isaac
The Isaac
- Joined
- Nov 13, 2002
- Location
- Hurricane River Street, FL
ARTICLE UNFINISHED
Frequently people ask about what's really necessary for a +T job to work and not be a ticking time bomb. Everybody wants more power, but it seems most want to have to put as little time and money as possible into it. I'm one of those people.
About five years ago I decided I wanted to see what the absolute bare bones +T job was, and more importantly if it would work. I'm talking about the lowest cost, least parts, least time necessary. I did this all in a weekend with almost no help or prior instruction. I did my +Ts on LH cars, so this will apply to LH, not K-Jet or Regina.
What you'll get with this +T job:
~150hp
~170-180lb-ft of torque
Much more usable power for around town driving and greatly improved torque for hills
A good 2 second drop in your quarter mile acceleration
A smoother running engine
Difficulty of the modification: On a scale of 1-10 of all mods, this is about a 9, with only a total engine rebuild being more intensive. If you can't change a water pump and don't know what squirts where when you crank the engine over, do NOT try to do this. Learn the easy stuff first. You can easily destroy your engine if you do something wrong here.
Here's the list of parts you'll need for the minimalist's +T.
PARTS:
Stock turbo off a RWD Volvo
Exhaust manifold off the same car
Downpipe from that car (740/940 style greatly preferred)
2.25"-2" exhaust adapter
2.25" exhaust flex pipe
Exhaust clamps
Oil drain from that car
Oil feed from that car
1/4" NPT brass fitting with threads on one side, nipple on the other (preferably 90 deg)
Intercooler hoses and intercooler, including clamps
Intake hose between turbo and AMM, including clamps
One foot of 3/8" fuel injection hose
One foot of 3/4" hydraulic hose
~Four feet of 3/4" heater hose
OPTIONAL PARTS:
A Turbo engine computer, ignition computer, injectors, resistor pack, etc are not necessary. The stock NA LH2.0, 2.2, 2.4 systems are capable of managing it on their own up to about 5-6psi, and depending on how healthy your fuel system is, maybe even more.
If you want an extra margin of error on fuel, a cheap solution is a 3 or 4 bar fuel pressure regulator.
The 3 bar regulator can be found on 740/760/940 Turbos.
The 4 bar can be found on chrysler 2.2 turbo engines from vehicles from the mid '80s to early '90s. Many Chrysler/Dodge/Plymouth cars had these as well as minivans.
Tools:
There are a lot of common hand tools involved in this, so just have the set. The vast majority of the bolting down work will be done with two things: A 13mm socket and ratchet, and a flat blade screwdriver.
Specialty tools are another thing entirely.
You'll need a good drill that'll fit on the right side of the oil pan or where you'll drill into the oil drain stamp on the block. A stepped drill bit like a UNI-Bit is a great idea. They're expensive though, unless you go to harbor freight and buy one there.
In order to avoid having to remove the oil pan, which is hard and time consuming, you need some kind of air pump, to slightly pressurize the crankcase while you drill into the pan (or block stamping) for the return. You'll need to cobble together an aquarium pump or pool toy inflator type device with a hose to blow through the PCV. It blows the metal shavings outward instead of letting them fall into the engine.
Speaking of which, here's step one:
STEP 1: Removing the stock exhaust manifold and downpipe
It's a lot easier to do step 2 once you do this. It's a very good idea to use PBlaster on all the nuts you plan to remove the night before. Letting the PBlaster soak overnight significantly improves your chances of removing the manifold and downpipe bolts without breaking something off.
There are eight nuts to remove from the manifold, three from the manifold to downpipe junction (necessary if you can't get the car onto a lift), one or two attaching the downpipe to the car body, and three at the catalytic convertor. You may choose to remove the cat, which makes it much easier to adapt the turbo exhaust pieces. That's what I did, so I cut off the pipe before the resonator.
Good luck breaking all of that free. It has to go anyway, so it might as well go now. Once it's out of the way, it presents a much clearer picture of what must be done next.
