Kristian's '98 940 moneypit

[Venlonaer]

Hello people, some may be more acquainted with me (as Kristian Vobla) from the TB facebook group since I'm very active there but I don't post a lot here, mostly just lurk for info.
I own a 242, a p220 amazon wagon and a 940 and like to document my progress/upgrades and so on so here goes.

11 months ago I bought a 940 as a successor for my '75 frankenstein 245. After 2 years of hogging around in the 245 I wanted more luxury, power and handling.
This was my 300k km 245 which reliably served me for 30 thousand km;

I put up a request in a dutch Volvo marketplace facebook group with the following criteria;

- LPG
- Turbo
- M90 gearbox
- Sunroof
- Climate control.

Other stuff like leather seats would be something for later but I especially missed the airconditioning + sunroof from my '86 740 GLE and power my B21 BW35 combo was seriously lacking .
I've owned 5 na bricks before this and I'm looking for something quicker (or less sluggish ).

The 940 I picked up for a mere 1000€ had been sitting for a year and was destined to be a parts car (mainly for the B230FK + M90 combo).
It had everything I was looking for + leather seats, car history and maintenance held up as of 100.000 km until 509.000 km!

The car was partly disassembled, mounted the fenders, hood, headlights and it needed a new battery + I brought my own wheels. Then we finally were headed home.

I noticed the car was stuttering. It stuttered more on LPG than gasoline, so it would be something ignition related... at home I noticed sparks jumping outside the distributor cap. Put on the new distributor cap and the car ran perfectly, very happy... was worried it would be something more grave.

While I was at it I cleaned the engine bay, there was like 2mm of dust EVERYWHERE since the car was stored for over a year without a hood....unfortunately didn't make a before picture but just imagine everything had the same dusty finish as if it was molded from 1 part

To pass the annual vehicle inspection it just needed a brake hose done and an exhaust without holes.

I bought an eggcrate grille and clear corners, plastidipped the chrome surround black and also slapped on prancing moose stickers.
Shot a final picture before I sold my 740 last summer.

So far the introduction.
I've never really paid attention to my dailies but driving and maintaining them when stuff needed to be done to keep it driving, this car is going to be different.

My plans:


Suspension:

- BC racing coilovers
- Superpro polyurethane bushings errywhere
- Viking fabrications adjustable torquerods
- Adjustable (OEM customized) panhard rod
- Sway bar upgrade
- Strut brace
- Subframe brace

Braking system(front only):

- 302mm Volvo 850 upgrade
- Zimmermann perforated and ventilated discs
- Stoptech braking pads
- Motul RBF 600 braking fluid
- Stainless steel braided hoses

Exterior and interior:

- Fix minor rust
- Replace dented rear passenger door
- Wrapping the car nardo grey
- Swap the grey interior to black
- 'Wood' trim
- Fancy steering wheel
- New floor mats
- Cupholders(!!!)
- Fix broken interior lighting
- Fix broken heated seats
- Fix damaged leather seat upholstery
- Slap on a 740 front end and other little bits
- Snowcap
- OEM spoiler
- Addon kit for 740 (h8rz gon h8)
- Get the correct passenger side taillight
- Remove roof rails (slicktop)

Other:

- Keyless entry
- Get the airconditioning (ECC) working
- Install a trailer hitch
- Upgraded audio system (better speakers + adding a subwoofer)

Engine and driveline:

- Rebuilt engine /w new pump, all the belts, oil trap etc etc etc.
- Fix sloppy engine and transmission mounts
- Fix the oh so extremely annoying driveshaft vibration...u-joints and driveshaft support bearing probably
- M90 dual mass to M47 single mass conversion
- Replace the M90 with a good one (main input shaft bearing noisy)
- Install a LSD


Planned setup:

- 19T /w angled flange
- 440 cc/min Bosch Greens
- Vialle V28 injectors
- Do88 intercooler + piping
- Slightly ported 531 head
- VX3 cam
- Buchka wasted spark
- 3'' AMM
- 3'' 960 throttle body
- 3'' downpipe
- 2,5''/3'' catless exhaust /w 1 silencer
- 6 puck KL racing clutch disc
- Reinforced pressure plate
- Stainless steel braided clutch hose


I'm aiming for 270 horse ~ 350 Nm at the wheels.. main limitation being the LPG fuel system.

