Keyless Entry Powers ACTIVATE!

I installed keyless entry on Roon tonight.  Did a bunch of other stuff too, but that was the high point of the evening.  And while I was typing this, decided to make a tutorial/guide on turbobricks to make it easier for others to do the same, right here. (you will probably have to have an account and be logged in to view it)  Short version in the pic to the right.
I found out that I have to do some rewiring as well.  Turns out that the wires from the old harness aren't supplying 12v switched like I thought they would be, so now I don't have a power source for my fuel pumps nor knocksense.  Also the switched power that I THOUGHT I would have for Megasquirt, wasn't.  Thus is the problem with adapting a prior harness to work with your new shit.  I've got to rewire power down the main harness anyway, so while I'm in there I think I'll fix a couple of things that came out wrong the first time around.  This is a learning experience, folks.  Next time will go much smoother, I'm sure.

AND IT RUNS!

But I'm SUCH an idiot.  Turns out it wasn't the ECU after all.  There was a fuse that I had checked, and checked again, that wasn't fully connecting and so thus it wasn't giving the ECU a full 12v.  Thing is, when I checked the pin on the ECU that this fuse supplies, it WAS giving 12v.  The only time it wasn't, was when I was trying to start the damned car.  After I got that going I almost immediately pulled the car out of the garage and put it in the side yard so I can pressure wash the engine bay again.  But first - I needed to replace the transmission mount on Betty.  So I did that.  And DAMN did that make a difference in the way Betty drives.  I can't even begin to tell you how much better it is now.

Then I cleaned up the garage and folded up the ginormous tarp that I'd laid out on the floor to keep things from messing up my parents' garage, and headed out back to work on Roon a bit.  Now that the walbro is installed and the fuel fumes are gone, I could grind off the old wastegate arm on the turbo and reweld it to where I needed it to be.  So I did that.  I'll go back tomorrow and take some pics.  I DO need to pick up a circlip or some manner of restraining device for the gate though.  Bad thing is that my braided drain hose decided it didn't want to be married to the -AN ends any longer, so now I think I'll just find some high-temp hose that will work in that location.  Fitting braided lines together without the proper tools is a HUGE pain in the ass.

And that was it for my car work today.  Accomplished a fair amount, and that makes me happy.

Bah, humbug!

Figured out today that Yellow Box, does, in fact, need a new ECU.  Apparently the fuel circuit has a tendency to blow up, especially if you aren't extraordinarily careful how you unplug the ECU.  My bad.

So I posted about needing a new ECU, then went to go work on Roon.  I got the exhaust manifold bolted up, with new studs on the T3 flange, fixed a bent stud on the turbo wastegate, and at some point decided to swap in the walbro 255lph fuel pump.  That was probably the worst idea I'd had all day.  I got the old pump out of the tank okay, and attached the walbro to the brackets all nice, but the sock and isolator on the bottom of the pump weren't staying on very well.  Anyone who has done this job knows that it takes some contorting of the pump assembly to get it back into the car, so the fact that those were kinda loose needed to be rectified.  I attempted to glue the isolator down (it goes over the sock) but I was impatient and didn't let it set long enough, so my first attempt ended with both the sock and isolator in the bottom of the tank.  After fishing those out, I decided a zip-tie lengthwise around the pump would hold things together a little better.  Well, it did...but while pushing the assembly down into the tank the fuel level sender ball popped off into the tank.

I eventually got the ball back, and tried again.  THIS time the isolator and sock came off again, only the sock didn't fall into the swirl tank area, but rather decided to float (thank god for that) off into the recesses of the tank.  I FINALLY got the fuel swished around enough (after about a half-hour or so) to bring the sock back to where I could see it - and thus grab it with my improvised tongs.  At that point I decided the isolator was the root of all evil, and tossed it aside.  I got the resulting assembly into the tank without fuss and called it a night.

