Ben's 240DL - Stage 0.5 SLOWAGN

[anotherbrick]

Hey you guys,

Let me just start by saying that I have little to no experience compared to a lot of the people on here. I've been driving a 99 Honda Civic since I was 16 and hadn't done anything more complicated than changing wiper blades until I moved out on my own. I decided to learn to take care of it myself both to save money and to develop a skillset that I knew would be really useful throughout life.

Then I moved in with Shawn and his 20vt 200 project http://theprojectpad.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=172 and really started to learn about cars and performance. He's proven to be a super valuable impromptu mentor and an inspiration considering he's pretty much all self-taught and competent as shit.

SO, enough with the backstory, here's the 1987 Volvo 240DL Wagon that I bought a few weeks ago after a long time wishing I had something of my own as well as a second car that wouldn't be as inevitably boring as a bone stock honda civic. I went for the wagon so the end result would be fun and still useful! The look of this car really dawned on me and I fell in love real quick.

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Interior is in very good shape, only the driver's seat and center armrest console are the only damaged bits, most everything else is pretty mint which is exciting!

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So far the rough plan is:
Clean the engine bay
Sandblast/powdercoat manifolds, etc.
Replace and odds and ends in the process of cleaning
Get close to stage 0 while dealing with serious vibration in trans/drivetrain (already replaced motor/trans mounts, disconnected driveshaft and found bad center support mount/possibly bearing/rear U-joint)

Then fun stuff like
Shocks/struts/springs and any stock suspension parts that are iffy. The suspension setup is something I want to really nail for handling.
Probably a transmission swap, however it's still to be seen what the transmission is like without a lot of failed support parts (one motor mount was completely failed and floating, and the rear U-joint is nice and failed as well and seized like hell...more on that later).
Megasquirt - Shawn is running MS1 in his 200 and has a serious handle on the electronics and tuning so before major shit goes down it seems like a good idea to set up MS to run the car stock, then tune for things as they're added. I'll probably try to hunt down a newer board used, but we've also discussed building a board.
Turbo conversion. I know it's usually advised that you go for a swap for the turbo motor but I am inclined to think the interiors of the B230 I have are solid, and would handle what I need. An interior cleaning is gonna be a must before the conversion both for flow and for a good look at the guts. There are a few options on the table...but I only realistically want to run somewhere from 10-12lbs and low end torque would be nice...

Other pet projects like a single round headlight swap and the removal of that black trim tape on the body panels under the windows will be scattered in. I'm going for a semi-sleeper that's quick enough to be surprising, and I want to keep the rest of the car original.

That's all for now, progress pics and such are going to have to be another night. Tips for releasing these seized U-joints would be much appreciated as that's the only thing stopping it from going now! I tried the vice method and the tapping method but we don't have a press

[chaloux]

So the D doesn't designate diesel? That would be cool. Oh... and doesn't this thing weigh like 4klbs? Gonna need some serious powa! You're in the right place! Welcome aboard.

Oh, and Shawn is definitely a good guy to live with but probably also a really bad influence lol.

[bradyzq]

DL and GL are trim levels, DL being the lower one. Looks like you scored a leather interior from a GL!

I don't think they're that heavy either. 740 turbo engine swap. Or, more in keeping with this gang, an 850/S60/S70 engine swap, but you have to work a bit to turn it 90 degrees!

I almost bought a 1972 145. I still wonder what could have been....

Enjoy your brick!

Cheer,
Brady

[WOMBAT]

Damn, that's clean! Have a blast building this, I'm excited to follow it!

[vt10vt]

Yeesh thanks for building me up LOl I'm hardly on the level of most of the guys around here either.

Glad you made a thread though, pictures barely even do this car justice as to how clean it is. All the trim bits are there, the interior is mint minus the drivers seat and it runs pretty strong. Definitely needs a solid tune up and a little resto but Ben is doing a good job of getting down to basics and not letting me corrupt his plans for a fun, reliable daily...

