• RWD

  • 'Minty' The 240 Wagon

Good work Sam. Get a thermocouple and install it in the collector. Make sure you keep your EGTs below 850c as well.

If your turbo was that hot during that long drive I would be inspecting the turbine blades.
5 days later
a month later
You would want to be able to modify the Volvo 240 crossmember to suit the engine.
An engineer would have kittens if you suggested a x member from another vehicle completely.

The biggest consideration amongst many is the sump position relative to the engine mounts.
Something to consider is if it isn't engineered and you have a stack you will have zero insurance. Don't think the police will look too kindly either
Converting the whole front end would NEVER get engineered
Putting the benefits of A arm suspension aside, you can achieve a very well handing 240 utilising its standard arms and architecture for a whole less hassle and money than converting to an X member

Where it would be cool as hell to see, she would never see another public road again

Is adapting the 240s cross member going to be a tricky task? Id have assumed it would be a matter of mounts and a transmission mount, thats all

For my 240 the fact that I have high quality brackets that bolt up to the standard locations makes it significantly easier to engineer
To not be able to engineer it, or even pass it off as a legal car... Yes, madness, get a daily and forgot about having any savings again. Particularly if you can't drive to the cars limit. Its pointless.

Which machine shop do you plan to use?
7 days later
Why not just get some from berrys or johns?

I may look into headspec after work tomorrow. Though I plan to do my own sonic testing.... 12 spots per cyl!
Volvo B20, iron.... And people overbore them .100' to go to 2.12 but i have a mate who is an engine builder, so doing the rest is easy and if I need help he does. And helps he has the rest of a machine shop at home.
Honestly, I bet you cannot do it for half that and be reliable if your going to making your own flywheel....

There already is an adaptor plate to the auto, but you will then need input shaft extensions, which can be done, at a cost of over $300 by itself. Adaptor plate is $300, making a flywheel.... $600, clutch itself i bet is close to.a grand...

Further, having spoken to the machine shop, torque plating is a massive wank on an iron block and increased cost for the sake of cost. They don't do it on truck motors that work at 100% a lot more then your 2j ever will, and they run pressed dry sleeves...
I only speak from experience, custom costs, at least the kit has all the r&d done.... I garuntee there will be hidden costs that will catch you out, or major failures due to the one of nature of your design. Which really seems silly given the hp target.

Given i know multiple engine builders.... Yeah, not just vested interests. The people going on about them are mostly keyboard worriers.(yes, that is deliberate), especially given a stock bottom end 2j will do the power you want with no real hassles, it still is a waste of money.

On cut and modified input shafts, given the place has been doing them for 20+ years and has no failures even with higher power motors, because they get heat treated afterwards to be as per factory, its less of a worry than torque plating a cast iron block.

But, having done a quick google, can't find any real proof its nessecary for a iron block motor, so if you have a good tech article from a reputable source, I'd like to see that.
a month later
3 months later
Interesting on the compression, why will you be going that high? That manifold looks like overkill, awesome! But will it fit!?

Glad your not going to swap the front and rear end over too for now.
13 days later
bloody hell mate. How on earth do you get 10l/100km with a b230, im getting 14l/100km out of my '91 auto
Should be getting better than 14 with an na car, I'd suggest it has sensors dying etc.
11 days later
Intake runners are a tad short for my liking, but should do the trick:




7 months later
Hi friends,
Minty is, beyond my wildest expectations, still alive and driving. With no real issues whatsoever. Being occasionally driven down the Hume, but mainly daily driven to work/uni/other errands. I've been making use of the wagons excellent capacity:



And some more...



And even more...



But that's about it really. As you all know, I've had the 2JZ sitting here without much action on that front due to a few uni/work/life distractions. And because, well, I'm pretty lazy.

