The Restoration of #1768

[MikeWard]

Measured my Dmc vs volvo metering body, both are 80mm. So no real Difference in the bodies I can tell beside the pipe of agony connection is different.

Strange, if they are the same then I can only assume it's for emissions requirements to allow the Volvo to be sold in the US.

Here is a top down shot of a Volvo 760 metering unit from a European Volvo 760 (left) next to a DMC metering unit (right). You can see that the circular disc is smaller and the housing slightly different on the DMC unit.
Volvo vs DMC metering unit.jpg

[vwdmc16]

I bet you are 100% right on that, Id bet there is only one US Epa approved size for volvo's Kjet on the b28F, hell I wonder if its the same part number from the B27F from the beginning of the PRVs imported in the US

But then its strange there are other minor emission things that differ on DMC vs Volvo B28Fs.

But hey, there were other K jet cars with simular designs, Years ago I found a late 80's Mercedes Ket metering unit and upper manifold at a local junkyard as an idea to cheaply hop up my PRV until I build a proper engine for my car.(long story short: it has an 88 mm air flap hole, bolts right on, superior design and quality) I wanted the try the individual cylinder adjustable ports this thing had to try and really dial in the cylinder fuel balance but decided not to as I realized how much dyno time that may take to even get running okay if its flow rates and ramps are way off/wrong. I also liked the improved CO adjustment access port, it wasnt plugged up and a pain to open up/seal but had a well made spring loaded head that sealed the air in the unit from vacuum leaks and was easy to use, a brilliant improvement for those two reasons BUT I never measured the main air inlet hole diameter as it never occurred to me until a few weeks ago that it might be bigger. Sadly I dont have the acutal internals for that hosing anymore, I kept the metering head and the stripped down body. Now im kicking myself for stripping it down that much and tossing the inards, this would have been a grear upgrade, even the air filter O-ring was the same size so the DMC airfilter works too! time to look out for another 1989-ish Mercedes 300? I forgot what model that it was.

[vwdmc16]

Ive been pecking away at more smaller projects on the car to make it better, still feeling kinda down about the car as a whole but feeling feeling hopeful that improving a few key areas will make it much more enjoyable.


Finally finished rebuilding the UCAs with new Urethane bushings from DeloreanGo, some hand made boxing plates and finishing it off with black powdercoating.

one finished, one to go:





Fully sandblasted and old bushings removed.





Original, bushings were looking quite sad, not fully failed but not trustworthy, I believe these are the last of the original suspension bushings.





UCA Reinforcement plates fitted and TIG welded up.






After another quick sandblasting and cleaning, the arms were powdercoated semi gloss black. Now the new bushings pressed in with sockets and a quick tool I made from a section of 1.5" tubing cut in half to support the thin sheetmetal where the bushing goes.





looking good and stronger than ever.






The car has crossed the 70k mile mark, getting close to doubling the car's mileage since I purchased it in April 2009 with 36,800 miles.





The next critical preventative repair to do was the fuel pump, still running a OEM style pump that was renewed in 2001 by the PO. this pump has served me well be has been getting very loud on long drives and hot days. Time to upgrade while im in there. Installed a 2002 Chevy Tahoe fuel pump, went with a genuine Ac Delco unit which is a bit more expensive at $160 vs the knock off ones that can be had for as little as $50. Total cost for this fuel pump update was just over $300, which is a bit cheaper than the DMCH kit, I elected to keep using my OEM fuel level sender since it works quite well still.


The new parts: ended up returning a few of these as some of the fitting were too bulky and the V band wasnt the right size, thankfully the correct parts were actually cheaper.





Out with the old, I really want to repaint my trunk now, that should help me feel better about the car too.





First step, cut off this small alignment tab, don't need it here, a hacksaw makes good work of it.





Next a test fit, found my V band was too small at this point, also the fuel pressure sensor would have to go, installed a 6mm solid metal pin into the sensor's gasket with some fuel proof RTV to seal it up.





With the correct clamp and the fuel hoses installed with a nice Alcohol proof check valve installed. Fits in nicely.




Unfortunately no matter how I oriented the pump or pushed it down I could not get the pump cover to sit flush, looks like some fiberglass modifications are coming to this part too. Other than that I was very pleased with how the pump works, its practically silent.

[powerline84]

Nice !

[jawn101]

Those upper control arms look great! Any noticeable change in feel with the replacement bushings/strengthening?

[Lwanmtr]

Looking good

[vwdmc16]

Some big updates for you guys:

I built a new way to plumb the idle air motor, completely over the way the stock plumbing works with the "pipe of agony" I decided to re route the air from the intake plenum to the IAC motor by going around the back side of the fuel distributor with aluminum tubing.





I used a small hole saw to make the 5/8" hole needed:





Then I TIG welded up the original hole where that damn pipe of never sealing agony would go.