So far

[dana]

nice! I never understood the appeal of those old boxy wagons until i drove one. Pretty awesome cars, if the diesel versions got better mpg, i would probably be daily driving one instead of my jetta.

[vt10vt]

nice! I never understood the appeal of those old boxy wagons until i drove one. Pretty awesome cars, if the diesel versions got better mpg, i would probably be daily driving one instead of my jetta.

Mileage and power may both leave something to be desired but Cy's dad's 7xx turbo-diesel-studded-snow-burnout-machine was an absolute tank.

[anotherbrick]

So the D doesn't designate diesel? That would be cool. Oh... and doesn't this thing weigh like 4klbs? Gonna need some serious powa! You're in the right place! Welcome aboard.

Oh, and Shawn is definitely a good guy to live with but probably also a really bad influence lol.

I have read about some diesel 240 projects and I do like diesel in concept. A TD swap would be super cool but I don't want her to spew black shit everywhere when she's supposed to be a DD. Maybe that's just me being a big ol' wuss.

The weight is right around 3k lbs, which I was pleasantly surprised by.

DL and GL are trim levels, DL being the lower one. Looks like you scored a leather interior from a GL!

I don't think they're that heavy either. 740 turbo engine swap. Or, more in keeping with this gang, an 850/S60/S70 engine swap, but you have to work a bit to turn it 90 degrees!

See the fact that everyone says I should swap is making me think. I'm hung up on the fact that I bought the car in running order and tossing a perfectly good red block B230 is hard to justify...unless something really good comes along. I guess it was a planning error but I got the car for just $1000 so it wouldn't be so terrible.

Yeesh thanks for building me up LOl I'm hardly on the level of most of the guys around here either.

Glad you made a thread though, pictures barely even do this car justice as to how clean it is. All the trim bits are there, the interior is mint minus the drivers seat and it runs pretty strong. Definitely needs a solid tune up and a little resto but Ben is doing a good job of getting down to basics and not letting me corrupt his plans for a fun, reliable daily...

So far

So far isn't very far at this point! Long road ahead, and knowing myself by the time things are coming along I'm going to break down and want to shoot for 25lbs and ruin the car lol

[85oceanic]

Awesome project man! I've always loved myself a good turbo brick. Speakig of turbo brick, I saw this today and thought of your thread.
http://blipshift.com/products/bricked?u ... mpaign=new

[ChrisAudi80]

Just FYI, a Chevy small block drops almost right in. Quite a popular swap in Sweden.

[anotherbrick]

Awesome project man! I've always loved myself a good turbo brick. Speakig of turbo brick, I saw this today and thought of your thread.
http://blipshift.com/products/bricked?u ... mpaign=new

Great shirt haha brilliant. I even want to paint it that stock yellow someday, but i don't know about the clash with the blue interior…

So, sorry this is off to a slow start, shit got a little cray and plans have changed accordingly.

About a week and a half ago my 99 civic took a turn for the worse at about 6:45 on my way into work. A tick had been developing and I had very unwisely attributed it to a previous exhaust hack-job that had started to fail. Nope. Almost certainly bottom-end repairs after a long struggle with the cooling system and a new head-gasket probably did a number on the integrity of the engine, so she's now on the sideline as the 240 gets prepped for the big leagues as my daily for a bit.

The mid-day realization that I could now spend all of my time thinking about the volvo was something of a mood-lifter. That and a long conversation with the tow driver who apparently has had a great many project cars really got me excited to really start working with the 240.

Before the incident...

Motor/trans mounts came first:

As you can see the passenger's side was completely failed and floating. We lifted the engine with the cherry-picker and had a hell of a time getting this side in and out. Mistake was not just completely removing the brackets as a unit, which made the left side much easier. The trans mount was much simpler, and looked to be warped due to careless installation a long time ago. I could see why when installing the new one, the torque on the bolt would twist it out of position on the last turn or so and unless it was braced it would warp itself immediately.