STEP 2: Drilling the oil drain hole.
DRAIN THE OIL FIRST before beginning, and raise the car and support it on jack stands on level ground. You do not want to die before your car is fast.
The pan is much easier to drill through than the block, but makes for a worse overall drain path unless done perfectly. It can and will work, it's just not optimal.
The block oil drain stamping, found only on post-1983 B230F-type blocks, is cast into the block where the stock drain hole would be on a B230FT. Remember where it is when you pulled the oil drain out of the turbo donor car. That's where you have to drill if you want to do it this way.
It is very difficult to drill through, because it's cast iron and very thick, but it can be done with patience. I saw Ben Kaplan personally lacerate his arm to the point of requiring stitches when the drill grabbed and yanked sideways while he was drilling. Not fun.
Be sure to keep greasing the drill bit for two reasons: It keeps the drill bit cool and catches metal shavings so they don't go into the engine.
Drill slowly, not running the bit at high speed. It'll cut faster that way, believe it or not.
Be sure to clean the hole out extensively after you're done, removing all shavings and cleaning the pan to prep for whatever cold weld compound you'll use to attach a cut off section of oil drain tube to the bung hole. A very good idea is to use a gallon of mineral spirits to pour (with a funnel) into the hole to clean out the remaining shavings in the oil pan. There will be some shavings in there, so I consider this pretty much mandatory. Keep feeling around with a finger and sweeping with a magnet to remove anything left.
STEP 3: Attaching the oil drain
DO NOT WELD THE DRAIN TO THE PAN WITH THE PAN ATTACHED TO THE ENGINE. There's a pretty serious explosion hazard when oil vapors, which stay in the crankcase even after you drain the oil, are exposed to sparks or open flame from a welder. They can explode easily, ripping your face off.
As you can see the above pictures are shots of before and after with the drilling of the pan. You'll be either JB Welding or Qwiksteeling that bung into the pan, or doing a similar job with the block stamp if you go that route, unless you can make the block drain hole match the contours of a stocker completely, which seems like a lot of time and effort.
Qwiksteel works very well in this application, because it's a putty and molds and sticks easily, whereas JBwelding is kind of an art form because it's a liquid that you'll be applying to a nearly vertical surface. If you're going to use a JBweld, use JB QWIK. It dries and cures much faster, and can withstand the stresses in this job.
After placing the oil drain into the hole, and holding it at the angle you want it to be (the highest possible angle, to make sure it drains downward at all times), mold whichever cold welding compound around the drain completely. You'll be doing this with your hands. Don't worry, it comes off.
Be sure to press the stuff into the gap between the drain and the hole, and get a good amount of excess around the outside on the drain and the pan surface. If you do this right, it'll never come off.
If necessary, hold the drain tube until the compound hardens. Do not let go until you're sure it's solid. This can take up to ten minutes.
STEP 4: Mounting the turbo
The turbo itself is easy to mount. It just slips on where the old manifold used to be. It's far easier to attach the turbo and manifold to each other before mounting, so if they're not attached now, do it. Be sure the exhaust manifold gaskets are in good condition and, if you have to, buy new ones. They blow out very easily under the extreme backpressure of a turbo system.
If you're using a mitsubishi turbo, you may have to rotate the center cartridge and compressor housing slightly to align the oil drain to your liking. To do so simply loosen the 10mm nut on the v-band clamp in the middle of the turbo, and break it free to rotate. It'll be crusty, so you have to break it free.
Once the turbo is mounted, you can get to align it all and attach the oil feed and drain to the turbo.
The drain will require you to be a bit creative to make sure it snakes its way around the hardware down there, and be sure it always points down. If there's a low spot that's not in the pan, you'll have some backpressure and it might smoke.
Do whatever you can to avoid bending a rubber hose. They should only be used in straight sections. If you make the rubber bend, once it gets hot, it will kink, and you'll have problems. If you want a bend, use something metal. If you use braided hose, you won't deal with this.