I tell you though, I was ->THIS<- close to lighting a flare and tossing it into the tank a couple of times.  Now I've got to delete the main pump, replace the filter and the fuel system will be done.  It's gonna be fun to get this car complete and tuned.  I'm hoping for an honest 300hp/tq, but I'll have to be careful in 3rd gear else I'll have a transmission swap to do (and I have a stronger spare in the garage!)

More Yellow Box

Yellow box got put back together today.  Harness was reinstalled, timing was set, and it still failed to start.  I traced it down to the ecu not seeing that the engine was cranking, and found that the ecu itself might be bad.  Probably my fault since it WAS working before I started fucking with the harness.  Looking for a replacement ecu now.

Then there are a few other issues that need attention, main one being a bad heater blower motor.  I REALLY should have asked/checked this before buying it, but I figured that it was a minor corrosion issue with the fuses and/or ground.  Son of a bitch.  Anyway, I suppose it's time for me to swap one out, since I haven't EVER had to do it in nearly 20 years of Volvo ownership.  After that it needs a few minor interior pieces and some speakers.

It's a good little car, I like it.

Fixing a Yellow Box

So Yellow Box had a small engine fire.  Not my car, but now my problem to fix because I caused it.  Posted on OVT about getting a new harness, and got a hit - but when I picked up the harness it wasn't the right one.  Looks like it was for a k-jet car, not LH.  However, the ignition harness that came with it was for a bosch distributor instead of the chrysler piece of crap, so I grabbed one of my spare distributors out of my stash and installed that.  Then I went about fixing the old harness, because I looked through the records that came with the car and the harness in the car was only about 5 years old - which for a 27 year old car was FABULOUS.

While the pic of the harness LOOKS bad, it was really only singed in a few places, and only one connector was unusable (which was on the ignition harness, which I swapped).  When I cut off the sheathing the wires underneath were absolutely perfect.  Some of the insulation was slightly bonded to the sheathing, but I was able to cut it all off and make it perfect.  And then I reinstalled it.

An upside to taking the intake manifold off to get to the harness was that it revealed that the car DID, IN FACT have a vacuum leak.  The intake manifold gasket at #1 was nastified and broken (nowhere near where the fire was worst, so that wasn't the cause).  The intake tube was also melted, but I'm pretty sure THAT was due to the fire...luckily I have a spare from my maroon 245.  I picked up the parts for that today, and I should have it back together and running this weekend.

THEN I can start on the other 3 cars I have to fix...  Betty needs a transmission mount, the 850 needs a valve replacement, and Roon needs to be finished.  Sheesh.

More and more

No pics again today, I know I'm a slacker.  Not really, since I DID get a LOT done with Roon today, but I forgot my camera at home.

I got a solenoid installed into the drivers' door, so keyless entry WILL work when I get the alarm installed.  Did a little more wiring on the engine harness, still need to look up a couple of things but nothing major.  Got the exhaust nearly completed, and in fact tacked up another downpipe just to see if a different one would be any better.  It wasn't...quite, but mainly because of how I had the rest of the exhaust already completed.  I may weld it up and sell it when I get better at welding.  And I completed my fuel rail welding as well.  Finally got one that I'm not ashamed of, but now I'm worried that my welds may have gotten to hot and compromised the aluminum underneath.  I'll hook it up to air and pump ~40psi into it to make sure everything is kosher before I run fuel through it.

So that was my today, fairly productive and tomorrow I shall bring my camera along so I can document more fully my progress.

For Sale: Volvo, not on fire (at the moment)

Okay kidding, it's not for sale.  But it WAS on fire.  I was sussing out a possible vacuum leak with brake cleaner (it's flammable, so any vacuum leaks would suck fluid in and change the engine note) and pretty much coating the intake side of the engine bay of Yellow Box...  I must have sprayed down the distributor a LITTLE too much because just as I was deciding that there wasn't a vacuum leak the whole thing WOOFED up in a fireball.  I dropped the brake cleaner can and ran to the other garage for an extinguisher (I didn't realize there was one not 5 feet away) and got it out before it did too much damage.

