Link to original thread: 0Dollar944GL Summer DD - Turbobricks Forums

Hi kiddies!

Been a while since I have trolled through these forums. Nothing to report from my GE: it's still stock, and still under warranty, so it will be a while until I get around to screwing around with it. Maybe I'll throw on some coilovers and decent wheels. So far, it's been getting a lot of love from curbs and bad parkers (in this regard: fuck the city!!).

In any case, this dropped on my lap: a '92 Volvo 944 GL. It had a crappy Siemens fuel injection system, so I decided not to bother with it and traded it for a '94 Turbo beater for my resto mod.

I was stoked because this year car comes with an upgraded engine with 13mm cross-section connecting rods and piston oil squirters, which significantly reduce piston temps and significantly reduce wear on the cylinder bores. Sadly it was replaced by an '87 block as a previous owner neglected it to the point of seizing the engine. Also, the interior was beat to shit.

My work is cut out for me.

Anyways, here is the current list of mods:

251xxx miles

Engine and management:
-Volvo V-grind camshaft (11.27mm lift, 245* duration)
-Lancer Evo 8 intercooler
-NGK BPR7ES plugs
-Ignition and fuel chips
-Bosch Brown Top injectors from a Mustang SVO (38lbs)
-Ported MHI TD04HL-15G turbo (currently running 12ish PSI. Bad boost fade.)
-VDO Cockpit boost gauge
-PLX Wideband and DM-6 gauge
-"Custom" intercooler piping and new PCV lines
-OBX downpipe-back exhaust

Brakes/suspension:
-SS lines
-PBR ceramic pads
(Stock the front brakes are 11" in diameter and 1" thick, plenty for this 3200 lb pig)
-IPD poly radius arm bushings

Other:
-Glass sunroof from an S90
-Kenwood Exceleon HU with some 5.25s and 6x9s, to get some help soon
-Black eggcrate grille from a 740T

Pretty much everything else stock. To install in a couple weeks:

Cherry turbos chassis brace
-IPD 1" front and rear sway bars
-S80 16x7" steelies, ET11 rear, 17 front, with Riken 205/55R16s
-Bilstein HD shocks and struts
-Chop the springs (I promise this is not nearly as much of a hack as it sounds)
-E-code headlights
-S90 taillights
-Adjustable panhard bar
-Adjustable torque rods and reinforced rear subframe.
-Accumulator mod for trans longevity

As the project moves along, I will be replacing worn out/ugly bits.

So far, the car did a 15.2 quarter mile at 89.3 MPH, with the stock exhaust, off cam timing (forgot to reset the belt tensioner--oops), and boost fading from 12/13PSI to 9 at higher engine speeds (will reset wastegate preload). Right now it's running pig rich at WOT (10:1 AFR). This will keep the motor from pinging/making too much low end torque and subsequently bending the rods, however it's too rich. I'll get it up to 11 for a good compromise. I'm expecting a mid 14-second run by the next time I go to the drag strip.

Nothing to see here, move along...




More pics up soon.

 

Some pics from the car that I traded for this, and other assorted pics:

The 92 GL (slooooooow):









Again, atrociously slow. It was clean, but I couldn't get past how terrible it was to drive when I didn't want to be all relaxed:


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<iframe width="640" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/qR0arpdoh40" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

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Volvo and Fit. Yes, there is a reason for joining this forum ;)

 

I have an 84 760 intercooled turbo sitting outside between the house ant the barn.

 

84 is a good year. The B23FT in that thing should be able to put down 400whp with the bottom end untouched.

 

I traded the slow '92 for this piece of shit. Dunno why, but the turbo made it seem like a good idea.





[IMG]https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/563104_613497241600_214902654_32247813_1493764234_ n.jpg[/IMG

I cannot stress how filthy and full of dog hair/old food/stickers this ****ing thing was. If the pics look bad, the car is a million times better than when I picked it up. Washed the seat covers and put them on properly so the haggard ass seats don't show as much.







Even more crap surfaced after vacuuming AND THEN after adding industrial grade stain remover and scrubbing.



More muck on dash, not very visible



Going into the trash as soon as I find time to work on it.



I have a good wife :)



Apparently there was a car phone in here.



:doh:



We made close to $6 in loose change! :spin:

Windshield was also shit. Replaced it and all the seals and trim.




Replaced this ugly door with a straight one.



Also, new trunklid in the works.



Good excuse for ecodes.







No turbo badge for stealth?



Ugh. Destickered with powerwasher.



Tempted to just polish over that and wax it. I like patina to a degree.



Rusted rock chips everywhere here, including hood.





Tartan headliner. Might as well.



At least the dash is in ok shape.



Before...



De-pinstriped with power washer.



Engine bay post-cleanup. It looks nice mostly free of grime!





Best ROE in the entire car. it was covered in grime and now it's nice and shiny!

 

Pics of 20 year old electronics, and some newer electronics.

















Note how clean it is in the head :) Also, the nut holding the cam gear was so overtightened that I had to cut out the rear T-belt cover, clamp the thing down to the floor with my pipe wrench and use a breaker bar to release it. Needless to say I'm never going to run stock camshaft again.

Still pinging, swapped stock 7 heat range Bosch plugs for new NGK's. This is what I found:















If they weren't completely full of crap, they were worn to nothing. I'm wondering how it even ran smoothly in the first place...

 

Yeah, that's gone.

also, can you imagine driving 60 miles with a blown turbo that sounded like it was sawing itself? It sucked. Turns out the compressor bypass valve had a hole in it, thus making the compressor stall and tear itself to shreds.

Video here
Derp...

