245 DL Turned Turbo Diesel!

[Slobodan]

This is my first build thread ever, though the build is mostly completed and my DD currently I don't consider it finished completely and may never be fully finished.

At any rate, I have some pictures and info to share.

This car was a freebie from my diesel mentor Chris Bogue.

This car came to me as a B21F mated to BW55 3spd auto. Then I put in a hot B23F + M47... was a decently quick swap and car... Then I finally found, bought, and installed my first diesel engine D24. The conversion was pretty easy... I ran bio on this motor for over a year and NEVER had any issues with it. however the engine was getting tired.. Never really ran perfectly smooth... getting harder and harder to start but it always started.
http://www.d24t.com/picture.php?albumid=1&pictureid=12

This last Spring I found a youngish D24T at the local JY. Nabbed it for 200$, I had to modify my 240 cross member to fit the D24T oil pan. I chose this route because I did not want to swap to D24 pan, and tap it for Turbo oil return. Didn't want to deal with it. Plus I got to make the cross member stronger. Although on Turbobricks there were a lot of negitive people out there saying I was going to get in a horrific wreck and kill somebody. My modded crossmember definately adds to making my car feel like its on rails. along with the tow bar, IPD 25/25 sways, lowering, and 17" VOXX wheels.

I also had to use the D24T M46 bell housing, the transmission does sit at an angle but its not too bad. When mounting the engine I mounted it mid way between straight up and normal D24 slant. I did this by using the D24T passenger engine mount bracket and the D24 crossmember engine mount perch with the D24T mount. All this made it possible to lift the engine higher up in the bay and give ample clearance for the turbo and frame rail.
http://www.d24t.com/picture.php?albumid=1&pictureid=7

once back on the road, a week later and it was intercooled, then 3 weeks later I put the HT182S compressor on the stock center and turbine. <---- my favorite mod. I run around 13 ~ 14 psi. enough torque to slip the new stock turbodiesel clutch assembly.
http://www.d24t.com/picture.php?albumid=1&pictureid=3

[volvo d6]

Nice! i have also a 245 turned turbodiesel and m46:) Funnt cars.

[EvoStevo]

Nice! i have also a 245 turned turbodiesel and m46:) Funnt cars.

What did you use for your oil pan? The stock D24T pan or did you retrofit the D24 pan?

[volvo d6]

I use the orginal d24 aluminium pan. It takes ten minutes to make the oil return.

[EvoStevo]

Cool, so it has been done before. Were there any issues bolting the pan to the D24T block? Also, did you plug up the dipstick tube that goes through the block or do you have two dipsticks now?


Slobodan, post some pics of your build. I know I've seen them before, but would love to check them out again. Have you done anything to it since?

[volvo d6]

original pan=original dipstick. The engine is the same so the pan fits. I used vw lt engine.

[Slobodan]

I'm working on getting my pictures found.

I haven't done much to it since... just driving it. :)

[cuaz64]

Your project is cool!

[77volvo245]

Here is a recent picture of Kevin's D24ti wagon. My GT is on the right

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z229/77volvo245/Volvo/volvo085.jpg

[Slobodan]

some assrod turned into me at a stop light and fvcked up my drivers fender!!!! AWRRRRGGGGHH ... now my car looks like sh!t.

[IceV_760]

Is it possible to fix? I hope so :/

[Jason]

Typical, right when you get your car pretty much setup how you want it.

Always something!

Jason

[Slobodan]

It is fixable. But the dude just ran.. didn't want to talk it over with me.
So I filled a police report.
And it turns out the police just sold my info to some lawyers. because now I get mailed lawyer ads.

Anyways, just the fender, and turnsignal got messed up.

[Slobodan]

Will be upgrading the IC to this soon.
http://www.d24t.com/picture.php?albumid=1&pictureid=35

[volvo d6]

Nice i also got a 79 model that is blue;) My 79 will be very like your car with d24t and na intake.

[Slobodan]

My bigger turbo is puking oil badly... and so I swapped by to low mile stock D24T turbo in hopes of not getting my new intercooler not all oily while my bigger turbo gets resealed.