Couple of the things on this list are already (partially) done, I'll update soon but I think I first need to resize my images ....

 

[J2_]

Wat leuk.

 

[LC4CARL]

Nice!

So, refresh my memory. LPG has a lower octane rating than gasoline?

 

[Funkee]

^Higher

 

[Sjeng]

Which LPI injectors do you intend to run for this? Vialle browns?

You might be able to squeeze out some more HP by adding an additional injector at the TB.
Or is the fuel pump the limiting factor?

Gr fellow dutch 940 owner.

 

[Venlonaer]

Wat leuk.

Hallo kapitein Appelkruimeltaart

Nice!

So, refresh my memory. LPG has a lower octane rating than gasoline?

^Higher

^

Which LPI injectors do you intend to run for this? Vialle browns?

You might be able to squeeze out some more HP by adding an additional injector at the TB.
Or is the fuel pump the limiting factor?

Gr fellow dutch 940 owner.

Hey fellow dutch tbricker

Yes I'm intending to run Vialle V28 browns. Their limit is ''65 horsepower per cilinder'' according to several members on a Saab forum tuning their 4 cylinder turbos also on LPG. Unfortunately the cost would be too high to convert it to a 5 injector LPG fuel system. New ECU, programming, labour... etc. I can live with 260+- horsepower on LPG. Also as you've stated yourself I've read (not confirmed) the stock intank LPG fuel pump is also limited to around the 260-280 hp number. An optimal solution to not be limited to that number would be 2 mappings. One for LPG and one for petrol so I would get the max out of the setup.


I've managed to resize all the images in one go using photoshop and used a private facebook album as a reliable photohosting service


So I drove the car for a few months and my tires were in need of replacement. Good time to treat the 940 with a new set of wheels.

These are 17 inch Peugeot 407 steelies with an offset of 47 and 7.5'' width.

Had them banded to 8.5'' front and 9.5'' rear

Ground the weld as flat as possible

Powdercoated them anthracite(don't remember the RAL)

1 wheel wasn't welded airtight so used rubber kit to seal it off.

This was my front left tire... bad alignment

1 wheel needed 175 grams of balancing weights

Changed the wheels and got the car aligned, air stays in the wheel I kitted and no vibrations even at 100 mph! Just needs moar low. I also used 25 mm adapters in front to clear the wheel from the strut.

Tire sizes are 235/45/17 and 215/45/17

 

[Venlonaer]

Hello my dudes be prepared for a crapload of pictures of this update. (well multiple updates in one go)

April 2017

Decided vinyl wrapping my car would be the most affordable choice and have a nice finish as well. The paint is already screwed up after 20 y and 500+ k km but also since I'm slapping on a 740 front anyway.

I did some photoshopping and this came out of it:

I love the grey colour seen on many Audis so I went for that. It's called Nardo Grey
I wanted to see if it's doable so I bought some stuff needed (and some advised) to vinyl wrap a car. The cost is €400 for all of the stuff needed to vinyl wrap.

First door took me like 4 hours lol, I made the mistake not to stretch the vinyl sufficiently. End result was fine but I was not working efficiently, took me too long to get the air bubbles out.

Will have to work on my corners and trimming..

I also bought a reproduction spoiler of the OEM one. Recently found out there are also repros with a 3rd brake light so I want that one instead eventually.. *sigh* impulse purchases hehe

Just test fitted it and drilled holes. Will be mounted when I wrap my hatch

August 2017

Some months passed and I was busy with other things like school and work, did make up the plans I want with this car in that time though.

Valve clearance adjustment was coming up and the head was in need of a rebuild since the shims were getting too thin (thinnest was 3.40 mm). Due to some complications I chose a complete rebuild because I also wanted to put out more power and just wanted a fresh engine.

Picked up a rebuilt B230FB with a flowed 531 and vx3 cam. Engine only has 160k kms on it so pistons and cylinders weren't in need of a hone Credits to J2_

Went at it with a friend

I doubt anything has been cleaned past 10 years, if it hasn't been longer.