Anyways, uni exams are almost done and in anticipation on having a bunch more free time, I bought alot of cheapo Toyota OEM parts so I could put the engine back together;



And then a few less OEM cheapo bits;



Some things to make it idle like sh*t;



(That lift tho)

And some bling to make weird noises;



As well as a pulse damper, regulator and some pov spec Injector Dynamics high z injectors;



I'm not sure how sensible it is, but I'm running the rail as a centre-feed, and the regulator hanging off the rear with the damper at the front of the rail. I need the damper as the injectors are quite large (e85 life) and the pulses caused especially in sequential injection (aka all the fuel injected just before the cam opens the valve - bigger the injector the longer you can keep it truly sequential) might be problematic. Conventionally people have issues* with fuel feed one side and reg the other with a pressure drop over the 6 injectors before the regulator - Cyl 1 leans out. Could always trim the injectors but not optimal. To remedy this they use a dual feed rail (as I have) and a centre return.
*when I say issues, this is more likely pump related/fuel rail ID/lack of damper/other because the reg should bank up fuel in the rail regardless imho, and it is probably remedied when they replace a number of components and think that the dual feed has fixed it. Correlation does not equate to causation. Etc. Etc. Or maybe it is. Whatever.
Regardless, I'm trying centre feed, rear return and hope the front half of the rail maintains pressure (which it should), -8an feed and return. 2x Walbro 460s, one on a Hobbs switch etc. Perhaps PWM. Probs not because I'm not returnless. You get the idea.


So the other weekend I started on the head. I'll be keeping standard valves, and no porting or anything. Not really any need to, as Yamaha did a pretty good job with it, and I'd probably not improve on it. For anyone with any doubts, here's 1800hp on an unported std valve size head:



But I will be using 272° cams with a 9.6mm lift (stock is 8.7mm). Because the lift of the new cams is greater than the coil-bind of the standard springs (9.3mm), I'll be using some new springs and titanium retainers. These are beehive shaped and this allows you to get rid of the resonance that plagues valve springs and leads people to run stupidly stiff cam-lobe-grinding-power-sapping-belt-breaking dual springs and so on. So the seat pressure is lower on these but they are more effective. Win win. Except in cost. Sh*t. Because I'll have to adjust the clearances due to the new cams, I'll also run some shimless buckets to save on weight and less shims being spat is a good thing. They come out of some Camrys/mr2s/motorbikes in the right size + 40 thicknesses so OEM will provide.

I picked up about the coolest valve tool ever;



And then used it on my head;






So shout out to Valvemaster for making life super easy.

From here I'm just replacing valve stem seals, measuring shims and buckets, swapping in new springs and retainers and then re-installing everything, checking cam clearance then replacing the shims and buckets with shimless buckets according to the measurements taken.
Then putting it on the shortblock. Good learning experience/10, I've never done much internal engine work before so this is proving pretty rewarding.

Stay tuned :)

Sam
I just proof read this, and I mentioned that Minty was running with "no real issues whatsoever". That was inaccurate.
Clutch slips in every gear if I floor it, throwout bearing is on the way out, clutch master reservoir is leaking, some oil leaks, rear is sitting too low. Etc. But she still drives ok, is what I meant!

Devaluing my street;

5 days later
Small update;
Picked up some plugs. Stock heat range is 6. I'll run 7 (gapped down a little) to run in, then 8 when the envelope starts to be pushed.



Also picked up some oil. Toyota thinks that engine oil is the way to go for head assembly lube, and I am following the 1800 page Toyota service manual so who am I to argue.




New valve stem seals...



Remember to get all of the old valve stem seals out!!!



Out with the old, in with the new;





Now just to re-install the keepers, prep block and head surfaces and torque down. Then cams in, measure clearances, cams out, shimless buckets, cams in, Unfortunately I need some ARP bolt lube before I can torque down the head studs. I can't find it locally, so Ebay will have to suffice.

Stay tuned :)


Speed parts in hallam has it. Also. Still a massive waste to not skim the head.
Yeah might be a good idea to have the head skimmed for flatness. It would be a shame to get it all together, turn it up and it pops a headgasket cause it wasnt flat.
I'm jumping on the skim the head bandwagon. Most machine shops will be able to turn it around same-day for you.
Fair point guys, appreciate the advice.

