'90 740 B230F Regina Auto to B230FT Bosch Manual

[bluemoose]

This car was a one owner garage queen that I acquired in 2015 along with every maintenance record since it was new. It was my daily driver for many years, 80 miles a day, and has made many road trips as well. It has consistently been the one vehicle that just always worked, so what else would a gearhead do but tear it apart! I was still relying on it as a second vehicle until recently, but I have finally been able to 'retire' it and start on the build. I have been gathering parts and putting the engine together for a couple years already and I have pretty much everything needed except time.

Answers to predicted comments up front:
Why not just get a Bosch car to start with? Because this is my car, I like it, and I want to keep it. It is a bit of a rare bird being basically a 2 owner car with pristine interior.
Just go standalone: I debated this one but I had a good turbo donor car, I would have to do a bunch of wiring either way, and it seemed easier to start with a proven tune on the factory system.
Why didn't you build the original NA engine? Because I needed to keep driving the car while acquiring parts and building the engine. Also the original engine is in excellent condition and will be a great starting point for a future build.

 

[bluemoose]

Ugh, I forgot that you can't attach photos on this forum. I'll post some once I figure out a way to host them without selling my soul to Google.

 

[NLRegina]

Looking forward to seeing this project!

Also, Imgur is an easy way to host pictures here

 

[bluemoose]

Ok, Let's try this.
Starting point: '90 740 B230f Regina/Auto/non-ABS, ~300k miles. Stock other than a few suspension upgrades and BNE goodies. I will be rebuilding the suspension as part of this and I am thinking about going to steel wheels and doing a brake upgrade, but the main goal is to get the engine swap done and running.

 

[bluemoose]

Inside a well maintained 300k mile NA Redblock. The cam lobes still look new and there is virtually no gunk, just a little varnishing.

 

[bluemoose]

Engine build: B230FT from a roached '90 780. Nothing exotic here except perhaps the pistons and rods, which are overkill but the shortblock should be able to handle anything I would throw at it in the future.
Basic machine work, new valves + sleeved (cylinders were worn out on the donor engine)
Yoshifab/Traum pistons and h-beam rods
Yoshifab springs, cam gear
IPD Turbo cam
RedblockPowered Stage 1 tune
New red bosch injectors
older Yoshifab billet flywheel
Mamba 16T/TD04
D088 intercooler
Transmission is a fresh T5 WC, and I have a factory pedal box + all the stuff to install it.

 

[bluemoose]

The challenging thing with this project is switching from Regina to Bosch. It helped a lot having a good B230FT donor car that I could pillage and photograph. I am using a previously acquired LH2.4 conversion harness from Dave Barton, that I think may be discontinued now on his site. Since I was going to be taking out much of the interior I decided to do the heater core while I was in there, so it is pretty stripped down at this point.It will also require relocating the battery to the driver's side, among other things. I plan to retain the AC and get it all working right as well.

I have already identified the wires I need to keep and connect to the new harness, and the rest of the old harness will be pulled out. I am swapping out the instrument cluster with the one from the donor Bertone while I am at it, since it has the factory volt and boost gauges. The boost gauge overlay has been replaced with one from Dave Barton.
Most here are probably familiar with his site, but he has some great wiring resources there, including detailed ECU and ICU pinout diagrams.

 

[DET17]

There is a very detailed thread in PERF on conversion of a Regina/REX vehicle to LH2.4 with turbo. I believe the author is Comanche ? You might find some insights there.

FWIW, I have a complete engine bay harness from a 94 945T in my FS thread. I do NOT have the dash harness which I understand is a must do as a part of the conversion. Hopefully you've got everything you need from the Bertone. Probably goes without saying, but you darn sure better have the wiring diagram(s) from old to new as something won't match the prints...... good luck!

