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5.3 + CD009 in 242

As shown in the last update, I had to cut out some pretty rusty metal from under the battery box. After building a patch panel, the surrounding metal was still pretty rusted and wouldn't weld. i had to cut out more surrounding metal and make a larger patch panel. The metal closer to the inner side of the car isn't perfect, but it welded nicely.

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I then had my Dad grind the patch down and apply some filler. He used to do bodywork, and I think he did a pretty good job.

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Then, I marked out all of the other holes I wanted to fill in the engine bay and got to work welding them shut. The only holes I kept are for mounting the washer bottle, overflow tank, and hood release cable. I also moved the engine ground strap from the passenger side to driver's side of the firewall.

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After some sanding and removal of a few pieces, the engine bay is ready for paint.
 
Yet another update:

After seeing the trouble JohnMC has had getting a plate mount shifter, I decided to make my own. However, I'm a goober and lost the Nissan shifter linkage... So, this is what I came up with in prototype form.

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A real 5/8" ID u-joint is surprisingly expensive. So, the next best thing was done, hacking up a cheap 1/2 drive socket wobble extension. I cut the ends off and drilled one end out to be 5/8" (the diameter of the shifter fork). Welded to the wobble is a steel L-bracket, and a cross drilled mount for the oem Volvo shifter. I can also use the factory reverse lockout by flipping the white plastic bit to the other side along with the adjustable plate (the CD009 has reverse on bottom right). The only problem with this solution is when the transmission fork is fully extended (in 2,4,6 or R gear) the clearance from the shift fork to end of shifter turret is ~3/4". Luckily, I can safely cut 1" off the end of the shifter fork, and roll-pin, nut & bolt or weld the wobble to the fork.

Next major decision is to not paint the engine bay until all of the wiring, fittings, hoses, etc is done. So, the engine/trans went back in and some of the clearance issues were solved.

The radiator from JEGS was test fitted using an old lever cap, and it just barely clears the hood. The stock rubber mounts on the bottom needed to be cut down vertically for hood clearance and the uppers need new brackets, but it fits good. This radiator (JEGS 555-52000) is basically a cheaper version of the Northern radiator Hackster used in his LSA powered 242.

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As mentioned before in the thread, flathoods are cool, so I picked one up. However, without chopping and copious use of JB weld, a truck intake won't fit under a flat hood. After some shopping around I picked up a LS1 intake with factory EGR delete from an Australian Holden Commodore. It came with billet fuel rails, 42lb injectors, and an adjustable FPR I'm not going to use. I gave it a quick clean, fresh coat of paint, and added a -8 ORB cap and -8 ORB to -6AN fitting on the end of the rails. Unfortunately, I already bought all -6AN line and fittings before I bought this and I don't want to return all of the stuff to go -8AN.

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If you are keen-eyed in that last photo, the power steering/alternator setup was changed as well. The alternator just barely cleared a coffin hood, so I'm sure a flathood won't fit truck accessories, which are ugly anyway. I swapped to a LS1 power steering pump with ICT billet relocation brackets. I'm still waiting on a new pulley for the pump, the truck pulley is only half way on when lined up with the belt spacing, which could spell disaster.

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If you are super mega keen-eyed, the above photo shows the new Sanden AC compressor from my Vintage Air kit. I spec'd out a kit with everything I need from an eBay seller for considerably less than piecing together a kit on Summit/JEGS. The kit came with the Alan Grove low mount compressor brackets. The bracket annoyingly comes with all hardware, a new belt and new GM belt tensioner, but is in raw steel. The Sanden pulley does have 10 ribs, but the belt lines up to use the inner 4 ribs of the truck balancer.

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Here's the heart of the modern AC, a Vintage Air Gen 2 Compac

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I followed Dave Barton's install of a Classic Auto Air as this unit is almost the exact same size. My Dad fabbed up some steel brackets with new rivnuts on the trans tunnel and reused one of the factory hang mounts. As you can see, the unit will stick out into the passenger foot well a couple inches, but it'll look clean.

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I left plenty of room for the condensation drain and ran some of the supplied hose into part of the factory drain hose.

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The glovebox clearance is pretty good, just needs a small trim on the corner of the fan cover.

