So hello everyone, I'm back, with the final post about the LS piston'd redblock project, which going forward I'm just going to call the B230FLS.
The first pre-script I have is that amidst the above work, around June 2022, I got an 89 LH2.4 harness. The following August, 2 months later, I took apart that harness, and started hacking away at it to work with my car. The first thing I did was, predictably, remove the sheathing all the way to the power stage, because I had to do a few mods for my own purposes, namely;
1. Delete the factory '89 ignition coil power plug, since my '86 gets coil power from the chassis harness and has no alternative 12V ignition power supply.
2. Put in in-harness wiring for wasted spark (12V also supplied by the 12V ignition power).
3. Replace the 9 pin plug with the 4 pin from a junkyard '88 240.
4. Add in wiring (via a 4 pin audio jack) for VSS, CEL, and 2 pins for EZK ignition advance control. Still unconnected pending the end of other wiring issues.
#2 was the priority, obviously. I integrated the wiring into unused plugs at the EZK, which there's about 7 of. I chose 2 that were right next to each other and went at it using wiring I was scavenging from an old computer power supply and plugs I got off ebay. No idea if the wiring for the integrated wasted spark works or not, but the LH2.4 EZK distributor ignition system being left intact has been nice to have when I started trying to troubleshoot the operation of the car later. The EZK timing advance pins were connected to the EZK plug at the same time.
The second pre-script I have is that my visit from the UK is over, and I have returned with B230E parts for the B230KE project I plan on starting once I resolve the Volvol's wiring issues. I'm torn between trying to maximize performance safely with some light polishing of the manifold and intake port and valve work, vs sticking to my idea of 'The Engine Volvo Almost Built' and only getting the K-jet holes drilled out and leaving everything else as is to see how much horsepower this engine would've actually had if Volvo'd followed through with their likely plans to use it. Input on these plans would be appreciated; I hope that the end of this project (as an engineering challenge) has proven that I'm not just all talk and input would be valuable.
Anyway, interlude over.
The head used was a limited run RBP head, one of 3, each one different. A fourth may be created eventually. The timing gear is one that I bought on Aliexpress for 50 bucks for a pack of two. It's off by half a tooth, and doesn't articulate all the way, which makes timing it annoying. I reused the old timing belt which already has 15k miles on it, because I didn't want to deal with pulling the lower timing cover with the engine out of the car, since I had no way to hold the crank in place. I'm keeping the upper cover off until the next change to monitor its condition.
The camshaft used is a V cam off my previous 531, meant to be shimmed to around 0.016" but RBP's reference cam that he used when shimming had a larger base circle, so it ended up at 0.020 as mentioned before. I also purposely haven't cleaned the engine bay or engine because I want an authentic grime look, as if it's been maintained but never rebuilt. There are also no plugs in the engine, and wouldn't be until 1.5 months ago.
As a clutch plate I found 2 9" plates that work with the T5, both had to be sourced on Ebay to be bought individually as not part of a kit. Let me tell you about a little secret; Yoshifab's 8.5" clutch disks are from the Foxbody Ford Mustang 2.3L turbo. Following that lead, I remembered that the T5, as used in Fords, was intended as a direct swap in for the T-4 with the same input shaft, so I started looking into Ford engines which had a 9 inch diameter clutch. The answer was found behind the 300ci i6, specifically the one in the Ford Fairmont. The combination works. I've driven it 800 miles as stated before, it's pretty nice. I have a spare.
The above was the last productive picture I ended up taking in 2023. All I did the remaining summer was to hookup the wiring harness, and the rest was me trying to install the transmission without separating the shifter from the transmission, or without separating the transmission from the bellhousing. It ended up being impossible, and I just wasted 9 months. I forgot to take the picture of the installation of the new (relatively) dogdish flywheel for LH2.4. I had the option to install an STS LH2.4 flywheel, but decided against it, and I'm saving it for the next build which is going to have an *incredibly* heavy rotating mass. I also discovered that apparently my factory original thicc boy starter motor seized during the engine's time on the stand, and could no longer be used. A guide on rebuilding it would be appreciated, since it would be objectively better than the skinny one on there now.
