Greg's Gold 1991 240GLE wagon B230FT-M46

Major Ledfoot Yep…I had read about it…and now I know why it's a thing! I think the upper U-joint is longer and lower one is shorter, so if you rotate the whole shaft end for end, it would push the whole shaft forward a bit, which I think would help give more clearance. I had originally thought that people were just rotating the rubber isolated main shaft bit end for end to put the fat end at the bottom, but that wouldn't help my clearance issue as the issue is the u-joint and bolt, not the shaft itself. Hmm…we'll see!

jamesinc "Tap the block"…hmm, sounds like something that should be done with engine out and oil pan off…I'm thinking maybe a crow bar between the steering shaft and the turbo drain pipe!

jamesinc Yeah that could be an option. I'm giving it a rest today as we're going to Geelong for lunch and to check out some more new cars.

I had a quick look and can't see anything wrong with the clutch slave (no leakage) and pedal linkage is connected to clutch master, so either the clutch slave or master must be bad? No apparent loss of fluid. I have a good used slave, but not a master. Both parts were brand new, so yeah, guess it could be a defect. You'd think if either one was bad, there would be fluid at either the pedal pushrod or the clutch fork pushrod…

Still need to determine what exactly is fouling in the steering - could also be up against the downpipe, but I thought that had much more clearance than the oil drain pipe.

What's wrong with this picture? The new quality gauges coming out of VDO India…

OK, I delved into the clutch issue today. Turns out the new slave cylinder had a shorter pushrod, so when I was pushing the clutch, the slave piston was moving too far and at one stage I exuberantly pushed the clutch pedal a bit too far, pushing the piston so far that the seal no longer sealed, and boom, fluid loss and no clutch. Of course I had removed the slave cylinder to inspect after I saw fluid around the pushrod…had I known what I know now, I could have just swapped the pushrod and re-bled the line and been on my way without getting covered in brake fluid. Lesson learned.

On the steering issue, none of the steering shafts I have are any different than the one on the car already, and just playing with the shaft orientation and/or U-joint positions isn't going to help. What I think would do it is if I used 2 short U-joints and an aftermarket splined shaft, that would give me more clearance at both the downpipe and the oil drain pipe. The car currently has a short aluminium upper U-joint and a long cast iron lower U-joint. The flared section of the rubber isolation joint is fairly close to the downpipe currently, and no amount of flipping and changing would resolve both issues. So now I need to measure the shaft and figure out if the Coleman 119-112 generic 12 inch long 19mm-48spline shaft would be long enough. I'll need a shaft that's longer than the original one due to using the shorter U-joint at the bottom. Worst case I MIGHT be able to use the same length shaft and a short U-joint on the bottom, and long on the top, but I think that might be too tight at the downpipe. Hmm…time to measure my shaft!

OK I ended up ordering a generic steering shaft from Ian Boettcher race parts in QLD. I went with the Sweet 12-inch one, which may work if I stick to a short and a long U-joint. I found a slimmer cast steel long lower U-joint in the shed (I was wrong about my existing one being steel/iron - it is in fact aluminium). The aluminium ones are a lot bulkier at the ends (squared off) and have bolt and nut set-up with a clip, which protrudes a lot more from the body of the U-joint. The steel ones just a bolt that's screwed into a tapped bit on the U-joint, with only a small protrusion for a hairpin clip. Once the shaft arrives, I can play around and see whether I can put the long U-joint on top, and short on bottom. Ultimately, I may have to go with 2 short U-joints, in which case I'll have to order a longer 18 inch shaft from Coleman in the USA.

My waterproof fuse holders arrived so I need to get cracking on my driving light relay wiring and tidy up the air hor wiring. I should also be working on the baffling for the airbox while waiting for the steering shaft.

I checked the throttle position switch terminal 3 is definitely going from open circuit to earth at full throttle, so the Turbo+ kit should be getting that. I guess I need to check the solenoid valve function, and run through the rest of the potential wiring issues. Not a high priority at the moment.

