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Converting my 2001 Volvo V40

115K views 261 replies 16 participants last post by  Duncan 
#1 ·
Hi Guys.
I guess this is the start of a very long project, I have been sorting things for my build and will start to post the pictures in the next submission.
But I have a quick question, is there any reason why the vacuum pump can not be belt driven off the main motor. I have already sorted a Vacuum buffer tank (old fire extinguisher) and searching around for electric pumps seems a fruitless and expensive exercise.
John
 
#2 ·
Not really a problem in doing that. It was how I was going to drive the AC compressor to raise a vacuum for the MR2 project.

I found the AC compressor could get max vacuum, 11"hg, in about 5 seconds, about the time I would take to drive to the end of my drive in 1st gear.

I guess your problem would be in switching the vacuum pump on and off but as a mechanical pump fitted to an ICE is always running that might not be a problem. Some do need an oil pressure supply though, from the ICE oil pump. The ac compressor had an electric clutch pulley

I suppose you could put the pump on a motor and power it up to see how long it takes for the vacuum tank to be evacuated and how many inches of mercury it can draw. It is worth getting a vacuum gauge from Ebay to monitor it.
 
#5 ·
Thanks Woody, I will get the original pump back from the farm tomorrow and see how it connects. Seeing as it is original it should run ok there was only two connector pipes and these are still on the car.
Wont an AC pump seize eventually as there is no lubrication once the refrigerant is removed?.

Just waiting for the paint to dry on my cradle then its all systems go.
John
 
#13 ·
The fun bits now start.

The first picture shows a nice cleanish engine bay. It was fairly clean to start with and the jetwash did the rest.
Next the cradle is started, 50mm box section built for a tank. My Mig welder decided to fuse the electrode wire insde the nozzle soon after I started and refused to be removed so I had to resort to stick welding. I am not very good at this and work on the theory that the more weld deposited the better.
I don't think it will break tho.
I have yet to purchase a piece of 8mm steel plate for the motor to sit on.

My coupler (yet to be tested and not liked by Woody) is the inside bits of the friction plate. When I drilled the rivits out I was not expecting the center boss to be free from the spider. We will see how it works if at all.

The vacuum tank was inspired by Woody, who I am indebted to for his advice and loan of some taps.

The motor has had new sealed, high speed bearings fitted and as you can see it is now painted High Speed Red, I expect it to run at at least 20k now due to this paint.
The frame is having its mounting holes drilled and tapped to 20mm 2.5mm thread and will soon be resplendent in its new red colours also.

This is the progress so far, will keep you informed.
 

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#18 ·
Yes, it came from diesel version as diesel engines don't provide vacuum like gasoline engines. I believe most diesel cars have belt driven pumps but some have electric ones. Good thing for us, hehe. Salvaged UP28 pumps should be cheap. Mine draws about 10A at 12V and will evacuate similar vacuum tank in 6-8 seconds (to -27inHg). Even less than that if there is a little vacuum left. I get at least 5 good presses before vacuum is -15inHg. Then pump goes on and shuts down when -27inHg. I have separate vacuum switches for low and high that are adjustable. Pump itself doesn't have any vacuum switch.
 
#19 ·
I have been looking at a pump from a Rover 200, Its fitted to the front of the alternator but has an oil flow into it.
My coupler is just the right diameter and the pump has a V-Ribbed belt to keep it in line.
I was wondering if the oil from the power steering would be good enough to lubricate it, since that would be pumping most of the time and would be an easy plumbing exercise.

I wonder how they control the vacuum with a belt driven pump as it is running all the time, the pipe came straight from the pump to the brake assy so no limiter there, maybe there is a limiter inside the pump.
 
#20 ·
The vacuum pump will self limit as it will just reach a point where it is completely unable to pull any more vacuum.

If the pump has pipe unions for oil you could just make up a small engine oil reserviour that is plumbed into it. An old brake fluid reserviour would probably do. It shouldn't need high oil pressure so just having a small supply should do it.
 
#21 ·
It has an input and output pipe so are you saying block the output pipe and just let it suck what it needs from the input pipe.

I will fetch it tomorrow maybe the bearings can be removed and replaced with high speed sealed ones.

Drilled and tapped the 25mm holes in the motor feet, unfortunately one went skew when I was tapping it but it should be OK still got about 40mm of thread tapped.
Given the size of these bolts it ain't going to go anywhere.

How is the leg doing????
John
 
#22 ·
You could just put both pipes together to the reserviour so there is oil in there. If changing the bearings will work that will be the better option.



