welding project Juular's Scandi Noir. Volvo C70, 240 &122. Worst job ever.

[juular]

14 hours ago, Shirley Knott said:

I can attest to the J&R stuff being ok, I fitted a reluctor ring and boot from them to my P2 V70 and was suspicious of the low prices too- The ring was £2.50 IIRC. A year or so on though and no issues thus far

That is reassuring, thanks! I didn't even give them an initial glance at that price but nobody has said a single bad word about them yet. If it lasts me a year or two it'll be worth that price and then some.

[juular]

Doing a few jobs while waiting on the new brake caliper.

The GT version of the C70 drives a lot stiffer than the equivalent V/S70 but the open subframe bushes still have a habit of giving the car a boaty feel sometimes especially on uneven road. 

These ones.

These poly inserts are pretty cheap and are supposed to help a lot.

You just undo the bolts and smack them in, then replace the bolts.

 

Got some help.

Not a very exciting photo but I replaced every vacuum hose on the car with fuel hose and new clamps.

In the process I snapped the shitty PCV pipe under the dizzy. BAWS.

These cars are full of excellent design choices that make working on them almost pleasant. This is not one of them, the plastic is the consistency of eggshell and is strapped around the front of the hot engine. Its awesomely shit.

And if the PCV system gets buggered the engine tends to shit it's seals at the gearbox end.

Repairing that is a manifold off job. Sod that, I just bodged on some heater hose which works perfectly and will probably last 10x longer.

 

The manual boost controller seems to have gotten lost in the bowels of ParcelFarce. A working OEM turbo control solenoid was sourced from Volvo graveyard land, and plumbed in.

And finally..  

SPORTS

Behold! The shonkiest most autoshite boost gauge install ever.

The wanky gauge was supplied with the most miserly amount of cheap shit hose so it barely reached to that location.

I've run it off the very helpful vacuum tree manifold thing Volvo have provided. I put it through some spare heater hose to protect it from the heat of the engine.

And more excellent Volvo design was used.. the thoughtful cable entry pipe that goes into the footwell. No drilling holes on this car.

 

Gauge shows around 20 inHg vacuum at idle which is bang on the money. Which means I at least remembered to put all the hoses back on.

Yes I will be sacking that gauge off... as soon as I know the pressures are correct.

[big_al_granvia]

those poly bush inserts look good as our v70 despite being 4wd handles like a oil tanker

[juular]

9 hours ago, big_al_granvia said:

those poly bush inserts look good as our v70 despite being 4wd handles like a oil tanker

Biggest difference I think comes from the uprated thicker anti roll bar and stiffer springs. You can also fit the subframe brace from the soft top (not coupe) c70 to any 70 series / 850 and it's supposed to make a massive difference.

[juular]

Stuff finally came. I made a start on replacing the passenger side brake hose which is knackered.

You know what happens when you try to undo an old brake hose..

20 odd years of rust and a soft brass fitting means out with the Grindr.

I can't flare that with my press type flaring tool without straightening it, but thankfully that tool also does an excellent job of straightening pipes when clamped on in the right place.

Lovely.

New caliper, happy happy.

I then went a wee drive and treated her to a  £5 wash.

Drives like a brand new car, properly worth all the effort.

Getting around 11psi of boost now, a right good old shove in the back. Absolutely smashing. No hesitation, all go.

Unfortunately the saga is not over as the ABS and TRACS fault has not gone away..

Hmm.

[juular]

Hopefully I now have a diagnosis on the abs fault.

I ran a live graph of the  wheel speeds which I think rules out all sensors and reluctor rings.

I then went through all the other live data of switches and sensors, all of which looked right. So the abs module is definitely ok.

However as I was doing that I noticed the value for the brake pressure switch very occasionally flickered between off and on.  That relates to the fault code it's throwing.

Pulling the switch plug and bridging the pins and seeing the value change on the screen pretty much rules out all the wiring too.

So.. that all leads to the pressure switch itself.  Despite working 100% correctly at a standstill it goes a bit mad as soon as you start driving.

They are a discontinued part.. nice.

[juular]

Yaaas.

New old part found. Plugged in.

All good now.. no ABS light!

