245 GL -90 "B6284T" and other 6-cyl builds

[okoye]

got any more info on that t6 swapped 960? what manifolds did you use?

 

[adomz]

Great work on the t6!

Love to see your updates!

ADam

 

[Lankku]

got any more info on that t6 swapped 960? what manifolds did you use?

Nothing special. T6 manifolds and modified stock inlet/outlet pipes, waterline outside the block combined from FWD and RWD for fitment, 600x300x76 intercooler and working AC.

Great work on the t6!

Love to see your updates!

ADam

Thanks.

 

[Lankku]

got any more info on that t6 swapped 960? what manifolds did you use?

Only later on realised if you meant either of the 965s or S90


So, about a another 965

B6304S, automatic, leather seats, AC, Nivomat and the usual stuff. Almost 400000km which is a pretty regular mileage for these. Bought it 4 moths ago as a non-runner with a cracked oil pan.

Seats and other stuff were already taken out because the seller was parting it out. Luckily he had only sold the front armrest and sunroof, and taken the cat for himself Originally a friend was asking if I could pick some body parts from the seller because he didn't want to ship. Then the talk turned in to how good the car looked in the pictures. Decided to pay a visit with a trailer and buy it for myself if it really was that good. It seemed to be in good condition all round and the price was right, so why not? It had had a decent maintenance but it also showed signs of things getting worse.

Bumpers have been repainted(different tone and finish than the rest) and perhaps the whole car too. Repaint of the roof became apparent when I removed the tape holding down the tarp covering the sunroof opening. Clear coat peeled right off on almost every spot Luckily it doesn't look that bad on a silver car.

Made a quick oil pan fix with epoxy to keep the oil in and did a small test drive to see if everything works. All was good and then it sat for 2 months waiting for time.

I started the maintenance weekend by pulling the old engine and tranny out and swapped in the NA engine and M90 from -92 245. With the slight difference that I installed a sprung clutch to reduce the tranny noise.

Wiring loom on the old engine looked like crap and I used a better one. Just to make things a more labor intensive I managed to find only Motronic 4.4 harnesses and this is a 1.8. After changing the places of some wires in the loom there was no spark or fuel. Doing troubleshooting took some time and finally found the culprit. Flywheel had some rust on one spot(from moisture in the air) and the trigger couldn't read through.

Front half of the exhaust manifold needed to be mostly redone. Stock 960 engine mounts are wider and higher than the ones I've made for 240.

A replacement rear muffler was "installed" and I replaced it with a bigger one.

Also handbrake was fixed in an interesting way. Wheel cables are good/new but the main cable has been hacked, also inside of the car.

Managed to buy another sunroof(way cheaper than what the seller sold the one on the car ), took some missing interior pieces and an armrest from my parts car, etc. After installing Philips Xtreme headlight bulbs I changed good used headlight glass and cleaned the reflectors. Visibility got much better and the headlights do not loog foggy anymore.

Naturally everyhing above wasn't done over one weekend but that's what it took to make it roadworthy again

This is where Part 1 ends.

 

[Lankku]

And this is where Part 2 begins.

I've wanted to try out poly bushings in one of these cars so I bought a set from MPBS in Poland. It does not include the lower rear control arm rear, upper rear control arm outer or lower transverse control arm bushings.

First I installed the front control arm bushings and those went in nicely. Had to change the right control arm because someone had cut it pretty deep when removing a swaybar link. Replaced both lower ball joints too.

Before installing rear bushes I bought GAZ rear coils with 200lbs springs because the Nivomats were well on their way out. 8 clicks on the shocks and it gave a really nice ride. Load capacity could've been a bit higher as it rode pretty low when the old engine and tranny were in the trunk Now with 225lbs spring it's stiff and I wouldn't go any stiffer. Still driveable, for me. Was going to change S80 T6 front springs but those were already installed and the front shocks look newish originals. So front is okay, maybe some updates later.

Installing the rear bushings was a chore and a half to do alone. Some subframe to body bolt threads were pretty rusted. Dropped the subframe, installed the bushings and that's about it. It was a good time to change rear end oil. Rear wheels don't have camber any more, upper control arm inner bushings were shot as they often are. Also ride height rose, subframe bushins don't give in anymore like the old ones. Found out that rear swaybar to lower control arm bushings could be tighter to the control arm. The same goes for the upper control arm rear bushings.

Could almost say "Drives like new".

I've also made it warmer. Not only by resealing the duct of center vents to the heater and installing the blower motor plastic cover(also seals a hole next to the blower). But mostly by resealing the windshield that someone has installed without primer on the glass.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CX1tJswr_md/

Visibility of the headlights was not "enough" so I got a bit excited and installed two led bars behind the grille. I tested and it doesn't block the light that much. Also ground the grille spokes a lot thinner on the backside to reduce obstruction.

Now that two months of use have passed, I've driven it a bit over 6200km/3860miles

Bushings and rear shocks have held down to -25-30?C/-13-22F, for now. Front bushings have been in use for about 5500km/3420miles or so.

A sort of a winter pic, because it's a "winter beater".

 

[240wagonguy]

I bought that car's twin, silver 960 wagon from the local auction. Been hacking on it to make it my winter beater. Between exhaust falling off and battling a sunroof leak, it's going great! Your picture of the handbrake cable makes me think, maybe that's the problem with mine.

 

[Mattis]

I have been lurking in this thread for waaay to long but I have to ask, on the s90, How does the motronic 4.4 handle the boost?
Gonna start on basically the same here, stock turbos etc

 

[Lankku]

I bought that car's twin, silver 960 wagon from the local auction. Been hacking on it to make it my winter beater. Between exhaust falling off and battling a sunroof leak, it's going great! Your picture of the handbrake cable makes me think, maybe that's the problem with mine.

