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LFJ's C30 AWD Project

30K views 125 replies 10 participants last post by  lookforjoe 
#1 ·
Thanks to all the groundbreaking work, there is plenty of reference data for this. Also posted on C30Crew.

I have a clean 95K S40 shell/AWD suspension/drivetrain in the works. An S40 M66 AWD coming from CA (now I wish I had saved mine, already had Quaife 14J & I sold it cheap). I'll look for the later Haldex controller.

Not sure of timeframe, but I'll probably put aside the X1/9 - K24 Honda conversion & do this first.

Areas that need specific details:

Precise drivetrain height adjustment details (3/8" ? custom shim plates etc.,) to retain C30 front subframe

rear shocks & springs (will Eibach springs work? Adjustable KYB's transfer over?)

Exhaust mods to work around propshaft

Alternative rear diff guts w/posi - other models transferable?
Has anyone researched which later models come with a posi & have same form factor as P1?
 
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#67 · (Edited)
Got the various sections welded today, along with the O2 bungs on the DP & Cat. Took several hours, don't know where the time goes, but it does.





So, tomorrow I need to reinstall these, fit the Vbands, align it all & tack the Vband flanges in place, add the hanger pegs, then take it back out & weld it up. Still have to cut & figure out the muffler connection & the dump valve.
 
#68 ·
Little bit done today - DP installed for good. Mid & rear sections aligned & Vband flanges welded.





Tomorrow I'll get those installed & then start on the rear muffler connection. Hopefully I'll have the exhaust all laid out before the end of the day. I'm getting low on Argon, so I may run out before I'm done - they aren't open on the weekend
 
#70 · (Edited)
Thank you.

Today I welded the last Vband flange then reinstalled the exhaust, getting everything aligned so that there is no rubbing or clearance issues. Had to play with it awhile, and tweak some of the hangers.





Had to add 1.25" spacers (lower washer in stack, upper is the stock mount isolater) to drop the forward driveshaft support, wasn't happy with the clearance for the Vband clamp on the Cat.











After that, I started looking at how to address the rear muffler connection. It is obvious there is an alignment concern. The incoming pipe cannot be repositioned or it will interfere with the subframe.





Started with some leftover cuttings



Back & forth with several iterations, this is what I ended up with - minor further tweaking of the stock 2.5" pipe section will finish it. Ran out of Argon right about here.



So, I played with the (aftermarket) Intercooler feed pipe & hoses, which I had to adjust the fit due to the Angle Drive.

Pulled the tube back out the hose connector, to clear the underside of the angle drive







Put the belly pan on to check clearances - there is a gap, just doesn't show it well





After that, I changed the oil & filter, and the spark plugs (FR7N133) while it's all easy to get at.



Started putting the nose panels & fender liners back together after that.
 
#71 · (Edited)
Bosch 17332 O2 sensor arrived this evening, so I got that installed & put the battery tray, battery, intake piping, airbox & vacuum pump back in place.

After that, worked on the final piece of the exhaust & the last VBand I have to weld - although this one did come out better than all the others



Fit looks good all around, access to the vBand is also good.









All that's left is to weld that section to the rear muffler, then cut out a 3" circle for the dump valve :D



Just have to figure out what angle to place it at & then brace the pipe to the muffler body - this thing is not lightweight



 
#72 ·
Pouring rain today. I worked on the wiring for the fuel gauge.

Modified the "Y" harness adaptor that came on the AWD S40, to feed the sender signals, 5V & gnd into an Arduino. No_step on C30Crew Forum wrote some code for me that will average the two inputs & output to a PWM signal, that will connect to the stock C30 gauge feed.









After that, the rain lessened for a bit, so I went out & removed the rear muffler after marking the intermediate pipe section as best I could for welding. I cut out the hole for the WG VBand flange, so tomorrow hopefully I'll get that all welded up.
 
#75 · (Edited)
Got all the wiring in today, including the fuel level kit.

Started & ran it on the jacks, made quite a racket since there is no muffler attached yet & the brakes squeak like crazy with 3 weeks surface rust.