Anyways, did that, and I mounted my nice new intercooler and plumbed it up with some nice piping. Looks pretty nice I might add. I will try and post pictures tomorrow.

pushing 10psi boost peaks at 12psi. power seems nice. but I don't like that stock turbo at hiway speeds kinda feels like its at the end of its run.

[77volvo245]

I wasn't sure I would see the day, Kevin clean the outside of his car:D I had my camera handy and took some pictures of his new Ebay intercooler setup. The same day Kevin pick up some yellow fenders at the local Pick in Pull and installed them on. Also he found a 16V head might be going on his 79 242 GT:cool:

http://i580.photobucket.com/albums/ss244/77volvo245turbo/VolvosOnly085.jpg
http://i580.photobucket.com/albums/ss244/77volvo245turbo/VolvosOnly083-1.jpg
http://i580.photobucket.com/albums/ss244/77volvo245turbo/VolvosOnly088.jpg
http://i580.photobucket.com/albums/ss244/77volvo245turbo/VolvosOnly087.jpg
http://i580.photobucket.com/albums/ss244/77volvo245turbo/VolvosOnly087.jpg
http://i580.photobucket.com/albums/ss244/77volvo245turbo/VolvosOnly084-1.jpg

[Jason]

I want that manifold!!!!


Looks nice, did you notice much difference with the intercooler power-wise?

Jason

[EvoStevo]

That's the same intercooler I bought. Do you think it'd be possible to clock the turbo so that the compressor outlet is facing downward? Might make the piping a bit less crowded. Looks awesome though!

[Slobodan]

That IC made All the difference in the world!

And you can clock the comp housing which ever way you want.

[Volvo_242_Diesel(Finland)]

Nice car!:)

[Slobodan]

I must be getting soft because I just spent all day rebuilding a power steering rack for my Diesel wagon. Its hurting my shoulders to turn while not rolling. I also have that tiny R-Sport wheel and huge 17" wheels to make matters worse.... Anyways YAy long live power steering!

[Slobodan]

Made another upgrade this weekend. I swapped out the old 3.73:1 1031 rear AXL for a 100k 3.54:1 1041 axl. Also swapped for the M47 5spd.

The swap was pretty easy. I recently picked up the 240 M47 driveline And the M47 itself was formally in a 740. I had to HACK the shifter hole a little bit to get the stick position correct. End result, No stupid overdrive, No skinny and weak drive line, And a better younger rear diff with speedo tone ring.

[casioqv]

Kevin, did you notice any difference in highway fuel economy going from the 3.73 to the 3.54?

[Slobodan]

Actually very little different. Don't get me wrong. It is nice. I get better acceleration from the engines torque. And revving it out doesn't really do much for getting up to speed. Its all in the size of the turbo it seems. I really am liking the stock turbo... however, I do plan on getting my hands on a new ball bearing Garrett unit to try on it. For the winter time I also removed the intercooler. my engine runs too cool anyways. And very interesting... Without the intercooler, my engine temp stays more solid and no wild fluctuations. With the Intercooler climbing a hills.. for those in the same area or know of it. Hwy 26 west out of portland, My engine temp would climb significantly. with out the IC its solid... stays fine. I did notice a tiny little power drop though. but atleast my heater is hotter now.

[casioqv]

Are your radiator, thermostat, and fan clutch in good shape? In cars that run hot uphill- especially when in boost with an intercooler at low speeds I've noticed a massive improvement swapping an otherwise good stock fan clutch for the Volvo "tropical fan clutch." It's noisy as heck when it engages, but it dropped my uphill temps in boost towing a trailer from 105C to 85C. A citric acid flush will also bring an old clogged D24 radiator back into like-new shape.

Interesting that your minimum temp is higher also without the intercooler. I can't make any sense of that- it sounds like a thermostat that isn't closing fully, but I don't see how the intercooler could affect that.

[Slobodan]

Tyler: I use an electric fan.

