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Canadian 1984 244 DL B21A/B6304 project log.

I don't need a head I can't use though :(.
That's their regular pricing, so I can go back any time and grab another one if I want. I still have the B6304 block I was going to build up, and the S40 4-cylinder turbo engines have an 83mm bore, so I might just go back to my original plan. Piston/rod combos go for $16, and apparently it's necessary to pull them from a block if you want fair pricing, so I might just pull some.
 
Spent 4 hours at the junkyard pulling a T6 out of an S80, stripping it down so it was just the bottom end with no alt, etc, so it would be charged as a cylinder block at the local scrappers. Turns out they still counted that as a full engine and wanted $300. F**k no. All that work for nothing :(. I left it behind because their 'block' definition means no pistons, crank, rods, or anything else. WTF. Who do they expect is going to go to a junkyard and spend a full day pulling an engine, then stripping it down to nothing. I'm kinda peeved.

Also, the machine shop charged stupid money to redrill the front hubs, so I guess it's just been one of those weeks.

Kenny U Pull I guess?

They are getting harder and harder to deal with. They had much better pricing and rules when they opened some years ago. I almost grabbed the manager by the neck the last time I was at their Sherbrooke's JY.
 
Yep, Kenny-u-pull Ottawa. Prices have gone sky high lately, and their new policies suck ass. $300 for a head/block wouldn't be bad...but for just the block, no way. I guess if I want to build a boosted engine, I'm going to need to do it the long way and slap some pistons/rods into that spare B6403S I got from you.
 
the T6 S80s are getting hard to find. Last one I saw was $300 and even in town but had 285k miles. Decided that was too much. I'm not really in a hurry.
 
Yep, Kenny-u-pull Ottawa. Prices have gone sky high lately, and their new policies suck ass. $300 for a head/block wouldn't be bad...but for just the block, no way. I guess if I want to build a boosted engine, I'm going to need to do it the long way and slap some pistons/rods into that spare B6403S I got from you.

I pulled out a B6284t from an S80 last fall at Kenny-u-Pull here in Sherbrooke and it cost me like $265 for the complete engine minus the accessories.

I think that the price of scrap metal went up a bit so that may be the reason for the price increase on heavy parts?
 
No clue. I know they've got different prices depending on area now, and some yards in QC have 'Premium' prices for the newer stuff, but $300 for a block and pistons when a complete (minus accessories) is the same price is crazy talk. If I was going to use the head, it's a great deal...but for something that I'm going to throw away, it's a waste of money.
 
Since I'm planning on trying to make the Club Volvo Quebec mega-meet at Blainville Volvo, I decided to tackle a few things. I re-installed the electronic boost controller and picked up a Derale inline thermostat for my transmission cooler. I'll get to the cooler tomorrow because I just wasn't in the mood to make a mess of ATF tonight.
 
Got a bit bored so I decided to set up the SpeedySim I got from DIY-EFI in the UK. It's basically the same as the MS2.2 stimulator except it runs Ardu-stim and uses an Arduino Nano as the processor. It confirmed that my speeduino build is good, so now I just need a harness.

A6YbKQdY_o.jpg
 
I just noticed this project today for the first time. I love what you're doin. Keep at it.

Does the aristo trans have the same bellhousing bolt pattern as the b6304 or will you need to adapt it?
 
Since I'm planning on trying to make the Club Volvo Quebec mega-meet at Blainville Volvo, I decided to tackle a few things. I re-installed the electronic boost controller and picked up a Derale inline thermostat for my transmission cooler. I'll get to the cooler tomorrow because I just wasn't in the mood to make a mess of ATF tonight.

Wasn't that meeting cancelled because of the bad weather? I hope you didn't drive down to Blainville for nothing! :-(
 
I just noticed this project today for the first time. I love what you're doin. Keep at it.

Does the aristo trans have the same bellhousing bolt pattern as the b6304 or will you need to adapt it?

Thanks man :).

Yep, all the A340/AW30-40 transmissions have the same bellhousing bolt pattern, so it's just a matter of swapping bellhousings and torque converters over. There are apparently some changes in converter spline pitch at some point, but all the 'volvo' parts interchange with the 'toyota' parts, so a hybrid box can be made easily.
 
Thanks man :).

Yep, all the A340/AW30-40 transmissions have the same bellhousing bolt pattern, so it's just a matter of swapping bellhousings and torque converters over. There are apparently some changes in converter spline pitch at some point, but all the 'volvo' parts interchange with the 'toyota' parts, so a hybrid box can be made easily.

That's really clever. I've had my eye on a whiteblock swap for a while now and the aristo trans seems like a great budget trans to go behind it.
 
Even the base 960 transmission is tough as nails. It's the same as the non-turbo MkIV supra boxes, and with the accumulator delete/line pressure increase, they hold 400+ft/lbs. The Aristo/Supra version has some extra clutches, and an extra solenoid for controlling the accumulator backfill as well as line pressure...but the volvo valve body can swap right in without issues if required.

