• Hello Guest, welcome to the initial stages of our new platform!
    You can find some additional information about where we are in the process of migrating the board and setting up our new software here

    Thank you for being a part of our community!

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

The pump timing can't be that far off if it's running at all. Loosen the bolts and twist on it, hillbilly tuning style. That's actually how I did every VW 1.6l I ever worked on because I didn't have the dial and wasn't going to bother getting one (I was younger and much poorer).
 
ortho stice said:
The pump timing can't be that far off if it's running at all. Loosen the bolts and twist on it, hillbilly tuning style. That's actually how I did every VW 1.6l I ever worked on because I didn't have the dial and wasn't going to bother getting one (I was younger and much poorer).
Click to expand...
Yeah, that's what we tried. We pulled it out a little (from being all the way "in") and it did the same thing, but worse.
 
ortho stice said:
I forget, do these have the advance lever in the cabin for cold starts?
Click to expand...
Nothing in the cabin that I'm aware of, no. Again, I'm not super up-to-speed with diesels, but there's a cold start device on the side of the pump. It includes a lever that pushes against the throttle plate when cold. It's automatic, and to my knowledge there's no way to control it manually. We tried starting it with and without the cold start connected, and it didn't have much of an effect.

It's hard to explain. When the pedal is depressed all the way, the car runs at probably double idle speed, halfway depressed is idle, and anything less causes it to sputter and die.

IMG_20230206_143334938.png



There is one thing still nagging at me, though. For the most part, the throttle assembly was set up correctly (enough that it should at least idle)... but now I'm wondering if somehow I screwed up the throttle shaft on the pump. You see, the gas pedal in the cabin is connected by cable to the spool, which has an arm that pivots a plate, which is attached to the threaded shaft on the top of the pump.

1676001280913.png

It makes me wonder if it's possible that I moved the shaft a whole bunch before assembling it, thus only giving it like 20 degrees of travel, and in the wrong place. It's not too much work to take that all apart, so I might partially disassemble the throttle assembly and see if that's something.
 
Last edited:
fatcatbestcat said:
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?
Click to expand...
Yep, no way to put it backwards.
OHV engines work the same way, still two crank rotations for one cam rotation.

Throttle shaft - yes, you could have missed the alignment. You should always mark the plate and the shaft before taking it off. You're probably not too far away, try putting it on one spline CCW. Also, it could be just the case of still having air in the system.

As for cold start - you can move the lever towards the front and hold it there or zip tie it...
 
nordmaschine said:
Throttle shaft - yes, you could have missed the alignment. You should always mark the plate and the shaft before taking it off. You're probably not too far away, try putting it on one spline CCW. Also, it could be just the case of still having air in the system.
Click to expand...
The throttle shaft thing is only one nut to remove, so I guess it can't hurt to try and see if that helps. I took it apart probably close to a year ago, and am of course cursing my 1-year-ago self for not marking it.

EDIT: It was a little bit out of adjustment, and I tuned up the throttle as per the greenbook. Same result. Needs to be started with the throttle on the floor, and it doesn't stay running if you let off.

Scaramanga said:
C´mon! You are almost there! Dont sell it. You can do this. Just add some patience :)
Click to expand...
I hate to say it, but it's more or less a done deal at this point. The entire reason for my sudden change of pace and desire to get it back together in a (relatively, by my standards) short timeframe is because I was trying to sell it. I'll spare you the sob story, but I'm not in the best financial situation right now, and I would much rather have the money than a moneypit.

Buyer's remorse on my part? Definitely. I originally had plans to engine swap it, and I had actual heated shop space (with a lift!) lined up with a friend and it just didn't work out due to a number of complicating factors. Thus, I ended up in the same situation as the 144, working on a car that needed a lot more than I could give it in the cramped space I have. Sure, if the pump timing had been dead-nuts (or if it is indeed a throttle adjustment issue), it would run but the car still needs every bit of rubber on it replaced, and I don't think I can give it that. Even if I did somehow manage, then I'm left with what is at best a really slow weekend car that uses the most expensive fuel available at my local pumps.

I feel a lot better about pretty much breaking even and handing it off to someone who is both a lot more qualified than I am to deal with the D24, and someone who's more excited than I am about having a basically rust-free stick 245.
 
Last edited:
fatcatbestcat said:
The throttle shaft thing is only one nut to remove, so I guess it can't hurt to try and see if that helps. I took it apart probably close to a year ago, and am of course cursing my 1-year-ago self for not marking it.


I hate to say it, but it's more or less a done deal at this point. The entire reason for my sudden change of pace and desire to get it back together in a (relatively, by my standards) short timeframe is because I was trying to sell it. I'll spare you the sob story, but I'm not in the best financial situation right now, and I would much rather have the money than a moneypit.