@big_al_granvia I really recommend those subframe inserts. The steering is sharper than ever and no front end wander to speak of now.

https://www.partsforvolvosonline.com/product_info.php?cPath=2_546_385_387&products_id=8783&osCsid=9ac933a25816d7fd99a2edca669a964b

Or  eBay:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/283070677478?hash=item41e853c1e6:g:5jYAAOSwPktf82D5

[Ian_Fearn]

I always enjoy reading this thread. Thanks and keep up the good work 😁

[juular]

Do you want the good news or the bad news?

The good news is I have rekindled my enthusiasm for tinkering with orange metal.

The bad news. Ahem.

I have been loving the C70. It has been driving like an absolute dream. The boaty sluggish barge has been turned into a luxurious yet perky and tight handling thing. Job done..

Then I went to floor it away from a roundabout onto a dual carriageway.. TAPTAPTAPTAPTAP!

One of the most toe curling sounds you can imagine from an engine 

Let's take a look..

Yes, that's not straight any more.

That's #1. Here's #4 for comparison.

I guess I'll be taking the head off then..

While I listen to 'bend it like bender'.

 

 

 

[juular]

And the smoking gun.

[big_al_granvia]

i'm not a expert but that looks fuckig fukeed mate..... 

[juular]

 

[juular]

1 hour ago, big_al_granvia said:

i'm not a expert but that looks fuckig fukeed mate..... 

It'll be reet.

Excuse to upgrade m9.

[juular]

Rear engined Volvo?

@Lacquer Peel was on hand to bag and label parts and basically take over whenever bolts got stuck / inaccessible or I started dying in the heat.

We had a very lucky escape with this head bolt, which came out with about 1mm of metal holding it together. I barely touched it and it fell apart.

Bags o' pistons.

It's hard to tell with it out, but #1 is definitely distorted.

And here just under the wrist pin looks like where it has been catching the crank counterweight.

Everything else looks good.. valves, bearings and cylinders. So I'll replace / upgrade the connecting rods and rebuild it.

[Lacquer Peel]

The hardest part of the job was removing one 10mm bolt holding a water pipe to the head, otherwise it was quite easy to work on. 

[SRi05]

While the rest of us would still be sobbing on the hard shoulder browsing the classifieds, the bold @juular casually whips the engine out and thinks "I'll rebuild that the morra" 

A modern AS hero 

[somewhatfoolish]

Any clue why it bent?

[juular]

2 hours ago, somewhatfoolish said:

Any clue why it bent?

Detonation, it has overboosted.

Previously the engine was behaving a bit odd, I was getting a surge on full throttle that would quickly die off - hence the hesitation I was trying to fix.

My theory is that the broken /stuck turbo control solenoid has not been activating the wastegate properly so the engine has been seeing dangerous spikes of boost (hence surge) and triggering the fuel cutoff (the hesitation).  

Why it has only really shown itself now I have no idea because the new solenoid is working properly. Maybe the rods have been getting weakened over time to the point where the standard boost finally caused damage.

At any rate I want to fit my manual boost controller for a bit more oomph so this is a good opportunity to upgrade the Conrods.

These engines are basically bulletproof, but the stock Conrods don't really handle much more than the standard boost level before going banana shaped.

[somewhatfoolish]

Pretty tough anyhoo seeing it didn't stick a leg out the bed.

[juular]

3 minutes ago, somewhatfoolish said:

Pretty tough anyhoo seeing it didn't stick a leg out the bed.

It's a Volvo.. over on the Volvo forums some recommend just to keep driving it until the bits that are hitting each other just wear away and the noise stops!  And I probably could, because it still runs perfectly - I drove it home like this.

I'm no expert and this is the first time I've ever done this stuff, but from what I can see this engine is very very tidy inside for one at 135k. It's easy to see how these can comfortably do 500k+.

[big_al_granvia]

so is the plan, hone bores, new forged rods and bearings, new rings, valves out and head cleaned up, clean everything up, lap in valves, replace water pump, new bbelts, gaskets and high tensile bolts

[juular]

1 hour ago, big_al_granvia said:

so is the plan, hone bores, new forged rods and bearings, new rings, valves out and head cleaned up, clean everything up, lap in valves, replace water pump, new bbelts, gaskets and high tensile bolts

This is autoshite, it'll take what it's given 😄

The belts and pump are already new, the oil has hardly done 1k. The bearings are mirror finish. I'll stick some new rods in, new gasket and bolts and run it.

If it complains I'll be putting in a VW 5 pot diesel and a ronbox.

[juular]

Dismantled the pistons for cleaning and to measure the Conrods so I can order replacements.

Here is the best view of the shape of #1.

