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Originally Posted by Wren
I thought about that. If I do get a D24T turbo, I'll have to round up that gasket. I was considering putting a slightly upgraded T3 on the engine once I get it going. 115 HP isn't going to be very inspiring in a car that had a 200 HP engine from the factory. In that case, I wouldn't have to worry about the stock downpipe and would weld on a different downpipe to turbo flange.
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I used to own a 1993 960 wagon with stock B6304 gasser motor, and I have done some work on and driven a 1995 960 wagon that had a stock (but healthy) D24T w/ZF automatic swapped in. The gasser six is very strong on the top end but the D24T w/automatic is peppy and torquey in normal driving -- not much different from the B6304 unless you were really leaning on it and getting the revs up. However, since your install will be with a manual trans, a different turbo with better low-end response than the stock setup might be a smart upgrade. The stock D24T+M46 setup is fine if you want to really stand on it and row the gears, or when going down the highway, but in routine driving it can feel a little soft since the boost does not really pop up until about 2500 RPM. The automatic is nicely set up to mask the lag but you do feel it with the stick. I am working on a VNT setup for mine using a GT2056V off a Jeep Liberty CRD, hoping that will give a good blend of low-end response and high-end flow. The challenge will be controlling it and dialing it in to avoid boost spikes. Have you looked into VNT possibilities?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wren
One fly in the ointment is finding a shifter boot/console for the 960 that will work. I think I can put a later 960 center console in and install a boot. It sure would be easier to use a stock part and I've contacted a couple of guys I know in England who may can help me.
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You will not believe this.... but I have the exact part you need. It is a Euro-only, 760/960 manual trans console insert, with both the heated seat switches on the pass side, just as it should have, and the opening for the shifter in front. It is brand new from Volvo, still packed in plastic shrink-wrap. I went through quite a bit of trouble to get it. I had planned to convert the 1993 965 I mentioned above and was going to use it for that, but after doing some work on the 960's gas motor it ran so nice that I couldn't bear to take it apart, and then this red '86 wagon fell into my lap so I put my diesel parts into that instead. Now the console piece is sitting on my shelf. I have debated whether I want to sell it, since I don't know if I still might end up wanting to convert another wagon someday... but if you are in need I might be able to be talked into letting it go, or I can at least give you the right part number so you can try to track one down.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wren
The donor car is an '83. Aren't the filler neck/fuel senders different from the early to late cars? I know the '85 740's used a different sender arrangement than the later cars; in the later cars, the fuel filler coupling hose goes directly into the sender while the earlier cars have the fill pipe go into a different part of the tank.
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That I do not know. I swapped the filler from a 1985 745 turbodiesel into a 1986 turbo gas and they shared the same setup. The filler neck still could be and, I suspect, might well be the same even if the entry point into the tank is different. VADIS would confirm. It is worth taking a look. You can also just hollow out the gasser neck to make it work... but I usually figure that if the right, original part is sitting right there and will work, it is nice to use it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wren
Wow, that's crazy! How did you pick up the front of the car? Overhead beam?
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Engine hoist and a piece of chain secured around the front bumper. It was a piece of cake... having tried it, I would no longer want to do it any other way. The front crossmember has a very nice set of tapered locating pins between the two bolt holes that do all the work for you. There is none of the manhandling and prying and cussing that you go through when trying to lower an engine and trans into position from above and get all the mounts lined up... you just put everything in position and let it drop in.
There are a few things I would do differently a second time around... getting a couple strong wooden dollies with good wheels on them for maneuvering the drivetrains around on would be better than the pallets I used, and having two floor jacks on hand would have been better too. The hardest part was wrestling and dragging the drivetrains in and out from under the suspended car sitting on pallets on the concrete floor, but with the right equipment that part could be as seamless as the rest.
Did you get the struts and springs out of the donor car? That is the only other major difference in the front end between gas and diesel, besides the crossmember... but then again, the other TD-swap 960 I have spent some time around still has its stock front springs and it sits just about right. The huge twincam head on the B6304 probably offsets any weight savings versus the D24T that it gets by having an aluminum block and no turbo or injection pump hanging off it.