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Lastly, I found a spot to hide the headlight step relay under the dash area. I used a of couple self tappers and shortened the harness using heatshrinked butt connectors. I plan on running the headlight wiring inside the fenders and adding new headlight relays for maximum voltage/brightness.

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This past week has been a lot of tidying up on the wiring and making a plan for where all of the wires need to be routed to be "tucked". I didn't take any pictures of this stuff as it's pretty boring, and it's still in progress. As mentioned in the previous post, I ordered a Dorman 300-202 power steering pulley, and Russell 648060 & 648070 power steering fittings. One fittings goes into the LS1 pump and the other on the steering rack to convert the high pressure line to a -6AN. I doubled up on some crush washers for the fitting on the rack as the O-ring on the fitting wasn't as snug feeling as the pump fitting. Since the pulley is a smaller diameter, I'm gonna install a power steering cooler while i'm at it.

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The main pain this past week has been getting the fuel system done. The fuel level gauge never worked when I acquired the car, I hoped it was the gauge, but it wasn't. The sending unit has no resistance, and the board looked like there was little to no contact pins left on it. I'm surprised as it was the original Volvo/VDO sending unit, so I ordered a new sending unit. I then attempted to weld AN fittings to the new unit for the feed and return line, but it was very ugly and no matter how much I welded, it leaked.

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As you can see, I used a MIG welder. A TIG or braze/solder probably would've worked better, but I don't have one and I also melted through the electrical connector accidentally. I did some research and found that MH Yount used an almost identical fuel system to the one I planned, and he had the perfect solution for the sending unit. Here's the final product:

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To start, I went to a local speed shop and picked up 2 -6AN 90 degree bulkhead fittings and -6AN Tube nuts. Then, another trip to a parts store for some 3/8" steel fuel line. I cut the booger welded barbs off the top, and removed the vent and feed tube. I kept the return tube as it has the fuel sender mounted on it, but cut it shorter to make room for the Deatschwerks DW200 (255lph) Fuel pump i'm using. I drilled out the factory feed spot as well as the spot for the original electrical connector for the new feed/return fittings. The factory capped vent tube was repurposed for the ground wire pass through. On either side of the ground pass through I drilled 2 more holes for the pump power and fuel level. The original return hole was welded shut.

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I then had to make the wire pass through connections fuel tight and prevent accidental grounding with the plate. So, a bolt was stuck through the plate, with a small O ring on the bolt threads to isolate the bolt from the plate. Then, a bonded seal/washer on either side of the plate was added, and they were "clearanced" to make sure no arcing or any electrical problems would occur. After I took this picture, I added some fuel safe JB Weld to the back side of each pass through as extra insurance. As a side note, I did need to bend the fuel level sender a little to make install easier, as it sticks out to one side a bit. Here it is installed, with -6AN lines running to the next part of the fuel system, and the dedicated fused relay with power coming directly after the main battery fuse in the trunk.

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The next part of the fuel system is this, a Corvette fuel filter/regulator combo unit with the quick connect to AN adapters. I mounted this in lieu of the factory main fuel pump under the car. I also removed the factory hardlines and ran a single -6AN braided line to the fuel rail from the filter/regulator. Then, 2 short lines from the filter/regulator to the newly modified sending unit.

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(edit forgot to add underside pic and fuel rail connection)

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I have the body wiring tuck 95% done, just need to sort out the electric fan wiring, but more on that later (see end of post).

I wanted to run the wires for the headlights, turn signals, horn, washer motor, etc behind the fenders for that clean tucked look. So, I drilled a hole through the car from the outside roughly where I wanted the wire bundle to pass through. However, I found out that the stamped half circle like sections on the inside and outside panels of the car do not line up with each other (FYI), but it worked out in the end. To keep the holes water tight a rubber grommet was glued in place with silicone on each of the 2 panels. To hold the wire bundle I used rubber isolated clamps connected by 2 self tappers towards the back, and 2 welded on bolts/nuts in the front.

