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1971 142 Turbo v2.0

For what it's worth, I had EFI injectors in a K-jet head with no issues.

I imagine it'll be okay. The body is glass re-inforced plastic so insulated and they should be cooled by a continuous flow of fuel. With the NiW rail getting to the connectors is just possible.
 
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Did you make the brackets that secure the puller fan?

[I'm very much trying to implement your cooling setup in my car if you haven't guessed by now ;) ]
 
Back when I bought the car the control cable to the thermostat was broken so I need to stop and reach under the dash to adjust the heat. When I took the B20 out it swung sideways, hit the firewall mounted thermostat, and cracked it. Heating has always been problematic with this car and bypassed for most of the years I've owned it.

I decided to better seal the back of the water pump and use this as the turbo coolant return. This is a block off plate with an -4 ORB fitting that holds the square o-ring of the coolant transfer pipe. A 3/4" NPT to -4 adapter is in the cylinder head outlet that originally fed the heater core and now feeds the turbo.


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Got the radiator in! I was somewhat surprised at how small it really is. And then I was doubly surprised when I realized I forgot to order a radiator cap.
 
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A bit more progress on the intake side of the engine.

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The bracket that holds the air filter and AMM need a little triangulation and shaping but it's coming along. After all the custom tubes and stuff are done the wiring needs a serious clean...... Holding the filter was a bit of a puzzle. In any orientation where I could use the original bolts on the AMM I couldn't plug it in or it would occupy the same space as the charge pipe. The connector between the turbo and AMM will eventually feature the PCV connection.

Based on my 6 month experience of running a cone filter DIRECTLY against the AMM, I wouldn't recommend it. I saw some crazy AFR swings which I think were attributed to the turbulence of the air as it passed the AMM instrument. All the factory installs I have viewed which use the BOSCH AMM have at least 1 to 3 diameters of straight pipe / long sweeping 90* in front of the AMM. It looks like you have the space, so you could move the AMM toward your turbo inlet. Consider well.....

Is that redblock mounted vertical? Or is that the pics playing tricks on my eyes?

I love the 142..... will keep following your progress. :nod:
 
Got the radiator in! I was somewhat surprised at how small it really is. And then I was doubly surprised when I realized I forgot to order a radiator cap.

At one point I put it up against the original radiator and it is a good bit shorter. I rationalized that by telling myself the lower portion is blocked by the front cross member and (at least in my case originally) filled with leaves and debris. I wonder if Volvo did that to get the outlet lower, but, then looking at pictures of B20F's on google, I'm reminded the water pump has that downward extension. Tfrasca's solution of cutting that cross member out and re-welding for a forward but deeper radiator looks attractive. I feel I'm at least 3 iterations behind him.

I just wrapped up tacking together a turbo back 3" exhaust. I still need to get hangers in and cut the downpipe at the transmission for a flange, but, it's getting closer. I'm taking a break from that and returning to the intake side.

I know, it's odd those caps come separate...
 
Based on my 6 month experience of running a cone filter DIRECTLY against the AMM, I wouldn't recommend it. I saw some crazy AFR swings which I think were attributed to the turbulence of the air as it passed the AMM instrument. All the factory installs I have viewed which use the BOSCH AMM have at least 1 to 3 diameters of straight pipe / long sweeping 90* in front of the AMM. It looks like you have the space, so you could move the AMM toward your turbo inlet. Consider well.....

Is that redblock mounted vertical? Or is that the pics playing tricks on my eyes?

I love the 142..... will keep following your progress. :nod:

That's good advice on the AMM. The filter has a little snout/tube built into it that's about 1 diameter long. I can definitely keep moving the AMM towards the turbo until I run out of space to put the vacuum port for the breather system and if I keep the filter in the corner that might get me another 2 diameters. I could also completely change the aspect ratio and use something similar to this

I'm reusing the filter from v1.0 and it was attached to the AMM in the same way with both located in a worse spot. In that system it was over by the hood hinge for maximum hot air intake. The engine ran okay with the occasional tip in stumble. I now know one injector was badly leaking, but, it could have been compounded by this or fuel flow. While not a final answer if things are behaving weirdly and the hood is still off I can add a long pipe up in that corner and put the filter on that. If it works better then I can figure something out.