Silver appears to have been a pretty popular colour on these. Handbrake is notoriously weak, almost on the same level as on old XC90. Mostly it's the wheel cables that cause troubles. Surprisingly it worked so the hack wasn't that bad. If you don't count that the clamps rub between the body and subframe :rolf:

I have been lurking in this thread for waaay to long but I have to ask, on the s90, How does the motronic 4.4 handle the boost?
Gonna start on basically the same here, stock turbos etc

1.8 seems to be more lenient and you can fiddle around a bit more with injector and MAF sizes. I've run only T6 injectors and E85 with 1-1.1bar higher fuel pressure on all and they behave similarly. With stock T6 turbos you can use around 0.6bar max boost(or less depending on stuff) on both Motronics. Fuel cut comes in pretty early with small turbos. Up to that point you can drive them as you want. S90 will be tuned in the spring if all goes well, now the owner has it in winter storage. Then it can at least max out the injectors

B6254 and bigger turbos like HX35 that we used in a friends build, or a HX40 that I had in mine, spool later. Maybe that's why fuel cut doesn't trigger so easily and gives more power. But you lose a lot in driveability compared to tiny T6 turbos.


Also power steering with this NA engine required some fiddling. It is a S80 block after all. Reservoir found it's place pretty much in the only spot it can fit.

If anyone still remembers what the engine consists of, its:
- S80 2.9l NA block, milled 0.2mm. Stock 147mm rods and pistons, fully balanced. The same crank as B6284T.
- RWD head, ported myself, valve job, milled 1.2mm, around 12-12.5 compression ratio.
- Still stock cams and intake.
- 6-2-1 homemade exhaust manifold.
- 215mm sintered clutch, Saab 8V Turbo pressure plate, 850 flywheel machined down to around 6kg.
- Made around 240hp on E85, slight 5hp gain over 98 RON. Now it most likely is less with stock 1.8 Motronic.

 

[Harlard]

Looks similar to my M52TU. Wish I had more camshaft and found a 3.0 block.

Still, not too bad for a whiteblock

 

[Lankku]

I haven't had the interest to make an intake which I should. And cams after that. Graph shows pretty clearly where the engine is out of breath.

 

[Harlard]

I haven't had the interest to make an intake which I should. And cams after that. Graph shows pretty clearly where the engine is out of breath.

Time for ITBs and 300* cams then!

 

[Lankku]

Straight ITB's have been pretty much out of the window from the start because those are loud AF on full throttle and I've had enough of those A proper plenum intake is a lot of work but that's what I'd rather have, even though it might/will be less ideal.

 

[244tiCanuck]

Time to wake this thread up a bit.

965 got some Schwitzer off the shelf along with a better B6304. T6 exhaust manifolds with up pipes to the turbo

Do you have any pictures of the up pipes setup?

 

[Lankku]

It's really simple. Just make two flanges and up pipes. Optionally grind the manifold outlet a bit bigger for better flow.

Didn't bother to take pics when I made the 965 but I built an engine for my friends 945 and these are from that. It has two of the same manifolds for a nicer looking install. When using front and rear manifold the other flange is higher than the other.

 

[244tiCanuck]

It's really simple. Just make two flanges and up pipes. Optionally grind the manifold outlet a bit bigger for better flow

I ended up just making some yesterday, before I saw your reply. Since I couldn't really do it in the car, I just kept everything as tight to the engine as I could. Measured with a tape and I should have tons of clearance to the chassis.

Your thread has been a big inspiration to me and my decision to go T6 on my build, thanks for photographing and documenting what you do!

 

[Lankku]

T6 manifolds are really nice in that way. They don't take much space.

 

[Lankku]

It's been a while since the last update. -90 "B6284T" still sits without an engine but at least I've driven -92 some.

I had to swap the ecu on the -92. Old ATecu(MS2 based) started acting up bad and I took the MS3X with wiring loom from "B6284T. Who knows how long it has been faulty. Might have even been last fall when I dynoed the car last time. While intake was out, I replaced two torn rubber intake couplers(first ones that I've had to change).

There wasn't time to take -92 to the track this summer but at least I dynoed it on a hubdyno and made some 1/4 mile rips(I'll write about that and other stuff later).

Dyno results were pretty much in line with previous ones a bit under 1.9bar boost. Boost comes up about the same or a bit later than on street. Decent numbers 678whp and 838Nm.
Two pulls: https://youtu.be/7MbvG7o2AnE

After that I cleaned the injectors and swapped smaller cold side to the turbo. Old one was 67mm wheel and now it's 62.45mm. Wakes up 400-500rpm earlier than before and should not lose much power. I've yet to dyno it again.

One morning leaving for work I was greeted by a loud exhaust leak. I did make the exhaust 8 years ago and drove one winter with it. I did paint it but the pipe being untreated it rusted fast but lasted surprisingly long. I was going to repair only the leaking spot but the whole back end was just so crunchy and thin.

So I made a new one out of used stainless. It still is 3.5" as before. It was a bit longer evening after work than I expected.

I was going to replace that one bend before the muffler later because I didn't have any. But when installing the exhaust it crumbled too. So I made one from a 4" Old, custom and 4" bends.

 

[Harlard]

Nice update. Do you have options for larger turbine housings on that turbo? Looks like a pretty peaky torque curve at high boost.

 

[rb92673]

That engine/turbo sounds amazing.

 

[oldschoolvolvo]

That engine/turbo sounds amazing.

+1
So good.