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No Goals 244

It's in there and buttoned up except for the accessory belts and the fan. Now if I could just get the injectors to fire I could be out driving

 
I got it running, all four injectors were bad from their ride in the ultrasonic cleaner. Won't be doing that again, I think I might rig up a little cleaning rack with a spare fuel rail one of these days.

It has awesome oil pressure, and the cold pre break-in compression numbers were WAY up from the wheezy old boat anchor I pulled out. It even survived a few trips around the block without spinning any bearings. I'm hoping it stays that way.

While it's a huge boon to motivation to have it up and running, the work is far from over. It's not making any boost at all. I have a list of things to check there before I really start scratching my head. One question is how critical is the check valve in the vacuum line to the CBV? I still need to get a downpipe fabbed up, set the static timing, charge the A/C back up, and troubleshoot the inop coolant temp gauge.

After that I'll need to tackle the ride quality, it's super clunky and boaty. Luckily 7xx stuff is stupid cheap, that's a welcome surprise.

I'll give it another 6 months at least before I have it on the street. :lol:
 
Finally got enough of the loose ends straightened out to move on to road testing. I replaced the coolant temp sensor, and hooked up the cluster boost gauge and one of those finally gave me some power under load. Then I read an article on how to properly use my timing light and gained a little more. Once it was finally feeling closer to normal I tee'd in a boost gauge and cranked the boost up! I can only seem to get 12psi out of it, and the auto trans is a HUGE power vampire, like I can feel it wanting to go, but the trans is just not for me. I do need to adjust the kickdown, it's not so bad if you lock it out of OD.



and a desperately needed trip to the car scratch



Now I need to diagnose the turn signals, replace the exhaust studs on the turbo so I can hang the downpipe, and clean the bay. Then suspension and onto little things. I need to pull the power seat and see if I can get it working again, lube the sunroof mechanism, make all the speakers work and install a bluetooth head unit, maybe move the oil pressure gauge into the cabin, find a place to mount gauges, for that matter. So there's a lot left to do... At least I can drive it now.
 
I still love that this engine is working so well for you. I'd love to try my hand at rebuilding a red block bottom end with bigger rods and squirters.
 
I still love that this engine is working so well for you. I'd love to try my hand at rebuilding a red block bottom end with bigger rods and squirters.

If you get lucky and find a good bottom end I'd recommend it. I honestly could have reused the bearings if I'd wanted, everything in this one was very fresh. I have 3 more FTs here that have too much bore wear to be worth messing with, and even the one I built had some noticeable taper.

If I'm gonna be perfectly honest, though. For all the effort and time I have into it, a trip to the machine shop would have left me with a lot more confidence and peace of mind. That being said, other than the rods it's still basically a bone stock +T on LH2.2 in a clapped out 760. It wasn't "worth" nearly all the effort and money I did put into it, let alone an added machine shop bill. It was more just an excersize in finding out what I'm actually capable of if I stick with a project.

If I had a bigger garage I'd just keep collecting good engines and do this all the time, tbh. Space was the biggest hurdle.
 
Now that the going part was down pretty good it was time to address the steering and stopping part of the equation. This thing was a HANDFUL on less than perfect roads while on the throttle.



I went budget but not "cheap" and just did basically everything. IPD poly strut rod bushings and sway bar end links. KYB shocks and struts, Moog ball joints and tie rod ends, a rebuilt rack because the old one leaked from the boots, and Husky overload springs (from Rock Auto) for the rear to delete the Nivomat.

The front struts were weak, but not the worst. The rear however was in terrible shape. The shock on the driver's side was totally blown and the passenger's side was seized solid in the all the way up position. I also had planned on replacing most of the other bushings, but everything I inspected was still in good shape, and the records show most of them have been replaced at some point, so at least they're not 35 years old.

It sits way better now, and the bounce test feels way better. I haven't been able to test drive it yet due to the turbo being back off for some stuff, but I'm anticipating a marked improvement in ride quality.



Some things I need to tweak still: The rear springs don't have any actual positive engagement to the car, so I need to fab up a little tab to hold them to the body and throw a chunk of rubber between the spring and the body for some isolation. I imagine they'd be fine, I don't plan on going all Dukes of Hazzard with it, but it's something that I'd feel better about if I take care of it.

Once I get the turbo back on this week I'll make an appointment for an alignment, inspection, and AC recharge and then I should finally be able to finally put some miles on it.

A few questions I have:
1. I'm running straight 30w oil with some zinc additive for break-in. How long would you leave that in there? I'm thinking ~50-100 miles unless I notice it getting shiny on the stick

2. Is there an LH2.2 tuning option, or should I just start ordering stuff to get it running on MS? I have an MS2 box here already.

3. Who wants the 240? It needs a new AC compressor clutch, I'll order it one of these days, but I really need to thin my herd and pay for a wedding; and it seems like it'd be the easiest to sell.
 
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The AC compressor clutch job on the 240 has turned into a bit of a fiasco, but progress is being made. The bearing is seized very tightly to the compressor shaft. I meant to get a puller in my travels the last few days, but I forgot.

The 760 is doing well. I got license plates on it, and a really bad alignment done. Threw in a cheap head unit with bluetooth and was able to make all the speakers work. I can't say the stereo sounds great, but for 35yo stock it's more than acceptable. I've been picking at things slowly, and it's honestly quite a nice runner. Passing power is out of this world compared to what I've been in for the last 6ish years. The AC blows cold, but I have to jump the compressor clutch straight to the battery to get it to come on. I'm planning on wiring the clutch and the condenser fan to a switched relay for continued daily duty. The list seems to be growing, but the scale of the needs is declining.

