Volvo 240 Rally Build

Finally got the car back together, although there were some casualties:

My original measurements for the shims and their clearances were not great so I just had to make due with the shims I got and what I already had, ended up having a few that were a bit over tolerance. 

I put assembly lube on all cam lobes and bearings. For break in I did 3x 5 min intervals holding at around 2500-3000rpm. For the first two intervals I did this with no engine load, which was really tough partially (I think) because the ecu had to adjust to the new cam. Also the throttle pedal on these cars is super light. The last interval was driving around which was obviously way easier to hold. 

From there I did an oil change. Drain plug had some tiny tiny shreddies on it, possibly from the cam. 

Test drive results in next post

The test drive verdict is in: the 4.10 diff and B cam were in fact NOT worth it.

Diff upgrade was minimal (barely noticed it tbh) but unfortunately it was not till I was already deep into this process when I learned I already had a 3.73, so at that point it didn't make sense to stop. 

Cam upgrade was a bit more noticable. Power band is much better, but still not really that rewarding to rev out. Our 325i e30's power band is what I want, at 3500 it really climbs onto the cam and starts moving, then pulls hard until 7k. In rain with summers on it will light up the rears when it climbs on the cam. Kinda sucks for rallyx but E36 M3 it's so fun. The b cam is just kinda flat after 2.5k till 5.5k, then falls off a bit. Better than falling off at 3200 like before. Peak torque/power is essentially the same. 

Overall a definite improvement, as expected, but it all took wayyy too long to be worth it. What I really should have done was an ecu swap to lh2.7 then put an actual cam in it. But what I really really should have done is bought someone else's rally car for way less than I already have put into the Volvo. 

You're sticking with it, though, right?  If not, how do you feel about... Merkurs? 

Really it's a shame that our timelines were off... a couple of years one way or the other and you might have been in prime position to pick up my RX7.

Nesegleh said:

The test drive verdict is in: the 4.10 diff and B cam were in fact NOT worth it.

Diff upgrade was minimal (barely noticed it tbh) but unfortunately it was not till I was already deep into this process when I learned I already had a 3.73, so at that point it didn't make sense to stop. 

Cam upgrade was a bit more noticable. Power band is much better, but still not really that rewarding to rev out. Our 325i e30's power band is what I want, at 3500 it really climbs onto the cam and starts moving, then pulls hard until 7k. In rain with summers on it will light up the rears when it climbs on the cam. Kinda sucks for rallyx but E36 M3 it's so fun. The b cam is just kinda flat after 2.5k till 5.5k, then falls off a bit. Better than falling off at 3200 like before. Peak torque/power is essentially the same. 

Overall a definite improvement, as expected, but it all took wayyy too long to be worth it. What I really should have done was an ecu swap to lh2.7 then put an actual cam in it. But what I really really should have done is bought someone else's rally car for way less than I already have put into the Volvo. 

But, the gearing may be better on course. I don't notice on the street when I change out my 3.73 to my 4.10 (and back), which I do depending on stage or rallycross. But on the dirt, it makes a difference....

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:

You're sticking with it, though, right?  If not, how do you feel about... Merkurs? 

Really it's a shame that our timelines were off... a couple of years one way or the other and you might have been in prime position to pick up my RX7.

I honestly didn't think the Merkur was terrible at that rallycross. Just felt like my e30 but you had to pay way more attention to what you were doing with the throttle so that took a few turns to get used to. As I recall my run with it was only about two seconds behind my prior run in my own car, and I had never driven it before. 

lol, he's complaining about torque and you're suggesting your old RX7 :)

In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :

I'm suggesting it because it had a log book, not because I thought he would enjoy driving it. 

In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :

If your serious about the Merkur I'm actually somewhat interested... Prob out of my price range though lol

In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :

Your probably right about gearing. Should be fun for rallycross. 

Nesegleh said:

In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :

Your probably right about gearing. Should be fun for rallycross. 

Of course, I run my 3.73 rear end for rallycross so I can hit 60 without shifting into 3rd. I actually like the shorter ratios better for stage. But with a lot less power and the smaller powerband, you may find the shorter gearing beneficial on the rallycross course.

Nesegleh said:

In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :

If your serious about the Merkur I'm actually somewhat interested... Prob out of my price range though lol

lol, I figured you were most looking forward to building the cage yourself and the real "rally stuff" seeing as you guys are pretty much experts at metal fabrication and welding :)

In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :

Yea 4.10 is too short for a car with power. Prefect for the Volvo tho lol. Also yea in the end stage is what I'm prepping for (even though its looking farther and farther away) so it was an upgrade, even though it doesn't really feel like it right now.

irish44j (Forum Supporter) said:

Nesegleh said:

In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :

If your serious about the Merkur I'm actually somewhat interested... Prob out of my price range though lol

lol, I figured you were most looking forward to building the cage yourself and the real "rally stuff" seeing as you guys are pretty much experts at metal fabrication and welding :)

Man at this point I have had my fun building things, I wanna drive!! Cage is a giant pain in the ass too, not something I have the time or discipline to finish in a timely fashion. Plus I still have to do literally allllllll the little E36 M3. Battery mounting and cutoff, extinguisher, fuel tank protection, etc etc etc etc

Also have other projects I'd like to take on (i.e. making one lathe out of the two we have). Plus my go kart which reallly needs a bike engine.