No way to know yet if the AWD is functional, but I did find that the circuit I used for the Haldex is not good - (C:41) - it's live all the time. I only found out because I was under the back of the car test fitting the muffler adaptor & could hear the Haldex pump running, which meant it was running for a good 4 hours with the car off. Hope that's OK. I unplugged the pump until I can figure out what leg to use that has switched power. C:35 & C:38 are open, no idea whether they are constant or switched.

Pin C:41 is where I added the Haldex feed



Green/Red wire, right of center, front row



Fuel gauge works, so the circuit is kosher, but the reading is off. Recoding I presume.



I made a bridge for just the main sender signal & the 5v supply and bypassed the Arduino. Gauge reads pretty much what I added to the tank this evening



Arduino location:



Interior out, wiring being run to match AWD harness layout.



Routing harness along existing. I'm anal enough to route it neatly along original path , but not so much as too open the existing harness & add the AWD wiring for a real factory look :D







wires added to 64/51 connector by fuel module (DS under back seat)



Harness spliced into F:16, F:14. My CEM has different terminals /connectors than the '05, so no way to use the harness as is.



And 64/112 connector



DEM harness going through floor, with existing ABS added into it



Connectors under pas side forward wheel arch





Carpet back in



Added the new console trim kit while I had it out



Still have to do the door handles.

After that, I spent way to many fing hours welding this. It really kicked my butt. Had to make little pie cuts to fill voids on either side & had endless trouble with maintaining a puddle and/or issues with helmet (either too dark, too much flare, etc.) . Flange distorted from the heat. I couldn't leave the band clamp on & still get under the lip to weld it at either end. Heated the crap out of it with Oxo-Acetylene & beat the V band clamp over the flanges. Tightened it down & then heated it cherry red from the inside, then beat on it some more. Seems to be flat again now.





Hopefully tomorrow I get the power supply sorted & the rear muffler welded, or I won't be driving to Ithaca in it on Friday.
 
#76 ·
Thanks guys. If the Arduino works out, then sure, I could figure a way to make them for purchase :) Credit for the programming all goes to no_step, so he would get royalties on that :)

Moved the power feed to C:38, that's all good now



Some horrible TIG welds here. This junction beat the crap out of me. Took forever, and the dump valve flange got badly warped so I had to spend time heating & massaging it back into shape, took way to many hours all told. It's done though, and doesn't leak. Don't have time to actually hook it up before we leave for Ithaca tomorrow afternoon. As it is, I have to jack the front back up, loosen the PS rack, and reset it where it passes into the cabin. I didn't realize it, but I cocked it & the shaft is rubbing on the bulkhead. I drove about 5 miles after getting it all back together around 10, hopefully didn't do any damage to the PS, it did screech.





Closer to the frame than intended, but clearance is clearance.

 
#77 ·
Figured out the problem with the steering rack after a bit.

This was the problem - pinion pushed up into the bulkhead.



Back where it should be:



I tried loosening the subframe and the rack & repositioning both without success. I decided to remove the torque mount to give myself more room to access the DS rack mount bolt, and that's when I found the problem:





I had swapped out the bolt for the longer one, because it has the guide pin. The problem was that it was pushing the Rack (rubber) mounting out of alignment.

With that resolved, I added the final piece





Dove to Ithaca this afternoon. There are a issues to address:

PS tailpipe hits the bumper opening over hard bumps
Vibration under front under hard acceleration - i'm assuming that the engine torquing is pushing the air intake pipe into the metal skid plate, there is so little clearance. I can remove it & confirm whether the vibration leaves when I get home.
Needs alignment. The steering wheel is crooked, and I'm sure it's all out of spec since I had the entire F&R suspensions apart.

Fuel guage is still inaccurate, so further manipulation of the coding is required.
 