The leg is a pain. No driving, cycling or walking on it at all. I can't even put any weight on the cast if I stand so standing for any length of time is awkward at best and hard on the hip joints. Definitely no chance of doing any workshop stuff, especially after I fell over on the crutches the other day and mashed up my big toe. Hopefully not broken it.

Only just figured out how to wash myself and keep the cast dry.:eek:

I am wheeling myself about on an office chair with my leg in the air to reduce the blood pressure in it so even walking with sticks is out unless I have to. Arch is going to borrow a wheelchair for m to use though.


Also have to have an injection of anti-coagulant every day so I don't get DVT. I have to get my Dad in to administer that as I can't do it myself.
 
#24 ·
Thanks Ace-bridger.

I picked up the Rover 200 pump today and stripped it. Inside it is basically a 4 bladed oil pump, it sucks air thro the big hole and oil thro a very small pin hole ( this lubricates the vanes) they move round and pushes both the air and the oil out and into the area from where the oil came from.
The pump is the same as this one on ebay now 200677151526 I got mine for ÂŁ15 tho.





So I think a small reservoir with a supply and return open to the air pressure will work.
The amount of oil that gets sucked in is very small I think, just enough to wet the vanes. I need to shorten the shaft that went into the alternator shaft and put a cover over it cuz some of this oil was used to lube the alternator

A good point is that the vacuum port has a non return valve built in so my modified 15mm plumbers valve will not be needed.

John
 
#23 ·
I was looking at Volvo pumps too. The part number is UP28. It appears that the same pump is used on many vehicles but the price varies dependent on the make of car.

There was one on eBay a while back from a Landrover, brand new, and it went for ÂŁ30!!! I missed it and ended up hunting down a brand new kit which was sold as it was no longer needed for a hot rod build. I fitted it earlier this week, in the rain (!), with no reservoir and it appears to work fine...although I haven't road tested it yet.
 
#26 ·
Not been on for a while due to a short holiday, but been back a week and been at it constantly.

A few changes of plan, I put the motor back together and tried a dummy fitting..... Didn't fit, the 50mm box I used for the frame took up all my space and left none for the motor to tilt in to engage the coupling.
So out came the frame and so did the cutting disk to make the forward box sections into u-sections.
Then decided the best way is to do what Volvo do and build the motor and gearbox up outside the car and fit as a single lump.
So that is the plan, the gearbox is out and I am just waiting for the steel plate on which to bolt my motor to arrive.

A change of plan on the coupling front ( this will please Woody) I am using all of the clutch (minus the friction disk) and bolting a 3mm thick aluminium disk using the rivit holes to it and then bolting my motor coupler to this disk.



The vaccuum tank has been mounted in the tunnel and plumbed into place, the vaccuum pump is going to be driven by a ribbed belt fitted on the back end of the main motor, plan A was to drive it from the coupling but if the belt broke I would have to remove the whole assy to replace it.
I am going to weld a ribbed pulley from the alternator onto the boss that was used to hold the bearing in place and provide a rev counter in the original milk float. Just hope I can weld it central and not out of balance too much.

Found out that volvo used the crank position sensor to generate the rev counter reading so removed that and fitted it to the motor, had to make my own flag for it cuz I couldn't get the crank nut off the ICE.
Fitted a duct for my blower to provide additional cooling when stationary (or any other time if the motor gets hot) and fitted a lifting eye on the motor back.

Message to Woody, how is the leg coming on, you back mobile yet????

Regards John
 

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#27 ·
Looks interesting now!:)

You know, now you have the gearbox out I will revert back to the original suggestion of using nice thick bits of aluminium plate as the adapter and aligning the motor to the gearbox by standing it all on end.:D

However, we now have a cradle.;)
Where you have cut the box section into channels it would be good if you can close the channel by welding the cut sections back in. The transition from the square section to the flatter rectangular section can be blended with a taper to reduce stress risers. Some reinforcement around the internal corners of the cuts will be needed to replace the lost strength and rigidity.

The bolted sections that don't need to be removed should be welded when their location is certain. The brace across the top will need some location lugs welded on to rigidly locate it prior to bolting. Once you have that in the right place clamp some bits of angle to the underside of each end of that brace and weld them to the brace. That will prevent any chance of the cradle closing up when the bolts slip, they will slip. It is easier to show you but I can't get down to you at the moment.

But that brace will move, and let the cradle sag, if you don't have some positive location on it. I'll have to give you a call at some point and we can talk about it.:)



I am still not convinced that 3mm aluminium plate will be able to transmit the loadings in the coupler. If you consider how hard the steel clutch center is compared to how soft the aluminium is and that the torque from your motor could damage the clutch centre....
I reckon you will shear the aluminium very easily.