Let me walk you through my logic for not getting the head skimmed:



I bought a 1 metre engineers straight edge, and used my feeler gauges underneath diagonally as the service manual recommends as well as laterally and longitudinally and could find no significant warpage, much less than 0.1mm. I suppose this means that the head is fine to use, but doesnt rule out needing to get it skimmed. But it does mean it's pretty good, spec wise.

So then I read that because the Toyota OEM gasket is MLS and much less forgiving than a cometic, it requires a surface finish of less than 30 RA to seal well. This can't be produced by many machine shops, especially first pass.

So considering that every time you skim a head you bump compression, bring the pistons closer to the valves and put cam journals out of alignment, I was planning on using 400 grit wet&dry paper on a glass square with WD40 that by all accounts produces a surface finish closer to 15 RA, without removing alot of metal. That was my logic but if anyone can reason why to get a flat head skimmed to a lower than spec surface finish, I'm willing to do it on Monday.

Also, Ebay did this weird thing where I bought some ARP lube at 1am last night and then when I got home from work today;



The future is now! But I will check out Hallam Speed Parts in future @Vee_Que if I need asap parts, cheers for the tip!

Time to paint! Hopefully the weather is good tomorrow!



I was thinking of making it a rödblock but I'll have to live with the bad juju that comes with a non-red engine block in a 240. No doubt it'll throw a rod or something to spite my colour choice!

Also, the last part of the EWP (aka how to increase the cost of your build whilst reducing reliablility in one easy step) came, the pump radiator mount. Not looking forward to buying the -20AN fittings required though!
But...bling.



Meziere WP361, and cheers to Hypertune for the pretty machining.

Stay tuned :)
Plenty of machine shops machine for mls gaskets now, keep in mind plenty of other late model cars need the same thing. The amount taken off is in hundreds of mm, less than a fine hair. The cost of your straight edge would have paid for it to be done. I don't even own one as big as yours as I don't need it and I build engines pretty often!
20AN is massive.
Give me a yell when you're ready for some fittings if you like. Should be able to be quite price-competitive.
(I'm away from Thurs this week until Weds next week)
Thanks @AshDVS , I'll see what fittings I need when the engine is in the bay, what brands do you carry? Also do Nuke do 2JZ cam gears by any chance?

Not much to report, block became 'New Cast Iron' by VHT



Coil cover went from this:



To this:



Still alot more filling/sanding/painting/drilling, but it is progress.
And I'm in the process of working out my shimless bucket thicknesses;



I'm porting the oil pump at the moment before I install it, but I'm waiting on a new gear for the pump with a crank position sensor ring welded to it.

Stay tuned :)
Looking good!
Nuke dont do a gear for the 2J I'm afraid, at least not at the moment.
5 days later
Minor update...
Oil pump has been ported. It is kind of daunting taking apart and modifying a brand new $230 oil pump so I took things pretty slow. Some people enlarge the ports but I only really smoothed out the radius of bends and casting marks.
I'd also like to thank some dude called T.K. because most of what is done to the pumps is proprietary to performance houses - aka Titan Motorsports sells their 'ported' pump for $450usd. But T.K. did everyone a solid with this post:



So with the aid of this info, as well as some internal pics of already ported pumps, these:



Became these:



And these:



Became these:



Also enlarged the drain hole:




Now I know it seems like wearing a belt and suspenders, but I'm not keen on loosing a front main seal and in my research I noticed people made physical retainers as well. This is popular, but in my opinion pretty dodgey:



And this seems more legit to me:



So I copied that:



Incidentally I got fed up a while ago when I never seemed to have the right tap and picked up M2-M24 in a few sets, and it's coming in handy now!



Anyway, I haven't threaded them all the way in as I need to loctite them post main seal assembly, but you get the idea...



Also, springs and retainers are now installed in the head, with some difficulty due to stiff springs. But got the knack after 23 tries!

Stay tuned :)
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