Project DAFt - Volvo 360

[brickie501]

Since it's turning into a project of it's own accord I thought I might as well start a separate thread on the Volvo 360 (and not compete the ongoing Scimitar rebuild posts)!

I present to you my daily driver, Project DAFt:



1987 Volvo 360 GLT. 2 litres of Volvo Red Block EFi, mid-gearbox, RWD goodness!

It was meant to be 'just' the runabout but I really like the quirky, retro character and have been unable to resist 'in the bath moments' involving B230 Turbo conversions and Land Rover rear dampers

This weekend I collected some alloys:



They originally came fitted to my Dad's Passat estate (!??) but I have 'liberated' them as he has a tendency to trash all things automobile. A quick trial, while on my bro's ramp for exhaust bodging, shows they fit (ish) although the wider centre bore worries me slightly...

They are 14" Wolfrace and with a clean and repaint I think they suit the car better than the current 'dinner plates'.

While prodding underneath, as our kid welded the front pipe, I decided the chassis rails and rear wheelarches will need some attention:



eBay provided this arch repair panel but sod's law dictates I have only located an offside repair panel when the near side is in the worst condition (though both will need doing sooner than later)!

Hopefully it will make it through MOT time in July with minimal expense and I will find more time to sort things properly!

[Chairchild]

you'll need spigot rings for the alloys to centre properly - they fit in the centre of the alloys, and bring the size down to whatever size you need for your hubs. They're usually about £20, and you just need to say what model of car they're for

[Jaffa]

or make some (Yorkshire way) its cheaper

[volvorsport]

check the torque tube is tightened up .

do we know you from v3m or turbobricks ?

[brickie501]

Yeah, I'm on V3M and turbobricks amongst others - same username helps my simple brain...

(tend to use same content on each to save typing but I do make some changes for different audience!)

[tooSavvy]

Yeah, I'm on V3M and turbobricks amongst others - same username helps my simple brain...

(tend to use same content on each to save typing but I do make some changes for different audience!)

.. I post on a few Forum >> using a different Handle (..you'd know its me cos its Da Same Old $h1tE...Ha Ha!)

Welcome

tooSavvy

[brickie501]

MOT time sneaked up on me! Little brother and I have fixed some stuff but bodged other bits to get through.

Still dreaming of 2.3 turbo conversion (I have my eye on a dormant, late 940 estate) so exhaust was the main lash-up; it's still an advisory for a leak at rear section joint (ironically the most solid area) and now drones because of smaller diameter pipe (?) grafted in.

Spotted holes each side in the chassis / crossmember over rear axle before testing but currently doing more welding on rear suspension 'closing panels'.

'Cosmetic' stuff around front end (mainly because I ripped trim off on my rickety ramps so rusty metal exploded!) / wheelarches is patched with aluminium-backed 'speed tape' for now:





Anyone got any decent front wings or a front valance?

[brickie501]

Hi all,

Been away and standing for six months has obviously been a problem for the 360 as it won't run

This is all a bit secondhand as a friend has been looking to get it ready for me and they are reporting on another mechanic's view - I know how difficult 'remote diagnosis' is but...

Thought I had done the best I could using fuel additive (trying to preserve fuel a bit) and disconnecting battery but obviously not good enough!

Need for new fuel pump has been mentioned so problem seems to be fuel related but it was running well before...

It's being looked at by a professional 'freind of a friend' so I'm skipping the obvious. In your vast experience are there any faults 300s / injected B230s suffer after being laid up?

Will try and get a better read-out of symptons but just looking for a steer in the right direction at the mo'

Many thanks

[tommi]

time for that turbo engine swap i think, the car is just trying to tell you

[brickie501]

time for that turbo engine swap i think, the car is just trying to tell you

LOL - I think you're right tommi ...

... but I've got to get it running again (even if only briefly ) as I'm borrowing my brother's Disco at the moment and that can't go on forever unfortunately.

The fuel pump relay seems to have failed since bypassing it has allowed some progress, in so far as fuel is now getting to the injectors. However, that progress didn't last long as this now shows there to be no spark !!!

Obviously various parts have failed through lack of use; while I hit the manual, any suggestions for bits of the ignition system that could have gone the same way as the fuel relay?

[brickie501]

So I managed to get up to look at the car over the weekend armed with my brother (the mechanic one), a selection of tools (particularly a multi-meter) and (on the advice of the mechanic 'friend of a friend' who has been looking at the problem) a spare Crank Position Sensor or CPS (from a 940 turbo).

After checking what had already been done and a few false leads (the other guy wasn't around) I found the Owners Manual … which we quickly exhausted! A bit more digging found my trusty Haynes manual, which was more helpful.

The CPS on the car seemed to be faulty – not 220 Ohms +/- 60 (thanks Mr Haynes)– but we were unsure and moved onto the EFi Control Relay wiring anyway. This was OK until we got to an ignition signal which didn't look like the 'flashing' output expected (we were using the multi-meter rather than the test lamp suggested) but, not fully understanding the system, we weren't sure why that would prevent fuel and spark.

Following through the block diagrams and control relay pin-outs we managed to get the fuel pump 'ticking' but no spark, as per the previous attempts. From experience, my brother had suggested the overall fault could be a triggered 'inertia' / crash switch but no amount of 'Googling' had found any mention of one being fitted on a Volvo 360. A mental leap then got me wondering if the lack of an ignition signal would stop the fuel circuit energising as a 'feature' of the Renix electronic ignition. I knew from researching 340/360 EFi problems on the Volvo 300 Mania forum that a faulty CPS almost always completely stops the spark so, logically, it wouldn't stump up a 'flashing' ignition signal either (assuming the Renix was where such a signal would be produced). Haynes was unclear but this has since been backed-up by helpful forum folk; unfortunately I didn't login before setting off

So much for the theory but how to confirm the fault?

This is where the 940 CPS was supposed to come in but, unlike me (beforehand), those who know about such things will explain that the 360 CPS has two (not three) wires and is a completely different shape and fitting to the 940 one…

… but it does have the right range of impedance and the end will physically fit in the bell-housing!

Not wanting to destroy an otherwise good part (with no guarantee of success), we chopped the lead off the faulty 360 sensor and searched for something to join the bare ends to the relevant two pins on the 940 item's connector. Unfortunately neither of us had brought an electrical connector/crimp kit, much less a soldering iron etc. BTW we were basically in a yard miles from nowhere; no shops around even if it hadn't been late afternoon / early evening on a Saturday.

We didn't have enough hands so my brother found some rawl plugs (yes the things that go into walls to screw stuff onto!) in my 'misc' toolbox and some monumental bodging ensued. The split ends of the rawl plugs were used to hold the bared wires, from the 360's CPS lead, to the correct pins in the 940's CPS plug, while he held the Hall Effect element in roughly the right position and I turned the car over. After a quick check that we were now seeing spark and fuel, we replaced everything we had been fiddling with and … she fired up.

We were already towing and there was no way that lash-up was going to make it the 100+ miles back so she isn't back on my driveway yet but at least the fault, and required solution, are confirmed.

The down sides are I don't have any pictures (but chopped wiring is not that interesting!), we didn't get back until 00:45 on Sunday and we destroyed my brother's Discovery's gearbox – he's pretty much sorted that but that's for another Forum!

Now I was warned CPS's can cost in the region of £200 which isn't far off what I paid for the car - which is why 'friend of a friend' wanted me to decide what to do - but a search shows pattern parts available for <£30. Even so I will look at even cheaper options especially because it looks like the engine mounts are on the way out and that 2.3 conversion really might be on the cards (if I'm going to be removing one anyway) and I'd hate to buy something that wouldn't be needed! Luckily my brother took one look at the 360's and called it a 'Renault type' so maybe I will get down the local scrappie's with my trusty multi-meter to find a good used one off something French

[brickie501]

It's back home

Now with 70% less bodging!

[volvorsport]

excellent ,,, parts engineering at its best

[brickie501]

^^^^ No kidding - an R reg Clio on it's way to the way to the great carpark in the sky gave up its CPS for the cause (FOC ).

The sensor itself is identical but the Clio loom plugs into a socket on it, rather than there being a flying lead. So all it took was cutting the plug off the car to join to the remains of my original sensor lead.

[brickie501]

More parts engineering - I'm having to get quite creative sourcing cheap parts to keep my daily driver Volvo 360 on the road! Servicing stuff is out there (and reasonable) on eBay and through the specialists online (especially as it's a Redblock, same as the more plentiful 940 'bricks') but other parts are more elusive / expensive.

As a result, I'd lived with a 'stuck' driver's electric window for some time. Pressing the switch did produce a 'clunk' but no movement so a seized motor gearbox was suspected. Originally, the window had got slower and slower (so at least I had managed to to leave it closed) until it wouldn't move at all. Having to open the door for car park entrances etc was getting boring so I decided it was time to do something about it. In line with the 'shoestring' approach that something was not going to be ordering from a Motor Factors, nevermind Halfrauds (as if they'd have 300 parts)...

I stripped down the door to have a look and, after a bit of a struggle, managed to extract the motor. The gear looked pretty rusty and I couldn't turn it, even with a pair of grips, after a soaking in WD-40. So I started looking for a replacement but there are very few 300's in the scrapyards and nothing for one was coming up on eBay searches. The part looked familiar though...

You may be aware of my Land Rover 'habit' and a root around the lock-up uncovered the motors from an '80's Range Rover I stripped. The electrical connections obviously need changing for 'spades' (not sure if the position of the connector block on the motor body matters?) but they're physically similar with the exception of the drive gear:



Left to right: Range Rover Classic rear door motor, Volvo front door motor, Range Rover Classic front door motor (scrappy 240 driver's door actually pictured as mine was back in - so pictured motors would all be 300 passenger side)

I couldn't get my puller on to swap the gears however so put them to one side. Casting the net a bit wider, I started checking older cars in the scrappy and comparing photographs online. An old BMW looked looked similar but I couldn't see the gear in place nor fully remove the thing when I visited (no torx bits!). Then the description of a new eBay part (£££ ) helped because it seems 240's and earlier 740's (pre-1990?) used the same motors. After a week, I struck lucky with an old 240 appearing in the local scrappy.

I removed the driver's door motor, managed to check it worked and, back home, struggled to fit it for ten minutes before realising that Volvo obviously used the same font door motors but on opposite sides!

It was too late to go back for the other one and I had to use the car so I refitted the old motor to hold the window up. I couldn't resist pressing the window button though and the week's soaking must have done the trick because I was rewarded with maybe 0.5cm movement. This steadily increased over several days to the extent that it now works normally again ...

Still others may not be so lucky so, in summary, if that elusive Volvo 300 scrapper isn't available you could try some of the following (slightly) more common window motor donors:

240 motors - in opposite doors
Range Rover motors - if you can swap drive gears (can't remember 100% but think those pictured are driver's side) NB central locking solonoids look same too
Pre-1990 740 motors (maybe) - not sure whether 'inverted'
1980's BMW 300 maybe?