And, yes, the engine is mounted vertical. I'm using the original M41 transmission (for now). Amusingly, the clutch cover is the transition from imperial to metric fasteners.
 
Based on my 6 month experience of running a cone filter DIRECTLY against the AMM, I wouldn't recommend it. I saw some crazy AFR swings which I think were attributed to the turbulence of the air as it passed the AMM instrument. All the factory installs I have viewed which use the BOSCH AMM have at least 1 to 3 diameters of straight pipe / long sweeping 90* in front of the AMM. It looks like you have the space, so you could move the AMM toward your turbo inlet. Consider well.....

Did a little playing with the layout and cardboard last night. If I stack things tightly and go with the alternative filter I can get a small gap for crankcase vacuum and put the AMM about 2.5 diameters from the filter opening. This filter also has a bigger "plate" so there's an inherent 90* turn in the air.

Looks like the radiator overflow can is going to end up on the firewall as that's the last spot of space I have. If I end up needing a crankcase catch can maybe that bracket can do double duty. Now I'll need to figure out where I can put the rivnuts...
 
Figured you'd like to have these... From the 2008 XXX meet. I was driving the blue flathooded silver 245 Turbo back then.




I was the car between Slobodan's yellow 245 Diesel and the 242GT owned by dirt-dogg Sean, as seen here, looking from where you had your 142 parked.
 
Figured you'd like to have these... From the 2008 XXX meet. I was driving the blue flathooded silver 245 Turbo back then.



Thanks - that's a blast from the past. Back in 2006-2008 time frame I think I just transitioned from borrowing my girlfriends digital point and shoot to an iPhone 1. All/most of the pictures I took I think ended up on some CD-ROM that got buried someplace. That picture nicely encapsulate much of the bodge it took to get that thing running:

  • hot air intake (that's mounted directly to the AMM)
  • rando braided hose for the CBV (which I still suspect I got backward...)
  • those terrible Shuck's universal radiator hoses...
  • the limitless profusion of T-bolt clamps
  • so many Ace Hardware plumbing fittings
  • ancient turbo from 1989
 
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I just got done reading through this fun thread. It sounds like you're learning from your mistakes and not scared to post about it. That's the stuff the kind of stuff that helps everybody! Keep it coming. I'm sure it's going to be a fun car.

The part where you talk about the car being so much fun back in the day then regrettably taken down for too many upgrades hit me straight in the heart. I ruined a 245 that way a few years ago. Despite being a huge rust bucket from the day I bought it, it was very good to me. It took me and my friends everywhere and handled pretty well. Then my young and dumb self just couldn't be happy with that, so I tried to LS swap it. :barf: Part of me wishes I Frankensteined it back together, but I know it never would have been the same. Good luck!
 
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Progress - but nothing that's particularly dramatic or photogenic:

  • finished welded cold side charge pipes, leak checked, fixed leaks, and painted satin black (the last refuge of learning welders)
  • finished welded the alternator bracket and the bracket for the remote mount oil filter. Painted same and installed them "for the last time." In the process I discovered I can't worm the alternator past the turbo and onto the bracket. When/if this alternator fails I'm sure future me will look back on this post ruefully.
  • built some other sundries like a throttle cable bracket, painted, and installed that.
  • purchased the 4 most promising coolant overflow bottles off Amazon and I think I have a winner. The only downside is while the description says 'black' but the bottle is actually black with green metallic flake. Although it's actually a really nice paint job it'll probably get a coat of satin black at some point.
  • Added a vacuum manifold as the B21F manifold has only 4 bosses. One is inaccessible because of the brake booster stalk and another is dedicated to the large bore brake booster hose. I want to avoid the plumbing aisle collection of brass t-fittings and unions as seen in previous posts. This fits perfectly on one of the fuel pump cover bolts.

