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Wesdunns70t5m

Member
Joined
Oct 4, 2016
Location
Fort Smith Arkansas
https://imgur.com/a/mC9pEmk

For some reason when I go to post pictures from imgur here with the button that looks like a mountain, it says it is unable to post the pics. The link at the type should (maybe) get y'all to the album though. If not I'll have to figure something out

So I've been on this forum for many years now, but haven't been active for a few now as I haven't had a Volvo. The itch to get one has been getting worse so I set out in finding the cheapest one I could for the least amount of money. I've been thru these cars top to bottom, front to back so I wasn't afraid of having to do some work on one.

After convincing my other half how cool she would be to let me get a third car, I was onto searching. Now when I was on here years ago I lived in North Carolina, which these old bricks were plentiful. Apparently here in the middle of the country (Arkansas) they are not as common. I'd found a few decent candidates local, but they were either too overpriced IMO, or I wouldn't here anything back from the seller. Thus, my search radius started to grow. I travel all over for work so I was prepared to bring one home with me while I was at work...of course it didn't work out that way.

Found a decent candidate out in Georgia one day and was actually able to get a message back. Me and my girlfriend had some days off, so we took a 1400 mile round trip so I could pick this one up! I wouldn't never recommend taking that trip in a lifted 4x4 truck with a hog cam in it. Gas hurt.

I had just 3 pictures to go off of, and the seller claimed "it just needs a battery, fuel pump, and it's got a front seal leaking oil". This all sounds straight forward enough, and with an asking price of 1000$, I figured I could iron everything else out with it. Got in my truck, and off to Georgia! I get there, make sure the motor spins by hand, running it thru all the gears (auto) without it running, and make sure the breaks work. These all checked out, so onto the trailer it goes. I gave the guy the full 1k asking price, didn't even try to haggle just because Id already made the trip, and truly felt it was a fair price.

Now is the part where me being dumb/lazy/exhausted took over. I went to pull the driveshaft out of it since I was rowing it with a dolly. At this point I am running on maybe 6 hours of sleep in the last 2 days, and had traveled (for work) from Dalhart TX to home in Fort Smith, slept for like 4 hours, and then hit the road for Georgia, got like 2 hours sleep when I got there, and than found.myself loading this car onto a dolly. I unbolted the driveshaft from the transmission side, and tried supporting the driveshaft with a ratchet strap so the center bearing wasn't getting beat to crap. In my head, worst case scenario was the shaft would (soon) run through the strap. I was planning just to go to Walmart or home Depot and getting a better solution figured out. Reality stumped my expectations. We didn't get 20 feet down the road before the ratchet strap got wrapped around the driveshaft and totalled itself out. I know I know, should've completely pulled it out of the car. I'm old.enough to know better but young enough to still have my dummy moments lmao.

Anyway I got the car home, put a battery in it from my kei truck I've got, and sure enough she started right up! Albeit rough idle, she's running! I'm in the process of getting a driveshaft now, so I'm going to throw it in and drive it for a short while, than start digging deeper into it. I know it's got a steering fluid leak coming from somewhere as I'd found some on the driver's side of the tow dolly. A couple oil leaks I haven't started tracking down yet as well.

I've got an IPD turbo cam, yoshifab crankcase system, and a 19t with the 7cm angled housing bolted to a 90+ manifold that I will be swapping on. I changed out all the intercooler piping with my do88 hoses. Unfortunately in doing that I had to swap in my 3" AMM since it was installed with that piping already. I've got a fuel rail with s60r green injectors waiting to be installed as well. Only reasons I'm wanting to drive it some as it is now is so I can spray penetrating fluid on and heat cycle the exhaust bolts, as well as get a better idea of it's current state. Strangely enough in my very brief check, both fuel pumps seems to be working. I'm throwing a code for the coolant temp sensor, so I'm wondering if it's getting incorrect fueling due to that, and that's how the previous owner thought a fuel pump. Idk. I've also got a sending unit with a 250lph pump, so not too terribly worried about it.

In changing out the intercooler hoses,installing the 3" AMM, and replacing a couple other small hoses the car is already idling pretty damn smooth. I plan on installing the s60r injectors before I actually.drive it, just because I know it'll be lean with the bigger amm and stock injectors. I also already swapped the ECU and EZK with ones I've had with TLAO chips.