The rebuild motor is doing ok. It's still burning some oil which is to be expected with the new rings, I'm not seeing any metal on the stick, and the oil pressure is still excellent, that's the good. The bad is that the oil is a bit dark, and there's just the faintest little noise coming from somewhere. It's not a rod knock, and it seems to come and go. I'm thinking maybe some piston slap, or maybe wrist pin noise. We'll see what it does. I'm going to do the oil change soon, and cut open the filter and see what that brings. I expect some glitter, but hopefully not too much. Also thinking about doing another stint with the straight 30 weight and zinc while it's still using a little bit before I do the liqui moly flush and change.
 
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My local autozone had an ac clutch puller for rent. Had to do that job on my daughter's V70. It was a bitch.

Ours does, too, but it doesn't look like it'll work for this job. I think just a standard 3 jaw puller will do the job, I have an assortment on the way. I'm regretting not spending the slightly more money to get a whole new compressor over just the clutch. I could have been done already.
 
Ours does, too, but it doesn't look like it'll work for this job. I think just a standard 3 jaw puller will do the job, I have an assortment on the way. I'm regretting not spending the slightly more money to get a whole new compressor over just the clutch. I could have been done already.

Yep getting the compressor would have been the easy way. Saves headaches.
 
Yep getting the compressor would have been the easy way. Saves headaches.

In my defense the compressor is only a year old, and works quite well. But now that I'm into it, those "nice" aluminum accessory bushings need to be replaced, so it really has to come out anyway.

Nothing is ever easy at my house.
 
Sooooo, I ordered a new compressor for the 240.

The clutch coil is held on by 3 phillips head machine screws. Two out of three of the screws were barely even tight, but that third one was either crossthreaded, or had loctite on it, or something. It stripped out, I was able to drill the head off to get the coil off, but couldn't extract the rest of the screw with the compressor in the car.

<a href="https://ibb.co/Jzg357j"><img src="https://i.ibb.co/gDh4zTZ/240-AC-Clutch.jpg" alt="240-AC-Clutch" border="0"></a>

I'll get this in the drill press and get that last screw drilled out, install the new clutch, and then pickle it on the shelf for a later date. Both Volvos take the same compressor, so having a spare isn't the worst position to be in.

The 760 only makes three pounds of boost, and has a shaky idle suddenly. I thought it was my crappy MBC, but I took it out, and still only three pounds. Unclear. I'm gonna smoke test everything and get down and dirty on diagnostics.
 
Got the new AC compressor in, but now I'm just not getting the same cold air I used to. I even sprung for the better compressor this time.



My pressures are in line with a temp chart for R-134a but I'm only getting ~60 degrees from the vents at idle which eventually goes down to ~45 degrees after some driving. That's not terrible given that it's over 90 with outrageous humidity, but I used to get almost 40 degrees at idle with the old compressor.

I noticed while charging that as I approached the appropriate charge level the system pressures leveled off. Even as I added more refrigerant the pressures stayed the same with the high side topping off at ~275lbs. I also swear I read somewhere that these systems work best slightly undercharged on R-134a, so I'm hesitant to add more.

Idk, it's enough to keep the sweat off, and this compressor is much quieter than the old one. Maybe I'll tinker with it some more after I do some more research.
 
Got the new AC compressor in, but now I'm just not getting the same cold air I used to. I even sprung for the better compressor this time.

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My pressures are in line with a temp chart for R-134a but I'm only getting ~60 degrees from the vents at idle which eventually goes down to ~45 degrees after some driving. That's not terrible given that it's over 90 with outrageous humidity, but I used to get almost 40 degrees at idle with the old compressor.

I noticed while charging that as I approached the appropriate charge level the system pressures leveled off. Even as I added more refrigerant the pressures stayed the same with the high side topping off at ~275lbs. I also swear I read somewhere that these systems work best slightly undercharged on R-134a, so I'm hesitant to add more.

Idk, it's enough to keep the sweat off, and this compressor is much quieter than the old one. Maybe I'll tinker with it some more after I do some more research.

You're lucky you're getting that. According to my autozone ac vent thermometer, I get 60 degree after driving about 15 minutes continuously. All my other 240s are the same except one where it gets to about 50 degrees.
 
You're lucky you're getting that. According to my autozone ac vent thermometer, I get 60 degree after driving about 15 minutes continuously. All my other 240s are the same except one where it gets to about 50 degrees.

I've heard people have experiences on both end of the spectrum with converted R-12 systems. I think I might be in the sweet spot right now. Previously on long drives my evaporator would start icing up, which I didn't enjoy either. Seems it may be best to leave it alone.
 
On my last fill up in the 240 I only got 17mpgs, and that just could not stand. After tearing into it I found a leaky FPR, and wear on the cap, rotor and plugs. This is the first time I've ever had a car long enough to have parts I've installed wear out.

Got all that replaced and this last tank returned 24mpgs, I'll definitely take that increase! I also ordered everything to put a catalytic converter back in with a new O2 sensor, so I'm hoping to see some kind of change there. Even getting rid of the smell would be a welcome improvement.

In a week and a half I have to drive it back to Pennsylvania so I'm trying to squeeze in some extra care before then. I don't anticipate any issues, but I like to be ready.

I'm still sort of fighting boost issues on the 760, but that battle is almost won. I got the overdrive working, and replaced the wonky tire. Now it just needs the AC wired to a switch and the interior put back together, then maybe cruise control. I look forward to putting a few miles on it while I decide its ultimate fate.
 
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