18 replies to this topic

[Asinine]

Well i'm not too sure where to post this, since today my buddy and i did a bit of everything to my car from performance to cosmetic to just regular maintenance.

Anyhow, i had amassed a good sized pile of parts including new cap, rotor, plugs, wires, and fuel filter. I also bought the Samco hose kit for my turbo since i blew the throttle body (TB) hose on the stock one, and i also needed to replace the right front wheel bearing, and add VS stickers .

Here's some of the good photos from the day.

1) Engine before we did anything:


2) Throttle body before:


3) Quarter window before (Drivers side):


I'll interrupt here to post a couple examples of how wrecked my TB turbo hose was. I originally realized i needed to replace it because i found a tear, but today i found this gash that didn't make it all the way through!





And some afters:

3) Quarter after (tint comming in a week and a couple days):


2) Throttle body after:


1) Engien after:


So there ya go.. tons of fun! and too much much money!

[Mesoam]

well, i see no diff in the engine bay...please clean it, I highly suggest you look @ the write up Cody did in the cosmetic & detailing forum....when you clean things you tend to find other area's that need work which is good...

TB looks good, and man it looked AWFUL. You did take the TPS sensor off before cleaning right? (or atleast used sensor safe cleaner)

Did you replace that hose or just genocide (HA i know some one will get this!) it w/ duct tape?

Edited by Mesoam, 08 May 2005 - 02:51 AM.

[Bay13]

Well those are good maintenance items so you picked the right forum. notice any difference after all the work, I mean in the way it drove, boosted etc.

[prasamin]

wow, is that an engine you use everyday or from a salvage yard...clean that thing up man!!!! otherwise, not bad for a day's work!....didn't you say you got the samco kit?...don't see it there, but maybe I'm not looking hard enough!

-Pras-

[Asinine]

Yeah the engine does need some shampooing, and it will come but not in the immediate future unfortunatly!

I'm not exactly sure what was done and what products were used. My good friend is a tech at the local Volvo dealership so he did all of the fancy 'mechanic' stuff and i did the baby stuff (plugs, cap, decals, etc.). He's tuned up more Volvo's than i could guess and brought a lot of stuff from the shop - i believe the cleaner he used for the TB - he did say it was special for the TB!?

Yes i did install the Samco kit, but they are black hoses so they won't stand out which is fine.

As for a performance difference - HELLS YES! I found out i had a tear in the TB hose about a month ago and have been trying to keep the stock turbo gauge in inches of mercury instead of going into psi when i drive so i've been limping it for some time. With the new hoses, clear TB, fresh plugs and wires i felt a considerable difference from what i remember even before i started babying the car.

When i found the tear in the TB hose that's when i duct-taped it up. I was suprised to see how well it held - not a permanent fix and i was really anxious to get the hoses, but a seal all the same - not that it was ever really tested.

I'll read over the engine cleaning tips, but i thought i'd share all the same!?

[xtonyx]

clean that engine up more man!!

i thought mine was bad.. hehe.

[offalot]

Man, If thats what the TB looked like, imagine what the inatke ports and valves look like, i know it would be a heck of alot of work but the performance gains would probably be like night and day.

[GShyneDM]

rhink some AutoRX could clean her right up...

hehehe maybe not.. but it probably needs it if your TB looked like that your internals must look SCARY!!!!

GOod work... I like to see a clean TB and new hoses ONward ho!

[550]

not too shabby, clean the engine bay a bit more though looks like you offroad in the desert alot hehe

Also that samco sport sticker did that come with your hoses?

[Zappo]

Yes, that wins the award for dirtiest engine bay ever!

You can tell a slight difference between the before and after picture. He changed the upper engine stabilizer and the upper turbo pipe is clean.

Edit: If your TB looked like that, what did the plugs look like when you pulled them out?

Edited by Zappo, 08 May 2005 - 02:42 PM.

[Fishey]

nice blue donut of power.

[550]

Anyone on the sticker? do they come with your hoses?

[beachnut]

Anyone on the sticker? do they come with your hoses?

The Samco hoses have "decals/stickers" painted on them already.

[550]

i mean the one on his cover for the radioator fan and intercooler

[GShyneDM]

i mean the one on his cover for the radioator fan and intercooler

HAHHAHA OMG.. i didnt notice that... I honestly didnt even know they had those... doesnt look good IMO...

[550]

see I kinda like it heh

[Asinine]

The sticker came with the hoses, i don't expect it to last long there, but i thought i'd put it on somewhere just for fun. I kept telling my buddy how i was doing all the performance mods between the VS stickers and the Samco stickers.

The plugs looked great when i took them out actually, which suprises me based on how bad the TB looked. I'm not tearing apart my engine to clean it up inside, but i may try some of that seafoam stuff everyone is raving about.

The only maintenance point that is left is the oil vaccuum hose thing is clogged and i need to un-clog that before i even think about cleaning the engine bay since as long as that is clogged the oil is spilling out at the oil cap seal and not adding to much pressure to RMS which is 'good' but i'll fix.. maybe right now..

[Ben H]

Hey

What "oil vacume hose thingy" are you talkin about??
Ben

[Asinine]

It's really hard to describe, but its a little (like almost tiny) hose that vaccuums oil to the 'oil separator'.

I'm really not sure what tubes it come off of, or if it is turbo specific or what, my buddy told me it was clogged and said "jab at it with this piece of wire" so i did while he did more work.

I didn't fix it this aft, but i will soon, i hope a small drill bit will work, the wire i was jabbing with would just fold when i applied pressure.

Ben, seeing how we are practically neighbours (in the volvo world anyway), i can show you sometime if you're interested.

The gist of the part is that it acts like a pressure realse for the oil system and when it is clogged the oil exerts pressure at other locations (i.e. oil cap seal, rear main seal, etc.) - from what i understand!