Volvo Fun

[DanStokes]

I think the translation of the statement by "THOSE mechanics" is , "I'm too stupid (or lazy) to put my head into this and make it work. I just want to do LOFs, brakes, and other quick-turn-around, high profit stuff." I other words, parts-changers and not mechanics. If you look at the "no one can fix this so we'll help" articles near the back of Hot Rod Magazine, most of those are the kind of thing where someone needs to THINK and HRM finds someone (like my buddy Norm Brandes) who are capable and willing to use their heads. Not to say that the issues are easy but they ARE resolvable.

I hope I left Rackley's a better starting point than that!

Dan

[DanStokes]

Trimming up the loose endds. Rackley's resolved many of the issues but we were left with a mystery. The fans had worked well in the shop but eventually pooped out at Rackley's. They tried several fixes and ended up wiring them to come on with the key, bypassing the thermal switch. That sort of worked but when Dick and I took it on a test drive we noticed that the system wasn't charging the battery and the new volt meter (one of the gages I added) was dropping off to 10-11 volts. We limped back to my shop and I started fitting it into my schedule.

After a lot of troubleshooting I wired the fans back into the thermal switch and subsequently noted that the volt meter was showing a reasonable value. The dim little light over my head glowed faintly - could it be that the Ford alternator simply can't keep up with the EZ-EFI, the MSD, and 2 fans plus the normal load of the car? I called Powermaster and they were really helpful. We determined that the alternator had at least a 100 amp draw and those Ford alternators are only 75 amps so the battery was, of course, slowly draining. After some discussion (Powermaster was recommending a 150 amp unit) I picked the 200 amp 1-wire. That way if we add an electric water pump, big stereo, or what-have-you we have the power to run it.

So here's the pics:

The 2 alternators side-by-side (the Powermaster is on the left). Note that the new case is bigger but fits in the same footprint as the Ford - the bolt spacings are the same. This matters in the next shot.



Post surgery. The case slightly hit a gusset on the bracket so I attacked it with the die grinder. Kind of broke my heart as the bracket was all pretty and powdercoated. Oh, well......



And all happily hooked up.




Note that Powermaster wants a ground wire of the same size as the charge wire - in this case, 4 gage! They even provided a lug for it.

So I fired the engine up and it works! Plenty of volts even with the fan running. There are just a couple more issues with the weird Swedish wiring and luckily we have a guy in town who knows these cars well so it goes to him next to solve the remaining gremlins. I may also need to run the valves as there's a bit of noise in the left valve cover (or maybe it's just normal roller rocker thrashing - my Mustang is louder than I would have thought).

Dan

[DanStokes]

OK!

After some refinements I THINK I have the Volvo ready to go back to its owner.

Before Hurricane Florence hit I had torn the front end of the engine apart to try to fix a persistent oil leak at the vibration dampner snout. Then I had an 8 month (or so) hiatus as I put our house back together - there's a thread on that. Anyhow, I got back on it a month ago or so. Because this leaked before the engine swap and the only part in common between the two engines was the front cover I ordered up a new one and made that swap. Careful observation showed that the vibration dampner (new with the engine) was rolling it's seal wrong way to as the dampner was pressed onto the crank. I tried several fixes and finally came up with an installation trick that worked. Sadly I don't have a pic of the final cure but I do have one that shows the concept.

Here you can see a guide made from a light duty plastic drink cup wrapped around the dampner snout. This technique didn't work but when I wrapped the plastic around the crank snout I has better luck. I pulled the dampner on just enough to get it under the seal lip and then pulled the plastic guide out (next pic).



Here the plastic has guided the seal in place. It took a pretty strong tug to get the plastic out (I started where the plastic was wrapped and just unwrapped the "installation tool") but I could see that the seal lip was in the right place. If I had a lathe I would have been tempted to grind a better taper onto the dampner nose but this technique DID work. From here I finished the installation (I have the right tool) and reassembled the front of the engine w/o incident.



I then drove the car a bit and everything seemed OK except the cooling fans didn't come on. The dyno guy and I had discussed making the computer key the fans on but I hadn't wired that function so I decided to do that. Now they are working with a command from the EZ EFI computer - easy once you know how. I had assumed (yeah, I know.....) that the computer sent out a control VOLTAGE but in reality it completes a GROUND (which sorta makes sense, I guess). So I switched the relay wiring around and now the fans work like a champ. No pics of that as there's really nothing to show except pics of relays - pretty dull.