On the feed, it's really just a matter of screwing all the parts together. Try to avoid having the line touch the manifold at any point. If you're using a cut off nub of a stock oil feed attached to the turbo, you may need to heat it with a torch to bend it into the shape you need. A pair of vise grips plus a vise may negate the necessity of the torch.
STEP 5: Air Mass Meter Relocation
Changing the location of your Air Mass Meter isn't an absolute necessity, but a very good idea. If you leave the air mass meter where it is, it's subject to oil floating through the intake system. Turbos always leak a very tiny amount of oil into the intake, because they're full of high pressure oil and they blow lots of high pressure air right on the other side of the shaft seals. That means it may get to your Air Mass Meter and ruin it.
The best idea is to avoid this via relocating the Air Mass Meter to the suction side of the turbo, as Volvo did on stock turbo cars.
But if you have a 240, it's on the wrong side of the engine bay, and the wires attached to it are attached to a lot of other wires. This presents a quandry: Do you cut the Air Mass Meter wires to facilitate sliding them through the wiring sheathing to get them to the other side of the engine bay, or do you carefully separate the entire wiring harness in the engine bay and move the AMM wires that way.
I chose the former, and didn't have any noticeable issues. It's as simple as labeling the wires, cutting them near the AMM connector, and sliding them carefully back through the sheath by pulling from near the firewall plug from which they emerge on the passenger side of the car (LHD cars).
The black ground wire may be attached to somewhere else in the bay, such as the intake manifold, so make a note. You may need to extend it with your own wire. Do not use smaller wire to do this. When you extend a wire, you generally need larger gauge (which is a smaller number i.e. 12 gauge is larger wire than 16 gauge) to prevent it from unexpected losses, resistance, and possible fires.
It's a good idea to solder the AMM wires back together and shrink wrap them. But you can always use connecting terminals. Just be absolutely sure you insulate any exposed metal from all the other wires and from the body, because if one of those shorts, you can ruin your engine computer system.
Reroute the AMM wires to the right side of the engine bay. I passed mine underneath the top of the right strut tower.
STEP 6: Intake modification
To be finished later.
Frequently people ask about what's really necessary for a +T job to work and not be a ticking time bomb. Everybody wants more power, but it seems most want to have to put as little time and money as possible into it. I'm one of those people.
About five years ago I decided I wanted to see what the absolute bare bones +T job was, and more importantly if it would work. I'm talking about the lowest cost, least parts, least time necessary. I did this all in a weekend with almost no help or prior instruction. I did my +Ts on LH cars, so this will apply to LH, not K-Jet or Regina.
What you'll get with this +T job:
~150hp
~170-180lb-ft of torque
Much more usable power for around town driving and greatly improved torque for hills
A good 2 second drop in your quarter mile acceleration
A smoother running engine
Difficulty of the modification: On a scale of 1-10 of all mods, this is about a 9, with only a total engine rebuild being more intensive. If you can't change a water pump and don't know what squirts where when you crank the engine over, do NOT try to do this. Learn the easy stuff first. You can easily destroy your engine if you do something wrong here.
Here's the list of parts you'll need for the minimalist's +T.
PARTS:
Stock turbo off a RWD Volvo
Exhaust manifold off the same car
Downpipe from that car (740/940 style greatly preferred)
2.25"-2" exhaust adapter
2.25" exhaust flex pipe
Exhaust clamps
Oil drain from that car
Oil feed from that car
1/4" NPT brass fitting with threads on one side, nipple on the other (preferably 90 deg)
Intercooler hoses and intercooler, including clamps
Intake hose between turbo and AMM, including clamps
One foot of 3/8" fuel injection hose
One foot of 3/4" hydraulic hose
~Four feet of 3/4" heater hose
OPTIONAL PARTS:
A Turbo engine computer, ignition computer, injectors, resistor pack, etc are not necessary. The stock NA LH2.0, 2.2, 2.4 systems are capable of managing it on their own up to about 5-6psi, and depending on how healthy your fuel system is, maybe even more.