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Since I relocated the step relay and i'm converting to single round headlights, I wanted to add new low/high beam relays. I found a $20 headlight relay kit with ceramic H4 plugs off amazon intended for Jeeps that also use 7" round headlights. It works perfect, but I replaced the fuse holder with a waterproof one. The relays are mounted on the frame rail next to where the charcoal canister goes. I should add that I ran 10 gauge wire in the loom bundle to power the lights, and another 10 gauge wire in the passenger side loom.

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The wires are routed through some factory holes on the lower panel, with the horn wiring being tied into the passenger side headlight run. The connector for the turn signal is also split off the main loom and rests at the top of the rightmost hole.

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The same routing was replicated on the passenger side, but an extra hole was drilled for a windshield washer bottle relocation.

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The washer bottle is another cheap amazon purchase. The bottle is held on by a small aluminum bracket bent into a U shape. I like that the ugly bottle is hidden, but I'm gonna come up with something easier for filling up the bottle. Right now, the cap rests below a removable factory rubber cap/plug, but I may run another hose from the cap to a higher point for filling the bottle.

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The two relays on the passenger side are for the electric fans. I'm stuck on which way to wire the fans with the vintage air trinary switch. The GM ecu sends a ground to complete the circuit and trigger the relay, and has 2 separate wires which are programmed to send a ground at a specific engine temperature. The vintage air trinary switch also sends a ground to activate a relay. It seems pretty simple to just tie the grounds of the ecu and trinary switch together, but I have read that the GM ecu does not like having a ground coming from another switch.

Would adding a diode or a third relay work better to isolate the ecu and trinary switch?
 
I wired in the trinary switch with no diodes for now as a test. A few people have said that the gen 3 LS engine ecu's do not give a check engine light for the ground, but the gen 4 do. I'll have to confirm that later. If I have to add a diode or another relay, no big deal. Following Vintage Air's wiring diagram, the trinary switch was wired to the dashboard temp switch, relay, compressor, and a ground. I hid the wire for the compressor clutch between the radiator and frame rail, but it will need a small clamp to secure it.

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Since I had to run another wire through the fender loom from the dashboard temperature switch to the trinary switch, I added 2 more rubber isolated clamps. They are attached by the same welded on nut/bolt combo and I added 2 more to the driver's side.

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I have a large sheet of 1/8" thick HDPE left over from my Turbo Miata under tray, so it was used to make a switch plate. I drilled a few holes and transferred the stickers and switches over from the Vintage Air switch plate. The stickers for the switches are fine, but the knobs scream 60's muscle car. I'm going to try to find a Volvo knob that will fit the switches.

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As of this morning I have everything wired up on the chassis side and performed an electrical test. I hooked up all the switches, lights, instrument cluster, radio, wiper/washer, and fuel pump to a distribution block connected to the battery.

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Everything works on the car except the turn signals. I'm blaming the turn signals not working on the terrible wiring that literally fell apart in my hand pictured below.

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I have some good news and bad news. The good news is the distribution block and wires are mounted. I even found a spot for the vintage air circuit breaker on the mount for the evaporator. Furthermore, I connected the switched ignition wire for the vintage air to the factory heater blower fuse output (fuse #3).

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The bad news is when wiring the starter motor today, I'm pretty sure I fried the ignition switch.

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Some backstory first, I made a cable to connect the starter motor power to the distribution block, and connected the GM starter solenoid ignition wire (purple wire) to the Volvo's solenoid wire (blue wire) off the ignition switch. Everything worked on the car until I tried to fire over the starter as a test. The starter did fire over, then nothing. I killed almost all power to the car, but did not blow any fuses. I get ~2 volts at the distribution block, unless I unhook the hot wire connected to fuse #7 (to distribution block). For some reason, with this wire unhooked, I get ~12.6 volts at the distribution block, but the key turned to any of the positions, the distribution block has less than 1 volt, even with the #7 fuse wire unhooked. I have also tried a second battery, and have completely unhooked the starter motor power and ignition wires, but no changes. The voltage at the battery is 12.7 volts, and 12.7 volts right after the trunk's 200 amp main fuse.

From my testing/tracing with a voltmeter I believe the ignition switch is burnt and causing most of the issue, but how would I test it?
 
Cool project man, I remember seeing this car for sale by the PO. Looked like a great deal. Impressive progress so far on the swap.