Not so good news. Because of the unknown history of this junkyard engine. All I know is that when I pulled it the dash said 139k. The lower rad hose had a spot worn through it. The thermostat was bad! stuck shut. The injection pump was off it, and on the window of the car it said leaky pump. parts in trunk.. nothing was in the trunk :(.
Anyways, been running in my daily driver for 2 months shy of 2 years! with no problems! Of course I put a new T-stat on it and injection pump. a year ago I put a timing belt and front crank seal on it. but No troubles at all! until last monday. I think this may be the cause of what happened.

I had to cross a flooded road to get to my destination. The water was 6 ~ 8 inches deep. I went through it slowly knowing my air filter was LOW I guess enough water splashed up and into it. It was so freaky.. I watched my boost guage max out and quickly bounce around 5 and 15 psi then my motor started KNOCKING like hell. And revving WAY high and stalling.. but not all the way.. then a couple cylinders were working and It was like that for 30 seconds I thought I shurely fucked a couple rods up. then it all cleared out and I continued very slowly on my way... Then I started freaking out... like what if when I goto start it up cold next will it even run? what if I f-ed up something? Well, all seemed well thought out the rest of this week. then yesterday I noticed my water level was significantly low! half gallon low. I shit a brick! topped it up and watched it run with the cap off, yup giezer and then bubbles! I think the water must have weakend the gasket for stretched the head bolts slightly. Or maybe the water was burning and that warped it?> either way, I need to get my 242 GT B21FT powered daily driver back. At the same time I am happy. because I want to do a head job on this motor, make it all pretty while the head is off. I'll be checking the piston to deck height.

[casioqv]

That sucks man :( It probably sucked water into the intake and hydro-locked, lifting the head/stretching the bolts. You might want to do a compression check to test for broken rings before pulling the head off.

[Jason]

Real shitty...

Jason

[Slobodan]

I'm almost positive the rings must be fine because it still starts up fine and runs smooth as it ever did.

[Slobodan]

Good news. I have gotten new head bolts, new gasket and an '83 Cylinder head to setup on my D24T.

Now I just need to finish some other projects.
like M47 swap in a 245 DL in exchange for some bike work.
Finish up this D24T swap in a 740.
Do a head gasket on a D24 and swap that motor into 265.
All that must be done before I can start in on my car.

Why do I put others before me?

[Slobodan]

well today is the day I get my 245 td out of storage and repair the head gasket!

[Slobodan]

Got the head off, everything is clean and okay looking. Put down a new head gasket and slapped on the '83 TD head and new head bolts.

Comp test turned up 50psi :(
HOW CAN THIS BE? I drove the car 55 miles to my house to fix it.
So I squirted some oil in the cylinders re tested the compression 400 450 500 500 500 600. Wow thats more like it. And then while I was bleeding the air out of the fuel lines I heard the compression go away. :( Why does this happen?

[piper109]

The rings might be a bit sticky.
When the pistons go down, the rings get pushed in a bit. If they are sticky, when they come up, where the bore is a little bigger, they no longer tightly seal.

Try putting some Marvel Mystery oil in the bores for a couple of days to try to loosen them up.

Steve

[Slobodan]

Okay well I squirted some engine oil in the intake runners, cranked it by hand. Got nice compression.
Still no starty.
I've set injection pump timing to .90mm
I've rechecked it and it was .90mm
confused and frustrated I retimed the pump to .85mm
Got it to run. but man it runs smooth! however I screwed up.
I put the engine together out of sequence; example:

Cylinder head on.
torque 15/25/33/44/55 180degree - I like to torque my head bolts in small increments and give plenty of resting time.
Performed comp test. as posted above.
put the valve cover on.
then I timed the pump. Not paying attention to the camshaft's phase.
Hence I timed the pump 180 out. damn. Atleast I figured out how I fucked up.

[Slobodan]

mini update:
Timed the pump the proper way with cylinder #1 on it comp stroke. and injection pump to .88mm
Hot damn she runs smooooooooth. and it feels like she is more responsive now rather than before I changed the head and head gasket. pump timing before the head job was about the same .85mm.
Got it all nice and hot. and did the 90degree angle torque just as the green book recommends. All I need to do now is drive it 1000 miles before the final head bolt retorque.