No pics of the carnage though, I was too pissed at myself afterwards to even think of it.  I'll be doing the fixes I was planning beforehand regardless, and then making sure that the harness is still good.  I have a line on a replacement, so if it turns out that the harness needs replacing, I can get that done without much fuss.

The Yellow Box

Today I went and picked up a car for a friend.  It's a 1983 Volvo 245, sorta nicknamed 'Yellow Box.'  It had been sitting for a while and both the owners and the place they donated it to basically wanted it to go away, so the price was very right.  It definitely needs a bit of TLC before it'll be a good daily for her, but with my expertise on hand it shouldn't take much before it's ready for prime time.  I was a little worried today when driving it home, it started to have a couple of electrical issues, but about halfway home things cleared up so I'm going to attribute all of the problems it has to simply sitting too long.

Battery was nearly dead after sitting, jumping it with Betty

  I figure a good bath and an engine bay steam cleaning are in order, then I'll get it into the garage to poke around a little more invasively before providing her with a list of parts that need to be acquired before I'll feel comfortable turning over the keys.  She really wants a quirky yet reliable Volvo, and I think this fits the bill.  Apparently she fell in love (or at least a great like) with them back when we were dating, and my '79 - though she deemed it a 'scary' car - was the onus for such feelings.

It definitely needs some tailgate love, the fuse area requires a good cleansing, and I may have to get the rotors turned due to the rusticles that attached themselves to the car after sitting so long.  However the outside of the car is fairly straight, interior is somewhat rough but good in the areas that matter, and it drives pretty nicely.  Hopefully this will be the car that gives her the volvo 'bug', just like my 1981 242 did back in the day.

A big update.

I spent a couple of months basically not doing ANYTHING to either car.  I was simply driving Betty around, and my maroon 245 sat over at my parents place so long you can see it in the backyard in Google Maps.  Whoops.

The weather kindof turned bad, and I realized that if it was sitting outside I'd NEVER get around to working on it, so during a break in the weather a couple of weeks ago I cleaned out the garage a bit and pushed Roon (new name, what do you think?) inside so I could actually DO something eventually.

Since then, I've gotten quite a bit of work done, so at least my plan is coming together somewhat.  I finally started wiring up the MegaSquirt, and figured out a few things I did wrong with the alarm/keyless entry, cleaned up and painted a few odds and ends, and test-fitted a '93 850 front spoiler.  I'll include a few pics here, but for the rest hit up my flickr set for this project.

In other volvo-related news, Betty needs a tranny flush and a new speedo cable - and while I have the tranny fluid out due to the cable replacement, I might as well replace the pan gasket and do an accumulator mod...but honestly I don't know if I want to put that much work into the stupid automatic.  Maybe, but... I don't know.  I guess if I do this work it'll be easier to sell later, but I absolutely LOATHE automatics.  If it were a manual I'd have bought the parts and done the whole shebang by now.

In fact, I'm kindof keeping an eye out for an 850 wagon with a manual transmission.  Specifically, a '95 due to the fact that they weren't OBD compliant, so I can pull the computers and MegaSquirt/Turbo it without worrying about DEQ.  But that would be something to do AFTER I get Roon done and the GF's 850 fixed.  Which, will have to be soon since it has to do the DEQ thing before the end of the month and it still has a Cyl1 misfire (possibly burnt valve).  I may be able to clear the codes immediately prior to hitting DEQ so that I can fix it on my own timeline, but that may be iffy due to how quickly the code pops up after clearing.  We'll see if that's possible.

Hopefully I'll update more often now that I'm actually working on things. :D

Lots of stuff but...not.

I guess I didn't live up to my promise of being more wordy, did I?  Ah well.  I haven't really made much progress in the past week or so either, at least not on the maroon car, anyway.  I removed the intake manifold and did a little painting on the block (gold, of course).  Then we had a garage sale and most of the week was taken up by that, so no car stuff.  Until I needed to replace the heater hoses on Betty, anyway.  Then I replaced a motor mount on the 850, found a horribly ripped intercooler hose - after I'd already come home from iPd, of course - and replaced that a couple of days later...  The 850 runs MUCH better now, though we're still getting the misfire code, so a Seafoam/Chinese Water Torture is in order there.  Betty is doing well as my DD, and I'll get back under the hood of my maroon 245 shortly.  Ordered some exhaust and oil feed parts from Summit Racing the other day, so everything should be coming together nicely very shortly.