I bought another 940 2.3 turbo m90 because it was a bargain and I needed to get around. Was waiting too long on parts, especially clutch parts from sweden took like 2-3 weeks to arrive.

Trick works every time. Swapped over the pilot dummy bearing which is used on b230s with M90s mated to them.

Cute little guy

Oil cooler coolant hoses were all mushy and falling apart, new ones weren't that expensive

Oil feed line for the +t on the B230FB. Oil return is a pipe welded on the oil pan which is connected with a coolant hose to the oil return pipe running from the turbo. Just sawed it off.

Both of my faecesboxes united

Took out the trans as well, easier to get the engine mated to it out of the car and it was out in 15 minutes so..
Almost ready to go in.

Swapped out the M90 dual mass flywheel for the single mass dog dish M47 flywheel. Mounted with ARP 12.9 bolts.

Nice clutch goodies.
228mm 6 puck clutch disc and reinforced pressure plate from https://shop.klracing.se/

This should be good for 500 Nm of torque

1 mm shims to make up for the clutch plate thickness also from KL Racing

Shimmed the clutch arm pivot ball 4mm on the M90 trans

Clutch centering tool? 1/4'' extension bar and some tape

This came in the mail while doing the swap. Thanks to J2_ again for supplying me with a 19t cold side which will be mated to an angled 16t hotside. Also, look how freaking dirty that 13c is.

Ready to drop in. I spent a lot of time cleaning the engine bay, manifolds and turbo as well.
When I fastened the last nut for the exhaust manifold the #&@$@&#* stud snapped off. Fastened the nuts starting from the middle of the manifold and with a torque wrench so it caught me by surprise..

Proper ragequit and some stuff flew around. Smoked a cigarette, drank some beer, had some food and then manned up and drilled out the stud. Fitted a new one, fastened all exhaust manifold nuts again and smashed that redblock and m90 in the car.

This is why I like working on rwd Volvos

Then I cranked the key and nothing... no compression or any signs of combustion. It got fuel, it had spark. I suspected the flywheel being mounted incorrectly because of the 60-2 pattern. Then looked at the timing which I screwed up apparently.

I have a Haynes manual and first I thought the timing mark on the crank was the extruding boss with a little dimple in it. Well then I found out it's actually the keyway.......so the timing was 180? off, wasn't clearly shown in the Haynes manual. Fixed it and it started pretty much immediately, words couldn't express the happiness!

Clean as hell again thanks to J2_ for a new coolant expansion tank. Old brittle expansion tank partly came apart with the coolant hose when I removed it whoops

September 2017

For my suspension overhaul I got pretty much everything so I could prepare all of it properly while keeping the car on the road. Creds to Mr. Borrie for the last piece of control arm I was looking for

Started on the struts.
I think pressing out the ABS sensors is the only way to get them out in one piece, although luck is also a factor I think. I totally destroyed the other one, just didn't want to come out.

Cut up the extra struts for the knuckles which need to be welded onto the coilovers.

Got 'em welded up and had a panhard rod customized to be adjustable.

Bought 302mm brackets and 850 calipers

Pressing out all the old bushings

Brought it away to be sandblasted and powdercoated. The three bars on the left side are lower braces for 7/9 series. Just need one but I'll be selling the other ones. Also sourced a tow hitch and had it powdercoated black.

Got a couple of Superpro bushings already from the local supplier Showoff Imports, a lot of thanks for their helpfulness so far. They also supplied me with Motul RBF 600 brake fluid, Stoptech brake pads and stainless steel brake hoses and clutch hose.

302 mm Zimmermann drilled and ventilated rotors, got them for a really good price

Got the stuff back from the powdercoater, looks great. Still need to make spacers on a lathe to make the 302 brakes fit though.

Pressing in the bushings I have so far

Only missing the top bushing. It's in backorder.

 

[Venlonaer]

Max of 50 images per post so here's part 2


November-ish 2017

J2_ also hooked me up with Blabla chips for my ezk and lh2.4 ECUs and a PCB conversion board for the EZK. However when I went to pull a set of spare ECUs from a 940 I actually encountered an EZK goldbox so soldering the PCB became obsolete

And fitted

Immediately noticed the difference, pulls better overall but especially in lower rpms.