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Then I moved down to the driveshaft because there was still some serious rattling/vibration. Sure enough, rear u-joint also completely and thoroughly failed:

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I ordered a center support bearing kit and a pair of u-joints that IPD claimed would ship last friday and arrive by thursday at the lastest. It is now two sundays later and the tracking says they'll be here tuesday, so on tuesday I'll be up until she's rollin' sweet n' slow. All I have to do is press in the u-joints, install the new bearing and support and put the driveshaft back in and, fingers crossed, she'll be ready to get me to work and back for a while. (Which reminds me I need to slap together a cover for the tailgate so I can throw work tools in there. It'll be interesting when I get to the permanent one, big ideas on that front, should be a fun project.)

Last week I did a fuel filter change and an engine oil/filter change too. The fuel filter was kind of a bitch because of the flimsy nature of it's support bracketing and the need to steady the filter itself to break the banjo bolts free. Having to work under the car didn't help.

The fuel that remained in the filter after I did get it out was quite dirty. I guess that's what I should have expected, so the question is, what else down the fuel system may have been affected? I don't have time to learn how to tear it all down, tear it all down, clean it all, and reinstall it before I'm gonna have to drive it...every day...so I'll admit I'm pretty nervous having to run it somewhat hard, real soon.

Thanks for the interest, lots of thinking and questions to come when she's on the road!

"Before"

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[vt10vt]

Just sayin...

[anotherbrick]

If I put the rear seats down I could have sex with anything under 8 feet tall and at this stage I might even be able to make the stock suspension work with me.

[chaloux]

LOL

[gtn116]

Now THAT, gentlemen (and ladies), is a comeback...

[anotherbrick]

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[gregdell1121]

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Awe you 2 are so cute when you bicker online! I wonder if anybody on here knows you guys are more than just roomates... just saying

[PRY4SNO]

Nice progress, keep the updates rolling in as they occur!

I vote for a 20vt/07k swap down the road

[dana]

love the engine bay, looks like heaven to work in.

[anotherbrick]

She lives!

Driveshaft is rebuilt/reinstalled and road tested.

But first a short story about this little guy:

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SOMEBODY left a can of axle grease open in the shed and this wren apparently landed in it and proceeded to get stuck and absolutely covered. I was in the process of cutting the driveshaft center bearing off when I found him and proceeded to have a mild crisis getting him out (sort of ruining Shawn's welding gloves in the process).

A DIY exploded view of the old center support bearing with the new one on the right.

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Washing him with dawn then orange hand cleaner didn't really do shit but he seemed pretty OK otherwise so we took him to the vet hospital down the street and "wildlife guy" took him away to get him cleaned up. Lets hope he had a lot more success than me.

Unfortunately this post is getting cut short, long day running around tomorrow, but by the end of the day she'll be legal, and on Tuesday the daily driving will begin.

Fun fact: 0-60mph ~ 23 seconds

[anotherbrick]

love the engine bay, looks like heaven to work in.

My thoughts exactly when I saw it for the first time. Intake/fuel assembly is elevated and easy to access, exhaust side has a ton of clearance (due to the absence of a turbo... ). If you drop a tool through onto to ground, you can often just reach through the bay and grab it!

[anotherbrick]

OK rainy day post, go.

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I've now gotten back and forth 45 minutes to work twice now so...that's encouraging! Things of note so far:

1. She's really slow.
2. She sometimes seems even slower, but when you're working with what I'm guessing is something like 80-90whp and a 3000+lb car, I suppose that's inevitable.
3. She disapproves of engagement to 2nd gear. It pops out almost any time you apply power, but if I hold it back while I get on it, once it's engaged and going it feels fine.
4. The exhaust is moderately noisy. And held up with visible baling wire.
5. There's a ticking sound with the engine that you can only really hear at idle. Maybe the lifters?
6. There's a knocking sound that's pretty much the same, however it doesn't seem like it's necessarily coming from inside the engine. Somewhere on the driver's side of the engine bay.
7. Gas mileage seems like less than it should be, but I've only been through about a half a tank. In two days... I'm going to run 93 and a thing of Berrymans injector cleaner through it next time I fill up (suggested by vt10vt). I'd imagine since the fuel filter was pretty old and filled with grime, the rest of the fuel system isn't exactly tidy.
--> 8. Spark plug gap is spec'd at .028, they were around .040+ when I took them out to inspect them. I re-gapped to spec and I'm wondering if I should reset them to what they were, just haven't gotten around to it. Should probably do that soon but it's rainy and cold and we don't have a garage. So I'm bitching out even though it wouldn't take long.