The vacuum tank looks good as does the cable duct and cooling duct.:) Do check for clearances between the brushes, brush conductors and the cooling duct bolts/rivets. It looks ok in the photo but hard to be sure.


I am still immobile. No driving, no workshop, no chainsawing logs, no stone wall building.
I spend all day on the couch or scooting about on an office chair to get around one room and I use crutches to get down to the granny flat for dinner once a day. Arch pushes me about in a wheel chair each weekend to get some air.
I have another hospital appointment on Thursday where I will find out if I can put any weight on my leg at all.
Likely four more weeks before physiotherapy to make me mobile again.

Must look into getting that Land Rover axle too.:D
 
#30 ·
Hi Mate
I hope its good news on Thursday.

On the question of re-boxing the cut sections, I dont think I would gain too much, the sections are 3mm steel making a U-section 25mm X 50mm X 25mm at 3mm. This stuff is very rigid and I am sure it is much stronger than the ally it is bolted to, it also means I can use shorter bolts and bolt straight to the ally, better than trying to fit spacers across the box.

I am commited to the cradle for now if things are not too good I can easily rip it down and go the ally plate way.

I will give the ally coupling a try, at least the clutch center is now buffered using the built in springs, these should take some of the shock.
In its original form the clutch has a very large diameter disk with friction material on so the added strength of steel is important.
The ally plate will be about 135mm dia, same as the clutch, my heavy steel motor boss is about 100mm with 10mm stainless steel bolts
As long as I get everything lined up I think I have half a chance, it can only fail.

I take your point about the pieces of angle to stop the cradle folding, I will fit these once everything is lined up, I will replace the bolts with some 12mm high tensile engine bolts I have. With the angle welded in place as well as these bolts it should hold unless I go off roading. I think I will change that stresser bar on top of the gearbox and fit it on the motor side and full width, it can not be welded on (was welded in the first version) because I would not be able to get the motor out in the future.

The ducting on the motor has about 20mm clearance from the brushes so no worries there, I need to get a temp sensor pushed up near the top field coil so I can decide when to power this blower, I should have done it before putting the motor back together but forgot.

Best wishes John
 
#31 ·
That sounds good.

I would advise boxing in the open channels as it will make them stiffer. They are the only parts that keep the cradle aligned to the gearbox in the front to back direction.

If I can organise it I will see if Arch wants to drive me down to have a look at your progress one weekend. It would be good to get out and about.

Any other tooling you need to borrow?
 
#33 · (Edited)
That would be good, might be better to leave it a week or two as I have a busy weekend this weekend coming, birthday party Sat and a Christening Sunday.
The only other thing I need for now is the power steering pump and an expert welder to weld my ribbed pulley onto that boss with the square hole in.
I have the two bolted together at present and am resurrecting an old (very old) metalwork lathe, it is the only thing I have with a chuck big enough to hold the boss so I can make sure the two pieces are in line and spinning true. It has not been used for about 35years and has lost its motor and some other bits and is very rusty, but it had a lot of grease on it when it was last used so what is there is moving OK, but all will be corrected in a day or so.

I will look again at boxing the cut sections, it will mess up my paintwork again tho.....
 
#34 ·
Latest developements, Mk2 coupling and the box sections now re-boxed.

The old lathe worked a treat spinning my ally disk, just hope the clutch part is central. The measurments were taken from the center point so should be OK.

Latest thoughts on the vac pump is it is going to be electric either as bought or drive the mechanical one by its own little electric motor if I can find one with some sort of pulley.

I have ripped a vac diaphragm assy from the EGR assy of an old Toyota Surf I used to have and plan on fitting a microswitch to it to control the pump.
JS
 

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#35 ·
Gave up on driving the mechanical pump with a motor.... too messy, have found a vacuum pump off a Jag on fleabay.
It arrived today got it fitted and plumbed in but depending on where the pump stops the vacuum escapes so I need to fit a one way valve.
What degree of vacuum should I be aiming for?
I have my eye on a vac guage so I can see what is going on.

Drilled my motor plate and gave it some undercoat, top coat tomorrow.
Started assembling the heater bits on my backplate fitted to the bulkhead, the high current switches/relays have also been mounted on this plate the cables from the boot batteries will be secured here also.

Should have some more pics tomorrow.
 
#36 ·
Latest developements, the motor is now mounted in the cradle, alignment is near perfect with just one thin piec of ally.
I am going to losen the motor plate tomorrow and whilst running the motor lift it on the bolts to see if there is room for any improvment. There is just a slight vibration at present, I doubt it will be a problem but will see anyway.