I haven't decided if when I'm installing all of my goodies if I want to do the head gasket as well. I mean I'm gonna have the cam out of the head, the exhaust manifold is coming off for new gaskets and I'm just gonna swap manifolds instead of swapping just the turbo, and I'll be pulling the intake manifold off for the yoshifab breather system, and to get better access to that coolant temp sensor. I'm just not sure if it would be smart to leave the block unopened if there isn't anything wrong, or if I should just swap it since I'll already be in there to it, and the odometer shows 286k. Any input there would be appreciated for sure

Ok, all in all I think I got a great deal. She was idling on her own before I changed anything at all, and I've always believed a running driveable car to be worth at least 1k. I also got a road trip with my girlfriend out of the deal.

I will be getting my flame suit on for the driveshaft fumble, and taking a cammed truck that damn far. Even towing the old brick home I averaged in the double digits for gas mileage which impressed me slightly lol
 
Do a compression test. If needed follow up with a leak down test. If it's healthy roll with it. Yeah, you always disconnect at the rear diff when doing the dolly. Glad you had an overall good time. What's a bunch of gas to get a cool old Volvo? Well worth it. Looking forward to the updates.
 
Good idea on the compression test, I'm bad with getting ahead of myself and overthinking stuff. Here I was considering shoving a borescope down the spark plug holes lol.

All in the total cost was just under 2k. That's the car itself, dolly, gas, and food. I'm not mad at all on the situation. I had a some specific things I knew I wanted and ended up getting them. No IRS, no 940 sedan, lh2.4, and automatic. Ended up with all that plus some other bonuses. It's got a kind of working sunroof, probably just need to clean the tracks and lubricate it. Manual seats (don't want heavy electric seats). From my research I should have 3.73 gears with a g80 I believe. My girlfriend seems to like it as much as she can like a non driveable car lol

I'm a car guy very heavily. My other two vehicles is a 2001 Silverado. It's cool, but just not too fun for me to work on since it sits so high up. I also have a 1998 Daihatsu Hijet kei truck. That thing is fun, but working on it and finding much information on it is anything but fun. I wanted to get another old brick since I've had so many, know them so well, and have so many extra parts. I'm excited to show my family and some coworkers the potential these cars have. That's another reason I'm waiting to do all these upgrades. Kinda want to show it off stock, and then over a weekend have it completely transformed lol
 
Well I just managed to find a deal I couldn't pass up, so I just grabbed really the missing piece of my set up plans. 30$ for a 27 row npr intercooler. I'm curious to see if I can still use my do88 silicone intercooler hoses or not
 
Bit of an update I suppose, just not a huge one

Got the driveshaft in the mail and installed without any issues. Actually installed my rear windshield louver as well. Went on a couple long drives for work and managed to hit up pick and pulls in Jackson MS, Memphis TN, and Birmingham AL. All of my junkyard scores are as follows...
S90 "hockey stick" braces
Extra clips for the rear windshield trim
Weatherstripping for the trunk
Interior grab handle (oh crap grip)
An extra fuel pump relay and radio suppression relay
And a spoiler from a 2005 mustang which I need to paint black

I got the hockey stick braces cleaned up, the rear windshield louver and trim installed with the used clips, the trunk seal changed out, the grab handle installed, and the rear spoiler bolted down. I will have to remove it for paint, so no double sided tape yet

The car moved down the road under its own power today for the first time in my ownership which is always exciting! Seems like it's running low on boost (judging by the stock gauge, and it's been so long I'm not sure where it's supposed to read at) and whenever I'm in boost and lift off the throttle, it stalls. Could be my computers learning I supposed, could be the iac valve needs a cleaning, I'll have to investigate into that some more.

I have not started introducing any performance parts just yet. Shooting for a solid stage 0 first of course, and than will be adding stuff one at a time.

On a positive note, the brakes feel healthy as does the suspension. I haven't even started looking for my power steering leak yet, but I'm sure it won't be hard to track down. It's a substantial leak sadly, but nothing I won't be able to handle
 
Slowly making more progress with this car...

I kind of snowballed myself today,but hey I had the time so why not. It started off with me removing the serpentine belts and lower timing cover. The car only has the lower, outside timing cover, so I wanted to start disassembling the front end so I could install the entire timing cover as well as track down my oil leak. In doing all of this, I figured it would be a perfect time to install my NPR intercooler. Mine was unfortunately a wee bit wider than what people usually install, so it will definitely need some revision going forward, but it's in there, along with a slightly tweaked charcoal canister and repositioned oil cooler. Just in case anyone is wondering, no way the do88 silicone.hoses will cut it. I had to reuse the stock rubber connectors at the hotel side of the intercooler, as well as both pieces of the cold side.piping. I still need to get a suitable hose to hook up my iac valve.

