'81 244 DL Buttercup

jamesinc · 2017-01-16T06:41:55+00:00

Got me a UVP today without much fuss. RMS also confirmed for me the car hadn't been written off or anything. Unsurprisingly, rego was fully cancelled, so it'...

VolvoHordz

That's some decent wear! but I think just slap it back together and party on.

jamesinc

Yeah, I might chuck the cam on the lathe and linish that journal a tiny bit, just to remove the jagged edge. The cam cap I'll leave alone.

I think I will also put a drill on the aux shaft while the cam is out and just check that the #5 oiler is flowing.

jamesinc

Decided to make a new harness, this one is rubbish. It's been repaired previously too, only the pigtails at the firewall connector are original.

Stay tuned, have most of it made but ran out of red/blue wire and 10awg alternator output wire.

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Spent this afternoon scrubbing and scrubbing and scrubbing. The engine bay was caked in grime.

Need to get some new return hose for the power steering.

Removed the crank cover plate and popped out the old seals, they are fairly hard, the crank has a bit of a groove in it so will have to be careful where I seat the new seal. New seals should turn up tomorrow.
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New bushings, and found a replacement for the missing spacer sleeve in my box-o-bolts:

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Need to take the alternator off and replace its bushings and make a new ground lead for it.

Once I get the oil seals and the cabling, the engine bay should all go back together pretty quick.

Major Ledfoot

Buttercup is gonna have a very merry christmas.

jamesinc

Cam reinstalled and shims adjusted. I also replaced the hushers. The old ones were brittle but, incredibly, all intact!

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I put the cam on the lathe and polished the bearing journals with Scotchbrite and brasso, aside from the #5 bearing they cleaned up nicely.

I also ran the oil pump with a drill while I had the cam out, and verified good oil flow out of all five bearing oil feeds.

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ramrod

Good, but a little on the tight side for a cold engine. Drive it for 5,000k and check them again to see if any have closed up

Did you remove the cam each shim change or do you have the press tool?

jamesinc

I do it all in one pass, measure all 8 clearances, remove cam, measure all shims, calculate new shim sizes, then measure and install new shims before reinstalling the cam. But because on this engine I am running hushers, the cam came out first to remove the old hushers, and it comes out again after to install new hushers, you can leave the hushers in, but I find it much more difficult to measure accurately.

I think Volvo says 0.35-0.40mm for a cold engine but 🤷‍♂️ I've always set them up cold between 0.30mm and 0.35mm and have not encountered any valve burning or clearance issues when the motor is hot, I figured Volvo were erring on the side of more clearance due to some engines being quite a bit colder than +25ºC when cold.

jamesinc

Couple more things today, blocked now waiting for parts (should arrive tomorrow, but then again they should have arrived today).

New alternator ground

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Tried to save the red part number band from the original but it is solid as a rock.

Setup the new tensioner:

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Made a new return hose for the power steering, decided to put it in a PVC sleeve for safekeeping, I don't trust this modern hose quite as much as I trust the fabric wrapped stuff Volvo used originally. Mackay 3/8 transmission hose. BTW, Super Cheap Auto price-matched two metres of this with this.

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I also bought oil, coolant, and diff fluid. I have loads of Type F ATF, I'll partially flush the transmission, I've flushed it a couple times already and it seems to be doing really well, best 3-speed I've ever driven, shifts beautifully, nice and smooth, no flare out, no hard shifts, kickdown is nice and crisp, I don't love 3-speeds but I do love this 3-speed.

Went over the alternator, the regulator is in good shape, just cleaned up all the contacts. I tested the 2.2uF suppression capacitor and it failed, so I am looking for one of those - if you have one, smash that DM button. Bosch 0290800053

Bosch 0290800053 2.2uF 100V suppression capacitor

Started going over the distributor - it's missing the little cover plate that goes here! I also need a new o-ring for the body, anyone have one for sale?

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VolvoHordz

I'll hook you up because I am a great guy like that haha. Definitely no warranty expressed or implied in the suppression capacitor, just a random used untested one I have in hand.

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jamesinc

New harness, haven't terminated yet, I leave all the wires a bit long, fit the harness, cut everything to length and then crimp.

