Hey Everyone,

I'm back from my latest adventure going stateside to pick up a '95 944T in Oregon and driving it back. Nice car. Has hydras, glass sunroof, heated seats (my previous 940 was missing these options), Bilstein HDs, iPD lowering/sport springs, iPd, Turbo cam and a nice custom 3" exhaust system. To that I've added a set of IPD sways so the car goes and handles pretty good.

If any of you are interested in getting any kind of used Volvo out of the US I have to say I HIGHLY recommend the guy I bought the car from. His name is Roy Hockett and he buys, fixes and sells a lot of older Volvos out of his acreage in Monroe, OR. He's actually a registed dealer but he doesn't have a dealership lot. The name of his business is Classic Corral. People who hang out on T-Bricks may know who he is as he sells a bunch of stuff to people on that forum.

Anyways, the guy is deadly honest, ethical and real meticulous about making sure the cars he sells are in A-1 condition before he sells them. He also gives really fair deals and is just a super nice and decent guy. He really went above and beyond for me and I would deal with him again without hesitation. Can't say enough good things about him.

So if you're looking for a good rust-free older brick from down in the US give Roy a call at 541-953-8775 or e-mail him at birdnest@99webstreet.com, let him know what you want and he'll let you know if he's got something like that available or available soon or will look for it if he doesn't have something available or in the works that would meet your requirements.

Roj

Sounds like a nice car! Congrats. Pics?

How does it go with that turbo cam and stock boost? Did you get to stretch it's legs on the high-way?

- R

This thread needs more pictures!

Show me yours, I'll show you me new smurfmobile!

I'll take some pics tomorrow and post 'em so you guys can see what it looks like. Basically, it looks like a black 944 T with hydras and a grey leather interior.




I added a 25 psi boost gauge to the car and installed my boost controller when I was down in Oregon so I wasn't running at stock boost when I drove it back. I had the controller set so the max boost was about 12 psi when I floored it. The car goes pretty good with the Turbo cam and just doesn't quit when you're up in the revs but it doesn't seem to do much for low end torque. In fact, I'd say it makes the car a little more sluggish off the line than the stock cam. But whereas the stock cam would start to tail off as you got higher up in the revs the Turbo cam keeps power steady right through on up to 5000 rpm or more. The times when I don't like the T-cam is when I'm trying to make a left turn at an intersection and I get a short opening and try to get across the oncoming lanes before the oncoming traffic reaches me. Even though I floor it the car seems to take forever to get moving. It gets kinda scary sometimes because the ar is much slower than you think it will be. Turbo lag I guess. So I'm not real sure if that T-cam is such a great thing afterall. That low end sluggishness didn't happen so much on the previous 940 with the stock cam and the boost set up at around 10 psi or so.

Part of that may be due to the massively heavy flywheel they used in those engines. That's a lot of inertia to overcome. Maybe it will improve a lot in that aspect when I convert the car to a manual tranny and lighten the flywheel down to 20 lbs from 29 lbs. Other than that I'm not sure what simple things I can do to improve the low end torque short of going back to the stock cam and increasing the boost which I've already done.

Suggestions anyone ?

Roj

First comment...your car doesn't have a massively heavy flywheel. However, you do have a relatively heavy torque converter spinning behind the crankshaft. It's no heavier than any other torque converter in any other Volvo though.

Before you confuse the heck out of everyone, the stock cam is called a "T" cam. That's the cam that came in every turbo Volvo on this side of the big pond. The IPD Turbo cam is just that, an IPD Turbo cam...

With an automatic, the stock cam will be much more livable. I'd swap in a T cam until you get the manual in there, It'll build boost almost instantly and the tranny wants to shift before the T runs out of steam anyways...

Yeah....that does clear things up a bit. I was a wee bit confused.

Roj, put the stock (T) cam in, and the problem will be much less. A cam such as the turbo cam isn't designed to make low end torque, so yes, it will be more sluggish for the first couple thousand revs. You could also get an adjustable cam gear off Dale and advance it 6 degrees. This will bring the low end back a bit.
A manual swap will help. Higher boost at this point won't help with initial pull off the line at all, because your turbo still won't create any boost until the revs are up.

I've got a T cam I'll trade for your turbo cam!

Don't we all?

Good point!

I've got a T-cam sitting here on a rebuit head so I'm covered that way. I'll probably swap the cams over but I'll put the IPD cam back in when I do the tranny swap. First I'm going to try it with the adjustable cam gear to see how much that helps. Then I'll decide what cam I want to run for the time being.

Roj

I found part of the reason for the sluggish low end performance. The previous owners had come up with an ingenious and much cheaper way of replacing the expensive moulded intercooler hose that comes out of the downstream side of the intercooler near the battery and attaches to the solid intake pipe. The way they did it was fine but one of the two short rubber hose adaptors they used had a split in it and another was developing so I was losing all sorts of pressure there. I am waiting on a good used OEM hose from Roy to replace that setup but in the meantime I have used some seal-all and some Duct tape to fix the problem as best I can. Low end performance seems to have improved a bit as a result. Will try advancing the cam next to see if I can improve it further.

P.S. Just got the car through inspections and am now driving it (legally). Really like the car. Sounds & handles very nicely. Great power when you step on it. That turbo cam is really strong at the top end !

Roj

Might try disconnecting the battery for 10 min to reset the computer. Helps it to relearn with the new cam, and without the leak.

Just got back from BC on Tuesday. Drove the car out to Shuswap lake and back over the long weekend. I LOVE IT !!

Those 940s are great with the Bilsteins, sport springs & IPD sways. Great handling and road feel. Way better than just having the IPD sways on the stock springs & shox like I had in my previous 940T. Also, between the 3" exhaust system and the IPD Turbo cam and newly repaired intercooler hose (I ended up completely replacing the part that split) the car goes really well. I used to really love driving my stiffened up 240 but this car is way nicer. Eats a bit more gas than the 240 though but that's the only downside.