Finally broke it

Update: sheared a fan/water pump pulley stud, then the other ones backed out so the fan started hitting the fan shroud.

All in all a bit dissapointed I don't have to buy a nicer car now.

PS take note of how ridiculous it looks with those tires and ride height. Really needs a 4 inch drop all around ;)

doh! Sucks when you forget to tighten something....I've started to get very paranoid about that during builds after a few instances of hand-tightening stuff when fitting, and then forgetting to fully tighten it. 

How hard is it to access to drill the broken bolts out?

--

In related news, get rid of the crank fan anyhow. If you're rallying, good chance you will break a motor mount (or bump a tree) at some point and send that thing tearing into your radiator and your rally will be over. Highly recommend going electric. . 

In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :

Shouldn't be bad. Without the fan shroud there's tons of room up there to get a drill in (and if all else fails, we have a right angle drill lol).

Yea I should get an electric fan.

Productive day. Fixed the fan situation:

Bolts cut into studs, with nuts on the backside (no room to run a bolt thru from either side). Loctite blue on all the threads.

Getting the remaining studs out wasn't too bad; took a drill to the broken studs and they just unscrewed themselves. 

Also lowered the car an inch in the front, and cut another coil off the rear springs: 

Looks much better. Front is a ten minute adjustment from being ready for rallycross, and the rear sits much closer to the middle of travel than before. 

Also added some quality bumper cover supports (it almost fell off during the test drive).

Noticed something driving today. The old bone rattling shake at 2000 rpm is mostly gone with this new cam, not sure why though. 

Nesegleh said:

Noticed something driving today. The old bone rattling shake at 2000 rpm is mostly gone with this new cam, not sure why though.

Have you had the driveshaft, trans or engine mounts redone since you last noticed it?  Could also have to do with driveline bearings (in the axle) or the trailing arm bushings, I suppose.

I think you're finding the weak link the the stock B230, the exhaust side flow in the head.  It basically turns a hard 90* in the head after the valve, which gives these their "traktor" characteristics.  You'd benefit from a little port work and a valve job (with or without going to 38mm valves) on the exhaust side, I think.  Plus, the B cam is still pretty small.  H or V or K or even D would all have more linear top-end.

In reply to stylngle2003 :

I suppose it could have been something further down the driveline.

This cam/engine setup is just meant to hold me off while I sort out the rest of the car and get some seat time, hence picking the most aggressive cam that I was confident would work with LH3.1.

One day it will hopefully get a newer (not 300k mile) engine with an actual cam, bumped compression, ported head, etc.....Or a turbo.

Been dailying the car for the past couple weeks and it's doing surprisingly well. 

Some notes: no A/C sucks in traffic, my keys jingle at 2900 rpm, highway cruising at around 60-65 is at around 3100 rpm (suprisingly not E36 M3ty), the car grinds on aggressive first to second shifts (might end up launching in second for rallyx...), and grinds like a mf going into reverse unless I'm ridiculously gentle about it. New tires and ride height feel great, good grip in all conditions so far and the car feels much less boaty.

On a more interesting note I'm signed up for the July 11-12th rallyx at Panthera. In preparation I got some new parts from demontweeks:

Current springs are 2.5" ID on 2.25" spring perches, so there's some slop. This combined with coming well off the perches at full droop makes them a bit sketchy, cuz they can get cocked when the car come back down. 

So I picked up some new 12" 2.25" springs, helper springs, and couplers. Rate is still 225 lb/in. Unfortunately one of the couplers fell out of the torn box during shipping so I have to wait till they get back to me on that. Initial shipping took less than a week so hopefully I will get it before rallyx.

Surprised you didn't just mill some perch spacers to fit the 2.5" and give your dad and excuse to make some stuff with his machines :)

Our MR class is gonna be brutal this year lol.....15 cars signed up for event #1 and going down the list, I's say about a dozen of those could win on any given day!

In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :

Might still have an excuse to use the lathe for the missing coupler.

Yea.... It's gonna be a tough season for the e30.

In reply to Nesegleh :

I might have a 4" cylinder of slippery plastic behind me for lathing similar couplers...  Just be sure the car is together enough to race in 2 weeks.

In reply to lxnm :

Thanks! We should be good, plenty of stuff lying around here.