More interestingly, I've gone ahead and (re)done the air intake - thanks to everyone's good advice.

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That's a 45* 60-70mm reducing coupler with almost all the straight bits cut off, to a section of 2.75" tube then the rest. Looking into the tube from the AMM side toward the filter there is no point where the filtering element is directly visible. This and the vestigial "trumpet" molded into the filter body should straighten out the airflow. It's about 2.5x diameter to the flange of the AMM. With the bigger diameter it has about 90% the area to the previous filter.

The crankcase vacuum source is a jam nut that I drilled out and then tapped to 1/2" NPT. After a little angle grinding it sat on the tube well enough to be welded in. I want to try routing that hose down along the front of the engine behind the crank pulley where the front harness used to be versus up over the cam cover and through the intake legs. We'll see what the alternator says about that when it's back in.

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Hot side charge pipe just clears the air intake. The newer version uses a bigger diameter tube in that section and sits a little taller so it has the standard clearance of ~1/8". One side will likely need a bit of stick-on neoprene post paint because this will hit. No pictures yet, but, that pipe has also been finish welded, checked, and is ready for paint.
 
I just got done reading through this fun thread. It sounds like you're learning from your mistakes and not scared to post about it. That's the stuff the kind of stuff that helps everybody! Keep it coming. I'm sure it's going to be a fun car.

The part where you talk about the car being so much fun back in the day then regrettably taken down for too many upgrades hit me straight in the heart. I ruined a 245 that way a few years ago. Despite being a huge rust bucket from the day I bought it, it was very good to me. It took me and my friends everywhere and handled pretty well. Then my young and dumb self just couldn't be happy with that, so tried to LS swap it. :barf: Part of me wishes I Frankensteined it back together, but I know it never would have been the same. Good luck!


Thanks for the kind words. I figure, I might as well post up the good, the bad, the dead ends, and the parts links where I can. Not everything can be a youtube montage with slick beats and mitered joints that fit air tight every time.

Young dumb self for sure, but, no amateur tinkerer jumps into an engine swap because they know what they're in for. The chance for the first answers working is just way too small and the energy and enthusiasm to try the 3rd or 4th answer is sometimes just too hard to find. It's also so all at once. Instead of having a running car and doing an upgrade or two at a time suddenly its all on the table from custom intercooler mounts to charge pipes to figuring out a whole downpipe and exhaust.

I also think that as time has passed technology and solutions have slowly (or suddenly) gotten better. In 2004-5 (?) a clutch for an 8 bolt flat flywheel with M41 center splines that was good-ish for 300ft/lbs was the 6 puck kevlar clutch from SPEC. From second gear up it's remarkably streetable but in stop and go traffic it's: rev to 3k, bump clutch, creep forward. There just never seemed to be a good slip point. Now, offerings are dramatically improved for a wider range of transmissions. It's out of scope right now to pull all that apart too what goes back in has the chance of being a lot nicer to live with.
 
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The thermostat in the engine is stock at 87C and I'm thinking about when to trigger the electric fan. The sensor is on the outlet of the radiator so it will see the temperature drop across the radiator to. Moving the temperature down will, essentially, add some feed forward to the cooling control system. My gut says 82C on 74C off is a good place to start.
 
Progress continues:

  • Fitted the Yoshifab oil return. After a thread on how hard/easy that was to install I gave it a long thermal soak in the deep freeze (-2*F). Taking it out condensation immediately freezes on the part, the thread locking compound becomes very thick when it hits the metal, and the sleeve slips in without even a tap. 24hr later it seems very well secured. To their point I'll definitely use a counter hold when taking fittings on and off.
  • Installed the alternator and tensioned up the belts. Seems secure and significantly less flimsy than any previous revision.
  • Finish welded the hot side pipes and painted that. It's a race between attractive welds and the end of the project. Just an amazing amount of work for, essentially, 3 weird shaped pipes.

