Had a build thread going on tbricks for some time, figured I'd post it over here too.
Pre-thread TL;DR mod list and before/after comparison:
1990 Volvo 745ti, AW71, Lh2.4, ~290k
- Squirter block
- 16t @ 18psi
- Ported angled housing & 3” downpipe
- Ported 90+
- TLAO fuel/spark chips
- RSI stage II cam
- IPD cam gear @ +6º
- Browntop injectors
- MSD Blaster 2 coil
- Yoshifab phenolic intake spacers
- 25x12x3 eBay intercooler
- Hard 2.5" intercooler piping
- Side pipe exhaust, cat delete, Thrush muffler
- Cone filter/heat shield
- Taylor 8mm plug wires
- Catch can
- Cut springs 2 front 2.5 rear
- Billy HD front and rears
- IPD 25/25 sways
- Ultra Racing upper strut brace
- Behr Exterior Home Depot paint roller special
- BBS Style 5 16x8 wheels, effective offset: -9
- 940 Denso alternator
- A/C delete
- V90 tails
- Euro Stripe kit recreated and made by myself
- GripRoyal steering wheel with quick release
- Black interior swap with red accents
- Various other goodies and what have you
Now for everything in order. Picked up the car as it looks in the first pic above. 1990 740ti, automatic, ~280k on the clock. Paid a whopping $400 for it, all it needed right off the bat was front brake pads and ball joints, both of which I replaced in the PO’s driveway. Engine was in good shape, suspension was okay, interior was okay, just dirty. Right off the bat I cut a coil or so off the springs and added an MBC to up the boost to 12psi. Momentarily still had my 960 before I sold it, so I was able to get a pic while owning two Volvos.
Kept up with routine maintenance and stage 0 steps, and shortly after purchasing the car I pulled a 15h from a junkyard 850 and rebuilt it on my living room table. Before installing it, I took the car to the dragstrip for a bendhmark run, and in stock form minus the MBC it ran a 15.9. Then one weekend I installed the 15g along with a kevlar timing belt, 100amp alternator and a few other odds n ends. Polished up my valve cover and intecooler pipes as well. With the car stock other than the 15g, I went back to the dragstrip and managed a 15.2, hitting fuel cut in the middle of the run.
After that I picked up a set of Voxx MG 17x8 wheels locally and tossed those on, and I also installed some billy HD struts and shocks and some IPD 25mm sways, and cut another coil off the springs while I had everything apart.
Next up came a 25x12x3 ebay intercooler and some silicone couplers. Made a significant difference on boost onset and also kept intake temperatures down.
Eventually ended up deleting all my a/c components one day. It didn’t work in the car so I removed it all to get better flow to the intercooler. In retrospect I wish I would have left it in or at least kept the parts instead of trashing them, because I’m now planning a +a/c job eventually.
Shortly after that I installed a PLX wideband and some fuel & spark chips from thelostartof on turbobricks. These eliminated fuel cut and raised the redline to 6500rpm, along with giving better fuel and spark maps.
Next came an RSI stage II camshaft and an IPD adjustable cam gear. Had to source some thick shims to maintain stock valve lash.
RSI left, stock T cam right.
Dat duration though.
Cam gave a noticeable difference right off the bat. +6º on the cam gear made it even more enjoyable. The low end grunt of the t cam wasn’t quite as noticeable, but at about 3k rpm the wagon really starts to haul a** and pulls all the way to redline, whereas the t cam would pull hard down low but fall on its face past 4.5k.
After that I installed a catch can to minimize excessive blowby, and also installed some Yoshifab phenolic intake spacers and a cleaned and repainted intake manifold. Replaced the coolant temp sensor and my heater core hoses too while I had everything apart. Also added some Ford brown top injectors, a new FPR, new silicone couplers, new 8mm plug wires and some plug boot heat shields.
With all these upgrades I hit up the dragstrip one more time, but couldn’t hold traction no matter how I launched. I would either spin off the line, or if I didn’t launch as hard I’d still spin because the a** end would still start to kick out when boost hit. Figured it was because of the open diff, so I decided it was time to source a G80 locker rear end. Grabbed one from the junkyard and did both the rear axle swap and the accumulator mod on my AW71. Tossed on a new rear main seal and a better torque converter while I had the transmission off. New starter was also added around this time too.
With all these upgrades added and maintenance done, the wagon was running great and was a lot of fun to drive, so I turned my attention to the interior. Scored most of a black interior from a local friend’s 945 which was totalled in a rear end incident, and did a partial swap, along with adding a grip royal steering wheel and a better gauge pod. Was given a 5 bar oil pressure gauge, sourced a sender recently but haven’t gotten around to wiring it up.
Shortly thereafter I bought an Ultra Racing strut brace from ebay, but out of the packaging it wouldn’t fit over the studs properly. I had to cut about 1/4” out of one of the brackets and weld the end back on for it to mount right. Gave it a coat of blue paint and it fits great now, however I’ll have clearance issues with the a/c dryer once I get around to adding it again.
Then I ended up getting bored with the faded, peeling, and otherwise crappy looking silver paint, so I got motivated one night and did this:
Used a can of Home Depot exterior paint, some foam rollers and some of those little foam brushes from kindergarten arts and crafts day, and got this done in a few hours one night. Wheels were done with rustoleum gold metallic and clear coat. No sanding or prepping was done whatsoever, just pressure washed the car at the local DIY carwash and taped it off in my garage. Couldn’t be happier with how it turned out. The stripes you see on it are a recreation of the 700 series Euro Stripe Kit that Volvo used to offer. Took me a long time to recreate but I did it at my graphics business primarily for sedans, but I also did this wagon version as a trial run for my wagon.
Next came some 32mm adapter style spacers to push the wheels out a bit more. Took lots of work on the fenders to get them to clear okay, but I was happy with it once I got them working. Also broke out the can of green paint (I had quite a bit leftover) and added some to the bumpers to follow the SE paint scheme.
Just last month I picked up a ported 90+ manifold, a ported angled turbine housing and a 3” downpipe from a local Volvo guy, and installed all of it along with a 16t that I had sitting on the shelf for some time. Also got my greedy BOV to work properly, and blocked off the CBV with a kinugawa block off plate.
And finally, most recent task I’ve completed is fitting some 16” BBS style 5 wheels (the 16” version of the popular RC090) by using some 32mm 108-120 adapters. Gives them an effective offset of -9. Picked them up with tires for $100 from my best friend who was using them on his drift e46. Gave the centers a quick coat of gold paint, and that’s how the car sits now. I'm loving how it looks with these wheels, and it slides much better with them as well.
Future plans/mods include: adding a/c back, different tires (shorter/wider), installing several poly suspension bushings I have sitting on the shelf, adjustable panhard bar, better exhaust, possible manual swap..