Hacked III: Third Time's The Charm (M90 940 Edition) (prev. Hacked II)

[ortho stice]

Rockauto shows the same part #'s between an '83 Rabbit and an '83 245 Diesel. I will say, that VR gasket looks to be in great shape! I just feel like they're such a pain in the ass to get to (the back one in particular) that you might as well throw some fresh ones on there.

 

[fatcatbestcat]

I will say, that VR gasket looks to be in great shape! I just feel like they're such a pain in the ass to get to (the back one in particular) that you might as well throw some fresh ones on there.

Right? I don't have a sample, but this one is a bit firmer than I would expect to be 'safe' to reuse. I'm heading out to NAPAs near me tomorrow with a shopping list and part numbers.

There is a sudden rush to get things done, for reasons I might explain next week.

 

[fatcatbestcat]

Alright, some things done - still a long way to go.

My conundrum last week with the cam seals has been more or less solved. It turns out what I thought was the part number on the Victor Reinz seals were actually the dimensions of the part. Whoops. Either way, I sourced a set of Elring seals with the same dimensions, and the test fit is promising.

The next issue was getting that stuck sprocket nut off the back of the camshaft. It was definitely torqued over spec, but my concerns and worries about removing it were apparently unfounded as it came off with three ugga duggas from my impact gun.

I'm sure the little bit of corrosion and all the grease in there was not helping. I'll be cleaning those out before it goes back together.

I also finally figured out exactly how the new seals go back in - full depth. I'll go over that when I put the cam in - soon, hopefully.

Anyways, I'm doing things a little out of order - moving to get the crankshaft pulley either all the way torqued down, or just enough to hold it so I can spin the engine around. I was a little concerned about having no belt tension, but it doesn't seem to be a big issue - just have to pull it taught every time I move the motor around.

I went to put the four outer hex bolts in, and realized very quickly that the threads were not lined up between the inner sprocket and the pulley.

I ended up removing the pulley again and realigning it with the outer screws, instead of the crank bolt. Something I should've done in the first place, but at least I've gotten around to it now.

Getting them lined up was a bit more of a pain in the ass than you'd expect, mostly because I left the core support in. There's so many things that would just be easier without most of the front of the car in the way.

All-new bolts, and new washers installed. I needed to be able to spin the engine around in order to torque the bottom to hex screws - otherwise the core support makes getting a good bite very hard.

I got tired of using the Volvo-approved wrench extension to tighten that center bolt, so I grabbed a 27mm socket and threw it on a normal wrench to speed things up.

Anyways, with those all in, I did attempt to take that center bolt to full torque. To do this, the greenbook suggests jamming the crank holder tool against this bracket on the front of the engine to hold it and prevent it from moving.

The greenbook suggests that the center bolt be torqued to 255 ft-lbs when using the extension, or 350 ft-lbs without it. My torque wrench is only capable of 250 ft-lbs, but v8volvo suggested that I get it as tight as I can in one run, then use a breaker bar to push it a few more degrees.

I definitely got it tight, but I wasn't able to get my wrench to click. At this point in the day, I'm totally beat. Going to try again tomorrow, and hopefully I'll be able to get the camshaft in and finalize the front timing.

 

[fatcatbestcat]

Wow, alright- some things happened.

Since my last post, I was able to enlist the help of someone (a lot stronger than me) with a beefier torque wrench, and now that center bolt is to-spec and not falling off anytime soon.

In preparation for today's operation, I cleaned a lot of the gunk and some of the rust off the rear cam snout and the rear cam sprocket, just to make things a little easier for install. Nothing crazy, just a little oil and steel wool to smooth the surfaces over.

I also now have a bunch of hoses to deal with some of the cooling system weirdness I addressed in a previous post - the whole "death" heater hose thing.

Anyways, what did I actually do today? Cam install. Took me a bit to uncover these rather crucial bits from under a pile of boxes and bags containing various parts that came off the car. Also, upon my first cautious look around at things, I discovered an injection pump bracket bolt that I had apparently misplaced some time ago... glad I found it.

So, I gooped the cam up with some assembly lube, and dropped it in. Note the little holder plate at the back, used to help establish straightness. Cam setting for TDC on the #1 cylinder means that those two front lobes are pointed obliquely upwards.

Next, the two center camshaft caps go on (yes, I made sure to mark them previously for orientation, and kept them in separate bags so I knew which one went where) - opposite to one another.

With that done, (and the bolts tightened, but not torqued) - the Greenbook calls for the seals to be slid onto the ends of the cam, square with the front of the cylinder head. I got them "sorta" close... more on that later.

Then, the end caps go on, and everything gets torqued to 15 ft-lbs.

Now you're supposed to press the seals in to full depth. Ideally you would use an unobtainium Volvo service tool for this job, but apparently a nice deep socket will probably also work. I had neither, so I ended up using an old cam seal stuffed on the end of a cardboard tube to press/tap them in. I totally failed to get the seals lined up flush the first time, so I ended up taking the end caps off, pushing the seals flat with a straight edge, and doing this step over.

