Andrews '91 240 Wagon

Beelzeboss · 2021-01-12T22:15:29+00:00

Nice car, scrape on side can progressively be fixed with any similar colour car panels and a bit of ",learning body repairs" if you are really keen...

Beelzeboss

Well I fitted an 'A' cam which I bought from Dave @pigdog and the car runs way better at all revs.

Then yesterday I took the 240 to the Sydney Motorsport Park wet pan night and it was an absolute blast!

The handbrake doesn't have enough guts to lock the rear wheels so I was just flicking it each way to get it to slide.

Unfortunately I did have some issues:

It's started using coolant again, pretty sure I've blown the head gasket again, or something else has gone wrongAfter every run the exhaust manifold was glowing red so I think it's running a bit lean, or possibly the timing needs to be advanced a bit.

The O/D off light is now permanently on and I can't get 4th gearIt has a very strange stumble/misfire/loss of power around 1800 rpm after you take offSomething in the rear was rubbing occasionally, almost like the rear was shifting around. Sometimes I'd come onto the straight and it would rub until the next corner, other times it wouldn't be an issue. I think one or multiple bushes in the rear are flogged out.

SO, I've got a lot took look into but I had a great time. The car is also now on Historic rego so it's not as super urgent to repair everything as it was when it was my daily.

wzrdovryndr

Beelzeboss
Well I fitted an 'A' cam which I bought from Dave @pigdog and the car runs way better at all revs.
Then yesterday I took the 240 to the Sydney Motorsport Park wet pan night and it was an absolute blast!
https://cdn.ozvolvo.org/uploads/471/TID7RW29JGCQ.jpg
The handbrake doesn't have enough guts to lock the rear wheels so I was just flicking it each way to get it to slide.
Unfortunately I did have some issues:
It's started using coolant again, pretty sure I've blown the head gasket again, or something else has gone wrongAfter every run the exhaust manifold was glowing red so I think it's running a bit lean, or possibly the timing needs to be advanced a bit.
https://cdn.ozvolvo.org/uploads/604/DATNY4O9UBNS.jpg
The O/D off light is now permanently on and I can't get 4th gearIt has a very strange stumble/misfire/loss of power around 1800 rpm after you take offSomething in the rear was rubbing occasionally, almost like the rear was shifting around. Sometimes I'd come onto the straight and it would rub until the next corner, other times it wouldn't be an issue. I think one or multiple bushes in the rear are flogged out.
SO, I've got a lot took look into but I had a great time. The car is also now on Historic rego so it's not as super urgent to repair everything as it was when it was my daily.

If fuel is causing your manifold to get that hot it'd be running rich, not lean.

As for the OD it's very likely the wire from the shifter to the solenoid on the side of the transmission has gone broken away which is very common.

Beelzeboss

wzrdovryndr
https://ozvolvo.org/discussion/comment/191162#Comment_191162
If fuel is causing your manifold to get that hot it'd be running rich, not lean.
As for the OD it's very likely the wire from the shifter to the solenoid on the side of the transmission has gone broken away which is very common.

Thanks mate, I'll check out that wire and see what the go is.

ramrod
Where is the coolant leaking into? Internal to the engine or external? What's the condition of the cooling system? Pressure test?
As for the ignition timing, it is not adjustable, because LH 2.4 adjusts automatically; as it does for the air/fuel ratio. You would be able to do it via aftermarket ignition chipping though
Overdrive light on? Check the overdrive relay (or send it to me and I can repair it)

I believe it's leaking into the combustion chamber, only because I can't find any leaks anywhere externally, and the oil hasn't turned into a milkshake.

I should have mentioned I have an aftermarket ECU and wideband, but it's a very old one which is very buggy. I need to put a timing light and verify that it's advancing the timing as far as it's meant to. The timing is correct at idle but I haven't tried revving it up to confirm it's advancing properly.

carnut222
Nice work! Is the handbrake adjusted enough? You can remove the rear centre console ash tray and adjust it with an extension and correct size socket. I think there’s a procedure about how many clicks up on the handbrake should hold the car on a hill or some such thing.

Cheers! I haven't tried adjusting the handbrake but good to know you can do it from inside the car. I'll look into it ?

I've been doing some research and looks like the other possibility for the glowing exhaust manifold is a blocked cat, which would also account for the car not wanting to rev above ~5,000 rpm very readily.

ramrod

Where is the coolant leaking into? Internal to the engine or external? What's the condition of the cooling system? Pressure test?

As for the ignition timing, it is not adjustable, because LH 2.4 adjusts automatically; as it does for the air/fuel ratio. You would be able to do it via aftermarket ignition chipping though

Overdrive light on? Check the overdrive relay (or send it to me and I can repair it)

carnut222

Nice work! Is the handbrake adjusted enough? You can remove the rear centre console ash tray and adjust it with an extension and correct size socket. I think there’s a procedure about how many clicks up on the handbrake should hold the car on a hill or some such thing.

Ex850R

It is possible it is just normal from high boost and you never noticed it in daytime.

An adjustable Panhard bar is needed at back when lowered.

A bracket is available from BNE/Kaplehenke iirc to put dual calipers on back for drift braking.

Beelzeboss

Ex850R
It is possible it is just normal from high boost and you never noticed it in daytime.
An adjustable Panhard bar is needed at back when lowered.
A bracket is available from BNE/Kaplehenke iirc to put dual calipers on back for drift braking.

Thanks Snoopy. The car is N/A though, so not from any sort of boost, and the car is at stock height.

