Fred's 1990 Volvo 740 GLE Sedan

Post your project vehicles here! One thread per vehicle please.
User avatar
Fred
Moderator
Posts: 15431
Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2008 2:31 pm
Location: Home sweet home!
Contact:

Re: Fred's 1990 Volvo 740 GLE Sedan

Post by Fred »

This happened the other day, I'm definitely keeping this car. https://twitter.com/FredCookeNZ/status/ ... 2584113153

But the brakes need some love. Any 7/9 series experts know how to stop the front end from getting brake shake? My wagon in the states got 3 brake jobs, all by me, and nothing cured it for very long... :-/ 240 is perfect, too.
DIYEFI.org - where Open Source means Open Source, and Free means Freedom
FreeEMS.org - the open source engine management system
FreeEMS dev diary and its comments thread and my turbo truck!
n00bs, do NOT PM or email tech questions! Use the forum!
The ever growing list of FreeEMS success stories!
User avatar
Fred
Moderator
Posts: 15431
Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2008 2:31 pm
Location: Home sweet home!
Contact:

Re: Fred's 1990 Volvo 740 GLE Sedan

Post by Fred »

DIYEFI.org - where Open Source means Open Source, and Free means Freedom
FreeEMS.org - the open source engine management system
FreeEMS dev diary and its comments thread and my turbo truck!
n00bs, do NOT PM or email tech questions! Use the forum!
The ever growing list of FreeEMS success stories!
User avatar
Fred
Moderator
Posts: 15431
Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2008 2:31 pm
Location: Home sweet home!
Contact:

Re: Fred's 1990 Volvo 740 GLE Sedan

Post by Fred »

How to stop the front end shaking? Replace all rooted bushings with urethane and replace rotors with some that haven't been rusting for years (cept the bit where the pad was...). The bushes in the front end of this car are totally rooted. I've ordered some of them, but still need to order some others. Quite a few things to do before the WOF expires on xmas day... (so I can get a new one, ASAP).

In other news I:

1) Pulled the dash out last night and found the odo gear broken as usual. These things are made of something like cheese or wax, no wonder they break. Reflowed the fuel gauge and odo drive board, and a couple of joints on another board I'm unsure of the purpose of. Need to figure out a better way to hold the back lighting that has been retrofitted to it, too.

2) Got underneath and found the heat shield that has been rattling and generally making noises that I don't enjoy. May MIG that tomorrow quickly.

3) Pulled the lower radiator hose off and cleared it of caked on rust crustiness. Supple and like new, again. Amazing. Ran a dishwasher tablet through it for several hours. Dumped that. Flushed with water, heat cycle, dumped that. Repeat. Refill, heat cycle, park up till tomorrow.

Tomorrow I will fill it full of oxalic acid and drive it around until either I get scared, it burns through the heat core and scolds me, I get bored, or something important disolves and it blows up. Not sure which, yet. After the acid has been through, there'll be a lot less rust caked onto important surfaces. May even cool slightly better. Post acid there will be a flush of water, another flush with water, a flush with baking soda, a flush with water, and a refill with green glycol coolant! First time in a decade for this car, I would say :-D

The sunroof switch needs to be pulled and lubed up, too. May find time for this tomorrow, or not.

I need to publish a photo of the state of the exhaust. I see some exhaust repairs/building in my future... someone has tried to bog up some holes in a muffler with plaster of paris or something like that, LOL.
DIYEFI.org - where Open Source means Open Source, and Free means Freedom
FreeEMS.org - the open source engine management system
FreeEMS dev diary and its comments thread and my turbo truck!
n00bs, do NOT PM or email tech questions! Use the forum!
The ever growing list of FreeEMS success stories!
User avatar
Fred
Moderator
Posts: 15431
Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2008 2:31 pm
Location: Home sweet home!
Contact:

Re: Fred's 1990 Volvo 740 GLE Sedan

Post by Fred »