Progress happens

Wow, where to start?  Today was a VERY busy day.  Kinda burnt out from working on the car pretty much non-stop for the past couple of days, so here is the Readers' Digest condensed version.  Drilled oil drain, unplugged oil feed, finished welding exhaust, clocked turbo(need new wastegate actuator), pulled LH2.2 fuel/ignition harness, fed Megasquirt harness, possibly toasted keyless entry lock/unlock, and generally just spent a whole lot of time with my hands dirty today.  I'll be more wordy tomorrow, I promise.

I can weld!

Today was a volvo-filled day.  Went out to another OVT members' place and pulled some parts for Betty (wiper motors and a cluster), then came home, loaded Betty up with parts for the '86 and went over to the parental units for some welding action.  Father picked up a Lincoln 125, so now I'm learning how to weld.  My first project?  Full 3" exhaust for the '86 (I've really GOT to name that car now that Betty has a name.  Any suggestions?)  My first few welds sucked, and I was practicing on my 3" cat and muffler, so that wasn't good.  The old downpipe I pulled from Betty was cracked after the collector, so I thought I'd try welding that up.  Took me a little while to get the hang of it, and I really need a welding table of some kind as well as better lighting, but overall it turned out fairly well.  I then went ahead and tacked up the rest of the 3" exhaust and put hangers on it, then checked to see how it looked under the car.

Not too shabby if I do say so myself.  Sits up nice and tight, and doesn't bang against the body anywhere, so...bonus.  After this pic I took it off the car so I could finish welding it up after I get a bit more practice, but that is where it shall be from now on.  Welding is fun!

Testing

I updated the comments stuff in the backend, so I wanted to see if it also made a post to my facebook page.  We shall see!

And we're legal!

Took some paperwork down to the DMV today, and $193 later, we have plates, tags and should get the title in the mail sometime in the next couple of weeks.  I think thus far I've paid more for the title issues for this car than I paid for the car!  Sheesh!  Got the plates mounted as well - went for a slightly less than stock location for the front plate.  I think it looks pretty good, so I did the same on the '86, though I didn't take a pic of that.  Then I did some mock-upping of the exhaust on the '86, and found that where I was going to put the cat and muffler wouldn't work under the car, so I had to rearrange my plans there.  Not a big deal really, I'll just need more 3" straight pipe than I originally thought.

Then I figured out a side exit mounting point, installed the new master cylinder, put on 400-series side markers (Sorry Michael! I'll show you how to do them though, it's REALLY easy), and started installing a keyless entry system.  Got that to the point where it'll flash the lights, but I needed my manual to tell me where to splice into the door lock system to actuate that and I left the manual at home.  D'oh!  I'll bring it with me tomorrow.

Spare 245 takes over DD status

A few things since the last time I updated.  Got a trip permit for the 85 (which I have since christened 'Beige Betty'), got it through DEQ, figured out the titling issues, installed different wheels, plugged the roof rack and antenna holes, got a couple of trim peices, and did some painting.  It's actually looking quite not bad now:

So as it sits it has taken over as my DD, while the issues with the maroon '86 (which I have not named as of yet) get sorted out.  Parental units have returned, but the motorhome has not blocked my access quite yet so I have some time to get the '86 worked on.  Father bought a welder, I brought out my collection of 3" pipe bends, cat and muffler, and found that I need very little if any cutting to happen to get a full 3" exhaust on the car.  So that shall be my project for the next week - learning how to weld (on a Lincoln 125), and then using that skill to weld up my first exhaust.  Fun!

What else?  Well not much until I get the exhaust done.  Perhaps a drive out to Milwaukee to get some parts off of another wagon (namely lock cylinders for the '85)?  Then the kids this weekend...  I wonder what the ex will think of this car now that I've reclaimed it and fixed it up a little?  At least I don't have to depend on her to find the title any longer.