#78 · (Edited)
Doing some research on the connectors, as others are asking if I can make more of these. It's like searching for a needle in a haystack. Finally came up with a short list of 14 pole grey connectors that allow for two size terminals (power/gnd + data), and that narrowed down to Molex 30700 H-DAC 64™ series connectors - the female specifically is 30700-1147, based on comparison of datasheet & actual part in my hand. I've emailed Mouser to get the 4 male/female terminal part numbers, as those are what I need more than anything else. The Male housing that mates with the -1147 doesn't seem to exist in any retail form. Molex doesn't list it except as PCB mount, no free-hanging variety :(
 
#79 · (Edited)
Got home from Ithaca this afternoon. 500 or so miles round trip



It was early enough that I wanted to check out the rear knocks - it wasn't the exhaust - the whole rear is too low - the tire OD is level with the wheel arch



When I jacked it up & inspected all possible contact areas I found this:

The aftermarket swaybar was smacking the trailing arm due to the suspension drop.



I pulled out front storage the original C30 coils (left) AWD coils (center) and Eibach coils (right)



3 coil diameters

C30 .455"


AWD .485"


Eibach .427"


I removed the Eibach's & put the C30 coils back





Not gonna work, though - has "Monster Truck" wheel clearance with those :D



So, I took the spare upper seats I had & put them on the bottom of the Eibachs (not these)



With that extra height, I got my 1 finger gap back between the tire & wheel arch. Much better



I also realigned the rear muffler - by bending the (rubber) mount ears downward to increase clearance for the tips relative to the lower valance.

In addition, I found one of my front vibrations - I hadn't fully tightened (or just not enough for them not to work loose) the front DS bearing mount.



I still have to remove the skid plate & see if the other general vibration under accel goes away. That will tell me if I need to rework the charge air pipe under the motor.
 
#80 · (Edited)
No sure where to go with this.

EDIT - looked online, the 5V connection is output - I shouldn't have used that. Sender feed V should go to IOref (I believe)

This is with the .5v factory sender feed (found that out today) hooked up to the 5V Arduino input. The sender input and output voltages are all around or under 1V. All values are with about 3 gallons in tank

AWD1 (A0 main sender)



AWD2 (A1 secondary sender)



Output (PWM3)



Input (was .551v not sure why it dropped when I took the pic))



After this I found that the ground line wasn't actually connected - it was a dummy wire in the bridge connector.

After I added the ground, I check voltages at the sensor wires. The odd thing is that the voltage is higher when checked to chassis ground vs. the ground wire that also grounds the fuel module, etc.





At the time I thought it was just becuase I didn't have 5V to the Arduino, so I added a 5V regulator. That didn't help. with 5V supplied, the level input terminals on the arduino also read approx 5V, and the guage was pegged at zero. I unplugged it quickly as I don't know if that voltage is detrimental to the level senders. I have zero desire to drop the tank and pay $$$ two new sender assemblies.
 
#81 ·
The other thing I looked at was causes of the vibration felt up front under spirited acceleration.

I wondering if the engine is too high, as the CVjoint is not centered in the pinion flange



clearance for pinion from rack shield



No sign of charge pipe contact with skid plate





Torque mount is also tipped downward



Again, no evidence of contact that would transfer vibration



No sign of exhaust contact with crossmember



On the plus side, everything is stll nice and dry afer the 500 mile drive





Rear suspension all good now, no knocks or vibrations with the increased spacer height



The only thing that makes sense to me, is either the pinion / DS angle is off due to engine height, or the front CV (aftermarket) is subpar and introducing the vibration under load.
 
#83 · (Edited)
The non-Volvo one? :D

Yeah, that is a possibility, however it really feels like it's more central, next to my right foot.

I'm considering buying a Volvo axle though, others have complained about vibrations with aftermarket axles. Problem is returning a core - I only have the auto axle to send back.

Did you ever take any pics of the pinion offset from the rack on your AWD? I have no frame of reference for appropriate height. Just trying to determine if the front CV should be more centered in it's "cup" or if it's really a non issue there.

EDIT: FCP had the OEM boxed M66 AWD right axle 36000556 discounted, so I figured I better just get one while it's available. They will take the Volvo AWD auto core, so I'll get the $100 back for that.
 