I had the acid in for 2 or so hours, and it generally did its job. Maybe a little strong or a little long as it had started to grey up the alloy parts. Things were going OK though. Then I flushed it 2 or 3 times to get rid of muddy / green stuff that it had removed so well. All ran clear. Then I made a fatal mistake, kinda embarrassed to post this, but I did not know that Sodium Bicarbonate breaks down with just heat. I thought it needed the acid to do that. Hence putting two cups of it into my cooling system wasn't a bright idea. Instead it was a good way to rupture a hose or crack a radiator tank, the latter of which I did, with an audible pop and an audible spraying of liquid. The radiator in the 940 is an alloy cored unit, so that'll be coming out, and going into the 740, and the 740 one will get a dodgy repair just to take it its chop shop for caravan creation. Woops. Lesson learned.
DIYEFI.org - where Open Source means Open Source, and Free means Freedom
FreeEMS.org - the open source engine management system
FreeEMS dev diary and its comments thread and my turbo truck!
n00bs, do NOT PM or email tech questions! Use the forum!
The ever growing list of FreeEMS success stories!
User avatar
Fred
Moderator
Posts: 15431
Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2008 2:31 pm
Location: Home sweet home!
Contact:

Re: Fred's 1990 Volvo 740 GLE Sedan

Post by Fred »

After a LONG hard day of working on the 940 in diagnostic mode, I got the bloody thing running, and got a friend to help me bring it home. It won't move for a while... because it no longer has a radiator. It also has a dodgy ignitor, and the coil from it is in the garage. IE, it's dead. For now.

I will try to fix the radiator with epoxy, and I will try to figure out a coil/ignitor combo to replace what's in there, likely with FreeEMS so I can use a new coil.

I gave it a final hurrah down some back street and spun a single donut and exit slide as a car approached. But for now, RIP. Parked up right outside some arsehole's house. The guy that complained about it being parked there before. Who complains about tidy cars parked on the street with WOF/reg (legal)? Only a complete bastard who thinks he owns the street outside his house. How wrong he is.

And why am I writing all of this here at 11:15pm on a Sunday night with work early in the morning? Because the radiator from the 940 is now at home in the 740, and the borrowed ignitor is reinstalled, and the borrowed coil and relays are reinstalled, and it's full of straight tap water again, and I took it for a drive until it fully warmed up... and I gave it a burnout to make sure it was properly warmed up.

Good to have her back. Onward and upward. Tomorrow night she'll get changed for actual coolant! Woo hoo. Finally green after months of driving around with rust and stale water.

Fred.
DIYEFI.org - where Open Source means Open Source, and Free means Freedom
FreeEMS.org - the open source engine management system
FreeEMS dev diary and its comments thread and my turbo truck!
n00bs, do NOT PM or email tech questions! Use the forum!
The ever growing list of FreeEMS success stories!
User avatar
Fred
Moderator
Posts: 15431
Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2008 2:31 pm
Location: Home sweet home!
Contact:

Re: Fred's 1990 Volvo 740 GLE Sedan

Post by Fred »

This is a great resource: https://www.volvoclub.org.uk/faq/FAQSummary1.html

Helped me understand what was going on today. Cheers, POHMs!
DIYEFI.org - where Open Source means Open Source, and Free means Freedom
FreeEMS.org - the open source engine management system
FreeEMS dev diary and its comments thread and my turbo truck!
n00bs, do NOT PM or email tech questions! Use the forum!
The ever growing list of FreeEMS success stories!
User avatar
Fred
Moderator
Posts: 15431
Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2008 2:31 pm
Location: Home sweet home!
Contact:

Re: Fred's 1990 Volvo 740 GLE Sedan

Post by Fred »

Tonight when I got home from work I dumped the murky water from the poor old girl, let it cool for a whlie and filled it with ~40% (4l) green glycol and ~60% water, or so the books all say (10.5l, is this right, anyone?). Yay. Finally running on proper coolant after how many months of ownership? Feels good.

Rough game plan:
  • Epoxy broken radiator closed again and install in 940.
  • FreeEMS 940 with wasted spark and semi sequential, or at least a new modern coil, depending on what the trigger wheel holds, info wise.
  • Do +T setup on the 940 or prepare it in the garage if already chopped into a caravan.
  • Transfer turbo and FreeEMS setup into 740 (this won't count as a second engine IMO)
Then I headed around to Slackercam's to help Ned out with a CoolEFI USBDM. That didn't go so well, but hopefully we can resolve it tomorrow.

