Delores - the Volvo that came with a name + Shed Barn Shop building details.

[STINEY]

The results of yesterdays 9 hour road trip with my buddy Jim. 1980 246 Volvo GLE swapped from a PRV V6 to a turbo 4 with manual 4-speed electric overdrive, and running on MegaSquirt.

[BBR]

Yeeeeeeeessssssssszzzzzzzz

[SuperBuickGuy]

Intriguing Do tell more..

[Deaf Bob]

No motor shots?
Whatta ass!

[DanStokes]

MUST SEE ENGINE!!!!!

Dan

[STINEY]

FYesterday was a long driving day (I love my new trailer/van), stopped for a late dinner then dropped Jim off and hit the hay.

Its still sitting on the trailer in the drive. Can't wait to get home tonight.



Wes is stoked that he and I have matching Volvo's, and he is VERY interested in the manual shift aspect. His truck is manual and he's quite proud of that. I offered to trade him Volvos but he has declined. (thank goodness, I was bluffing!)




The backstory is that it sat in a barn in Wisconsin from 1994 until sometime in 2013. Had been repainted at some point in the '90's.

The drivetrain is from an '83. Its a B21FT on MS1 (V3.0) w/ Extra running a factory LH2.2 distributor. The PO had an ‘8 240 toy that suffered a front-end collision that totaled it, but he kept the suspension, drivetrain, and interior and started looking for a decent body to swap it all onto. Delores was the fruit of that search.

This is a list of some of the modifications done.

• 90+ exhaust manifold and T3 turbo
  2-1/2" exhaust
  Spartan 2 Wideband
  Mann ProVent
  Electric radiator fan
  90A alternator
  AC delete (though most of it is still there, just needs compressor/dryer added back in and vac'd/charged.
  740T in-tank pump
  Factory Intercooler

- M46 Trans w/ Aspirator shifter
- 3.54:1 rear
- 17x8 Mustang "Tri-Spokes" on 25mm adapter spacers with 225/45 Falken tires
- Adjustable panhard bar with poly bushings
- Poly torque rods
- Front Control arms reinforced with Yoshifab plates. Poly bushings.
- ZF steering rack - upgrade from the original CAM rack.

The PO has done a fair amount of tuning of the MS1 but readily stated that there is plenty of room for more. Its perfectly driveable though. he also added that the only glitchy tendency it has may be easily cured by an injector swap to Bosch 0 280 155 868 injectors.


Here ya go. Like feeding wolf pups around here, lol.



Pretty decent interior too.

[SuperBuickGuy]

No NOx?


yum - tasty, albeit slow finger

[DanStokes]

Looks good. But why would anyone modify a Volvo??!!

Dan

[STINEY]

Looks good. But why would anyone modify a Volvo??!!

Dan

Its crazy talk, I tell ya. About like building Bugs....

[STINEY]

No NOx?


yum - tasty, albeit slow finger

Did I mention it has aftermarket IDP sway bars? And that the boys and I have participated in a bit of Auto-X this summer, along with my cousin?

[DanStokes]

Did I mention it has aftermarket IDP sway bars? And that the boys and I have participated in a bit of Auto-X this summer, along with my cousin?

Dick's car has the IDP bars, too. Seems to do the trick. Can't wait to get back in the shop and finish up the fuel tank mods.

Dan

[STINEY]

Got the vin inspection done today, new Ohio title issued. Plates on, insurance, unloaded and went for a spin.

It is fun. Boost relieves at 16psi on the mechanical gauge, and it builds pretty quick when you get serious on the throttle. Few squeaks and rattles, and the heater core is bypassed, but nothing that was not mentioned by the PO.

Think I’ll drive it to work tomorrow.

[STINEY]

I have put 70 miles on it so far driving to work and running to town for groceries. And it is at least good for one thing - making you grin like a little kid when the whooshing starts.

Weighed it on the scales at work. 3000# even. That's with full power windows, mirrors, locks, moonroof, full stock seating/interior. Impressive.


The only issue I want to dive into seems to be a MegaSquirt tuning thing. The transition from idle to off-idle is "notchy". Hard to describe, the best way I can think of is to say that you NOTICE that the computer is deciding that its time to do something other than just idle. As the operator you can feel when it transitions over to free-rev mode.

I suppose it would show up as severe hesitation if this were an automatic. Being a manual shift it not as bad, but still annoying in that its not smooth and seamless.

The PO suggested swapping injectors was going to be his next attempt to cure this.


I built a MegaSquirt years ago, but never used it on an engine. Stopped after getting everything functional with the JimStim.

[DanStokes]

Stiney, is it turbo lag? Truck (the Dodge/Cummins) is flat at WOR (wide open rack) off idle for a second or so then the turbo starts to spool and then acceleration happens rapidly. It's much worse when the engine is cold. Mutt had it by the bucketfuls with the previous turbo but I haven't run the new one though it ought to be better. All in all, turbo lag. Just a thought.

If you were to call Tim at Tim's Turbos the first question would be "What's your pressure ratio" which is the ratio between exhaust manifold pressure and turbo outlet pressure (exhaust pipe). You can have too much but also too little and the lower the ratio the greater the lag. We actually downsized the turbine (hot side) on my new turbo to spin the compressor (cold side) faster. I'm after more PSI but it also reduces lag.

I have a pair of HF turbo pressure gages that I run in Mutt when taking these measurements. Dead cheap and close enough to get these values. Tim has an ideal pressure ratio value (I'd have to go back and look at my notes) but you need the raw numbers to troubleshoot this.

Musings...... If the Volvo was a Diesel I could be of more help.

Dan

[STINEY]

Stiney, is it turbo lag? Truck (the Dodge/Cummins) is flat at WOR (wide open rack) off idle for a second or so then the turbo starts to spool and then acceleration happens rapidly. It's much worse when the engine is cold. Mutt had it by the bucketfuls with the previous turbo but I haven't run the new one though it ought to be better. All in all, turbo lag. Just a thought.

If you were to call Tim at Tim's Turbos the first question would be "What's your pressure ratio" which is the ratio between exhaust manifold pressure and turbo outlet pressure (exhaust pipe). You can have too much but also too little and the lower the ratio the greater the lag. We actually downsized the turbine (hot side) on my new turbo to spin the compressor (cold side) faster. I'm after more PSI but it also reduces lag.

I have a pair of HF turbo pressure gages that I run in Mutt when taking these measurements. Dead cheap and close enough to get these values. Tim has an ideal pressure ratio value (I'd have to go back and look at my notes) but you need the raw numbers to troubleshoot this.

Musings...... If the Volvo was a Diesel I could be of more help.

Dan

Nope, not turbo lag. The turbo is perfectly responsive, not too early, not too late.

This is RIGHT off idle. You know how you have to blip the throttle a bit when starting to let out the clutch? That little blip ain't enough. You have to hold it for a second until the computer realizes that you wish to NOT idle anymore, and it kicks into a different mode.

Sounds goofy, and I am probably off in my diagnosis, but that's what it feels like.