Today I went out for drive. I drove maybe 20 miles on the expressway at about 70 mph. When I decided to get off the expressway, i noticed my 940 tuirbo was shaking. At first, as I was rolling, I thought maybe I caught a blowout or something else pertaining to the wheels. I quickly realized however, that my rumbling was RPM based. I knew it happened. I have a dead miss. I pulled over and began to inspect the likely culprits...the cheap old wires(that I've been meaning to replace), other ignition parts, vacuum leaks...anything...nothing. I could not find THE problem. So, I limped back to my home shop spitzen and sputterin along at 45 mph on a busy gratiot avenue.

There were other issues that i encountered but, only little things. Littlw things that, even though i didn't know it yet, if fixed would cause my real problem to get worse...worse to the point of sharing compression in two cylinders. Compression testing showed that cylinders 1 and 4 have great cold PSI, couldnt check hot since the car wouldn't run long enough to warm up again. Cylinders 2 and 3 however both had the same <30 PSI.... During a leak down #2 we noticed something strange, not only were we able to hear air in the exhaust but also from the plug hole in #3, number exhaust is assumed to be open when #2 valves are closed. All this leading me to believe that i blew my gasket sideways, into another cylinder.

Thought maybe some of you might like hearing about my day. I'll let you know what I find when thge head comes off tomorrow.

I'm getting my other head ready to go to machine, what should I do withit, anything? Somweday next summer the car will have a garrett, and even before that I intend on turning up the boost and adding my brown tops....960 MAF is on the way now...Exhaust soon to follow,.
I plan on smoothing the ports but, can larger valves be fitted? Would they even be beneficial if I'm only going with 15PSI boost? Garret SVO T3, .60A/r cold, .63A/r hot, dont forget the cam, but that may have to wait, pricey stuff there, dont want more RPM anyway.

I only want this car to pull nicely, it is my daily family cruiser.

I feel better now.

 

I had this happen on an old ford truck I used to own.... found it with a compression test after thinking it had jumped time... pulled the head and found 3/4" missing between the cylinders...

btw, if you're talking the detroit gratiot ave, then you're lucky to be alive after doing 45 mph!

 

Word, I am talking about detroit's gratiot...people behind me loved it, didn't turn my hazards on....i'm cool like that

 

So, I'm guessing your car is a 90 or newer model with LH2.4 since you're thinking of running the 012 AMM from a 960? If you're honestly not going to run more than 15 psi, you really do not need the 3"amm. Even the BT's are overkill although nice to have. I actually like the stock T cam for a DD...lots of low end grunt but falls on its face at 4-4.5K. Around town that's fine. I'd consider a 3" turbo to tail exhaust first, and then a better intercooler. Stock LH2.4 w/ green tops and a stock intercooler and turbo is generally good to 15-16 psi but you're on the ragged edge. Opening up the exhaust helps a lot as does a more efficient i/c. Don't throw all the parts on at once; I'd do the BT's and let it learn for a few weeks. Some 2.4 cars just don't like the 012 amm. Don't know why, but it happens. Definitely want the 012 if you are shooting for 20 or 25 psi.

 

@ Swift
I love your advice. That's the kind "hold my Hand" information I need. Since I already have the 960 MAF (012 AMM), I'm going to try it. It may be too much but, at least I'll have it for the 242 that I want to build some day(now that I've switched automotive alliances). The BT's are gonna go in too and so is the garrett...

Those all won't be on the car at the same time, until I figure out what to do about the 3" dp and catback. I haven't looked real hard for a good exhaust joint that can make mandrel bent pieces. I have been looking at the OBX catback, on ebay, for some time now. It "looks nice". I haven't seen OBX on the "scene" before, though, until I had this Volvo. The OBX also isn't very large, however, if I stay "street" or even "DD", 2-1/2" catback should be just fine.

Maybe? Did any of that make sense? I'm not reading it again...ANYWAY!!!

To the results of the HG job:

COMPLETE SUCCESS and proud

Got the head off early this morning. I didn't want to waste time, in case the head needed work. Super simple, easy as pie.

My head showed no serious of wear anywhere. Measured the distortion like volvo says to, and came up with .003" worst distortion, seemed just fine to me, there was however, about a quarter inch or so of gasket material missing between 2 and 3 and an area of carbon scoured in a little. All of that cleaned with a bristle disc real easy. Head went on with no problems whatsoever. Took four hours to get it done, balancing between working on my car and working on customer cars. Btw, making my hourly wage while fixing my own stuff---->priceless...head came off with intake and exhaust still bolted on, everything looked newish when reassembled and then....


I thought the car felt a little slow before but, I had no idea how slow it really was then....Ignorance is bliss. As it turns out, I wasn't imagining the quick deterioration over two months. It really was getting worse. Now the car flies, the turbo feels like a turbo, the intake sounds like an intake...THE SHNOZZZBERRIES TASTE LIKE SHNOZZBERRIES!!!!!

I'm so incredibly happy with my results. I can't wait to get in my car in the morning. The motor barely makes a squeak now. So happy. So stupid dumb happy.

Maybe 20 PSI isn't a bad idea with a slushbox? That sounds pretty cool...