1989 240 Turbo "Mako"

1989 240 Turbo

The car that has been with me since the beginning, Volvo 240DL B230FT, T5.




The Specs:

As of 4/15/2016

Engine:
Rebuilt B230F with turbo insides: (head, rods and pistons)
RSI Cam Stage II
Adjusable Cam Gear 2 degrees advance
19T (oil & water cooled) + Ported 90 - 16psi
Kinugawa Compressor Housing
Kinugawa Wastegate Actuator
3" Vband downpipe To 2.5" with Cherrybomb Glasspack w/ Cat
Bosch Green Giants - 440cc
K&N 3" filter
012 AMM
TALO Chips
NPR Black Intercooler
Nissens 3 Core Radiator
E Fan Setup
Bosch 100A Alternator
240 Oil Cooler
Running Full Synthetic
HD Mounts
Custom PCV System
Working A/C R12A
Battery Terminals
Optima Redtop
Upgraded IC piping

Brakes:
EBC Redstuff Pads
DOT 4 Racing Fluid

Trans:
World Class T5
Hurst Shifter
Clutchnet 6 Puck Disc
240 Turbo Pressure Plate
LH2.4 Flat Flywheel
Custom 2 Pc Driveshaft

Rear end:
Stock 1030 with 3.73


Suspension:
Firewall Braces
Bilstein HD Front Struts
Koni Adjustable Rear Shocks
25/22 Sway Bars
Poly Sway Bushings
Poly Torque Bushings
Poly Front End
New IPD Sport Springs - 1 Coil Cut from fronts
Strut Reinforcement Plates
Adjustable Panhard Bar
5mm rear spacers

Exterior:
Millie Miglia M11
Primewell PZ900
Saab Roof Racks
Thule Wind Deflector
Blacked Out trim
Ebay Taillights
Upgraded aftermarket headlights
Sidemarkers
Euro Plate
940 Lip

Interior:
White Gauge Faces
Orange Backlighting
VDO Boost Gauge
VDO Volt Gauge
Black and Tan Interior Mix
Super Clean Dashboard
Rebuilt Front Seats
Pioneer Speakers
Pioneer Head Unit
Volvo Floor Mats


The Future:

Engine:
Walbro 255 - I has
531 Head
Hi Flow Exhaust Manifold

Rear end:
Truetrac

Suspension:
Poly Rear Bushings
Lower Braces

Wheels and tires:
Better damn tires

Brakes:
Slotted rotors front
(maybe) Rx7 Brakes

Exterior
Group A Wing
Early Trunk
Rear wheel Spacers

Interior:
Wideband
Oil Pressure
Black Headliner

Background:

My dad has owned the car since April 1993 and he kept it meticulously maintained. I have the papers and bill of sale from then. From there, he passed it down to me October of 2010 for my senior year of high school, and i've driven it since.

I never did like the car when I first got it, I was interested in trading it in for an Iroc Camaro from the late 80s, I just wanted to get a different car so bad, yet my job was paying me next to nothing. Though I did save for the one day I could have a nice, fast car.

Then one day, I found out that Volvo made 240 turboes, why not get one of those? So I started to research all these performance Volvos and found out what all these other people did to them. Weighing my options, it finally clicked. I have a very reliable car with absolutely no problems, so fixing up this car to be fast would be a lot safer than investing my money in buying a different car.

I chose the name Mako one day because of its original beautiful blue, plus the fact that it is dangerous, my best friend got electrocuted, I got burned and cut up, my grandpa as of yesterday cut his knuckles on the frame REALLY bad while we were working on it.

Now the car wasn't perfect when I got it, the tires were bad and the interior plastics were starting to fall apart and the stock radio hadn't worked for as long as I could remember.

I started with this.




240 Interiors in a nutshell


One of the first mods I got done, a whole stereo system (the original hadn't worked in 10 years or more)


I got rid of those ugly hubcaps my dad liked


I kept it like this for a long time, like for a good year or so through high school and my first semester of college.

But once I made up my mind on what to do, I wanted more.

I started with RWC and his Tachometer



I wanted gauge faces so those went in


Replaced the old boat sized steering wheel, though I didn't research my prices. Could afford the hub, but not the wheel.




After that I replaced my mismatched tails




I also learned of the wonders of plastidip, which was my next little thing. Along with removing ugly trim.






Why not also get bent Virgos while I was at it?




And foglamps?




From here, I bought some new interior parts and cleaned existing ones.








Added a few gauges



Car



And a roof rack




New Speakers in the front and rear





New Virgos and a nice wash + wax





The engine before it went in to be rebuilt



Turbo Partss




In progress





After




..It Barely Ran

nice progress!

How's that NA intake hose hold up to boost pressure?