1981 Volvo 244 B21A wiring harness

I was cleaning the distributor and this random bit of wire fell out 😐 I need to look through the assembly diagrams to see if it could be part of something internal. The flyweights and vac advance work well, vac advance started at 200mbar of vacuum and was fully advanced by 300mbar. Will check that against the greenbooks later.

Volvo B21A distributor

New crank seal and aux shaft seal installed. The new gasket was broken! Brittle and in several pieces! Fel-pro via RockAuto, it must have sat on a warehouse shelf for a looong time

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ramrod

I have genuine gaskets if you like

jamesinc

ramrod yes please, I am keen to put this engine back together so I can move on to the suspension. Are you around much Friday/Saturday?

jamesinc

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Have verified vac advance, I said I was seeing 200-300mbar, which is 150-225 mmHg, which corresponds with the vac advance on the distributor chart.

@VolvoHordz dropped by with those parts from the other day, and we delved a bit deeper into the distributor to see if that random bit of wire, which feels like spring steel, if that belongs in the distributor or not.

There is definitely some kind of damage down in the mechanical advance, but it all moves freely. Notice the top of that prong is all bent and pancaked?

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Volvo B21A Bosch distributor exploded parts view

Looking at the exploded view of the distributor, I don't really see anything that looks like a spring, other than maybe this piece?

I'll take a closer look, but I think it's too long to sit inside the shaft like that.

Very strange.

The damaged prongs are more concerning though, they would interface with the vac advance plate to stop the two advances from being too independent of one another? Not sure.

This all came from Greenbook TP30432/2 Section 3, Group 34, Ignition Systems Repairs & Maintenance.

I've never seen it, but there might be a Construction & Function greenbook that accompanies the Repairs & Maintenance once, if anyone has a hardcopy of this Greenbook, could you maybe photograph the pages that explain the design of the non-contactless distributor?

VolvoHordz

Hmm so in the parts catalogue it doesn't show anything useful in the diagram, but it mentions a repair kit part number 273521.

Which a google search does show a spring clip, though no idea where it goes and would seem difficult for it to reshape to what you found.

Nothing else useful in my green books, despite an extensivy broader collection, turns out i don't have any of section 34 for some reason.

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jamesinc

The part I highlighted is probably that spring washer. Maybe it is a foreign object after all 🤷‍♂️ it could also be part of an old set of points?

I'm thinking there probably are two springs missing. Most mechanical advances have return springs, and there are four tabs in the distributor, two of which are mangled, which would support the idea that the springs have exited. It might also explain why the cover was missing (got knocked out by roaming metal).

ramrod

Sure am give us a call

jamesinc

@ramrod hooked me up with a replacement gasket and I finally got the seals back on. This represents a real turning point, from here on out its all reassembly.

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Except for the distributor! I tore down a spare points distributor I had and while the cam is pretty rough, the advance mechanism is in good condition. Here is what the advance mechanism is supposed to look like.

Volvo 240 distributor centrifugal advance mechanism

So I am going to mix and match parts to end up with one complete and fully functional distributor. I'm going to swap the distributor shaft and centrifugal advance mechanism from the parts distributor into Buttercup's distributor, this means essentially a complete teardown of both - something I had never done before! Fiddly to say the least.

Tomorrow I will tear down Buttercup's distributor and then build it back up with the mechanism from this one.

jamesinc

One rebuilt distributor. I used Sachs high performance grease for the sliding surfaces. So the cam/top part of the shaft is from Buttercup, but the bottom part of the shaft/advance mechanism is fro the donor. Everything else is from Buttercup. I had to fully tear down both distributors, it's not too hard once you know the process.

I also cleaned and buffed the housing with a scotchbrite pad, it looks much better now.

Ex850R

I love your posts about refurbs and learning about how to.

Im well past doing any of this work and am luck to have an old expert at hand who knows all about all the old systems and is an old hot rodder to boot!

jamesinc

Got Buttercup back together and running again. Drove it to Maccas and back, but of stumbling and hesitation at mid loads, but I haven't set the carb up properly and the timing is really advanced, I'll dial it in over the next few days. Hoping to start on the suspension soon.

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