[jag_e_fattig]

Well I figure it's time to make a project thread. I'll be posting updates now and then on the progress of the car. Original thread


As it stands now.


15-06-06:

First update. I haven't actually gone home to San Diego yet to start on the car itself, but parts are trickling in from eBay that I will be needing for the car.

So far I have gotten a nice triple plate Tilton clutch. It should be able to hold absolutely anything I will be able to throw at it. I think the official max torque rating is somewhere around 1200 ft/lbs. It was a good find since the spline count on the clutch discs are 1-1/8" x 10, just like the transmission I have so I don't have to buy new friction discs.


7-1/4" sintered metallic clutch with a steel button flywheel



On to my next find; a full set of brakes off a totalled Cadillac STS-V. 14" rotors, 4 piston brembos all around. These brakes are fucking HUGE. I'm glad I have 18's for this car or I would never be able to squeeze them in. It should be able to stop pretty hard when these are on.


Front caliper. Note the tape measure for scale, the thing is damn near 11 inches long.


Rear caliper. Not quite the same size but still big. These are about the same size as the front calipers on a WRX STi.


14" rotor. I can't get over how big these are, they eclipse anything I've ever seen on a sedan.



Alex is a happy camper.

Stay tuned, I have some more bad-ass parts still on the way

[smirnoff]

Bravo on those parts! I like your style.

[Jishory]

how do the caddy brakes adapt to your car? direct bolt on?

[trancosrt]

Congrats. Looks like a sweet project!!! Just remember to boost the engine too to run away from cops (I'm guessing you wouldn't put these parts otherwise )
Have fun man!

[jag_e_fattig]

Originally Posted by Jishory

how do the caddy brakes adapt to your car? direct bolt on?

I'll make an adapter bracket. kind of like this:

[sims]

badass, the clutch is a little over kill though :P

you've got my jealous, my car hasn't even shipped from Japan yet its only been legal for 15 days thought... still those mofo's better hurry up

[Mr. Ali]

oh man, having a car like that and brakes like yours.... so much fun can be had with tailgaters.

[Jishory]

are you machining those brackets?

[offroadin]

I'm assuming you're upgrading your brake MC as well. The stocker would probably go down to the floor before those things started grabbing.

Whats in the works for the motor?

[jag_e_fattig]

The clutch is total overkill. The reason I went with it is because it was actually cheaper to use it than getting like a 100% over stock PP and new friction disc. I basically got the thing for a steal price on eBay. Considering that clutch retails for about $800, I came out doing pretty good in the end.

The brake MC definitely needs to be swapped out. Once I have a rough idea of how much the car is going to weigh I'll call Tilton and have one of the techs help me size a couple of new MC's. I'm going to build my own balance bar for it, and that shouldn't be too tricky. I already have the clutch master laying around here somewhere, I'm using a nifty Tilton hydraulic release bearing that attaches to the input shaft bearing retainer of the the transmission.

For the brake adapters I have aluminum bar stock laying around, and my friend has a nice bridgeport hand crank mill. I'll draw the brackets in solidworks and see if i can break something when I try to cut them manually with the mill. :P

For now it's just getting a stock turbo 5 cylinder (~220 hp). I'm going to get the chassis and suspension fixed up first, drive it like that for a while and the tackle the engine. It's a big enough project as it is and I just don't have enough cash for building the engine at the same time. But eventually I would like to have around 450whp.

[czechrboard tassia]

are you shipping all that stuff back to ca? i mean, obviously would need to, but gross extra expense.

[jag_e_fattig]

23-06-06

Well, some more parts have been trickling in. Nothing major, but progress is still being made:

First I managed to get hold of a lot of 24 used titanium valves from a winston cup team:


12 intake and 12 exhaust. They are made by a company called del west and cost about $80 each new. I got the lot for substantially less than that.


The intake valves measure a massive 58mm and the exhaust valves are 42mm.


The stems are roughly 7.9mm in diameter. These valves are gigantic, i've never seen anything like it.

This was something of an impulse buy and I won't be using these for a long time. My engine build is a year or two out so they will most likely be shelved for a while. When the time comes I they will be machined down to my size of choice (larger than stock of course).

Next up is a minor item that I have been waiting over two months for.


It's a Type K thermocouple used for exhaust gas temperature readings. The probe will be placed 3 or 4 inches downstream from the turbo in the downpipe. I already have a gauge for it so i'm all set there. I think this particular probe is rated for 1500 F continuous usage, though hopefully my EGT's will never get that high.

[offroadin]

Those valves are big, like 2.28" . I think you'll need to be resizing those substantially.

What kind of rear end is in that thing, and will it handle any serious HP?

[Mr. Ali]

Originally Posted by offroadin

I think you'll need to be resizing those substantially.