NOW they're to the correct depth.

With that done, I double-checked to make sure that the engine was set to TDC, and it was. For some reason I didn't get pictures of me doing this (I guess I was just super excited), but before you torque the center bolt on the front cam sprocket, you need to stuff the flat holder tool in the slot in the back of the cam with a 0.2mm feeler gauge squished underneath for clearance.

I moved the water pump to adjust belt tension to what I thought was appropriate, torqued that center bolt and felt adventurous enough to spin the engine around - carefully.

The great news is that I managed to get four rotations with no pistons hitting valves, apparent compression and enough oil pressure to get up to the top end.

I'm going to double-check my tension and run it by v8volvo before I do anything else, but this is pretty monumental if I've done it correctly. Now I need to replace some hoses, put coolant in it, and get the injection pump back on and timed. It might be running soon!

 

[Scaramanga]

Well done! Great success

 

[nordmaschine]

Finally, some good progress! Keep at it!

IP bracket bolts have a habit of being full of chisel marks from some monkeys tightening or loosening them that way. A regular M10 (17mm head) bolt and a "special" thin wrench works a treat.

You got dial gauge for the IP?

 

[fatcatbestcat]

Finally, some good progress! Keep at it!

IP bracket bolts have a habit of being full of chisel marks from some monkeys tightening or loosening them that way. A regular M10 (17mm head) bolt and a "special" thin wrench works a treat.

You got dial gauge for the IP?

Yeppers.

I had a "great" experience trying to sort out rad hoses in sub-zero weather (and the snow), and pulled something (a muscle) whilst either trying to force an undersized hose onto a fitting, and/or bending over the fenders on a car on jackstands at really unnatural angles. Shoulder has been a bit sore the last couple days, but it's getting better.

I'm taking a little break, then going to go buy some new fittings to try to reroute the "death" heater hose - from there it's just dealing with fueling.

 

[ortho stice]

Now we’re talking. One foot in front of the other and you end up getting there! Keep it up!

 

[fatcatbestcat]

Some more kinda-progress followed by not-progress. Been bashing my head against the wall for a while with this heater hose thing - I had originally ordered some OEM stuff to replace it, but that order ended up being cancelled and I hate dealing with standard-sized hoses. It's like a weird phobia. I really wanted to do the heater hose reroute, but now seems to have been the worst time to decide that; all my local places seem to be out of stock of any of the annoying nickel-and-dime stuff I need, and I refuse to pay extra to have things shipped (or wait several weeks for a tiny fitting).

I ended up cobbling together an OEM-type setup with parts I had laying around. It's not pretty, and I'm not proud of it - but it should be enough to get the car started for that mechanical dopamine rush that I very desperately need with this car. In retrospect, I probably should've just left the "death" heater hose as-was and wait for a better solution.

My big panic experience set in later when I decided to spin the motor over again. I hadn't done that since the last belt (re)tension, so I thought I'd give it a go, just to be sure. You can imagine my dismay when I got the timing mark lined up on the flywheel and looked up to see the cam be 180-degrees out.

"What did I do wrong?"

It was then that I discovered that there's a second timing mark on the flywheel to indicate BDC... I spun the motor over the rest of the way, and double checked that my timing was still good. It was.

Phew!

Next steps are going to be getting the injection pump back on and timed, then I need to replace some wires, plumb all the hoses again and crank it over... whenever it's not ten below zero outside.

EDIT: It also just occurred to me how much it's going to suck if I put the cam in at the BDC mark (180 out). Apparently I'll know early on in the pump timing, if I'm getting really unusual readings... then I need to pull the cam and redo the timing.

 

[fatcatbestcat]

Hooray - more not-progress. Well, okay, maybe a little progress.

Started my day right by slapping the injection pump back on.

That wasn't super hard. It did, however, reveal a flaw with my awful temporary heater hose setup. My new, more direct routing snakes directly through the path where I'm supposed to fit one of the IP mounting bolts...

The solution seems to be as simple as disconnecting this upper hose to give clearance. It's a non-issue once the bolt is fully installed. It does kinda blow that it partially blocks my view into the bellhousing inspection hole, though.

Anyway, then I threw the sprocket on the IP pump, lined it up to get it set it up and stuffed this little holder tool in there to hold it still whilst torquing it down.

Then, the cold start device needs to be disabled and rotated out of the way.

The part that really sucked was reading this tiny little gauge without screwing up the measurements... there's a lot that needs to be done and checked over in multiple steps, and then you're supposed to hold the cam at a certain reading whilst torquing the sprocket nut down - without moving anything. I spent probably an hour and a half going back and forth trying to get the right readings, and just failed completely to do so. I would be a little more patient if it wasn't like ten below zero outside.

Anyway, I gave up and went back inside for now. it's supposed to be even colder in the next few days, so I'll save this for the weekend.

Really huge disappointment, it's so close!

