airflow to a turbo.

Also, what are you seeing as a problem with tire clearance? I see no contact from here...

Click to expand...

Thanks! This car has come a long way for sure.

It seems like it hangs on better at high RPM with the cam retarded. I don't feel like it makes much of a difference under 5500 but after that it feels better. Redline is set to 6600 at the moment and it feels like about where it should be.

No tire clearance issues as is but not much room for more!

Now that it's all one color I borrowed a buffer and my friend Lucas and we went after the paint. The car looks awesome now, I'm very happy with it. The right side was badly resprayed and I went and wetsanded it with 2500 grit on a block. Definitely nerve wracking to put sandpaper on your car on purpose especially when you see how scratched it gets.

Before:


Scary:





I tried to get this run out but I wasn't confident enough. I did end up getting most of it but decided not to press my luck.



And after:




Big thanks to Lucas (especially for thinking to take these before and after photos) and threewagons on here for help with the paint correction/polishing process!



















Plus, now I have water beads in ridiculous places like inside the door handle crevice:

Oh and this car has a Do88 intercooler now (Merry Christmas, thanks mom and dad!) but I didn't take any pictures of the install because it was ****ing freezing out and I wanted to get it done.

No fitment issues, no modification needed.

Planning to get on track this summer with a few of my friends and their turbo Subarus. I have a brake service in mind before that but other than that the car is ready.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QFjapGKbGQ

Made it to Masstuning Trackfest at Canaan Motor Club and had an awesome time. Car was mostly trouble free, had a little bit of boost control nonsense to deal with but other than that I could just drive around.

Paint looks great, I'm gonna have to try some collinite when I run out of Klasse

Lots of stuff has happened here!

I bought coffee beans:



Took my door side trim off, was very surprised to find the respray from before my ownership actually involved taking trim off the car:



And dyed it with many coats of Forever Black, rubbing it in between coats as prescribed by threewagons:





Zoom and enhance on the finish, I was deathly afraid of getting the extra greasy used car dealer look on the plastic:



Did the bumpers, and put it all back together with new clips.



Then I brought it to Swedish Car Day and won an award! Very funny to win "favorite modified Volvo" in a car that doesn't actually look modified. Thanks to Stiggy Pop for not showing up.



And here's me getting held up by an M3 and a Corvette.





I chased the E46 around for about five or six laps before earning a very enthusiastic point by. I wish I had more front camber. I ripped through the outer ~1/4 of the front tires and had to rotate at lunch time. Skill issue, at least partly.



I have a freshly rebuilt head and a 19T in the garage that I'm gonna do something with over the winter, along with some other curiosities. Here we have an EZ210K from a 480 turbo, an Audi S4 MAP sensor, and a Porsche 944 Turbo TPS that I'm planning on finagling into my car to replace the GFB boost controller:



And an E39 M5 MAF that I may or may not do the same thing with:



Should fit in the same spot as the 012, and decent hot wire MAFs won't be around forever:

Congrats on that modified car award! Looks like a fun day zooming around
the track.