I found the area of my oil leak. Either the aux shaft seal, or the lower timing cover gasket. I will be replacing both so I didn't spend much time narrowing it down. I started cleaning the front of the block to prep all the upcoming work in that area

I also managed to find my cbv had a torn diaphragm in it. I had an old way laying around that seemed like it was in better condition. How I usually test these is I will depress the internal piston, and than put my finger over top of the vacuum hose port. It should "seal" to your finger, and when you remove your finger it will depress the rest of the way. Think of holding your finger on top of a straw.

I checked into my leaking power steering fluid. Boots are torn on both sides and both sides are leaking fluid. I've never messed with a steering rack before, but I would imagine that with both sides leaking and pushing up on 300k miles, id probably be better off with a junkyard replacement rather than repairing what I have now. Someone care to point me in the right direction on that?

Placed an order with IPD. I've got the timing covers coming, a valve cover gasket, and the timing cover gasket, cam seals and crank seal coming.

"Sadly" the snowballing continues (I'm not that heartbroken). I've already got the timing belt off, might as well swap my IPD cam in since I'm already in there.

Here's my updated plan I suppose, get IPD order in my hands. Replace front gaskets, install IPD Cam, reinstall timing belt (I have one of those kevlar ones barely used, and my tensioner seems relatively new). Verify it runs and drives, park it again for a steering rack fix. Once that's done I'll drive her for a little bit. I'll end up ordering an angled downpipe from lucacarmods and once I get that in, will be installing my 19t

I still need to find the time and motivation to drop my trans pan and do the accumulator mod. Might install a trans cooler during that time.as well
 
Well, got my parts in. Replaced all the front engine oil seals. Is there supposed to be some kind of gasket between the lower engine cover and the oil pan? When I got my cover off there wasn't any gasket or sealant between the pan and the cover itself, along the front of the oil pan. I'd hate to have to drop the pan honestly. At that point I'll be throwing at least some forged rods in there.

With all the seals replaced and the ipd cam installed, I verified I had my timing marks aligned with the new engine cover. Rotated the engine over and verified marks were correct with the fancy gates kevlar belt. I still have to go through and check the valve clarences and get some shims ordered up.

Upon disassembling everything, the spark plug wires were falling apart before letting go of the spark plugs. Will be ordering all new everything from the rotor to the plugs.


Also scored a junkyard koyo rack. It needs new boots and tie rod ends
 
Wesdunns70t5m said:
Well, got my parts in. Replaced all the front engine oil seals. Is there supposed to be some kind of gasket between the lower engine cover and the oil pan? When I got my cover off there wasn't any gasket or sealant between the pan and the cover itself, along the front of the oil pan. I'd hate to have to drop the pan honestly. At that point I'll be throwing at least some forged rods in there.
Click to expand...

The timing cover gasket doesn't cover the face against the oil pan on my B21F, only the other sides of the cover. I just replaced the front seals on my car yesterday and ran into the same question. I decided not to remove the cover and replace it, but looking at the gasket on FCP's website confirms it doesn't cover that section. I think its the exact same gasket for B21/23/230.
 
jwhit12 said:
The timing cover gasket doesn't cover the face against the oil pan on my B21F, only the other sides of the cover. I just replaced the front seals on my car yesterday and ran into the same question. I decided not to remove the cover and replace it, but looking at the gasket on FCP's website confirms it doesn't cover that section. I think its the exact same gasket for B21/23/230.
Click to expand...
Strange that it's like that. I'm glad though because surely the oil pan gasket would get damaged removing that timing cover if it was there
 
Jwhit I think your reply confused me lol. I'm referring to the surface between the bottom of that cover, and the oil pan itself. I was shocked when I had removed the cover, and didn't have any remnants of a gasket between the two. It's like the car doesn't have an oil pan gasket on it. I'm hoping I was mistaken, gonna just keep continuing on the path I've been on and if it leaks, I'll tackle it then.

