"300k Update"
Yesterday was a big day for this wagon's chassis - it crossed the 300k mile mark. The swap now has 22k miles on it, engine/trans have 136k.
I've been waiting until this moment to post an update on the car since there really hasn't been much happening with it. It has been my daily driver and designated weekend distance vehicle while our BMW E91 has been enslaved by Progressive Snapshot. Also haven't been driving it much in general due to the pandemic and working completely from home.
Since the move in August I've really been enjoying the hills of central Pennsylvania. I'll list all the stuff that's been done to the car since.
First thing I did was I FINALLY got the coolant temp gauge on the cluster working. I had been using my phone with a bluetooth OBDII adapter this entire time to read the coolant temp. I actually used an original Volvo sender since I had one on hand, and modified an adapter to have the correct thread. Next I ran the wire from the Volvo harness to the sender and grounded it to the chassis. The temp gauge was reading quite hot at operating temp so I added a resistor to the circuit. I tried a few values before finding one that put operating temp near the middle on the gauge. The sender is plumbed to the coolant hose that always has coolant flowing regardless of whether the thermostat is open or not.
Next thing I did was realize that I have a bent axle shaft which was causing high vibrations in braking. Had to buy an entire axle on FB Marketplace just to get a new shaft.
I also had a new driveshaft fabricated for the car. The 3.5" diameter shortened aluminum shaft that originated from the donor Mark VIII was interfering with the tunnel over big humps in the road or hard acceleration. I had a brand new 2.75" diameter steel driveshaft fabricated and so far it hasn't had any interference. Here's old vs new:
Now that I'm in a hilly area, it made me modify the tune on the car so that the trans torque converter doesn't lock until the car exceeds 45mph. Before I did that, if I wanted to go up a hill at 35mph, it would try to do it in 4th gear with the converter locked, turning about 1200rpm. And it would be reluctant to downshift. So no more of that.
Another thing I did was replace the steering rack. Some of you may remember that the input shaft on my original rack had some play in it, presumably due to the exhaust manifold riding on the steering shaft in right turns. I thought that this was causing some play in the steering so I replaced the entire rack with a rebuilt one from RockAuto. While I was doing this, I shifted the rack over like I should have done in the first place by drilling new holes in the crossmember and changing the tie rod ends as much as I could. This got rid of the manifold/shaft interference, but the play was still there. I can't figure out where the play in the steering is coming from. It's just something I live with at this point, not a huge deal.
And last but not least I replaced the driver side rear quarter trim, some of you may have noticed it was missing the black plastic portion and only had the chrome left. I got a used replacement from a FB marketplace seller.
I've really only had two issues with the car. One of them is that it would randomly feel like it was cutting fuel while cruising and sometimes it would stall after coming to a stop. One time this happened at a busy left turn light and it was very reluctant to start back up. Turns out, the chip I have in the PCM for the tune had become slightly unseated, so unplugging it and plugging it back in completely solved that issue. The second is an ongoing one, and that is a leaky hydroboost unit. It's a small and slow leak, but it does drop over the exhaust manifold (stinky) and leaves spots in the driveway (nasty). I'm not looking forward to fixing that since it is going to be quite painful and difficult removing the booster due to the way I made it fit. It's leaking because it's a junk yard part with original seals, so let this be a lesson to all of you: Just spend the money and buy the new or remanufactured part. Especially if it involves fluids.
But, at the end of the day, the car has been more or less dead reliable. Here's some pictures of it being more or less dead reliable:
Outside of Rothrock State Park in PA
Camping in Mosquito Lake Sate Park in Ohio
Camping outside of Ithaca, NY
Getting absolutely hammered with snow at home
At Black Moshannon State Park in PA
And here it is yesterday outside of Independence Hall in Philadelphia. I had never been to Philly before so I decided to check it out since I was buying a pair of speakers nearby.
So that's about it. I have no plans for this car other than to drive it until it's no longer practical for me. I'll update this every once in awhile as things happen.