To test the ignition switch you could measure resistance in ohms across the terminals with the switch in its various positions. Reference a wiring diagram to see which terminals should be connected in each switch position. It sounds like a tin of current went through the switch and it became the fuse in the system.
 
A serious white-knuckler.

Thanks, I hope it's more of a riot to drive than my Turbo Miata.

Cool project man, I remember seeing this car for sale by the PO. Looked like a great deal. Impressive progress so far on the swap.

To test the ignition switch you could measure resistance in ohms across the terminals with the switch in its various positions. Reference a wiring diagram to see which terminals should be connected in each switch position. It sounds like a tin of current went through the switch and it became the fuse in the system.

I tested the switch resistance and did a continuity test, i'm pretty sure he's dead, Jim.

I did order a new ignition switch from IPD, and picked up a parts wagon I could steal one from, but I won't be around for awhile to install it. Unfortunately for the car, it's time for me to pack up and go off to college. I'll be a freshman at the University of Iowa majoring in computer science. If you happen to be on turbobricks and go to Iowa, send me a pm.

Here's the last few things I got done before going off. I welded the remaining holes in the engine bay for the OEM washer bottle and coolant overflow. The hole with the rubber plug is what I will use to fill the washer bottle, so it wasn't welded shut. For the coolant overflow, i'm planning on getting a generic aluminum cylinder style bottle. It'll look "cooler" and that way I won't have to engineer up/cap off the return hose of the OEM expansion style tank.

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I finished the wiring for the starter motor by drilling a hole large enough for the ignition switch starter solenoid wire and the large 2 gauge wire coming from the battery. I covered both wires with some high heat flexible braided sleeving. The wires are routed around the exhaust manifold, and yes I will add a clamp to secure the wires.

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Lastly, about 2 weeks ago or so my Dad and I picked this ugly piece of work up.

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It's a 92 automatic wagon with some nice parts on it. First, it had a cloth interior that has already been swapped between our 240 wagons (vinyl is gross). It even came with the added cushions for the seat headrests. Second, it will be a nice donor for rust repair on our OG 240 wagon, as the driver's side on this car is gone, but the the opposite is true of our OG wagon. Third, even though it is a 92, it has the later 93 style A/C, which will also be swapped into the OG wagon. Fourth, this has the later style no trim windshield which will also be swapped over. Lastly, it has BC Racing coilovers, Kaplhenke strut bar with brake master brace, Kaplhenke panhard bar, and a front splitter for the 242.

This is going to be the last update for a while, but while i'm at college, my dad should be working on the painting/powdercoating of the 242, and swapping stuff on the 240 wagons.
 
This was a good read, answered a lot of the questions I had about mating a CD009 to an Ellis. Nice work.

Thanks, I really like to give other people help and ideas by showing pretty much everything I do on a build.

In other news, a bunch of parts have gone off to powdercoat, and my Dad is working on finishing the engine bay for paint. I'm trying to convince him to repaint the whole car Porsche Kiln Red... but we'll see. As mentioned before, i'm away from home right at college, but thanksgiving break will definitely show some progress.
 
I love this build. I've wanted a 2 doors for a while but took the cheapest 240 I could find locally instead haha. Looks like you're doing a good job for sure!
 
Almost a year later, and through my first year of college, I'm ready to get back to it. Over the few breaks I had during the school year I did some small stuff like filling some more holes in the engine bay along with some more primer, but nothing major. Here's a pic I took before it went into the garage over the winter.

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Another update during the break was getting a lot of miscellaneous part powder coated.

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Lastly, I just took the coilovers off my parts wagon this weekend, and took a picture giving a sneak peak of the stuff that's to come for the build, still waiting on shipping for a few important bits...

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After waiting through a few backorders, I was able to finally get my Holley Terminator X. When I saw the X was announced, it didn't take much convincing for me to buy it. Previously, I went through my factory harness and cut out all of the unnecessary stuff, and even purchased new pigtails for my LS1 style injectors, but then having to get a mail order reflash, and having to trailer the car somewhere for a tune is a huge pain, and expensive. At some point down the road, I would like to add forced induction, but then another retune is a huge pain, and from my Turbo Miata project, when the weather changes here in Iowa, the car will go lean/rich. Basically, a standalone with completely new wiring, and the ability to control with my laptop, or the included handheld makes a lot of headaches go away.