On a more positive note I did manage to check my valve clearances tonight. I was surprised they were as good as they are, considering almost 300k miles and the ipd cam. From the front of the car rearwards I measured .014, .016, .012, .018, .012, .016, .016, .018. I could probably just leave it all alone, but I'm going to swap the shims between my .012 and .018 readings. Also an excuse to pull the cam again to remove probably husher debris that's in there. I won't be installing new hushers though.

This weekend if the funds allow me to, I will be placing an order for steering rack boots, and everything from the rotor to the spark plugs. My tie rod ends on the junkyard koyo rack are trashed, but I might be able to pull my tie rod ends on my cam rack and install them if they are in good enough shape. I'll just play those cards as they are being dealt though.

Upon inspecting my intercooler set up some more, I think I can get away with just lopping off the mounting bosses on the top and bottom. I think that alone will give me the space I need to get it back off of the radiator. It's weird, I thought a 27 row npr intercooler was all the same, but I read thelostartof's post on his install and mine measured a little bit longer than in his thread. I think it was in the ballpark of his being 28" wide and mine was like 31"
 
Well I just got everything put back together and went for a quick drive just in my neighborhood, so nothing over 40mph yet. Before, the car would stall after lifting off the throttle after being in boost. Today, it stalled out once at a stop sign. Could be a vacuum leak, could be the computer learning, I'm not too worried about that right now, it'll come out in due time

I cut the mounting bosses off the intercooler, it definitely helped, but still kind of contacts the radiator. I will keep an eye on it to see if it becomes an issue or not. If anyone would like some measurements to know the size to avoid, just let me know and I'll measure mine. I'd recommend using a smaller cored one than this one.

I ended up seeing the flaw in my thinking with the shims once I'd got them removed...dumb moment lol. I will be getting the valve depressor tool from ipd, and a better set of mics to get it shimmed up properly. Right now it's a little out of spec.

I've got a boost gauge installed in one of those 3d printed AC vent gauge holders. I've still got to tap into the stock boost gauge to get it hooked up. Right now the stock gauge is showing halfway in the vacuum range during idle. I hadn't paid much attention to it in boost, just not enough seat time yet. I'll try to find time today to get that hooked up and maybe go for another lap in my neighborhood.

The car runs nice and smooth, my girlfriend even commented on how good it was all around "especially for 300k miles". Pulls nice and smooth (at moderate throttle) and idles nicely. I still need to install my yoshifab catch can. Of course I haven't installed the 19t yet either. Also still needing to order the bits for the steering rack and get it swapped.


On a side note, with me traveling a lot for work I am usually scouting out junkyards along my drive. I've been keeping an eye out for an early 00's dodge with a Cummins. I might have a couple leads coming up here soon, and I am going to try and grab an hy35 holset off of one. Since I'll have at least one extra 90+ manifold I figure I could get it milled flat, drill and tap it for m10 studs (I think) and get it ready to go as well. I'd probably still swap the 19t on, and get a spare squirter motor and at least put some rods in it. That way I could have a fresh start with the holset turbo
 
Ok, another update

Yesterday I convinced my girlfriend to go to the junkyard with me. I saw they had gotten a 1991 740 in on October 1st of this year so wanted to get to it quick. I managed to get a good condition steering rack and used my other junkyard unit as a core. Got that installed and no leaks as of yet. I also had to grab the crank gear as I had an uh oh moment. The car was idling and the harmonic balancer bolt backed off and sheared the key off the crank gear. Got that replaced and all put back together. Got the steering rack bled, and also installed my boost gauge. Right now it's reading 10-12" at idle, which drops to around 16" with a throttle blip. I might still have some vacuum leaks (definitely 1 at the iac valve) so I'm sure it'll be alright. She idles smooth enough, after dinner I'll be going for another test drive to see if it's all good. If so, I will be getting it tagged here soon and getting the old girl back on the road for good

I'm still 2 days out from that dodge junkyard adventure, but that is still in the plans

Forgot to mention just in case it helps anyone moving forward...my car cam with a trw rack installed. I'd got a koyo rack originally but today it was a zf rack I installed. It was all a direct swap for me. I'd kept the lines with the car when I removed my rack and installed the junkyard unit. I'm not sure if it's common knowledge that a zf and trw (which I believe is the same as a cam unit) will directly swap. I swear I'd read about having to use the lines for the rack specifically. Mounting hardware was 100% the same as well. Maybe it has to do with mine and the junkyard car both being 1991s, I don't know
 
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