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I'm oddly pleased that the EGR had the same thread as an oxygen sensor and ended up with just a block off bung. Nicely simple and feels similar to the 3/4-16 threading in the block for the oil filter. I was able to re-purpose an -8AN aluminum bulkhead as an "all thread" tube that after a little trimming it was the exact right length for the spin on adapter.

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Massaged the 90+ manifold to accept an angled flanged turbo. I started with skimming the flange off a Yoshifab exhaust nut to reduce the cutting but that reduced the straight-thread portion enough it was extremely challenging to start. The nut shown is a de-flanged at full thickness and is 12mm flat to flat. There is just enough room to drop a 4" cutoff wheel between the flange and runner #4 (won't say runner #4 doesn't have a few shiny bits...) and to put the hub directly above the stud hole to carve an arc where the points need to travel. Feeling across the wall it still feels pretty thick as the casting flares to enter the flange. I'm also not expecting 200k-miles out of this. There is also a very small crack on the back of the collector that I'm prepared just not to see for now.

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Lastly I've ended up with a pair of exhaust housings. On the left is the 18T compressor and center section that's going into the car. On the right is the turbine housing from a blown turbo I bought off craigslist for mockup. This turbo sucked something into the compressor (which was die-ground and "polished" to within an inch of it's life so no markings) while bolted into some DSM chassis. Any idea what turbine side was factory ported? Looking at it I'm inclined to swap exhaust housings as it goes on.
 
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Picking things up again after a busy month of other stuff and starting to plumb up the turbo. I'm using Earl's Auto-Fit and Auto-Flex hose and the fitting assembly is an absolute beast. I've done -6 and -8 and those go fine, but, everything from getting the nuts over the tube to getting the threads started has been a complete bear. This normal and I just need to work harder? Tips and tricks?

Honestly, this seems straight forward but the pieces just fit together with a significantly more force than feels "right".
 
The hose ferrule is LH thread so CCW to tighten on the hose. I wrap the hose with 2 revolutions of electrical tape, cut at the center of the e tape wrap to contain all the SS braid. Clean the inside of the hose, and assemble the ferrule. Then using a round tool, screwdriver shaft, to push the hose around in the ferrule until its tidy on the inside. Then I'll chuck the HOSE in the vice with V soft jaws, and hold a wrench on the ferrule. Then lube the **** out of the fitting and grease the threads before assembling. Make sure the hose doesnt twist in the vise and tighten the fitting to the ferrule with 2 wrenches.
 
That's pretty close to my technique: wrap in tape, cut square with cutoff wheel, unwrap, slide into ferrule. Then I put the fitting in the vice and push the ferrule onto that (with everything well lubed up), get a few threads started by hand, and then swap the ferrule into the vice and spin the fitting while making sure not to push out the hose.

The -6 and -8 went great, but, wow, the -4 is a mission. My hose OD is 0.456 whereas Earl's specifies 0.436. Taking the diameter at a couple of locations the 0.456 is pretty consistent. 0.020 is a pretty big delta and would definitely tighten things right up. I'm not sure what the tolerance of braided line is suppose to be.



The hose ferrule is LH thread so CCW to tighten on the hose. I wrap the hose with 2 revolutions of electrical tape, cut at the center of the e tape wrap to contain all the SS braid. Clean the inside of the hose, and assemble the ferrule. Then using a round tool, screwdriver shaft, to push the hose around in the ferrule until its tidy on the inside. Then I'll chuck the HOSE in the vice with V soft jaws, and hold a wrench on the ferrule. Then lube the **** out of the fitting and grease the threads before assembling. Make sure the hose doesnt twist in the vise and tighten the fitting to the ferrule with 2 wrenches.
 
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