Along with the chipped ECU I mounted a Chinabay boost gauge and I turned up the boost.
Found the perfect spot to mount it, bought Pioneer speakers as well for the front doors.

Serviced my rear brakes because whoops:

New pads, rotors and mounting hardware

December 2017

I just couldn't get used to the grey interior in my 940. I think it is dull and boring.. I loved the tan interior in my 740 GLE but was always too afraid to stain it. As a daily I prefer a nice elegant black interior so I went for that.

I picked up all the black plastic parts from a parts 940 as well as the door panels, dashboard and so on.

First I gutted the complete interior and started cleaning the carpet.
Had some bad stains including grease and some mild oil stains.

I used Turtle Wax interior cleaner and the results are amazing

Dying the carpets black

At first I was just thinking about painting the lower part of the dash with vinyl paint but the colour didn't match. Didn't feel like searching for the right colour so just swapped out the dash for a black one.

The horror

While waiting for the dye to dry I did some other stuff.

My right rear door had nasty dents in it and when I was sourcing 740 front end parts and I got a free door... so score I guess hehe. Swapped the power windows and central locking from the 940 door to the 740 one but then I noticed some rust in the window sill so I took everything out completely to take care of the rust.

While was at it could as well kill the time by continuing vinyl wrapping so I did the other doors.

Getting a bit better at corners... other side went even better. Trimmed the excess still visible in the pic

Before I can do the roof and A pillars etc I first need to take care of the rust around the window caused by stone chips... nasty surprise.

Removed the roof rails now I had the trim near the headliner off. Cleaned the dirt but just put tape on it for now. I will make some plugs on a lathe and weld the holes shut when it comes to it.

Took the opportunity to fix all the interior lighting as well.
Pretty much all of my interior lights were broken and the OEM ones cost €8 a piece.
I managed to find universal T5 bulb fittings to replace the stupid OEM interior bulb... which is the fitting and bulb in one and it's an absolute PITA to try to replace the bulb..

I customized them a bit to work. I removed the plastic extrusion in the middle and bent the connectors so they are a tighter fit

Perfect! They click right in.

Replaced every single one. Other dash knob lights

And 10+ other lights throughout the interior including the climate control and gauge lights

New floor mats. I was using a BMW 3 series floormat for over half a year and it kept slipping away..

Hacked up a 850/vsc70 armrest to fit. Made a little adapter plate. Glued the magnet catch from my old lid to the 850 lid. FINALLY CUPHOLDERS

Pioneer subwoofer. Also bought 2 more Pioneer speakers for my rear doors.

Finally after way too much time spent on getting my interior tidy this is how it looks. I also mounted the little fluffy panels with ''wood'' trim, swapped over map pockets from 960 door panels to the 940 ones (960 don't have the vents on top), managed to buy a rear seat in great condition for a good price and installed my Momo steering wheel.

That last thing mainly because I'm a dumbass and broke the pin that slides over the slip ring of my leather steering wheel... will fix it sometime.

Before:

After:

I'm very content with my interior already just need to repair the little cracks on the panels of both front seats caused by entry/exit of the car. After that I will paint them black. It's hard to find good seats and mine are perfect except for the typical damage. Also I'm too attached to the little map pockets in front of the seats which I strangely can't ever find in black seats.

I also installed keyless entry and another nice gadget but I will submit that update another time when I upload the video.

 

[soclosenotnear]

That's definitely a bunch of progress. Good work. Car is coming along nicely.

 

[Sjeng]

You have been busy. Nice progress, also on the interior. Wonder how you will like the new suspension and the 19T.


Would you sell the ezk daughterboard? Just pulled my ezk and it is not (yet) chippable unfortunately.

 

[J2_]

@sjeng; I have several Gold EZK's for sale if you need one. Send me a pm if interested.

 

[Robert242turbo]

Great thread! i've been following it since the beginning, got similar plans for my 242 (engine/trans/all new bushings etc). Interior cleaned up nicely! @J2_ I would like to buy one of your gold boxes.

 

[J2_]

@robert242turbo send me a pm.

 

[Venlonaer]

That's definitely a bunch of progress. Good work. Car is coming along nicely.