Honestly though, considering people throw the aristo A341e transmissions away 'because auto', they're a CHEAP way to hold lots of power. Be sure it's tagged AW30-40xx on the side though, because there's a 5-speed version that sucks balls. It is essentially the same box, but it uses a mixup of O/D and 1st or 2nd gear to make a mid-gear that is supposed to help acceleration...but only helps transmissions explode. Also, the shifter rod mounts to the opposite side of the transmission to the 960 box, so some creativity will need to be employed to make it work with a volvo shifter.
 
Even the base 960 transmission is tough as nails. It's the same as the non-turbo MkIV supra boxes, and with the accumulator delete/line pressure increase, they hold 400+ft/lbs. The Aristo/Supra version has some extra clutches, and an extra solenoid for controlling the accumulator backfill as well as line pressure...but the volvo valve body can swap right in without issues if required.

Honestly though, considering people throw the aristo A341e transmissions away 'because auto', they're a CHEAP way to hold lots of power. Be sure it's tagged AW30-40xx on the side though, because there's a 5-speed version that sucks balls. It is essentially the same box, but it uses a mixup of O/D and 1st or 2nd gear to make a mid-gear that is supposed to help acceleration...but only helps transmissions explode. Also, the shifter rod mounts to the opposite side of the transmission to the 960 box, so some creativity will need to be employed to make it work with a volvo shifter.

I am hopeful that the Aristo trans swap is successful, as that would be a good source of stout transmissions for RWD whiteblock swaps.

Now for a dumb question- on your POI-shift setup, do you get engine braking in 1,2,3, and OD? I spent the weekend with RoadRacer4Life and he has a 245 with a 2jz/A341e and a handheld electric "shifter" (push buttons for up and downshift). His car, for some reason, only has engine braking in 3rd and OD. I'm wondering if theres another solenoid that needs to be connected beside the 3 shift solenoids or something else is missing.
 
Honestly, the stock AW30-40/A340 that the 960 comes with is good for 400tq if you bump up the line pressure. The aristo box is just extra candy :).

I only have engine braking in OD and 3rd as well. It is due to the shifter position. If left in 'D', like mine is, that's just how the valve body operates. The only way to gain engine braking would be to come up with a way to use the shifter to row through the gears, instead of up/down buttons/stick/paddles. It would be pretty easy to do if you really wanted engine braking, but you'd still need buttons for O/D and lockup since the shifter only has three positions.
 
I've been having some issues with my wheel setup. The chinabay 25mm adapters I shaved down to 15mm in the front have been causing some wobble. It's my fault, because I didn't take enough care when re-drilling the pockets for the stud 'heads' and some of them are crooked. Live and learn. So I then took my spare hubs to a local engineering/machine shop to get them redrilled to 5x114.3...and they totally f**ked them up. The machinist didn't read the instructions and drilled them wrong, then redrilled them AGAIN so I had hubs with 3 bolt patterns on them now. I was going to use thread-in studs so they also tapped the holes for me...AND THEY WERE NOT DONE STRAIGHT. I had two studs that were nearly 10* out of perpendicular with the hub! I re-tapped them myself, but now I had loose thread engagement so I had to tack weld them in. They wobbled like a drunk at any speeds over 60kph. F**K.

The lesson learned is ALWAYS get a receipt. It was a cash deal, so no paper trail, and they charged me $300 to do it. The shop rate is listed on the wall as $115 CAD/hour, so this idiot wasted three hours doing the job wrong twice. I'm very certain I won't be going back.

I really like the Jeep wheels, so I sucked it up and spent on 'proper' adapters. I figured I was already into this for way more than I wanted, so why not keep spending. I bought some 5x108 to 5x114.3 (15mm) adapters from Blox, which have a 63.3 hub bore and a 73.1 'wheel side' hubcentric lip. I will be boring them out to 65.1, and cutting down the lip to 71.5 at work, because I know that I can at least use the lathe properly. At the very least I now have a set of 4 adpaters and only need two, so I have two as backups if something goes wrong.

I have to say though, I'm REALLY impressed with the Blox stuff. They sent two types of lug nut (low profile and REALLY low profile) and some little rubber caps for the inner studs to keep from scratching the wheel surface when mounted to the adapter. Fingers crossed they fix my issues...

643FsNx9_o.jpg
 
The wheel saga is over. After boring the Blox adapters out to 65.1mm, and cutting the hubcentric lip down to 71.5mm...they're a perfect fit. I just got back from a test drive, and I'm calling it a win :). There's still a weeeeeeeee bit of wobble, but at this point it could simply be a bit of an imbalance in the wheels, too-sensitive steering transmitting too much road 'noise', or rural roads. I'm good with it the way it is.

I might hit up a local show and shine this weekend and when I come back...the megasquirt is coming out ;).
 
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