Replaced it with a sizeably bigger 15G. Not huge, but good enough for super quick spool and 250 whp. Plenty for right now.

So, out with the old





In with the "new."





Ported the turbine housing for better breathing up top (still spools fully by like, 2300 RPM)



VS stock...



Evo 8 IC install:





Browntops:



Timeslip. My car is #303I. Should be breaking into the 14s next Friday:

 

Also, sunroof is in. Quite easy task, somehow.

Donor car:


Sunroof out:



New sunroof in:



Goodbye!



Cleaned up nicely after this pic. Will upload pics of the headliner next week.



My to do list for summer break (basically get all of this done by the 21st of June):

My to-do list for next week:

-Install new downpipe with extra O2 sensor bung.
-Trim exhaust and make it tuck the way it should.
-Reset MBC to zero and add preload to wastegate actuator (right now it's at like 4-5mm, gonna set it to 9-10).
-Replace alternator
-Cut springs
-Camber mod
-Install HD's
-Install IPD sway bars
-Install lower brace
-Install front driveshaft
-Replace shifter assembly withthe arches?)
-Install S90 tails
-Realign headliner
-Install ambient temp sensor

Big maybes, probably not gonna get around to these:

-Install e-codes
-Install amplifier and subs

That's more or less caught up. Will post pics of the headliner, somewhat acceptable interior, and exhaust next week. I'll also get some pics of it washed, as the moonroof looks effing disgusting in that pic.

 

During the 1980s Volvo was using bio degradable wiring from a British source.. Lucas electrics I suppose, "The prince of darkness" is what anything from Lucas was referred to by the owners of British cars and motorcycles back in the 60s and 70s.. There was a company in Arizona that made complete replacement wiring harnesses for the 2 series cars but they never got around to doing any for the 7 series.. Down here the wiring was a big problem and even worse fo the Turbo models because of the heat.

 

Awesome. I love these things, what's the ultimate goal for this? Just making something that shouldn't be fast, fast?

 

Yeah, it's one of those annoying things about the 80s and Volvo being in the vanguard of ecofriendliness...

Dave Barton (DaveBarton.com) sells good low mile replacement harnesses that will live a long time. You could even run a 240 harness from an 88-89 model.

End goal is to have a cushy driver that I won't be embarrassed of driving around in. So far I have probably sunk maybe $1700 in this project (mostly funded by selling off parts from my 240 after I parted it.

I really don't know if there is an ultimate goal. I would love to keep it long enough to swap in an S90 interior and run proper coilovers. I'm talking to a guy in Germany to help me import a late manual gearbox--the fabled M90 in Volvo circles; they can handle around 500 whp if you don't beat on them too hard with slicks and constant clutch dumps.

To go with that I want to eventually build a 16v B230 and an N/A exhaust manifold going into an Evo twin scroll 16G, and a 3" downpipe with electric cutout. That way the car can be nice and quiet most of the time. The reason that I want to run the N/A mani is that it is shaped much better than the turbo mani and it has pulse paired runners. It would be a step in between the flow of a nice tubular header and the reliability of a cast iron manifold.

Pics for comparison:

Turbo (8v turbo manifold adapted to fit a 16v head):



N/A 8v, note how 1,4 and 2,3 are paired:



16v NA:



More or less what I'm going for, but the TD05HR-16G6 would be much smaller, hence I would rather bottom mount it to have a cleaner/lighter engine bay:


Also, it's not fast until it reliably does 12s ;)

 

Nice, I love the old RWD volvos. Really wish I could find clean manual trans 740 IC turbo wagon, but they are a rare bird.

My step dad has a 240 turbo with a bored and cammed Chevy 289 V8. It's not your ordinary Volvo.

 

The manual trannies are weaksauce 250ish lbs-ft and they munch third gear. The Aisin-Warner autoboxes are superior, even if they are a variant of the A43D Toyota truck transmissions.

Still, you can swap adapt a T-5 or Getrag 265 for around $1000 plus trans, which is really the way to go.

Still, for driving enjoyment manual > auto.

 

or just swap in an LS1 & 6 Speed. :D

 

Sweet project car!

Subscribed!

 

A 940 I/C turbo would be great.. I tried for years to get my hands on one but like Potenza said "they are a rare bird" A good friend bought a 940 wagon after his 244 he had $600 dollars invested in was stolen in Austin... He passed away a few years back and his daughter gave it to his brother who I have been told is still driving it.

 

SUBSCRIBED!!!

wait, are you a girl?

 

Thank you for the kind comments!

Steezo: I'm a man, sorry to disappoint :P The girl in the pics is my wife.

Anyhoo, got some work in today
-Refitted the exhaust (tailpipes are still crooked, grrr)
-Installed new alternator
-Readjusted the throttle and kickdown cable linkages (it only opened to ~80% before this. Looks like there is a little bit of extra power there that was untapped during the drag run)
-Installed nice pristine gear selector assy
-Cleaned idle air control unit
-Reworked intake piping some

I think I have more or less the breakdown figured out for the rest of the week.
Tomorrow:

-Rear shocks
-Sway bars
-Lower chassis brace
-Tail lights
-Wastegate preload and boost setting reset (15 psi to redline!!!111)
-Front driveshaft

Thursday:

-Springs
-Strut inserts
-Install wheels and tires

Friday:

-Shakedown
-Watch my buddy Nathan's 16v monster hopefully break 600whp
-Drag racing


Sometime between next week and August:

-Transmission accumulator mod
-ecodes

 

Nice project. Please keep us posted.

The B230F will pretty much run forever.

 

Thank you! I will :)

I need to find some wagon springs. Way too soft in the back.



Decent pics to come...