We're getting a bit of smoke from the tailpipes and I realized I couldn't swear that I'd drained the rear sump of the oil pan (hey, it was 8 months ago!) so I decided to do drain the oil (again - I had just drained the coolant from the front cover removal from the front oil pan sump) and measured how much oil came out. It was the specified 5 quarts. Oh, well. As long as I was messing with oil I decided to figure out why the dipstick didn't read properly - it's always been WAY high (like 2" or so) when I was sure the right amount of oil had been added to the pan. I made a trip to PnP for another stick and tube from a 5.0 Mustang which turned out to be the same as the one I had. After consultation with a couple of SBF dudes (Milner 351 and another guy I know) we decided that the smart money was to remark the dipstick as we KNOW the sump has the right amount of oil (5 quarts) in it. So I did!

I'm prepared to turn the Volvo back over to its owner and we'll see what happens as it accumulates some real-world miles.

Dan

[Russell]

Dan, you modified the oil pan back in post #90. Did you add any back, or measure the new volume? I would drain a quartish. I would rather run four than run too much. See how much you have to drain to get back to the factory mark.

[DanStokes]

It didn't remove much volume - certainly no more than a pint. So it might be a tad over full but not much. It would have to be at least a quart lower (maybe more) to get down to the factory mark - I mean, it was WAY up the stick. Still not positive why. I figure that in the worst case it'll burn off a little than stop, telling us where it ought to be.

Dan

[DanStokes]

OK - Moving on....

Dick has wanted more range which means a bigger tank. There isn't anything bigger out there in the world and there's limited space so we bought a new tank (not too pricey) and today I cut the bottom off. I'll add a 2 1/2" strip along the cut, have Wilmington Sheet Metal weld it up (they have a TIG and the skill to use it), have the tank re-powdercoated, then, just to be safe, line the modified tank with the liquid stuff.

I'll replace the intank pump with a Walbro, get rid of the framerail pump, then extend the pump mount and fuel level arm down to the new tank bottom.

Here's the progress so far:

Cut line after cleaning off the powder coat: I mostly followed it though I'll have to fudge a tad in one area.


And the tank rendered asunder:



Dan

[Dan Barlow]

What will be the extra capacity, 2 or 3 gallons ?

[Deaf Bob]

What will be the extra capacity, 2 or 3 gallons ?

One cubic foot is 7 gallons...

[DanStokes]

I haven't really calculated it yet but my guess is 5ish gallons. MP&C suggested that I can get a better job if we buy a second tank, cut it at the right height, and have just one weld to join the 2 halves and that's what we're going to do. Tank #2 is on order.

Dan

[Russell]

I smell a road trip coming up!

Tell Dick thank again for the old Volvo motor. Can't say I have been taking it easy on the old lump. It made 6 passes at dragweek 2019. All in the 13s. It posted two new personal best ETs and it's frist trap speed in the triple digits with a 13.59 @ 101.70 on Monday, and Friday I pulled the spare tire and jack and ran 13.42 @ 97.28

[DanStokes]

I'll suggest that Dick take a look at this post. He'll be pleased that the Volvo engine is running and doing well.

Dan

[Russell]

Do that, I plan to post my time sheets and check point photos. Not sure how much of a story there is to write the week was a blur. Change tires, race, change tires, drive, sleep, repeat. I don't know how the guys do it with out sleep I got a 4-6 hours most nights and it was not enough.

Once I get it posted I plan to send Dick an email with a link.

[Dan Barlow]

I haven't really calculated it yet but my guess is 5ish gallons. MP&C suggested that I can get a better job if we buy a second tank, cut it at the right height, and have just one weld to join the 2 halves and that's what we're going to do. Tank #2 is on order.

Dan

Bucks up ! I like it when it's possible !

[DanStokes]

It was under $120 so not bad and Dick was happy to pop for it. The second tank arrived a few minutes ago so I'll start laying it out. I looks like I'll get the bast results if a buy a U-bend and slightly rework the RR tailpipe. It sits under current tank but will hit it when the tank's lower.

Dan

[DanStokes]

Back on the Volvo tank. The second tank arrived some time ago and I cut it to add just over 2 inches. I had planned to send it out for TIG welding but I wasn't able to get a really tight fit between the two sections and I knew I could gas weld it together successfully though I'll want to overbraze it to assure a good seal. I have it about 2/3 welded as of tonight and ought to have the welding done tomorrow with any luck. All those years gas welding body repairs are paying off! It's not perfect but so far I'm good with it.

Here's the kind of gap the TIG guy said he couldn't live with:



And after: BTW - I'm going back over most of these and smoothing the welds and haven't done this area yet (I took the pic too soon).



And one side of the tank welded:


'Tain't TIG but 'tain't bad. The added area is around 4 extra gallons using an online calculator and my approximate measurements.

Dan