Spare 245 is now moar lower

Spent some time with the beige '85 245 today, most notable accomplishment being the installation of the cut springs out of my '86 245.  3 coils front, 2 coils rear, makes it NICE and low, as evidenced by photographic proof:

This pic shows just the front lowered, so it has a bit of a rake.  Rears were done shortly thereafter.  Not shown is the changing of brake pads, fixing of AC compressor mounts, replacement of AC seals, removal of radiator and some various PS pump mount fixings.  This car has had some serious neglect going on.  I'm pretty sure every rear bushing needs to be replaced, which is a complete contrast to the '86 245's state.  That car is in fabulous shape, so I'm glad I only paid $400 for this one.


I'll probably end up grabbing the Hydras and installing them on this car for now, as they have great tires (which I spent more on than this whole car), then finishing up stage 0 before making this my DD while I Megasquirt the '86.  I have a week to get all of this accomplished, as I'm using my parents' extra garage and when they return they'll be blocking the driveway with a HUGE motorhome.  Damnit.

Time to make the donuts!

Got a bit of work to do on the car, though I'm not sure it'll be today as the weather isn't cooperating.  I have a horrible toe-in issue that is just DECIMATING my front tires.  I thought I'd done a fairly decent ghetto alignment when I fixed my steering rack, but obviously that was not the case.  Car has been very twitchy, especially in the rain, and I've got some really bad wear on the outside shoulders.  So I think I might just head over to the parental units' abode and get that fixed somehow.  Perhaps I should read up on a better methodology on ghetto alignments first, however.

Also have to fix a part of the exhaust - that S pipe is VERY holey and thus is causing me to fail emissions testing.  At least I think that's what causing the failures.  After I replace that I'll run down to DEQ and see if that's what it is.  If not...well lets not go there quite yet because that is where things start to get expensive.  If I had a welder and a chop saw it'd be free but I don't and those two items are NOT free.

Then because of the toe issue I've got to rotate the tires, and/or get some new ones.  Again, not free.  Not to mention DEQ testing will run me about $110.  Cars are expensive!

Cars and Goals

So the current stable has a 1986 245 DL, a 1997 855 GLT, and a 1985 245 DL.  The '86 is my project DD, with coilovers and 17" wheels and a few engine and interior mods, and more stuff planned.  The '97 is the GF's daily, and other than stage 0 there really aren't that many plans for it.  The '85 currently has title issues, but I just might make it a DD while I turbo and megasquirt and otherwise wrench on the '86.

However, I'd really like something newer at some point.  So I'm thinking I might see about picking up a '95 855 Turbo.  Why not newer than '95?  Because of course I'm going to be fucking with it.  OBDII gets fairly invasive, and that starts in '96.  I want a manual car, probably megasquirted, and when you get past '96 it gets harder to make that kind of thing happen.  It's doable, but I'm on a budget and I don't mind getting my hands dirty.

Eventually I'd make the '86 a track bitch of some kind, DD my 850, sell the '85 and let the GF do whatever she wanted to the GLT.  That's what I'm thinking for now, anyway.  We'll see how this all pans out.  In the next week or two I'm hoping to get a couple of steps further with the '86 AND the '85, so expect some updates on that front in a few days.

Decision Made

Decided to make another blog for non-volvo related stuff, Drunken Ramblings.  No content as of yet, mainly because I'm not drunk.  Working on it though.

What was once lost, now is found.

I completely forgot that I set this up so many many moons ago.  I suppose I can thank Josh Evans for posting on his, which made me realize that I too, have a blogger page setup.  I haven't used my livejournal in ages, probably because of a shitstorm that happened about 2 and a half years ago.  After that I locked it down to friends only, then decided that I did not in fact need to write about my life every day or so.

But, you know, life goes on, and things change.  Perhaps I'll start again, maybe here, maybe on a more personalized page - because this one is a little volvo themed.  Then again, I'm a little volvo themed.\

Stay tuned.