Yeah I'm painting my front seats at the moment. Last thing left besides the headliner and my interior is done. Also looking for gauge pods options

You have been busy. Nice progress, also on the interior. Wonder how you will like the new suspension and the 19T.


Would you sell the ezk daughterboard? Just pulled my ezk and it is not (yet) chippable unfortunately.

Used it on my original EZK which i'm working on to convert to wasted spark. You can buy them from the Bijlsma brothers (blabla) or like Jelmar proposed buy a gold box off him

Great thread! i've been following it since the beginning, got similar plans for my 242 (engine/trans/all new bushings etc). Interior cleaned up nicely! @J2_ I would like to buy one of your gold boxes.

Yeah it's taking me months to research and get all things together. Adjustable torque rods from England, sourcing a spare panhard rod and sending it to someone who fabbed it to be adjustabel... Superpro bushings took a long time to arrive from Straya as well.

Almost done, last few bushings coming from Lithuania and J2_ is going to reinforce a rear subframe for me.

 

[Venlonaer]

Hello peoples!

Another update with a skitload of pictures!
I'll have to do it in 2 posts again since I'm definitely going over the 50 images per post limit.

I moved my 242 to my ''workshop'' mid december. Had been sitting too long doing nothing and picked it up again. Will update in its own thread.

Installed the car lift I bought a while ago with some people from the Volvo community.
My hernia-to-be won't complain

Got myself a Haynes manual, always comes in handy!

I couldn't get past 7 psi boost so suspected the actuator and bought a mamba adjustable wastegate actuator. Came with springs that have different spring rates.

Went to 10 psi so it was indeed the actuator with a weak spring but had the feeling it didn't really wanted to build anymore boost. I'm suspecting either boost leaks or the wastegate/exhaust housing of my 13c being too beaten from 300k+ miles. I'm satisfied with the power it makes now and will keep it this way until I get to my 19T setup.

Picked up a good M90, 1031 axle and 740 fenders from J2_. The other gearbox is a Getrag 220 for my 242.

Extra central locking actuators for the mod following after this picture, mirror+door handle for a buddy's 940 and some missing trim for my black interior.

When I had interior gutted I took advantage of easy access to the wiring loom and installed a keyless entry and remote start module.

Green-black and yellow-black wire for locking and unlocking

I know this isn't the best solution, but I wanted to get it done that day and didn't have any heat shrink tubing left. I wrapped it up insulation tape and I'm pretty sure nothing's going to happen to it.

This picture might come in handy to the people interested in installing the same kit I have (https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Audiovox...339751&hash=item41d5d21f20:g:xuIAAOSwjytaZkIp)

The kit comes with a load of options but I just used the keyless entry, remote start option and a safety switch to prevent driving away (too far) by wiring a ground from the module to my brake switch. If the brake is pressed without the key being in it the module will cut off ignition.

The driver's door only has a key position sensor but no actuator so I had to add it somehow to make my remote also open the driver's door and not only the other 3.

I drilled an extra hole in the pivoting arm and used 740 linkage to connect the extra actuator

Drilled holes in the door and mounted the extra actuator

What clearance?

<iframe width="1000" height="650" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/T0bImsJMCLY" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

The result... it works!!

<iframe width="1000" height="650" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eeULtzzkLQU" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Really happy with it. I can't remember the last time I used the key to (un)lock it.
I'd definitely recommend installing this kit. It has much more options and it has programmable functions. The car now runs for 5 minutes and then shuts down but the setting can be altered.

Ticking off some of the finishing touches on the interior

New clips that keep the door panels on the door, were all broken on the rear doors.

Went to a pnp and got a matching panel for the rear of the centre console. Right is the old one with mismatching wood grain.

It's about the details!

My seats were in good shape and I couldn't find replacements that have a little map pocket at the front side of the seat... so I decided to fix the cracked leather and 2 small holes in the passenger seat.

I used special leather paint, leather primer , leather filler, and a 4000 grit sandpad.
White spirit used to clean/degrease.

1 layer primer, 2 layers black paint and a third layer for the entry-exit patches of the seat.

The damage on the passenger side

Damage on the drivers side

Reinforcement patch below the holes

Flexible leather glue

Filling surface cracks but also the holes with leather filler

Holes patches up pretty good

Filled up all deep but also subtle surface cracks

Damage repair was the same for the driver's side, but no holes. It was also waaaay less damaged for some reason.