Came back home and whipped out the sunroof switch which had verdigris and dried up grease on the rocker tension mechanism. Cleaned up the contacts and the springs and the pistons/sliders, a little CRC on the springs to stop the rust, a little amsoil waterproof grease on the slide/tension mechanism, and back together, good as new. Premodded by someone when the connector failed. Working great now. Previously was sticking in and flopping freely between off/up/down. Now easier to use and unlikely to arc due to faster contact making/breaking.

Tomorrow I'm on a mission to order bushings for the front of the thing. Wish me luck.

Fred.
DIYEFI.org - where Open Source means Open Source, and Free means Freedom
FreeEMS.org - the open source engine management system
FreeEMS dev diary and its comments thread and my turbo truck!
n00bs, do NOT PM or email tech questions! Use the forum!
The ever growing list of FreeEMS success stories!
User avatar
Fred
Moderator
Posts: 15431
Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2008 2:31 pm
Location: Home sweet home!
Contact:

Re: Fred's 1990 Volvo 740 GLE Sedan

Post by Fred »

Got a bunch of stuff for this car, and the 240, today from Zebra! Between yesterday and today I spent about 350nzd there on bits for both cars.

A new left headlight without a bullet hole, and a few other trinkets. I'm going to get this car totally mint sooner or later.
DIYEFI.org - where Open Source means Open Source, and Free means Freedom
FreeEMS.org - the open source engine management system
FreeEMS dev diary and its comments thread and my turbo truck!
n00bs, do NOT PM or email tech questions! Use the forum!
The ever growing list of FreeEMS success stories!
User avatar
Fred
Moderator
Posts: 15431
Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2008 2:31 pm
Location: Home sweet home!
Contact:

Re: Fred's 1990 Volvo 740 GLE Sedan

Post by Fred »

Got a few more things for this car today, again, from Zebra.

And did some research tonight in the dark with my phone to light my way, surprise surprise, the 940 wagon has no rear sway bar at all! Didn't check the front one, but did score a 24mm front bar from that 760 today. The one on this car right now is 19mm. On the back is 16mm. Should slide a bit better with more front bar and same rear bar (more even rear wheel weight spread).
DIYEFI.org - where Open Source means Open Source, and Free means Freedom
FreeEMS.org - the open source engine management system
FreeEMS dev diary and its comments thread and my turbo truck!
n00bs, do NOT PM or email tech questions! Use the forum!
The ever growing list of FreeEMS success stories!
User avatar
Fred
Moderator
Posts: 15431
Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2008 2:31 pm
Location: Home sweet home!
Contact:

Re: Fred's 1990 Volvo 740 GLE Sedan

Post by Fred »

A couple of pics of the two cars together:

https://twitter.com/FredCookeNZ/status/ ... 7557172224
https://twitter.com/FredCookeNZ/status/ ... 1271785472

You can see the grubby wheels in those.

Pics of progress on this thing:

Wheels cleaned *with a toothbrush* to near perfection, love this look. Very different from the 240. https://twitter.com/FredCookeNZ/status/ ... 1412889600

No rust behind the tail light as I thought, instead a broken tail light mounting point allowing the seal to be loose. https://twitter.com/FredCookeNZ/status/ ... 0701042689

Moisture rising into the cabin from the embedded heater: https://twitter.com/FredCookeNZ/status/ ... 6138864640

Much newer/nicer tail light test fitted into the back of it: https://twitter.com/FredCookeNZ/status/ ... 4263656450

Neat special diplomat deliveries sticker on the 760 parts car: https://twitter.com/FredCookeNZ/status/ ... 2420299777
DIYEFI.org - where Open Source means Open Source, and Free means Freedom
FreeEMS.org - the open source engine management system
FreeEMS dev diary and its comments thread and my turbo truck!
n00bs, do NOT PM or email tech questions! Use the forum!
The ever growing list of FreeEMS success stories!
Post Reply