Buyer's remorse on my part? Definitely. I originally had plans to engine swap it, and I had actual heated shop space (with a lift!) lined up with a friend and it just didn't work out due to a number of complicating factors. Thus, I ended up in the same situation as the 144, working on a car that needed a lot more than I could give it in the cramped space I have. Sure, if the pump timing had been dead-nuts (or if it is indeed a throttle adjustment issue), it would run but the car still needs every bit of rubber on it replaced, and I don't think I can give it that. Even if I did somehow manage, then I'm left with what is at best a really slow weekend car that uses the most expensive fuel available at my local pumps.

I feel a lot better about pretty much breaking even and handing it off to someone who is both a lot more qualified than I am to deal with the D24, and someone who's more excited than I am about having a basically rust-free stick 245.
Click to expand...
Oh man, don't disparage yourself. Life and money are hard sometimes.

Great job getting it this far. What's great is that you learned some things from this project about application specific (D24) things, but I am sure also learned more about what you do/don't enjoy, as well. Do you think you will end up getting another brick in the future?
 
fatcatbestcat said:
So there it is, the end. For real this time.

IMG_20230212_152402009_HDR.jpg

IMG_20230212_154759772_HDR.jpg


IMG_20230212_163501916_HDR.jpg

IMG_20230212_163758884.jpg


So there it is. The official end of Hacked II. I'm still hunting around for jobs, but if that goes "well", I might have something new to post about come the spring or the summer.

Thanks for reading so far.
Click to expand...

Well, darn. You did do quite a bit to keep this car on the road. Good job.

Looking forward to seeing Hacked lll. Also, wish you the best on the hunt for a job.
 
OldCarNewTricks said:
Well, darn. You did do quite a bit to keep this car on the road. Good job.
Click to expand...
Not as much as I wanted to, sadly. I think my biggest accomplishment is that I got the timing on the engine so that it wouldn't explode. Otherwise I don't think I would have been able to sell it.

There probably will be some project car updates in the interim before I have a new project to work on. I'm actually headed up to the new owner's place in a week or two to give him a hand in getting the car to run right. The 144 is still around, though apparently parked in a field - so that story has gone full circle...
 
Yeah get it to run at his place! You have to drive one of these cars at least once!

Also, the first two projects I bought ('79 Rabbit diesel, '92 Cabriolet) I never got to drive for various reasons, so don't beat yourself up too much.
 
Yeah, the number of non-running project cars I've sold due to deciding it wasn't a great path to go down is not small. It's always a thing, and there's no shame in it. Everything you do stacks more knowledge away for the future, and future projects :). Just cause this one didn't pan out, doesn't mean the next one won't.
 
Broke4speed said:
Yeah, the number of non-running project cars I've sold due to deciding it wasn't a great path to go down is not small. It's always a thing, and there's no shame in it. Everything you do stacks more knowledge away for the future, and future projects :). Just cause this one didn't pan out, doesn't mean the next one won't.
Click to expand...
I hope you're right... third time's the charm, right? I think I'm going to try for a redblock car next time.
 
Hacked II Epilogue

March 2023

IMG_20230305_141250720_HDR.jpg

1693617350563.png


Back in March, not long after selling the diesel 245, I went to see the new owner, just to see how things were going. Naturally, the new owner (a more diesel-inclined fellow with a HELL of a lot more shop space) had fixed the previous running problem and gotten it pretty much purring like a kitten. Or clattering like a school bus, whatever a D24 is supposed to sound like. It turns out at least part of the issue with it not wanting to idle was related to a broken throttle cable adjuster, which does explain a lot. Either way, the new owner was very happy with it, and had big plans for the car.

I am mildly upset that he accomplished in 2 weeks what it took me about eight months to do, but whatever.

Between then and now, I started working fulltime again, and had been passively looking at getting another Volvo since at least April. Toronto is of course a very hot market, and I very quickly realized that there was absolutely zero possibility that I was going to find another rust free, stick 240 wagon in-province. Hell, there were people pricing their rusty automatics around the $10,000 mark. My next logical step was to look back to the States, eyeing up a 740 16v (with a busted motor) and a pretty beat but rust-free '89 244.

I got damn closed to owning one or the other, with plans involving a trailer and cross-border travel but of course, time and laziness got the better of me. In the end, it took me too long to get my passport and import paperwork together (two months just to get back in contact with people to put down as references...), and I didn't really want to drop $2500 again to ship the car... so I started looking locally again.

At this point I had given up on trying to find a reasonably priced 240 with the specs I wanted, so I started looking at 7/9s. Did a lot of driving around and knocking on doors. Came up with a few promising leads for 7/9 wagons, but none really went anywhere. All the really exciting cars (mystery 745 on multi-X wheels, '90 765 turbo...) ended up being way more work than they were worth. I'm talking irreparable frame rot or fist-sized holes on cars with firm $3500 asking prices.

But I did come up with something for Hacked III. It was late at time of purchase, and I need to wait for daylight to get some fresh ones so I'll just leave you with these two teaser images that basically tell the whole story.

1693617710623.png
1693617748319.png
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top