If you want an extra margin of error on fuel, a cheap solution is a 3 or 4 bar fuel pressure regulator.
The 3 bar regulator can be found on 740/760/940 Turbos.
The 4 bar can be found on chrysler 2.2 turbo engines from vehicles from the mid '80s to early '90s. Many Chrysler/Dodge/Plymouth cars had these as well as minivans.
Tools:
There are a lot of common hand tools involved in this, so just have the set. The vast majority of the bolting down work will be done with two things: A 13mm socket and ratchet, and a flat blade screwdriver.
Specialty tools are another thing entirely.
You'll need a good drill that'll fit on the right side of the oil pan or where you'll drill into the oil drain stamp on the block. A stepped drill bit like a UNI-Bit is a great idea. They're expensive though, unless you go to harbor freight and buy one there.
In order to avoid having to remove the oil pan, which is hard and time consuming, you need some kind of air pump, to slightly pressurize the crankcase while you drill into the pan (or block stamping) for the return. You'll need to cobble together an aquarium pump or pool toy inflator type device with a hose to blow through the PCV. It blows the metal shavings outward instead of letting them fall into the engine.
Speaking of which, here's step one:
STEP 1: Removing the stock exhaust manifold and downpipe
It's a lot easier to do step 2 once you do this. It's a very good idea to use PBlaster on all the nuts you plan to remove the night before. Letting the PBlaster soak overnight significantly improves your chances of removing the manifold and downpipe bolts without breaking something off.
There are eight nuts to remove from the manifold, three from the manifold to downpipe junction (necessary if you can't get the car onto a lift), one or two attaching the downpipe to the car body, and three at the catalytic convertor. You may choose to remove the cat, which makes it much easier to adapt the turbo exhaust pieces. That's what I did, so I cut off the pipe before the resonator.
Good luck breaking all of that free. It has to go anyway, so it might as well go now. Once it's out of the way, it presents a much clearer picture of what must be done next.
STEP 2: Drilling the oil drain hole.
DRAIN THE OIL FIRST before beginning, and raise the car and support it on jack stands on level ground. You do not want to die before your car is fast.
The pan is much easier to drill through than the block, but makes for a worse overall drain path unless done perfectly. It can and will work, it's just not optimal.
The block oil drain stamping, found only on post-1983 B230F-type blocks, is cast into the block where the stock drain hole would be on a B230FT. Remember where it is when you pulled the oil drain out of the turbo donor car. That's where you have to drill if you want to do it this way.
It is very difficult to drill through, because it's cast iron and very thick, but it can be done with patience. I saw Ben Kaplan personally lacerate his arm to the point of requiring stitches when the drill grabbed and yanked sideways while he was drilling. Not fun.
Be sure to keep greasing the drill bit for two reasons: It keeps the drill bit cool and catches metal shavings so they don't go into the engine.
Drill slowly, not running the bit at high speed. It'll cut faster that way, believe it or not.
Be sure to clean the hole out extensively after you're done, removing all shavings and cleaning the pan to prep for whatever cold weld compound you'll use to attach a cut off section of oil drain tube to the bung hole. A very good idea is to use a gallon of mineral spirits to pour (with a funnel) into the hole to clean out the remaining shavings in the oil pan. There will be some shavings in there, so I consider this pretty much mandatory. Keep feeling around with a finger and sweeping with a magnet to remove anything left.
STEP 3: Attaching the oil drain
DO NOT WELD THE DRAIN TO THE PAN WITH THE PAN ATTACHED TO THE ENGINE. There's a pretty serious explosion hazard when oil vapors, which stay in the crankcase even after you drain the oil, are exposed to sparks or open flame from a welder. They can explode easily, ripping your face off.
As you can see the above pictures are shots of before and after with the drilling of the pan. You'll be either JB Welding or Qwiksteeling that bung into the pan, or doing a similar job with the block stamp if you go that route, unless you can make the block drain hole match the contours of a stocker completely, which seems like a lot of time and effort.