#84 ·
I forgot to mention in all this that the AWD is definitely functional, it's easy to tell as I have that nice push from the rear that I used to have with my wagon on high speed long sweeping curves and exit/entrance ramps. It also poured with rain on the way to work, and the Palisades is notorious for partial lane flooding - with FWD the car will track sideways & pop the ! traction warning with the left wheel in water. I had none of that today :)
 
#86 ·
Played with the arduino after work. Found that I had miswired the output , so I moved that to pin6 from pin 3 , and put the other wiring back to my original layout. With that, level dropped from pegged full to about 7/8, which would be close as I filled the tank yesterday and drove about 35 miles since. I get around 22 in local mixed driving.

Voltage measured at the arduino output terminal was 1v. Completely full should be .6v.

See how it goes over the next 200 miles.
 
#90 ·
Volvo 36000556 axle came last night, so I got that in this afternoon. Seems to have resolved the vibration I experienced under load. I'll know fro sure on the way to work in the morning.



Finished up the aluminum trim install on the doors



Stripped the old plasti-dip off the grille frame, disassembled the grille & refinished the mesh this time

 
#91 · (Edited)
Main vibration is definitely gone with the Volvo axle in place. There was still a small vibration. I found a mark on the front carrier bearing support where the VBand was contacting under load. So, I increased the spacing for the support bracket to 3/8", that should do it.



While I was under there I retapped the Whiteline end caps for 1/4x24 grease fittings, I haven't greased them since the day I installed them. Squeezed marine lube into them until it emerged on the front side





After that, I ran the tubing for the WG feed. I used 10mm as a sleeve, & ran 6mm tubing within to provide the reference pressure signal



Used DEI heat shield for the section that is relatively close to the exhaust





tubing is routed in the existing brake & fuel line channel up to the engine







Tomorrow I have have hook it up to the plenum.
 
#92 ·
Routed the pressure line along with my boost gauge feed line, inside a DEI heat sheath

Then I removed the plenum in order to drill the port.



Drilled two 21/64 holes & tapped for 1/8NPT. I figured I'd add an extra port, in case I ever need it. I had added the one below the stock port some years back, should have just added extras back then.



Back on the car. Painted it black while I had it off the car.



 
#93 ·
Still trying to figure out the fuel gauge.

Using test code that feeds a voltage to the gauge (with stock input circuit from senders disabled) I was able to make the guage sweep, but only up to 7/8 tank.

supplying single values at a time, gave some indication of what the gauge is looking for. The overall range (in theory) is 0-255 - in practice, a value of 165 drops the gauge below E



and 0 puts the gauge at 7/8 tank



This is perplexing as the Volvo pocket data booklet gave these values for E - F range:

AWD Sender 1 E=3.6V, 10L=2.3V, 27L =0.6V
AWD Sender 2 E=3.6V 10L=2.5V, 30L=0.6V

FWD Sender E=3.6V, 10L=3.1 30L=2V, Full=0.6V
 
#94 ·
Added ground for Arduino, no change. Added sockets so I could switch around resistors. 10K made no difference to gauge reading, neither did 1K.

Using gauge test unit (5v supply) / code
10K resistor added - Voltage between output & ground



Voltage between 5V & output



Gauge reading



Voltage of Arduino wired with factory inputs, 10K resistor between output & ground



Voltage at output



Voltage between output & ground



Gauge reading



Voltage at output with bridge connectors, factory circuit (reading main level sender only)



Gauge reading

 
#97 · (Edited)
Car has been running great. Looking forward to a wet fall & nasty winter to take advantage of the AWD.

Fuel gauge mod is still under development, it will be resolved.

Only issue I have had was the Leak Detection Pump failed - the rear has to be dropped about 2" to get access to it. Should have just bought a new one when the rear was installed, but hey, you never know.

Besides that, the rear exhaust/propshaft bracket got mangled when I drove over a large chunk of deer shoulder or hip a few days ago. Thankfully, that is still available & is not expensive.

Engine bay is finally ready to accept the K24 drivetrain



Repurposed the fuel lines & pod from my old V70 wagon



Have to do some wiring next....

 
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