 

[bluemoose]

I think I have browsed through that thread before, but thanks for the reference. I will have to review it and refresh my memory.
Most of the diagrams and pinouts I've been using came from Dave Barton's site or came with the harness I bought from him. I have found some minor differences in wire colors on a few of the wires, but otherwise I think I have been able to identify everything.
The conversion harness provides everything brand new under the hood for all the engine connections, the ECU and EZK harnesses for under the dash, plus a couple of pigtails to splice into a few of the wires on the original dash harness. The fuel pump relay actually comes out of the fuse block and plugs into a new connector on the conversion harness (that you locate where you choose under the dash.
It looks like the conversion harness is basically separating the engine wiring from everything else but you retain all the original body/lighting/HVAC/etc.. it is pretty self-contained other than having to tap into some of the factory fuel pump related circuits and some of the instrument panel stuff like VSS and CEL.
FWIW here is what I am using, although it appears to be no longer available:

Dave's Volvo Page - Volvo Engine Wire Harnesses

www.prancingmoose.com

 

[NLRegina]

FWIW here is what I am using, although it appears to be no longer available:

Dave's Volvo Page - Volvo Engine Wire Harnesses

www.prancingmoose.com

I was under the impression that he makes the wire harnesses that he sells himself. I wonder if someone reached out to him he could make them again on an ad hoc basis, or perhaps even just share the specs to make one yourself. I would imagine the hardest part is sourcing the right connectors

 

[bluemoose]

I was under the impression that he makes the wire harnesses that he sells himself. I wonder if someone reached out to him he could make them again on an ad hoc basis, or perhaps even just share the specs to make one yourself. I would imagine the hardest part is sourcing the right connectors

At least for the particular harness I bought, he sourced it from an outfit in Norway the Netherlands. Perhaps he does make some of them himself. I'll post a photo of the harness itself as soon as I can.

 

[bluemoose]

One of the most challenging parts of the wiring harness conversion is that I need a new 2" hole in the firewall to pass through the new harness. There is no way to access the original hole without removing the entire AC system and fan. I don't know if it will work but my plan is to try and drill a new hole just below and to the right of the original. This should come out just below the AC stuff but still be tucked up under the dash.

 

[okoye]

One of the most challenging parts of the wiring harness conversion is that I need a new 2" hole in the firewall to pass through the new harness. There is no way to access the original hole without removing the entire AC system and fan. I don't know if it will work but my plan is to try and drill a new hole just below and to the right of the original. This should come out just below the AC stuff but still be tucked up under the dash.

That’ll definitely hurt resale why not do it the right way?

 

[okoye]

One of the most challenging parts of the wiring harness conversion is that I need a new 2" hole in the firewall to pass through the new harness. There is no way to access the original hole without removing the entire AC system and fan. I don't know if it will work but my plan is to try and drill a new hole just below and to the right of the original. This should come out just below the AC stuff but still be tucked up under the dash.

The blower motor stuff isn’t hard to remove unlike a 240

 

[bluemoose]

I may look at it a little further, but there are other complications with trying to use the factory hole and grommet The conversion harness was built to pass through a 2" round hole, with the firewall grommet built into the harness before the ECU and EZK connectors were assembled. The factory grommet does have some extra pass-thru holes but the connectors would not not go through it and I am not going to try and disassemble the harness. That would kinda defeat the purpose of buying an assembled harness in the first place. The factory hole is also oval so the grommet that came with the new harness would not work there even if I removed the factory one. Then there are all the other wires coming through the factory hole for headlights, etc. that are separate from the engine harness.
There are some aftermarket firewall options like Seals-It, but I am not sure that there is enough access in the factory location to install it.

 

[bluemoose]

Well, I did a thing today. I now have access under the dash, but I am still thinking about making a new hole in the firewall. Now I have access from the inside to put it right next to the factory one close to the inner fender.

 

[bluemoose]

I'll take this opportunity to completely re-furbish the HVAC, but the first priority is getting the engine in, running, and break in the new cam.

 

[bluemoose]

It was a tough breakup, but I told Regina to take a hike!

 

[lookforjoe]

Coming Along!
However, why did you not just re-pin the Regina / Rex for LH2.4 & add the missing shielded wire for the power stage?? Much less work than what you have going on there. Water under the bridge at this point.

 

[bluemoose]

I didn't really know that was an option, but also many of my engine bay connectors are crumbling and corroded, and I had some previous issues like a short in the CPS connector and not getting signal from the ECT. Most of the wiring I pulled out looks fine because the car has never been molested, but there is peace of mind having it all fresh.
On top of that the HVAC needed work anyway (AC is a must where I live), and the pedal box was already coming out to do the manual swap. I'm also swapping the battery to the driver side and using a factory Turbo air box, so it will look much like a factory turbo car in the end.
I've done an engine harness and standalone on another vehicle before, so I am familiar with it and even though this looks like a wild rat's nest it is really not as complicated as it appears. Just a lot of tedious work crawling around under the dash.