Why didn't somebody pick up on my mistake with the steering shaft U-joints? Can you see it? The steering U-joints have a different design at each end of the joint. On the steering rack/steering column end, they are designed such that the bolt slides into a groove in the shaft, preventing the U-joint from moving (much) on the spline as long as the bolt is in position. On the steering shaft end of the joints, there's a tang on the shaft and a machined-out notch in the corresponding U-joint casting…the tang prevents the U-joint from sliding off the shaft as long as the bolt is in position, but allows the U-joint to be positioned along the shaft before tightening the bolt (the bolt is completely clear of the splined area). Sooo, if U look at the pic below, you'll see that I can't do anything meaningful to the angle or position of the shaft by swapping the U-joints from bottom to top, as the long portion of the one shaft is on the shaft side, not the rack/column side. The only other option is, with this new aftermarket shaft, I might be able to flip the long U-joint 180 degrees and put the "wrong" end on the steering column side, since the new shaft has a groove machined in it, which would be similar to the Volvo's rack/column ends. Hmmm, a lot of words that translate to BUGGER! It's possible that with the new shaft, and the short U-joint used at the bottom, that will give me enough clearance to the turbo drain pipe even though it won't actually reposition the shaft as such…it will move the U-joint end fitting farther down the shaft, which would probably give me 15 mm more clearance than I have now (about 10 mm). Also. getting rid of the 2-piece rubber isolated "fat" shaft will also give me about another 10-15 mm clearance at the downpipe. If I can get 25 mm clearance all around I'll be happy. Wait and see!

VolvoHordz Yeah, in theory with the new aftermarket shaft with no tabs, I should be able to flip the U-joints…I want to make sure it's pretty fail-safe though!

While waiting for the steering shafts I ordered, I've been working around the edges. I did take the car for a test drive yesterday and all good with the clutch thankfully.

Started building my air inlet box. Pretty far along including mounting the small washer bottle to the one wall of the baffle. Next step will be to cut the large hole for the inlet pipe to poke through the rear wall, then I'll tidy it up (maybe paint) and make up a top cover plate. I've made it out of stainless steel off one of the doors of our old BBQ that went to the scrap metal. Nice that I kept the doors thinking "I might be able to use that stainless steel one day…"

Airbox is coming along well…a few more attachments, and a couple holes & grommets for the windscreen washer hoses. I made the mistake of using some silicone grease on the large grommet (ex fuel filler pipe grommet!) to insert the air inlet hose, so I'm thinking now I may just clean up the stainless steel and call it good instead of painting it black. Knowing my luck with painting, it would be full of fish-eyes from silicone grease fingerprint residue LOL! I'm going to make a top cover out of black plastic so it pretty much will all be hidden anyway.

The original length (12-inch) steering shaft arrived from QLD yesterday and I've painted it. Debating about whether to install it or wait for the longer (18-inch) one from the USA. Guess I can tinker along on the various other bits and pieces and wait for it, but I'd really like to do a bit more test driving/road time before taking the car down to Melbourne and back in May.

Finished up the airbox cover today and stuck on a bit of bling. My windscreen washer diverter valve arrived today so I'll get that mounted and wired up (will need a diode to prevent the front washer circuit from energising the diverter valve, which will just be used to divert flow to the tailgate when the rear washer circuit is energised). Everything seems to be fitting in OK. Going into Ballarat tomorrow to pick up the Megane E Tech so will stop at Bunnings to pick up some foam weatherstrip. I want to fill the gaps between the intercooler and radiator for more efficient cooling. No update on the wiring and E-fan relay from eBay USA…says it arrived at the eBay gloal shipping depot about a week ago…hmmm

Did some work on the battery & relay cover today. Pretty much done other than the fastening strategy. Should be fairly simple with a couple fabbed-up L-brackets at the right height.

Didn't spend too much time on the project as there was an emergency warning for an out-of-control bushfire about 1 km from our house…we're right on the edge of the Hepburn Regional park, where they had started a controlled burn on Thursday. Well, I guess it got away from them in a big way. We had water bombers doing non-stop runs basically straight over our house all day. Hopefully it won't flare up tonight.