Onto the technical stuff for those interested, I ordered the Terminator X for a 24x crank (Gen 3 engine) and LS1 injectors. Since I have a manual transmission and drive by cable, I do not need the Max version. Along with the ECU, I picked up a couple of 100 PSI pressure transducers off Amazon (fuel and oil), an adapter fitting for the oil pressure and a Holley alternator pigtail (not wired on engine harness). As shown in the previous post, I also picked up a Holley 7" Digital Dash along with the GPS speedometer add on, and the I/O adapter. Quick note on the I/O adapter, Holley charges ~$190 for the cable I purchased along a DIY wiring harness or ~$90 for just the cable that connects to the inside of the dash. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the little connector that goes inside the dash, but the larger connector is a standard Delphi/TE 1473416-2 connector you can buy from Mouser for $7 if only want to connect a few wires. With the I/O connector, I can connect the Volvo fuel level gauge to the digital dash along with turn signal indicators and other status LEDs (Alt, High Beam, etc). Furthermore, the dash runs Holley's PC software and is like having a dedicated laptop in the car that can do everything, and eliminates the need to adapt Volvo gauges, easily solves the speedometer/odometer swap issue or the need to purchase a matching suite of aftermarket gauges.

On to some pictures...

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The Terminator X is pretty small, and is just about the exact same size as the dash. I previously had concerns over whether the GM gen 3 ecu would fit in the factory location due to its large size, but not anymore.

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In less exciting news I disassembled the crusty spindles the BCs are welded to and will get them power coated/painted up before going on the car. I also took the liberty of pushing the engine further back towards the firewall, which will give me better options for mounting a forward plate mount shifter like JohnMC used. Also decided to change to a 2010 LS3 Camaro water pump and tensioner for easier upper radiator hose routing.

Lastly, if anyone from Holley reads this, feel free to send me some engine dress-up swag.
 
The Terminator X is mounted and the car is closer to a test run. For anyone who ends up purchasing a Terminator X, I found that the factory fresh air block off plate on the passenger side is the perfect size to mount the ecu with some #10 self tapping screws.

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If you mount the ecu with the connectors towards the firewall, you can easily see the diagnostic LEDs and have space to wrap the long engine harness around. Furthermore, the harness fuse and key-on relay are mounted on a self tapped screw in the stamped valley below the ecu. In the top corner, you can see 2 connectors on the Holley harness, one is for the input/outputs and the other is a power tap with 12v, 5v and signal grounds for additional sensors. With the Terminator X, there are only 5 loose wires, but i'm not using the blue tachometer output wire.

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The main power harness for the ecu is on its own connector and separate fuse. It's routed alongside the main battery power wire through the car and into the trunk.

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The engine side of the harness is ready to go and does not require anything other than plugging in the connectors and attaching the 2 grounds to the cylinder heads. One thing to note is the factory truck oil pressure sensor doesn't work with the Holley system (might be "dummy" sensor anyway) so you will need an adapter for a 1/8 npt 100 psi pressure transducer along with a VERY deep welled 1-1/16" socket to remove the factory sensor if the engine is in the car.

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Next is a couple of side notes, starting with my throttle cable. I used the Lokar 36" LS1 throttle cable with their single cable bracket (non-cruise). For my engine position, I cut 2" off the cable and braided sheath to get a clean routing and made a new aluminum firewall mount.

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Last but not least, I made an alternator sub-harness, containing 3 wires. The charging wire is 6 AWG and runs along the front of the engine to the starter solenoid where it joins the rest of the electrical system. The other 2 wires are on the 4 pin plug to control the alternator. I used the previously shown Holley pigtail which is wired for the charging light, but I added a wire at pin "D" that is used for remote voltage sensing. This wire connects to the main power distribution bus bar. It ensures that when all accessories are drawing a load, the alternator will be able to keep a steady voltage throughout the car. Lastly, since this harness is secured to the engine, a 2 pin weatherpack connector is located near the starter connection, allowing easier removal.

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