The coupling, after assembling with m7 ht bolts in place of the m6 bolts I used originally, is running pretty true, the center bit floats nicely.

The vac pump is all plumbed in now, just waiting for the vac guage to complete it.
The back plate is now complete, the high current relays are mounted, I just need to get a high power resistor to mount for my pre charge. What resistance is normally used for a bank of say 2000uf capacitor bank????

The next step is mounting everything
John
 

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#37 ·
I installed the motor and gearbox in the car today . It was a bit of a struggle doing it singlehanded but I managed not to crush any plastic bits.
Refitted the driveshafts and wheels and with 12v applied they turn... Yipppeee...

I have glued a small magnet on to one of the drive shafts and mounted a crankshaft position for a different model V40 to sense road speed.
I will put my oscilloscope on it tomorrow to see what sort of signal I am getting.
I have bought a Tacho chip from RS, I will configure it to switch a relay to turn off the power steering pump at about 20mph to save 12v power.

I am bidding on fleabay for a Peugeot 106 pump, it is local so no postage if I win it.

The bulkhead panel is almost complete, just need a length of hose to complete the heater line and a pre-charge resistor once I find out what value of resistor I need.

How is the leg/foot doing Woody, how did the hospital appointment go last week????

Regards John
 

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#38 ·
That's looking good. Running the wheels on 12v is a milestone to be proud of.:)

Hopefully the Forth Bridge will be strong enough. Do monitor it, maybe some discreet measurements for location at any potential weak points, checking the frame is, and stays, square in all directions.

Really don't want any flex in it as it will destroy the motor alignment, and all the hard work.

Hospital appointment was OK, very very long wait as it was running behind. I think the consultant isn't very bright. I am getting better advice from a cycling forum and YouTube.
I am getting some movement back and I can put a little weight on it to hobble about but still on two sticks for now.
Left leg muscles wasting away while the right is building up from all the hopping about!:D

With Arch's help I did manage a bit of one legged fire wood chopping at the weekend though!:eek: Good for the balance!:D

 
#39 ·
Thats great news, you are loking good... very manly so is Arch (what is Arch short for?).
How much do you want for that Steering pump, I forgot you had it when I started bidding this morning.

Found out today I nicked the inner CV gaitor when I put the drive shafts back in, luckily it is easy to get to just behind the motor and in plain view. I love electric motors.

I thought this motor was as heavy as the ICE but it almost balances the gearbox and the suspention is right at the top. I guess that will all change when I get some batteries in.
John
 
#40 ·
Thats great news, you are loking good... very manly so is Arch (what is Arch short for?).
How much do you want for that Steering pump, I forgot you had it when I started bidding this morning.

John
Arch is 'Archer', that's her name, most people just call her Arch. Not sure what she would make of being called 'manly' though.:eek::D

I'm not sure what the pump would be worth, I'll dig it out at some point and see if I can get it to you first. Would it be worth that Land Rover axle you found? We can do a trade on that if that suits.:)
 
#45 ·
Re: Converting my 2001 Volvo V40... BIG DAY TODAY

It was a big day today for my Volvo, he took his first steps as an EV, albeit with just a 12v bat on the passenger floor and some long jump leads.

But still it pulled well in 1st and second, just as far as my next door neighbors drive and back again. Dead quiet as if I was being pushed.
It was a bit difficult steering with no PS and timing the brake with pulling the crock lead off the battery. Brakes worked well.

I then treated him with a shampoo and wax, he feels much better now...
 
#49 ·
Re: Converting my 2001 Volvo V40 (its now Turbo Powered)

The latest on the project, as you can see from the pics the motor is now turbo powered, so should go like a rocket.

I won the saxo PS pump on ebay for ÂŁ18 plus a fiver at the scrappers for some pipes and wiring harness.
I spent a day trying to decide where to mount it and finally settled on just in front of the gearbox. I am now waiting for a refrigeration flare adapter to arrive to join the two pipes. The pump controller I made had a relay mounted on the board but the harness has one fitted, so I removed mine.

I have given up trying to get the ECU to think the ICE is there and working so it will drive the rev counter. Instead I have built a Tacho from a tacho chip and fed it into a bargraph chip. I have mounted some high power leds behind the dial to light up the digits up to 5000 rpm with red ones coming on from 3500 rpm. I dont think I should try to run this motor above 5k or even anywhere near, 3.5k should be OK though cuz it has good banding on the armature.

I have given the motor about a 5 degree advance which should be OK as a start.

The next step is some serious controller building, I have ordered a pre-programmed PIC chip as the basis for the controller so we will have to see how that works out.

Watch this space....
 

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