[v8volvo]

Glad to hear it is back on the road!

I have had to fix ones that have gotten timed 180 out too... good trick to remember is that you can tell where the cam is without taking the valve cover off -- insert the vacuum pump drive rod into its hole, and if it goes all the way in you are at #1 compression TDC... if it still protrudes out a ways then you are at #1 exhaust TDC and the cam is 180 off. Saves some time if you have one that looks like it's timed to the crank right, but you are not sure about the cam. Easy mistake to make, but at least it is an easy one to correct too. :cool:

I keep talking about a NW Volvo Diesel get-together... now that yours is back on the road, maybe once Anders gets his 244 finished up we ought to get something organized here in the Puget Sound or PDX areas. I would enjoy a chance to have a look at your cars.

[Slobodan]

hey a get together would be cool. put some faces to the screen names.

I don't have a vacuum pump on my engine. I just put the pump at #1 and rolled the crank over 1 turn back to Zero mark. and set the timing once again. Kind of blindly but Now I know how a D24/D24T will start and sound like timed 180 off. Nothing like personal experience!

I don't have a vacuum pump on this motor because I find them to be ugly and take away from the serviceability. since most the servicing that needs done requires you to remove the vacuum pump. Plus it blew up on me. my brakes work pretty well with out it aswell. I am tempted to rig up the cruise control pump from a 740 to turn on every time I hit the brakes so I get heater vent control. but don't know.

[Jason]

No vac pump? My brakes sucked when I first installed the engine and had a vac leak before I found it. Car wouldn't stop worth a crap!

Jason

[v8volvo]

Maybe next summer will be the time for a get-together... that will give me enough time to get a few of my own projects done too. ;-)

How did you eliminate the vacuum pump? Did you make a block-off plate? There is a fair amount of oil that runs through that opening, ask anyone who has ever had a leaky vacuum pump O-ring... curious as to your method. The pumps are not difficult to rebuild. It is true, they have to be removed for service on a lot of jobs (though if you have the correct Volvo long dial indicator extension you can time them with the pump in place).... but removing the pump is pretty quick and easy if you put the engine to #1 TDC first so that tension on the spring is relieved. And I agree with Jason, even with just a small vacuum leak these cars are quite hard to stop..... I hate to think how it would be with no assist at all. Add to that no heater controls... A fogged windshield and weak brakes do not a good combination make! I would hate to be the guy driving in front of you on I-5 in the rain... :-P

I am surprised that you were able to get the motor to run at all with the timing 180 off... the last one of those I had to fix, they had only been able to get it going with the timing out by shooting a bunch of ether into it! It ran for a while that way..... after I corrected the timing it ran on its own fuel too, but the ether damaged it -- popped the metal headgasket just a few miles after it had been installed! Only case I know of where someone has been able to blow an MLS headgasket in a D24T.

[Slobodan]

Well, been driving it lightly, Racked up 750 miles now.
Things to fix before the XXX meet in Issaquah, Wa.

replace the speedo with one that has a working odometer.
change the oil
retorque the head bolts
replace the Valve cover gasket.
Make damn sure there are zero oil leaks.
wash the car in and out.
clean up the intercooler piping.

yeah, I re-intercooled it. I also took that huge ebay turbo I bought and remove the turbine housing and turbine wheel/shaft.... I reinstalled a stock D24T turbine wheel/shaft and used the stock turbine housing.
yeaaaaahhh, I did it.
Small .36 A/R combined with a huge T04E .50 A/R compressor!
much better.
spool up is much more responsive (duh) than before with that enormous T4 turbine .63 A/R.
torque feels like it has been improved. only boosting 10psi still. which is fine for me.
I have been slowly adding in the fuel as its not putting out any smoke yet. Where as before it would smoke a little black at full throttle.

well thats my update for now.

[anders]

Wow that list of things to do is about as long as mine for my 244. Well at least yours is on the road! I hope I get to see your car at the XXX meet.

[v8volvo]

Glad to hear it is back on the road and running well! I will be interested to have a look at your turbo setup.

Did you use a MLS gasket when you did the HG, or a fiber type?