Preparing the seats for painting consisted of cleaning and removing knobs and seat rails.
Removing the adjusting knob for the loin is easy, the back rest is as well if you know how

You need something really sharp to get the cover plate off the knob. I used a box cutter to pry it out initially but as soon there's a little edge showing, a thin flat screwdriver will do the trick

Hold the knob and slide the locking ring out of the knob's slots and you can pull it right off

I cleaned the seat with white spirit thoroughly.. this was the most tedious part of the job. It took SO much cleaning because you need to get your rag not to show any dirt anymore. It has to be absolutely degreased.

Leather primer painted. Painted the headrest separately.

While waiting I spent some time on the seat rails to get them moving smoothly again

Cleaned it thoroughly and greased the rails, this was a huge improvement because the seats didn't adjust smoothly at all but now they do

First layer of black paint, already looks amazing!

Passenger side

Driver side

Damaged area of the passenger side

Finished, also installed my cigarette lighter/change pockets on the side

So happy with the result! Just need to fetch me black seatbelt catches and paint the armrest black as well.

Bought a quick release hub but it lacked a ground for my horn button.

Painted it black, found the brushed aluminum to be a too great contrast to the rest of the interior

My oil cap was leaking oil and the block was a bit greasy due to oil so I thought of excessive crankcase pressure.

Replaced breather box and oil cap gasket, should've done that at the same time I swapped the engine really...

Problem is solved. No leaking oil cap anymore and the the head stays dry.
Fixing the mysterious coolant leak is still on my list though.

part 2 of update below

 

[Venlonaer]

Part 2 of the update

For some reason I just like an early 740 front end with quads more, so I decided to swap my 940 front end.

Drilled out the spot welds on radiator support-headlight frames from a 740 (same car my new RR door is from) and took home the hood and front bumper as well. Fenders supplied by J2_.

Started disassembling

Cut out the 940 frames and cleaned everything

Couple of rust spots, treated with antirust paint

Test fitting

Test fit turned out good, right gaps everywhere so tacked some welds and finished the welding job at my workshop with my MIG welder.

Perfect!

I think it looks much better already!

I need to transfer the 940 fender trim, the lower window trim that attaches to the cowl and then I can vinyl wrap the hood and fenders.

Chilly!

Got my adjustable torque rods from Martin Leaf (Viking fabrications).

Received my 25mm iPd sways from stiligFox

Made some dual brake adapters (prototype), tone rings and blanking plates for the rear axle to protect it from sandblasting and powdercoating.

Dropped it off at the powdercoater. Thanks to J2_ for reinforcing a subframe for me.

Rolled the tone ring into a round shape to actually become a tone ring
Thanks to t8fanning for open sourcing the dxf file, saved me some work.

Rebuilt the 850 calipers

Then the bad......
The day after I finished the front end swap I heard a loud clunk when cornering...

<iframe width="1000" height="650" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Q77LYAq0FWs" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Only during cornering and load it would make this clunking sound, I knew what time it was and ordered an Eaton Truetrac and Yukon axle overhaul kit from Summit racing.

Drove around with the clunking sound for 3 weeks / 2000 km but then I heard a massive freaking bang. The car still drove but the differential made horrible noises also going straight and even more in the corners. The Summit parts already arrived but I was having someone else install it since I don't have the tools but he wasn't available yet. So I thought it was the right time to do a suspension teardown and tackle my driveline and transmission issues as well.

lol oops

I think it's weird that this happened to the open diff...didn't really drift or launch the car that much.
I already had plans on replacing the open differential with a truetrac but this was not foreseen... took the train and borrowed my dads V60 2 weeks

Anyway... tore down the whole suspension

Sandblasted bolts and other stuff. Sent most of it to be zinc coated

That's it for this update. Need to wait for my suspension parts to be powdercoated and the bolts and so zinc coated before I can continue.

 

[Pete.M]

LOTS of cool stuff going on there, nice work!

 

[MrKrabs]

Following for TrueTrac install guide hehe. Lovely car! Jealous of the 740 front end.

 

[Stiggy Pop]

nice job, very thorough

 

[Wilford Brimley]