Let's run through the driveshaft rebuild:

1. Disconnected the driveshaft intact.

No-wheel drive conversion complete!

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Pretty simple, made some half-assed alignment marks that mostly wore off during cleaning (luckily there are arrows etched into the two shafts), dropped the crossmember (sandblasted and powdercoated as a sort of test by vt10vt) and



2. Disassemble.

Separating the two sections is simply a matter of sliding the splined shaft on the rear section out of the front section.

The u-joints were a different story. One of the rear joint's bearings/cups was completely failed and seized into the yolk.



The spider took a beating.



Here you can see where the rollers inside the bearing were smashed into the spider, pretty wild IMO.



I tried to press them out with two different vices and a socket, no luck whatsoever. Tried hammering them out, nothing. At this point I was nervous about damaging the driveshaft components and running out of options so vt10vt came through with a connection at a machine shop and he pressed them out no problem for cheap.

So, here's the rear section with the new joints:



I was stupid and in the process of trying to get the c-clips out with a variety of tools other than the proper one I broke both ends off of one, but getting that out was the only complicated part.

Luckily we had a precisely 3 1/4" c-clamp (because it barely fit over the yolks) that managed to press the new cups in brilliantly.



3. Center support bearing

Props to creativity from vt10vt and gregdell1121 when pulling the old bearing off the front section of the driveshaft:



After cutting rest of the bearing off, vt10vt decided to mention he has a puller. You know, after we violently removed all gripping surface. Gettng on and staying on the back of the inner race with the arms of the puller required sharpening the points on the claws and wrapping the arms with a hose clamp to tightly grip while the bolt was cranked.

Worked like a charm. Tapped the new bearing down using a piece of exhaust pipe and the old inner race.



Once that was done it was just a matter of fitting the rubber bearing support mount around the bearing, reinstalling the front section and the crossmember, then aligning the rear shaft using the arrows on each section to make sure the splines go in properly and everything is balanced, which it was and everything is good and road tested.

So, what sucks is that now working on the car is limited by my need to daily drive it for a while. It's got me thinking about just getting a new car since engine the civic is expected to be seriously damaged and it's already been one problem after another for a couple years. I want to have something I don't have to worry about so I can really have some fun with the 240.

vt10vt almost convinced me to cave for a V8 swap a couple nights ago...

In conclusion, here's some axle grease with bird shit in it.


(See story above)

[WOMBAT]

"In conclusion, here's some axle grease with bird shit in it."

hahahahahahhahaha!!

Nice work on the driveshaft though, and props for the creativity. It's amazing what the wrong tools can do with enough self inflicted pain.

[ChrisAudi80]

Almost convinced you to go V8? What is keeping you from that?

Can you imagine how hilarious a Volvo station with a SBC can be? IIRC, these cars came with 4.11 gears.
It would haul ass for few bux.

[anotherbrick]

After looking into it a little bit, I'm inclined to say this is what will ultimately happen to the car.

For now I need to make sure it's gonna be on the road and running right so I can get to work until the "other car" situation is resolved. BUT once the car can become a real project again, the V8 setup seems like a more reliable option considering it could be a bench-build and N/A torque for little $ and hopefully less headache than a turbo conversion.

That said she is running OK most of the time. Sputtering and sometimes just losing power, especially when starting from a stop...today it did it in traffic on the beltway. So that's kind of a bitch...but she always comes back.

And the horn has decided to smite me by randomly honking and sometimes just getting caught in a constant honk. Fixed with a folded up piece of paper for now.