Next with a small assortment of old BMW secondary air injection tubing, A/C lines and fittings I laid out the new air pathway in a nice simple straight path to the idle motor:






Nice large clampable silicone coupler would make it easy to remove and ensure a great seal.






Now to clamp the other end to the new hole I made, this bracket and bolt should do it:





This system has been working fantastically a much better idle and no more vacuum leaks.





Back inside the car I finally got around to one of the biggest flaws which was the passenger side lower door panel. the arm rest area was broken off since I bought the car and was a constant source or squeaks and rattles any time a passenger would lean on it, I decided a new panel was a much better use of my time and money than trying to repair the old one. After nice call to Robert Grady I had a quality lower door panel ready to install, well unfortunately it didnt fit on my car as well as I was hoping.









After a bit of tinkering I was able to move the upper forward bracket inwards and slotted one hole to reduce the gap, its not concourse quality but it will do for now. I also finally was able to get a pair of door air vents to replace the sad broken pair my car has had for many years, these little things sure make the inside a much nicer place.





Wow that picture is too big

[vwdmc16]

About two weeks after installing stock cams again I noticed some coolant leakage again on the floor, after investigating I found that the new head gaskets were not sealing, I was having leakage on the perimeter of the cylinder heads and into the valley. The heads would have to come off again.





After getting the heads off it was easy to see the gaskets I used were not up for the task of sealing the heads to the block, the "aftermarket" gasket set was not the correct choice even though it came with the rest of the engine gaskets needed to do a top end reseal, lesson learned, stick to quality name gaskets. the cheap gaskets failed in an odd way, the composite paper of the gasket had become very water logged and soft, as if the coolant broke it down into a mush, very odd.





Re assembled again and the engine has been staying dry for a few about 5k miles now. As you may have noticed I had the stock exhaust back on again, another one of our terrible Biannual smogs required it, I still wasnt able to find a local smog shop that would pass my DMCH system, I hope that is the last time I have to swap back to that.







I also picked up a bunch more little parts, more fuel lines-no more originals left on the car, new heater motor resistor connector as mine began to melt, new LEDs, and spare gaskets.






Back in the interior i decided the smashed up seat backs could use an upgrade too:





Some .080" aluminum would be much stronger than that fiberboard.

[Riley88]

About two weeks after installing stock cams again I noticed some coolant leakage again on the floor, after investigating I found that the new head gaskets were not sealing, I was having leakage on the perimeter of the cylinder heads and into the valley. The heads would have to come off again.





After getting the heads off it was easy to see the gaskets I used were not up for the task of sealing the heads to the block, the "aftermarket" gasket set was not the correct choice even though it came with the rest of the engine gaskets needed to do a top end reseal, lesson learned, stick to quality name gaskets. the cheap gaskets failed in an odd way, the composite paper of the gasket had become very water logged and soft, as if the coolant broke it down into a mush, very odd.





Re assembled again and the engine has been staying dry for a few about 5k miles now. As you may have noticed I had the stock exhaust back on again, another one of our terrible Biannual smogs required it, I still wasnt able to find a local smog shop that would pass my DMCH system, I hope that is the last time I have to swap back to that.







I also picked up a bunch more little parts, more fuel lines-no more originals left on the car, new heater motor resistor connector as mine began to melt, new LEDs, and spare gaskets.






Back in the interior i decided the smashed up seat backs could use an upgrade too:





Some .080" aluminum would be much stronger than that fiberboard.

great stuff but check the pipe with the otterstat, the otterstat should be facing the floor not facing up tbh

[vwdmc16]

After hitting 72,00 miles its time fore more upgrades:





I wanted to make the front suspension feel more solid and safer, so I built some LCA braces. I purchased some urethane bushings that fit into 1.50"x .120" wall steel tubing, im unsure of the durometer of this urethane but it believe it to be around 75D. these bushings were cheap as well. just $8 each.





After some measuring I mocked up some arms with some 1" tubing to connect the inner pivot point with the lower shock mount.





Happy with the fitment I powdercoated them and installed with new longer bolts, some 6" and 8" grade 8 bolts replaced the stock suspension bolts as well as some large thick fender washers to make sure the bushing stays in place. Still need to fully paint the front frame section.







Those braces had a great effect of making the car much more stable under braking. After that success I wanted to rebuild my adjustable rear upper links with stronger parts. These parts also came from teh same place I bought the front bushings, Barnes4x4.com

These self contained and grease-able urethane turnbuckle style joints have a 1/2" ID and are the same width as the stock links, they connect to 3/4" threads to some heavy duty threaded sleeves. with one side reverse thread I can easily adjust my rear camber. I made these able to become longer than stock as I dont need more that the -3.2 degrees of rear camber I have at this lowered ride height. Setting the rear to -1.8 degrees has worked great.





Powdercoated and assembled