Anyway, there's really not much remaining to talk about. In May, this May, 2024, a friend from the west coast was visiting another friend on the east coast, and I figured it'd be cool to drive the Volvo to him. So I did a mad dash to try to get the car working in 3 days.
First I installed the intake stuff. The manifold is another limited run product from RBP, he's made posts on its design. On a 530 cylinder head, these things flow damn near equal to a B21F manifold, and are much better than stock in runner-to-runner variance due to grinding down the stud bosses for the throttle body. Injectors were 26lb Accel (holley), though I was running them with a 2.5 bar FPR to go easy on what was likely the factory original fuel pump. They're actually dead quiet. The stock injectors you can hear the clatter on, these were almost impossible to hear in comparison.
Really, before installing the intake manifold, I installed the spark plugs and hooked up a new Starter to Battery cable, since the old one's insulation was broken in so many ways, and spliced it into the body harness wire. but whatever.
Then the transmission finally went in, after removing the shifter.
Bolted it in, installed crossmember, exhaust manifold (also limited run RBP, 1 of 1 modified stock downpipe), all the things. As I've mentioned in other posts, I run a Mustang transmission crossmember for the T5, and have not had vibration. However during this install, I put in spacers to put the transmission higher, trying to get an angle closer to what everyone else seems to have. On a test drive later I would regret this; instantly I get massive driveline vibrations I can feel in the car, so I pulled them out, and it's much much better. But the test drive doesn't happen quite yet.
The last things I end up installing is the Radiator. After the mushroom blew the previous year, I figured that the best justification for what would cause so much back pressure was that the radiator was clogged, so I got a new one, the cheapest on rockauto because it was on wholesaler clearance. Small problem;
The nipples for the overflow are missing. Technically there is a place for them, it's threaded, but they're not supplied with the radiator. What's up with that? Luckily I had bought a spare radiator during my roadtrip in 2022 from a scrap yard for 80 bucks (pick-n-pull official places are absurdly overpriced, seriously what the hell), and I ran with that. I used the 93°C thermostat, and drilled a small hole at the top to let it bleed out air. The engine runs on the hotter end of the spectrum on the temp gauge, which is to be expected with that thermostat.
I installed the radiator, and in bolting down the brackets I discovered that the radiator bracket threads in the support member were really really rusted. One I can't tighten all the way, and for the other the threaded inserts actually broke off and is now untightenable, which I'll resolve when I eventually go back in to get the AC working. So the coolant goes in, the belts go on, the pulleys, the fan, everything. It looks perfect, everything's holding water, no issues.
So we crank.
And it doesn't fire.
We spent 2 hours diagnosing it, then I gave up and just took my Chevrolet Cruze to visit my friend visiting my other friend. The return journey was a disaster which I'll only go over if asked.
So I get back home, and ask another TB member who's good with electronics to come over and help diagnose my no-start. Clearly the mechanic stuff all worked, everything had compression, it was cranking, it had to be electrical. And it was. After an hour of probing, it turns out the 25A fuse holder for the ECU was slightly corroded and needed wiggling. As soon as that was done, instantly on crank the engine started trying to fire. Another 20 minutes later, we discovered that the graphite rod in the distributor cap had broken off or gotten jammed somehow, so I put on a spare. Next crank it instantly started, though the cam timing was a bit off. We set it back a tooth, and the following video is the result.
There's a video of the first start, where I get out and yell with glee proclaiming it runs, but my friend didn't share that with me. I know he'll read this, and if you want to share it you can if you want.
After that I've just been sorting out the many many issues this car has developed has been sitting. The wiring for the lights, cluster issues, alternator, and the power steering rack which used to be fine but now just pisses fluid. Stay tuned for the B230KE project, which I'm currently taking recommendations on. The next post will be dyno and compression test results.