When the time comes I they will be machined down to my size of choice (larger than stock of course).

[jag_e_fattig]

Originally Posted by offroadin

Those valves are big, like 2.28" . I think you'll need to be resizing those substantially.

What kind of rear end is in that thing, and will it handle any serious HP?

All 240's came with a Dana 30 rear. It will handle some decent power but normally the weakest link is the spider gears. If you install a locker or LSD the axle shafts start shearing off.

For starters I'm just going to weld it up and drive it like that. Maybe you rock crawler guys can direct me to someone who sells a Dana 30 spool? Though from what I understand not even the craziest off-roaders will spool their front axle.

A quaife diff is possibly on the to-do list in the future.

[jag_e_fattig]

Saturday August 6th

Today, my friend Matt, my brother Karl, and Myself drove a borrowed F250 with a trailer up to corporate Volvo HQ in Irvine to pick up the car where it's been sitting for almost six months. I had driven up twice earlier in the last week to try to start the car and drive it back, but my efforts were fruitless. Even if I had gotten it running I don't think driving it 50 miles down the I-5 south would have been a very good idea. Especially since I don't have AAA, insurance, or a valid registration. The trip up and down, save for some heavy traffic, was relatively uneventful, with some people giving us odd looks for towing an extremely dirty old Volvo down the freeway.

With the car stowed safely in my garage the work started almost immediately; when the smoke cleared a few hours later the car was stripped of it's interior, trunk and hood.

After putting in a long day of driving and working on my car, myself and some friends decided to go go-kart racing at a local indoor track. The cars are electric but they really do haul ass. I recommend it to anyone

Click Here for the gallery of pictures.

Tuesday August 8th

Yesterday Karl and I worked on the car for a few hours, continuing the deconstruction. I'm not sure how, but we managed to get the entire dash, the heater and A/C assembly, the wiring harness and the bumpers off.

The bumpers are almost 25lbs of solid aluminum each. I hear the going rate on scrap aluminum is about $2 a pound so I'm hoping to recoup some money there.

Most of the stuff on the car was worthless and in no shape to sell but I saved some small interior trim pieces, the wiring harness (for proprietary connectors that don't come on universal harnesses), the dash frame, some small pieces of ducting etc.

I also picked up some dry ice from Albertsons. It came in a big block so I put it in a bag and pounded it to pieces. Spreading the chunks over the old crusty tar paper on the floor really does wonders for getting it off. instead of chipping it off with a chisel i can just smash the frozen tar paper into slivers with a hammer. It's quite convenient.

Click Here for the latest set of pics in the gallery.

[offroadin]

Remind me again why you're replacing the wiring harness when you're staying with the stock engine?

As for a Dana 30 spool, they might be out there, but I haven't ever seen one. Lockers are available, but will be slightly erratic around corners. Better bet would be a Limited SLip setup, but welding is cheap, dependable and predicatble. My samurai rear is welded, as long as you don't mind the odd chirp around some corners its fine.

[jag_e_fattig]

Originally Posted by offroadin

Remind me again why you're replacing the wiring harness when you're staying with the stock engine?

As for a Dana 30 spool, they might be out there, but I haven't ever seen one. Lockers are available, but will be slightly erratic around corners. Better bet would be a Limited SLip setup, but welding is cheap, dependable and predicatble. My samurai rear is welded, as long as you don't mind the odd chirp around some corners its fine.

that engine is getting yanked out asap. i have no attachment to 30 year old engine technology. It's getting a DOHC turbo 5 cylinder out of a mid 90's volvo. i have also never seen a dana 30 spool. i can get a true-trac or even a quaife but i'm cheap and since it never rains in southern california a welded rear will be fine.

[jag_e_fattig]

Damn, its been a while since I worked on the heap. Remodeling a house really takes up a lot of time. I'm lazy so I'm gonna let the pics do the talking.

















I don't want to hear any stuff about how dirty my car is :P

The engine is a DOHC turbo 5 cylinder out of a '94 Volvo 850 Turbo. This is volvos new generation, modular engine. It comes in a ton of different configurations including 4, 5, and 6 cylinder versions. The engine was originally mounted in a transverse, front wheel drive configuration and I had to employ some tricks to make it mountable in my car.

Volvo used to make a car called the 960 which had the same type of modular engine as mine, but was a RWD luxury sedan with a 6 cylinder. The mounts off the engine from the 6 bolt right up. The FWD 5 cyl oil pan is completely wrong for rwd apps and wont clear the crossmember. I have to use the 6 cyl pan, but with 91mm slice cut out of the middle and welded back together.

I ordered a transmission adapter plate from a dude and it should be arriving shortly, I can then build the tranny mount and get that out of the way.

Such is the way of working on a brand with no bolt on parts. I just think thats where the fun is personally