 

[nordmaschine]

Ugh.
There is no BDC mark on the flywheel. It's just that the crankshaft rotates twice the speed of the camshaft. On every 4 stroke engine. So, once on TDC cam is aligned, turn the engine once to TDC and the cam is 180° out. Turn it again to TDC and the cam is on the mark. That's why all the service manuals say, after timing the belt/chain you have to rotate the crank *twice* and then check alignment.

Don't fret. Had the same: "WTF? HOW?" moment first time I was timing an engine. And probably everyone else.

 

[fatcatbestcat]

Ugh.
There is no BDC mark on the flywheel. It's just that the crankshaft rotates twice the speed of the camshaft. On every 4 stroke engine. So, once on TDC cam is aligned, turn the engine once to TDC and the cam is 180° out. Turn it again to TDC and the cam is on the mark. That's why all the service manuals say, after timing the belt/chain you have to rotate the crank *twice* and then check alignment.

Don't fret. Had the same: "WTF? HOW?" moment first time I was timing an engine. And probably everyone else.

Yeah, I realized this a few days ago when timing the IP pump. Somehow it never occurred to me. I'm not used to dealing with motors with overhead cams, so I miss things like this, mkay?

At the very least this confirms my cam timing is good and that there's no way I put it in backwards... right?

 

[fatcatbestcat]

Alright, build up of excitement today followed by crushing disappointment.

It was getting pretty close to running, so I started the day with fitting the rad (with the shroud in place this time) and plumbing it.

Of course, I was missing a couple of hose clamps - and not wanting to spend more money, I went fishing in the bucket.

It's a natural preservative, see? Good as new!

Anyway, with the rad in, I filled it up with coolant (with a couple tiny leaks in the expected areas, easily fixable when I get around to it), threw the battery in and tried to start her up.

...

As to be expected, it didn't. Now I'm in the "I don't know anything about diesels and have to somehow troubleshoot this with old forum posts" stage. So right now, fuel is getting to the pump, but not to the injectors. I tried cracking the lines loose to bleed them, still nothing, even after cranking for 30-45 seconds.

Yeah, a tragic disappointment. I've tried all the easy fixes, and I'm running out of ideas at this point. We'll see what happens this week.

 

[ortho stice]

Throttle pedal to the floor, crank in 20 second intervals with time in between so the starter doesn’t overheat. You should start seeing little geysers of diesel eventually.

If you crack the lines at the pump head is it wet there yet?

 

[fatcatbestcat]

Throttle pedal to the floor, crank in 20 second intervals with time in between so the starter doesn’t overheat. You should start seeing little geysers of diesel eventually.

If you crack the lines at the pump head is it wet there yet?

I didn't even touch the throttle, I had convinced myself it wouldn't work like on a carb'd car...

The second thing is probably impossible, there's just too much in the way to loosen those lines without taking the throttle plate or the vacuum pump off.

I'm getting some help tomorrow from someone with an air compressor to pressurize the fuel system or something. I dunno, I'm not the diesel guy.

At this point the only two things I haven't tried are filling the fuel filter (lacking the right tool) and filling the pump itself with fuel through the return cap on the top. Didn't have any spare diesel on me until this evening, ran to my local station and was surprised it was actually cheaper than 94, a rarity at my usual pumps.

So no, I haven't given up yet.

 

[ortho stice]

Remember that all the throttle pedal does on your car is add fuel and you want to try and flow as much as you can to bleed the system. If you have a mity-vac or anything like that you can connect it to the fuel return nipple and apply suction. This will fill the pump and everything downstream of it with fuel. Then crank with the injectors cracked and then you’re off to the races.

 

[fatcatbestcat]

Remember that all the throttle pedal does on your car is add fuel and you want to try and flow as much as you can to bleed the system. If you have a mity-vac or anything like that you can connect it to the fuel return nipple and apply suction. This will fill the pump and everything downstream of it with fuel. Then crank with the injectors cracked and then you’re off to the races.

That'll be one of the first things I try today. Maybe it'll run. If not, I guess I'm in the market for a B230 donor parts car...

 

[fatcatbestcat]

Alright, some news.
Giving it some light throttle while cranking doesn't do anything. However,

Flooring it means the car starts and refuses to idle. The second you let off full throttle it slows down, and eventually dies.

The pump timing is way wrong. I confirmed this by re-tensioning the pump. Got the same result, but with max engine speed reduced by maybe 500 rpm.

So, where do I go from here? Well, the answer is simple. I don't. The second voice you can hear in the first embed is a potential buyer, who helped me try to time the injection pump and encouraged me to get the car running again in the first place. He's coming back on the weekend with a trailer, and probably will end up taking it home.

Thus ends Hacked II, unless he decides to back out. Then I'll be looking into an engine swap of some kind.

 

[aeug]

Alright, some news.

Thus ends Hacked II, unless he decides to back out. Then I'll be looking into an engine swap of some kind.

and thus, the end of a legacy.

hacked III: the search for hacked IV, as @spock345 said :^)

 

[TilledChip]

Thus ends Hacked II, unless he decides to back out. Then I'll be looking into an engine swap of some kind.

Twas a good run. End of an era.