Qwiksteel works very well in this application, because it's a putty and molds and sticks easily, whereas JBwelding is kind of an art form because it's a liquid that you'll be applying to a nearly vertical surface. If you're going to use a JBweld, use JB QWIK. It dries and cures much faster, and can withstand the stresses in this job.
After placing the oil drain into the hole, and holding it at the angle you want it to be (the highest possible angle, to make sure it drains downward at all times), mold whichever cold welding compound around the drain completely. You'll be doing this with your hands. Don't worry, it comes off.
Be sure to press the stuff into the gap between the drain and the hole, and get a good amount of excess around the outside on the drain and the pan surface. If you do this right, it'll never come off.
If necessary, hold the drain tube until the compound hardens. Do not let go until you're sure it's solid. This can take up to ten minutes.
STEP 4: Mounting the turbo
The turbo itself is easy to mount. It just slips on where the old manifold used to be. It's far easier to attach the turbo and manifold to each other before mounting, so if they're not attached now, do it. Be sure the exhaust manifold gaskets are in good condition and, if you have to, buy new ones. They blow out very easily under the extreme backpressure of a turbo system.
If you're using a mitsubishi turbo, you may have to rotate the center cartridge and compressor housing slightly to align the oil drain to your liking. To do so simply loosen the 10mm nut on the v-band clamp in the middle of the turbo, and break it free to rotate. It'll be crusty, so you have to break it free.
Once the turbo is mounted, you can get to align it all and attach the oil feed and drain to the turbo.
The drain will require you to be a bit creative to make sure it snakes its way around the hardware down there, and be sure it always points down. If there's a low spot that's not in the pan, you'll have some backpressure and it might smoke.
Do whatever you can to avoid bending a rubber hose. They should only be used in straight sections. If you make the rubber bend, once it gets hot, it will kink, and you'll have problems. If you want a bend, use something metal. If you use braided hose, you won't deal with this.
On the feed, it's really just a matter of screwing all the parts together. Try to avoid having the line touch the manifold at any point. If you're using a cut off nub of a stock oil feed attached to the turbo, you may need to heat it with a torch to bend it into the shape you need. A pair of vise grips plus a vise may negate the necessity of the torch.
STEP 5: Air Mass Meter Relocation
Changing the location of your Air Mass Meter isn't an absolute necessity, but a very good idea. If you leave the air mass meter where it is, it's subject to oil floating through the intake system. Turbos always leak a very tiny amount of oil into the intake, because they're full of high pressure oil and they blow lots of high pressure air right on the other side of the shaft seals. That means it may get to your Air Mass Meter and ruin it.
The best idea is to avoid this via relocating the Air Mass Meter to the suction side of the turbo, as Volvo did on stock turbo cars.
But if you have a 240, it's on the wrong side of the engine bay, and the wires attached to it are attached to a lot of other wires. This presents a quandry: Do you cut the Air Mass Meter wires to facilitate sliding them through the wiring sheathing to get them to the other side of the engine bay, or do you carefully separate the entire wiring harness in the engine bay and move the AMM wires that way.
I chose the former, and didn't have any noticeable issues. It's as simple as labeling the wires, cutting them near the AMM connector, and sliding them carefully back through the sheath by pulling from near the firewall plug from which they emerge on the passenger side of the car (LHD cars).
The black ground wire may be attached to somewhere else in the bay, such as the intake manifold, so make a note. You may need to extend it with your own wire. Do not use smaller wire to do this. When you extend a wire, you generally need larger gauge (which is a smaller number i.e. 12 gauge is larger wire than 16 gauge) to prevent it from unexpected losses, resistance, and possible fires.
It's a good idea to solder the AMM wires back together and shrink wrap them. But you can always use connecting terminals. Just be absolutely sure you insulate any exposed metal from all the other wires and from the body, because if one of those shorts, you can ruin your engine computer system.
Reroute the AMM wires to the right side of the engine bay. I passed mine underneath the top of the right strut tower.
STEP 6: Intake modification
To be finished later.
Last edited:
