dorkfish101

Updated 2/7/2016

Hey guys, new to the LS1Tech forums so i figured i'd post my current build.
I'm a Mechanical Engineer and i've had an idea for a turbo v8 wagon for a long time but never had the time to start a big project. after months of doing research and reading forums i finally made the first step. long story short, in a moment of weakness of wallet, this summer i purchased an LR4 4.8 with low miles at a very good price on Ebay. that purchase started the ball rolling now i'm shamelessly buying car parts because racecar. my main goal for the car is autocross racing but i'm also expecting it to be quite a capable road/drag car.
target horsepower is in the 550 range.

The Car:
1991 Volvo 245 Wagon
with automatic locks and windows *shudders*


The Engine:
LR4 4.8L v8
stage II camshaft from Brian Tooley Racing
homemade methanol injection
Ebay special GT45 turbocharger
Deka 80lb injectors

Transmission:
rebuilt stock 4l60e with transgo-HD2 shift kit
plans are to baby the 4l60e untill i can afford a proper T56. With unforseen startup costs of the build i just couldn't dump too much money into the transmission yet so cue $300 4l60e.

my phone is dead at the moment so i'll post pictures in a little while but here's how the build is going so far.

I bought the engine from a salvage yard and had it freighted to my buisness in Augusta GA.

here is the engine as it was freighted to me. dirt and all


after a little tlc and some nice wrinkle paint

the plan was to just have a fun summer project of taking an old junkyard motor, slapping some injectors and a turbo onto it and have a blast for relatively cheap. that all went out the window when i got the motor home and started pulling it apart and inspecting things. removed all of the accessories and the oil pan and discovered a bent rod on #3 cylinder

*facepalm*. at that moment i realized a quick build was out of the question. i had almost decided to just chalk it upto not being worth it and scrap the entire project right there but i had just bought the car and decided to lengthen my time frame and commit to a long expensive learning experience.


one of these things is not like the others...


i really hate wiring but it's not going to badly and it kept me busy while the block and heads were away

first thing i did was strip the entire engine down to the bare block and took it to get the bores and deck surfaces checked. surprisingly everything turned out perfectly fine and in-spec. as the engine was a 2004 and not that old, everyone looked quite good. got new cam bearings installed twice (shop botched it the first time) and brought the block home ready for new parts.


after getting the block back from the shop it received a nice shade of fire engine red

I decided to go with a stock engine rebuild kit with fresh new coated pistons/rings and bearings from Enginetech. sourced a new connecting rod of ebay and got all of them checked and balanced together with the crankshaft. I sent my heads off to a friend who owns a speed shop in New Mexico to get cleaned/checked and new valve springs and seals


fresh new pistons and rings

After getting all of my parts i set to piecing the engine back together. as i have never done a complete 100% engine build before, this was quite a fun experience. alot of cuts, jammed fingers and swear words were to be had. I gaped the piston rings slightly bigger to aid the turbocharger process with information from SloppyMechanics wiki page. as i didn't have a ring grinding tool and didn't want to buy one i undertook the long process of doing it by hand (which i would rather never have to do again). Later i received my heads back, along with a shiny MLS head gasket, i re-installed the heads with a set of Alper Motorsports headstuds. i purchased off of the sales forum a LS1 intake manifold as the truck manifold is just too damn big.


discovered how annoying it was to gap rings


ls1 manifold i bought off the sales forum


after getting all my parts in it was time for assembly


All the while of buying and trading parts for the build i'd been slowly trying to get the car ready to accept it's new Murica fueled beating heart. the first major problem i ran into was the Volvo crossmember. all other builds i'd seen like mine either notched the crossmember or bought an expensive MAST oil pan to make the engine fit. As i didn't want to do either of these, i tried to use a cut down truck oil pan. this proved futile as i didn't feel comfortable leaving the fate of my Turbobrick to the hands of my shoddy oil pan cutting skills. this lead to buying a Holley 302-1 conversion pan to take out all of the headache.


starting to tear the car down


engine bay all empty and the previous owner even left me a rusty hole where i can run turbo pipes. so thoughtful.....


started building motor mounts out of a universal kit from a website that sold 4x4 parts. can't remember the name at the moment


doing some test fitting with just the block
it fit great without an oil pan haha


final fitting with new Holley conversion pan
i'm still trying to find my pictures of the pan itself and i'll take some of it's clearance. i also welded 2.5" ss V-bands onto the truck manifolds


finished the motor mounts

Currently the car is sitting up on blocks in my garage with the engine ready to go in. i'm finishing up the motor mounts this weekend and wiring and fuel should be in the coming weeks. current time goal is to have the car operational by Thanksgiving 2014 but if work starts to pick up that might go right out the window.

I'll be posting pictures and updates periodically when i remember. I hope all you gearheads are happy, you've indoctrinated a new member into the finacial ruin of "because racecar" haha. Hope you enjoy my build. thanks for reading.

EDIT 10/27/2014: added pictures

skyrockbike

iTrader: (1)

I'm converting a 91 volvo 244 so I'm very interested in how you get the Holley oil pan to sit in there. If I can get away without messing with the cross member I'll try it.

onetype

iTrader: (6)

You can try without notching the CM, but I highly doubt it. Without, you will likely be too close to the firewall leading to other problems. I may be wrong, as there are so many oil pan variations now a days.

esteen2

I'm near Augusta in SC too. What local machine shop do you use?

dorkfish101

I tried really hard to get the engine in without notching the cross member but it just was not ment to be. I had to end up notching the crossmember about 1.5" deep which wasn't to bad. The annoying part was cutting the backside and accidentally cutting a brake line. The holley pan fits perfectly though, looks like it was made for it.

Esteen, I used Augusta Engine Parts in Augusta for my block and pistons and I shipped my heads to Southwest Machine and Design in New Mexico.
I really like Augusta Engine Parts service they just messed up my cam bearings the first time but they fixed it without a fuss and without charging me.

slowbu

iTrader: (4)

looks like u have done your homework an off to a great start.

sucks about the bent rod.. but **** happens

i bought an "low mile" 4.8 engine it was clean as they get on the inside, but had one piston in it that looked like someone took the skirt to a bench grinder
so its getting rebuild but with a few forged upgrades

dorkfish101

It's been quite a fun ordeal. I always like to reasearch anything as much as I can before making a decision which sometimes unfortunetly leads to taking forever to get anything done. I actually refered to Onetype's writeup quite alot. I would have loved to go forged for this build but it was not in the cards. Perhaps if I ever blow this up I'll start over with the good stuff. I'm anxious to see how far I can get on what I have so far.

dorkfish101

Well I was working on the wiring harness over the chilly weekend and ran into a small snag. On my wiring harness, on the run for the transmission plug and left bank of densors, I've discoversed a plug that I can't explain. I've looked through Google and forums but I can't seem to find any information on what this plugs function is. I'm assuming I can cut it off but some clarification would be awesome if anyone knows

Envy

You Sir, are in luck. I just built my harness a little bit back, but I believe you're looking at a plug that feeds the donor vehicle with chassis/electrical information from the drivetrain. Here is a schematic that I believe you're looking for, I decided to just start from scratch and wire everything up from the stripped down connectors, but ultimately you can decide if you'd rather pick the harness apart until you've reached the desired outcome, or you stripped it down to bare bones and start from ground zero.

dorkfish101

You sir are a saint! I've already stripped the harness down to barebones except for that nasty little plug. I may just leave it the way it is and run it until I can get a Psi Conversions Harness

dorkfish101

Well been super busy lately with work but got a little free time to work on the car and post and update

I hate to notch the crossmember so i finally got around to welding it up




also got a few goodies from the Fedex man

Aluminum Fuel Rails


picked up a Speedway Alternator Relocation Bracket for dirt cheap because
it was missing a few bolts. nothing a trip to the hardware store can't fix.

it clears my flipped truck manifolds perfectly.
now i just need to pick up a F-Body Power Steering Pump to fit it.

I also got in a new aluminum radiator that should fit perfectly. i'm going to try fitting it up sometime this week and post pictures.

I'm hoping to start the engine for the first time this weekend.

dorkfish101

UPDATE: 2/8/2015

well it's been a while since i've updated my project due to work and another one of my cars throwing a connecting rod.

here are a few pictures of the little that i've done since last time


Laid the wiring harness on the engine to begin moving the ECU from the front/driver's side to the rear/passenger's side


placed the harness where i want it to be. have to extend the coil packs, injector wiring, o2 sensors and water temp sensor.


this is after many hours of burnt fingers and curse words but it actually doesn't look half bad.


i pray to God that i don't ever have to trace the "red" wire.


got my GT45 turbocharger 2nd hand that had never been used.
the previous owner painted it black which i'm going to strip off and polish


stripped all the nasty black paint off and got to work with some scotbrite
and wet sanding paper.


this is the product of almost wayyy to many hours to be worth it.
now i know why people just buy polished turbos

so far i've got a stack of parts waiting to go into the Brick due to another engine occupying my workspace at the moment.

i've got all of my mandrel bent tubing to build my crossover and side exit exhaust. a Walbro 400 in-tank fuel pump, fuel lines, transmission lines, and radiator w/hoses are all sitting in the corner waiting for a workspace. hopefully i'll be back at it in the next coming weeks.

Planning on having the Brick drivable by May 30th to at least drive up to the 1/2 mile races in Clayton GA and running at said races by September but we'll see how that goes.

BTW if anyone knows what size o-ring a GT45 turbocharger uses on it's Compressor housing i would be very grateful to find out.

metallicamaster3

Subscribed! If you ever make your way over to Houston, let me know...


Mine had an SBC swap originally, doing a 5.3 swap as we speak!

dorkfish101

love those stacks haha. i bet that beast gets alot of attention at car shows. i'd originally planned to dump my turbo straight up through the hood and give it a little rain cap because race car (which i still might do) but i think i'm going to go with a more sleeper look. let me know how your 5.3 swap goes.

nprather

iTrader: (15)

how do the alper motorsports head studs look??

dorkfish101

they seem to be good quality. i got the idea for the Alper Motorsport studs from the Sloppy Mechanics crowd and alot of people have used them there with very good results.

dorkfish101

Huge Update [3/31/15]

Well, it's been a while since Ive been able to do any work on the car due to one of my daily drivers spinning a rod bearing.
that headache is thankfully rebuilt now and out of my garage so work on the Turbobrick as finally recommenced.


Engine put back together with new sparkplugs and heat shields.
i switched the original valve cover PCV system out with the Valley Cover type from the LS6.


Engine mated up to the 4l60e
(pay no attention to my lazy painting on the valve cover)



it's a tight fit but it looks like it was made for it.


I have about 5/8" of clearance between the Holley oil pan and my rollbar


heres a shot of my driver side clearances between the manifolds and the steering rack. i had to notch my mounts a little bit on the side to get them to clear but nothing excessive.


i haven't run fuel lines yet so i just set the intake manifold on there to
get a nice picture. the speedway Alternator Bracket has the power steering pump sitting about 1/4" above the hood line so i'll have to do something else there but i'll deal with that later.


i installed my Walbro 400 in-tank fuel pump. unfortunately do to how tiny the stock tank is, i had to remove the fuel level sender but i plan on swapping to an aftermarket tank in the future so that didn't bother me much


i made my transmission mount from the stock transmission mount. i just cutout a piece of the center section and welded in a new plate. unfortunately i hate to add a few more pieces to it because apparently i can't use a tape measure.


if anyone wanted to know exactly how much steel line you can shove into a tiny Volvo. the answer is literally all of it.


here's an older picture of when i was putting the Transgo-HD2 shift kit into my 4l60e


got my 60mm wastegate in the mail just the other day.

Thats as far as i've gotten on the Brick so far. hopefully this weekend i'll have time to finish the wiring and button up the fuel lines. engine running/burnout videos to quickly follow.


And heres the little bastard that's been occupying my garage for the past couple weeks

360,000miles and it spins a rod bearing on the way to Tennessee


i'm pretty sure it's not supposed to look like that.


i rebuilt the engine and transmission, unfortunately i don't have any pictures of the trans.
Hopefully this engine will last me another 360,000miles.

dorkfish101

So i feel like i had a productive weekend


Layed the wiring harness on the engine and started routing wires through the firewall and to their final destinations.




Fitting the front support and radiator


this is some generic Corvette aluminum radiator that i think i got from either ebay or summit but it fits almost perfectly

I'm going to trim the crossbrace to set the radiator about 2" forward from stock location for extra clearance for turbo piping.


So i ran into an issue with my Speedway Alternator relocation bracket.
my power steering pump reservoir would sit high enough were it would contact the hood. so yesterday i made a impulse buy and picked up the Holley 20-135 relocation bracket

it fits perfectly.


i had to trim my driver side truck manifold back a few inches for clearance but wasn't that much of an issue.

dorkfish101

Update 4/13/2015

I spent the entire weekend working on wiring and getting everything ready for initial startup.

finally got the complete harness loomed

don't make fun of my green electrical tape, it was what i had and i was to lazy to go buy black haha.


it didn't turn out to bad. it gets the job done.


trying to figure out where everything is going to go inside the vehicle was less than fun.


theres alot of unnecessary weight behind that dashboard.

my phone died after that and i didn't take anymore pictures but i made alot more progress

I completely relocated my battery to the rear of the car with all of the wiring ran for the fuel pump and 12v+ source. I also got my driveshaft fabricated and installed.

i hooked up a few switches and a momentary to try and turn the engine over but my battery was dead. not a big deal as i was planning on switching to an Optima Red Top anyways.

after that I was tidying up my engine bay and hooking things up and discovered that i had the wrong throttle pedal and MAF sensor.
on top of that I also found out that id put the wrong end of the O2 sensor connectors on my harness >.<

Once i fix all of those little oversights i'll finally be ready to start it up for the first time. hopefully video coming soon

dorkfish101

update 4/27/2015

started on my turbo piping sunday night




ordered the 2.5" steel tubing deluxe kit from Columbia Mandrel Bends
probably have a lot more than i need for a simple crossover but i'll find something to do with it.


put the crossbrace and radiator in to check fitment



i've moved the radiator about 2" forward but i think i'm going to try and move it more.
i'll most likely have to cut a large chunk out of my radiator support for my downpipe as well