And where the knock is coming from.

On first inspection the bearings looked good, but after a wipe down I reckon they probably could do with being changed while I'm here.

On the plus side the crankshaft is unmarked and clearly not bent given how smoothly it idled.

Since I'm balls deep I may as well do the piston rings too, although they look factory clean.

So far the list is:

New Conrods

Big end bearings

Piston rings

Head gasket

Head bolts

Thermostat gasket - it looks awful

Injector seals - ditto

Oil, filter and coolant.

I will clean the camshafts, crank, oil pickup and pistons. I also noticed the aforementioned PCV piping is cracked in places you couldn't otherwise see so it's good I can access this to replace it, probably with cheap fuel hose as it's way more robust.

Will be good as new.

[big_al_granvia]

great work mate, would still give the bores a quick hone with one of these https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/draper-56244-25mm-57mm-cylinder-hone/

[Saabnut]

Whilst you are in there, if you are changing the big end shells, I would change the mains as well, they will have similar wear

[juular]

6 hours ago, Saabnut said:

Whilst you are in there, if you are changing the big end shells, I would change the mains as well, they will have similar wear

That would be the right thing to do, but I'm not sure I have the will to pull the transmission off. I don't really have the right equipment or space for doing that anyway right now.

Maybe once the auto box finally dies I'll get around to it!

[somewhatfoolish]

On 7/16/2021 at 2:20 PM, juular said:

This is autoshite, it'll take what it's given 😄

The belts and pump are already new, the oil has hardly done 1k. The bearings are mirror finish. I'll stick some new rods in, new gasket and bolts and run it.

If it complains I'll be putting in a VW 5 pot diesel and a ronbox.

The AS way would be grovelling under a scrapper in mud'n'shite to extract a used rod and piston. 🤣

[juular]

The parts cannon has been fired and should land this week hopefully.

While access is good I've decided to have a look over some potential niggles / do preventative maintenance.

The PCV oil separator is a common source of problems as the ports on the block gunk up and cause major crankcase pressure.

As mentioned the plastic pipes are utter shit and break with nay more than a snide glance.

Pulled the box off and gave it a good clean through.

Cleaned out the ports on the block.

While I was in there I found a sneaky vacuum hose for the evap system that dated to medieval times.

Replaced that and a few other dodgy looking hoses.

Also found a minor coolant hose split that was about to get a lot worse. It also seems my oil pan and cam cover have been leaking a bit. I think this all happened at the right time really.

 

[juular]

Still waiting on autodoc sending the stuff they promised me last week.

In the meantime I've been doing the prep so I can get everything back together as soon as it arrives.

Cam cover and inlet manifold got a scrub.

Scrubbed the cams with ATF then brake cleaner, then fresh oil rubbed in to the contact surfaces.

Pistons went for a bath.

I have decided not to replace the piston rings on the back of if it isn't broke, don't fix it. The cost of this could easily spiral if I replaced everything worn.

The pistons and rings look excellent, no signs of wear or damage.

Connecting rods arrived. These were carefully selected for their ability to PEED.

The jury is out on how much PEEDING is feasible but I have my mind set that only MAXIMUM PEEDING will do.

Pistons separated and rebuilt, oiled up with clean oil.

I numbered them and I added the relevant number of cable ties to each, just belt and braces so I don't mix them up.

I then set about cleaning the head including all the gasket surfaces. I numbered the tappets as they were bound to fall out.

The valves look valvey. Nothing really to note. Certainly no damage.

Hopefully will have this back on the road soonish.

[juular]

Autodoc messed up and sent me the wrong bearings - I got a set of main bearings rather than big end bearings. 

I've ordered another set next day delivery from PFS, although it went in at 14:57 so here's hoping that counts as ordered before 3pm.

I finished off the boring prep work.

Scrubbed every gasket surface.

I then made a custom vacuum attachment to clean out all the passageways and holes.

Then an attachment for the attachment.

Wiped and oiled the bores.

Cut a slot in one of the old head bolts and chased down the threads. Some amount of shite came out.

I then cleaned and oiled the bottom end. I also filed down the counterweights where they were damaged.

I used the narrow vac pipe on every oil feed hole and sucked through a bit of oil. This was a good idea as a big bit of cleaning pad had lodged in one of the journal feeds.

Replaced the injector seals. They weren't very healthy.

New.

That's it pretty much ready to bolt back together as soon as the bearings arrive.