Not really well, I hired a mechanic who knew how to rebuild engines, but knew jack **** about volvoes, he decided to cut up the drivers side intake hose to put in other places. He decided to use the NA intake hose, the old amm and a bunch of the inferior NA piping in its place.

I would pick one up from the junkyard but I need the money for gas.

I need to get another pic of the engine, i've done one or two things to it actually, like fixed some Vacuum issues and little other bits.

yeah go to a 740 or 940 turbo and get that coldside pipe, lengthen your MAF wiring and put it on the passenger side.

oil soaked MAFs suck....ask me how i know


edit: looks good though!!!!

I did that, I have 2 mafs, the oem in the new location, and some aftermarket in the stock location, which is probably oil soaked by now.

You can see the wires coming off the harness (that I have yet to wrap) which go to the maf.

well done, now all you need is the stock 7/9 coldside IC piping and you're set. engine bay looks clean, and itll look better when its piped properly.

I picked up the correct intercooler pipe today, which does add a notable improvement over my hacked up one, which leaked profusely.

I also removed my non working evaporative emissions system, dead weight...

Along with that, I scored big at the junkyard today, 760 Turbo intercooled, with full oil cooler and trans cooler setups. Went to town on that thing and got those parts off of there. I tried to get the oil sender though, couldn't do it, though I did get a shroud so I could correctly mount my E fan.

I also ended up pulling the wiring harness from a 940 with sidemarkers, which worked out really well.

So hopefully tomorrow, I will get around to installing those sidemarkers and E fan.

No progress today, but pics:

Once upon a long time ago, I painted all my lower 240 trim with SEM bumper coating and looked beautiful. You could probably plastidip it. Cut some springs already!

Keep up the progress!

Was gonna plastidip it.

I would cut the springs, but it sits lower on the drivers side, so I'd rather replace them with lowering springs than cut them.

Not been doing much to the car lately, just have a list of things to do to it.

Exhaust System for car
Motor mounts for car, poly (84) + (59)
Correct Intercooler brackets
Shifter linkage bushings
Oil cap seal
Oil dipstick seal
Install those sidemarkers

Next oil change:

Install oil cooler
Oil cooler sender
Oil cooler Lines
Turbo Oil feed Relocate
Install oil press sensor
Trans cooler
Trans cooler lines




But I did do this:




Remounted E fan securely on Turbo fan shroud.

So many problems, limited money.

Today the transmission was leaking all over the catalytic converter, there is fluid all over the trans tunnel and I think it's about time to get another one. My motor mounts are still shot and need to be replaced, my trans mounts and whole trans will probably need to be replaced as well.

The exhaust system is another story, restrictive, mismatched and hacked together. I need to get a new one put on on top of all this mess before it completely snaps off.

Now the AC unit is dead too, I thought it would be a simple recharge but one of the hard lines going to the engine sheared off completely.

To top it all off, my belly pan has fallen apart.

The good news is that the engine's turbo oil drain leak has slowed down significantly, and that my MBC works perfectly (not turned up yet ofc).

is that expandy-foam?

Yes it is, works like a charm.

Ran for 2 more days and the transmission doesn't leak a drop.

Make up your mind AW70, are you gonna die or are you not?

Well here's an update

Got the motor mounts all done, found out the rear main seal is leaking in the transmission, the right inner tie rod is bad, I still am leaking oil (not much though).

But since I got the mounts done, I finally got this:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Tl1630ScWHk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Untastefully ricey? I hope not

2.5" Exhaust from the Cat Back, the cat and up were already 2.5" so that's good. And a Short Cherrybomb glasspack at the end of it all. It sounds great and does its job well, quiet when off the gas, loud when on the gas.

not bad, albeit a liiittle ghetto

for the trim, Dupi-color makes a "bumper coating" that comes in black, rather than a paint that scratches off, its more like an aerosol dye, looks awesome, works on hard and flexible plastics (just did my louvers, and grille) and looks PERFECT.
also doesnt mess up texture or sheen.

i think it sounds pretty good was thinking of using one my self on my 85 n/a 244.

I might be out of mods money for awhile after this, just spent a good chunk of money getting the tie rods and ball joints for the front, since they were all bad.

The Volvo techs also confirmed my transmission issue, leaking from the front seal and tail-housing seal, which was causing the drive shaft to pop at times and was the source of all the transmission leakage. For the price they want to flush and replace the seals in it, I can get myself a good AW71 put in there instead of pushing my luck with this AW70, which is starting to see its end.

That will probably be my last mod(s) till I get cash from my new job, otherwise it will be small things like sidemarkers or some dash switches.

Well, good news is that I got a new job

And to celebrate, I scored a set of brown top injectors.

Also got the belly pan to work, and hooked up the charcoal canister again, so no more venting the gas tank to the outside.

The transmission is holding for the time being so hopefully by mid November, I might have enough saved to drop in a good AW71