I do like the idea of dual calipers on the back but I need to keep the car mostly stock/only period correct mods in order to stay legal for Historic Rego.

carnut222

YES - definitely check the cat! I had an 81 240 Turbo wagon in the us...I know K-jet, different etc. I had the cat block up...when I temporarily gutted it to test, I gained about 5 PSI (had to re-adjust wastegate down to keep the clutch from slipping - night and day!) Anyway, easy to have a look and see what the input face looks like. Mine was all black and the many square ceramic holes were almost blocked.

past_the_moon

Beelzeboss
Well my radiator still hasn't arrived yet, I suspect it's been lost in the post because the seller says they don't have the correct tracking number for it.
Anyway, something odd happened today driving to work. I was coming up to a set of lights and the car started stumbling under throttle. Any amount of throttle would cause the engine to drop in revs, but when I came off the throttle it would borderline idle properly... before shutting off in peak hour traffic just as I was blocking a fairly major right hand turn in my area.
Luckily after about 20s of sitting there I tried the starter and the car fired right up and drove the rest of the way without issue, but I strongly suspect my in-tank fuel pump is on the way out/broken.
I've been noticing since I've owned the car the mainfuel pump is sometimes quite loud, and also occasionally the car seems to be very down on power. Now that this has happened I think I'll have to test to see if I can hear the in-tank pump working and probably source a replacement.
Where are people getting the 12mm diameter fuel hose which runs from the tank to the main fuel pump? And also the o-ring and lock ring on the tank?

re the fuel issue, i had similar troubles with a truck once. switch it off after it lost power and wait a couple minutes and it would run again fine for however long. mechanic finally found a cotton ball in the fuel tank. sabotaged. it would float around in the tank until it got sucked up into the intake and jammed the line so the truck would just idle only. prob same goes for bits of rubber in the tank from deteriorating fuel line etc. frustrating as hell and dangerous too in today's impatient, intense traffic.

Beelzeboss

Alrighty well I've finally worked up the motivation to look at the car and... it's not all bad!

Looks like someone put a 9a fuse in the overdrive/heated rear window spot rather than the 16a specified on the cover, so when I tried to defog the rear it blew. Easy fix!

There seems to be a lot of green coolant on the inside heater hoses, so I think that's where the coolant is going, since the car doesn't seem to be blowing any white smoke or bubbling out of the overflow. A pain to fix but easier than a head gasket change!

Aaaaand when priming the engine I noticed that the main external fuel pump (I think) is pretty noisy and isn't a consistent sound, so I believe one of the fuel pumps (likely the external as I just replaced the internal one) is going bad. I'll try unplugging each in turn to isolate which one is really loud. This could explain the random loss of power.

I still think the cat is blocked leading to the lack of top end power, but I need to investigate that further over the weekend.

Beelzeboss

Small update, I've put a WAY more aggressive timing map into the car and it appears to have given it back some of it's power, particularly at part throttle, which is good.

I still think the cat is blocked so I'll hopefully be looking at that next weekend. I've got all the components to build a 3" stainless exhaust with cat, resonator and muffler (though the muffler is mild steel because I already had it). I'm a bit worried it will be too loud but once the turbo is installed I think it will quiet down.

ramrod

The timing map sounds interesting, please tell us more

Beelzeboss

ramrod
The timing map sounds interesting, please tell us more

I just looked at a few example B230 megasquirt timing maps and modified mine to be closer to them. At full throttle it's about 18 degrees at 1500rpm, 28 degrees at 3000 rpm, 35 degrees at 4500 rpm and 39 degrees at 6500 rpm. The tuning computer doesn't have internet access so I can't post a screenshot but that gives a rough idea of the advance curve.

I have no idea what the stock EZK curve looks like, so it actually may be that I've just got it back to where the original timing map is.

I've seen example maps which reach 45 degrees advance at 6,000 rpm, but I'll wait until I have a bigger exhaust before cranking the timing up any more than what I've got.

ramrod

Okay next question, can we have one?

Beelzeboss

ramrod
Okay next question, can we have one?

I'm happy to share my timing map, but you need an aftermarket ECU to be able to use it (or an ostrich chip? I think it's called)

ramrod

Okay so this mod cannot be done with a standard LH 2.4 ECU and chippable EZK?

Beelzeboss

ramrod
Okay so this mod cannot be done with a standard LH 2.4 ECU and chippable EZK?

i'm not sure, it's not really a mod.

The mod was installing the aftermarket ECU to replace the EZK, then it's just a matter of tuning. I can change the spark table in 10 seconds with a laptop to any values I'd like, whereas with a chip setup you need to tune the map, burn to a chip, fit the chip to the ECU, then test. Or you can fit an ostrich system to the EZK which gives some of the functionality of an aftermarket ECU.

Klaptrap24

let me know when you go skidpan next! i just got my 240 running again and ill be hitting every event i can

Beelzeboss

Klaptrap24
let me know when you go skidpan next! i just got my 240 running again and ill be hitting every event i can

will do!

I've been noticing a strange whining coming from the car, definitely speed related, and I think it's either the diff or the centre bearing.

I've removed the driveshaft, does anyone have a good source for a centre bearing and rubber donut thing? (though the rubber bit looks perfect I'd rather replace it to be safe). Currently looking at eBay but not sure if the prices are good or not.

ramrod

I have a centre bearing

Beelzeboss

ramrod
I have a centre bearing

Thanks mate, I ended up finding the part number and grabbing one locally from a bearing shop.

Vee_Que
Nice hot rod! Soarer front and rear too?
On the head. Just because a feeler blade doesn't show it's warped, it will need machining Because it's aluminium and it's been off the motor and the tension it's been through its 130k km of work is off. I would not be surprised if it's done another head gasket. I always machine alloy heads as they will never go on again and last.

Cheers! Yep, Soarer front and rear subframe including all steering, brakes, etc.

I've replaced a few alloy head gaskets before and never had a recurrence, but I'm definitely not ruling it out. If it has to come off again it will be flattened.

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