AllisonCustoms
New member
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2012
- Location
- New Mexico
1980 Volvo 242 B628T - T6 whiteblock swap
I know I am a little bit like johnny-come-lately to the party and all. I think I have read every post on here about similar builds, but here is my project.
1980 242 DL, that I purchased. It had been sitting in front of the same bicycle shop for about 10 years when I finally stopped and asked about it.
A little history about me and Volvo. I had a 244GL in High School and the first few years of College, after that I sold it for something "Cooler". The problem was nothing I had after that drove quite as well or was nearly as comfortable. So after wishing for more than 25 years that I had not sold, it I bought this one. My goal is to try to bring it back to life with more power than my 244 had and 2 less doors so of course it will be "Cooler" this time.
The 242 is complete although it had not run for at least 10 years that I know of. The previous owner said he thought it had a bad fuel pump when he parked it.
As you can see form the photos the car was a complete mess when I got it.
My first plan was to just get the engine running and the car cleaned up enough that I could drive it around a little bit.
I started my draining the fuel tank, the engine oil, antifreeze. I was surprised to learn that Volvo put a drain in the fuel tank. After flushing the tank out a few times I put a couple fresh gallons of fuel in, new oil and filter in the engine, fresh water in the radiator and a battery I had sitting around. The engine would crank and nothing else. I did spray some starter fluid in the intake and it would run for a second or two, so I knew I had spark.
Next I started checking fuses and tried to figure out if the fuel pumps were working. Again, Thanks to posts here, I found out how to jump the circuit and get power to both pumps. Neither was working. I pulled them both and cleaned them up, the in tank pump was shot, but the external pump was just gummed up from years of varnished fuel. After reinstalling the external and replacing the internal pump, I got fuel flow to the filter. I changed out the fuel filter and tried starting again. Now with a little starting fluid to get things going it would run for a few minutes before acting like it was running out of gas.
I also now noticed a puddle of fuel on the floor.
At this point I had probably been working on the car off & on for a couple of months. But I was excited to finally get it to run at all.
After a lot of guessing and some input from the TB and other forums I figured out the fuel distributor block (not sure of the actual name) was where the leak was. I removed the intake and everything associated, took the whole thing a part and cleaned it all up, replaced all the o-rings and put it all back together. During this process, I read something about poor wiring on other similar year cars and sure enough mine was no different.
So after rewiring the engine compartment, I tried again.
It runs, but smokes like hell. It also won't idle and I had to keep it revved up pretty good to keep it going. At this point I decided that it wasn't worth putting anymore money into this engine. (By the way it is for sell on ebay if you are interested $150, with the 4+OD trans.)
Now that you have the history of the car, here is where I want to go with it.
B6284T T6 engine
5 speed trans - Tremac TR-3550-10
MegaSquirt
Lowered
Big or dual sway bars
rebuild the suspension
repair/replace the interior
rewire the whole car
paint - maybe someday.
Since these photos, I have designed an adapter plate for the transmission, built my very first MegaSquirt System and built the engine mounts. Photos of all to follow soon.
I need help though, any of you who have already done this swap and could share some of the specific parts that you used. I would love to hear form you . Thanks in advance.
I know I am a little bit like johnny-come-lately to the party and all. I think I have read every post on here about similar builds, but here is my project.
1980 242 DL, that I purchased. It had been sitting in front of the same bicycle shop for about 10 years when I finally stopped and asked about it.
A little history about me and Volvo. I had a 244GL in High School and the first few years of College, after that I sold it for something "Cooler". The problem was nothing I had after that drove quite as well or was nearly as comfortable. So after wishing for more than 25 years that I had not sold, it I bought this one. My goal is to try to bring it back to life with more power than my 244 had and 2 less doors so of course it will be "Cooler" this time.
The 242 is complete although it had not run for at least 10 years that I know of. The previous owner said he thought it had a bad fuel pump when he parked it.
As you can see form the photos the car was a complete mess when I got it.
My first plan was to just get the engine running and the car cleaned up enough that I could drive it around a little bit.
I started my draining the fuel tank, the engine oil, antifreeze. I was surprised to learn that Volvo put a drain in the fuel tank. After flushing the tank out a few times I put a couple fresh gallons of fuel in, new oil and filter in the engine, fresh water in the radiator and a battery I had sitting around. The engine would crank and nothing else. I did spray some starter fluid in the intake and it would run for a second or two, so I knew I had spark.
Next I started checking fuses and tried to figure out if the fuel pumps were working. Again, Thanks to posts here, I found out how to jump the circuit and get power to both pumps. Neither was working. I pulled them both and cleaned them up, the in tank pump was shot, but the external pump was just gummed up from years of varnished fuel. After reinstalling the external and replacing the internal pump, I got fuel flow to the filter. I changed out the fuel filter and tried starting again. Now with a little starting fluid to get things going it would run for a few minutes before acting like it was running out of gas.
I also now noticed a puddle of fuel on the floor.
At this point I had probably been working on the car off & on for a couple of months. But I was excited to finally get it to run at all.
After a lot of guessing and some input from the TB and other forums I figured out the fuel distributor block (not sure of the actual name) was where the leak was. I removed the intake and everything associated, took the whole thing a part and cleaned it all up, replaced all the o-rings and put it all back together. During this process, I read something about poor wiring on other similar year cars and sure enough mine was no different.
So after rewiring the engine compartment, I tried again.
It runs, but smokes like hell. It also won't idle and I had to keep it revved up pretty good to keep it going. At this point I decided that it wasn't worth putting anymore money into this engine. (By the way it is for sell on ebay if you are interested $150, with the 4+OD trans.)
Now that you have the history of the car, here is where I want to go with it.
B6284T T6 engine
5 speed trans - Tremac TR-3550-10
MegaSquirt
Lowered
Big or dual sway bars
rebuild the suspension
repair/replace the interior
rewire the whole car
paint - maybe someday.
Since these photos, I have designed an adapter plate for the transmission, built my very first MegaSquirt System and built the engine mounts. Photos of all to follow soon.
I need help though, any of you who have already done this swap and could share some of the specific parts that you used. I would love to hear form you . Thanks in advance.
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