What to look for in a used D24T

[Wren]

I've located a 760 Turbo Diesel in a local salvage yard and am considering getting the engine/transmission to put in a 240.

Edit: I've decided that a 7/9-series car would be a better car to convert. See posts below.

The car looks to be well taken care of, especially for its age, and I'm wondering if the engine may be usable as-is, or would be with some work.

As an initial test, I took a large ratchet and socket out and was able to turn the engine over by hand. I could feel a compression stroke ever 60-degrees or so and all of them felt more-or-less the same. I realize this isn't a substitute for a proper compression test, but at least it verified that it has compression. Of course, it still had its timing belt on it.

Does anyone have any other tips to get an idea of the engine's condition? If I bought it from the yard, I could get a warranty and return it if something is too far gone.

Also, from my understanding, the M46 bellhousings are different from a 240 to a 760, but it sounds possible to use the the D24T bellhousing in a 240 and to my way of thinking, the less canted engine mounting would be preferable and would afford a better fit with a turbo. I know some motor mount work may be required.

If I get the 760 M46, I could convert the cable clutch over to hydraulic and swap out the shifter cage for the right one.

I've got a lot of experience with gas Volvos, but other than owning a '78 Rabbit diesel when I was in college, I'm sort of out of my element with diesels.

Thanks!

I also know where there is a complete '82 240 that I could get parts from. I just need to know what to get from each car to put the D24T in a 240.

Thanks!

[Jason]

Other than doing an actual comrpession test, then starting it up to see/hear how it runs there isn't much else you can do visually. Pretty much it all hinges on compression and the condition of the head gasket. These engines seldom show any wear on the lower end bearings. If its possible to do a compression test that would be your best bet to get an idea of engine condition. If it is low you could also pull the valve cover and just check to see if the valves all have clearence. Unless you found one that was actually treated well with regular oil changes chances are its half worn out or better. If it was in good running condition its doubtfull it would have ended up in the salvage yard.

The bellhousings are different, though I dont know if the engine will fit in the 2xx in the same straight up orientation found in the 7xx series. The whole reason they were tilted more in the 2xx series cars was so they could fit under the hood.

Jason

[Wren]

Thanks, Jason.

This car looks to be fairly well taken care of. I've seen enough junkyard cars to get an idea of when someone had a clue about taking care of a vehicle. Looking under the valve cover, I don't see a lot of gunk/sludge and the engine compartment is fairly clean as well. The interior was clean too.

One never knows why a vehicle was parked, or sold as in this case. People stop driving cars for all sorts of reasons. I once bought an '82 260 that only had 70K on it because it was the wife's car and one day it wouldn't start (dead battery) so she drove their other car. Her husband worked offshore and his honey do list was always too long to get to the car, so it sat around for about ten years until I found it on Craigslist

One thing that I noticed is that the wing harness suffers from wire rot as do most of the pre-'88 cars, so that may have been a factor in why it wasn't driven any more, specifically the glow plug relay's wiring was shot.

I am curious to know if I can use the 760 bellhousing in a 240. A fair number of guys vertically mount Volvo gas engines the 240's to get more room for the turbo/piping, so I'm thinking it may work.

[anders]

If the wrecking yard would let you fire it up there that would be a plus. As for installing the D24T in the 240 with the 7xx bellhousing, I have not done it myself but memeber Slodbodan has I believe. If it was me I would get the engine/trans combo and freshen up the engine before installing it in the 240. As Jason said the lower ends don't get wear on them ( at least the 5 that I pulled apart) and the cylinder walls seem to be pretty tough. I would rebuild the head, re-ring it and install new rod bearings. What year is the the car with the D24T? From my findings it seems that the Pre-EGR engines are always in better shape (83 and 84 I think).

[Wren]

Originally Posted by anders

If the wrecking yard would let you fire it up there that would be a plus......What year is the the car with the D24T? From my findings it seems that the Pre-EGR engines are always in better shape (83 and 84 I think).

Unfortunately, firing up the engine in the yard isn't a possibility. I can get it with a 30-day warranty however.

The car is an '83 760.

I figured that I could yank the engine with the cross member and transmission and then fab up some sort of stand to hold the tranny up and test run it. It wouldn't be much work to come up with something for a test run. Something sort of like what this guy did would be possible as well:

[video=youtube;tT9XE9Wl-JE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tT9XE9Wl-JE&feature=related[/video]

[anders]

What about buying the whole car if it's in good shape?

[Wren]

They won't sell the whole car.

[Wren]

Update:

I drove back over to the yard on Sunday and discovered that someone had removed the turbo from the engine, but everything else was there, so I pulled it from the car and also got the transmission, interior console shifter bits, cross-members and M46. I need to go back and pull the drive shaft and pedal cluster.

At this yard, when on pulls an engine, it includes everything from fan to firewall, I snagged a Garrett T3 off an '88 760 Turbo gasser. I know this isn't an exact match for the turbo on the D24T, but since I got it at no additional charge, I figured that I would get it and use it on one of my gassers if nothing else. I'm not sure who would have removed it, but I suspect it was someone who was interested in a turbo, not necessarily one for a D24T as they are pretty rare.

Anyway, the T3 that I got doesn't match the flange for the D24T, but I've figured out a way around that. I don't know the specs for the D24T turbo, but the T3 I got is a 42/46 I believe.

As much as I hate M46's, I got the tranny as well. If I get it going and use the engine, I'll swap over to a T-5 at some point. I figured it was worth getting just for the bellhousing.

The plan is to swap the engine into a '92 960 that I bought that has a bum motor. The car is really nice, and after considering it, the D24T would go into it with much more ease than fitting it into a 240, especially since I don't have a spare 240 that needs a motor now. Additionally, fitting a '92+ 7/940 intercooler setup should be straightforward.

Here are some photos, sorry that they are sort of large:

[ngoma]

Originally Posted by Wren

The plan is to swap the engine into a '92 960 that I bought that has a bum motor.

Nice. I will be interested to follow what you figure for engine mounts as I would like to do the same.

[Wren]

Originally Posted by ngoma

Nice. I will be interested to follow what you figure for engine mounts as I would like to do the same.

That's why I got the cross member in the photo. The left lower motor mount bracket is welded onto it, so I didn't have a choice.