When I installed the '90-92 Volvo 740 Turbo front lower valance lip, I found that it appears to fit the bottom of the S4 bumper cover better than my S5. I had to trim off some alignment tabs from the top edge and had to re-contour the corners by cutting out thin pie shaped sections and cutting slits. This allowed me to re-contour the curves in the corners to better match the bottom of the S5 bumber cover. I drilling the upper edge of the Volvo lip and reused the 12 factory screws that held the factory n/a lip in place. I used a hole punch to cut out rounds holes to fit over bolt hex heads that hold the bottom of the front bumper cover in place. This allows the Volvo lip to mount flush to the bottom of the S5 bumper cover. I made three "C" shaped brackets for attaching the center section of the Volvo lip to the bumper cover out of aluminum stock and then paint all of them black. I need to take some photos of those the next time I have the car up on jack stands. I also put a couple black nylon trim fasteners though the two visible holes in the up edge of the Volvo lip in the center section to clean up the looks.

I wiped the valance panel down with acetone and a rag to clean it and remove the oxidation so it looks fairly good/new as well. All in all it came out fairly nice - is it prefect, no. With my near stock ride height, I have 4-1/2" clearance and no issues going over the round raised curb and onto the driveway apron nor pulling out of the driveway either. Speed bumps and concert stops in parking lots are another matter.

 

Here are some pictures of the brackets that I made to hold the center section of the Volvo lower valance lip in place to the lower bumper on my S5.

 

That's interesting Blue, it never occurred to me to use those three little tabs like that.
You even used factory clips on 'em, very impressive.

Not the way I did it, but cool nonetheless.

 

Boy, what a difference a couple of 70° days make.

Without the Z to obsess over and having been forced by emissions to lay hands on my car for a change, I got motivated to tackle some long delayed piddly little projects.

Two jobs were specific to the "tune up" process, one has been gestating for six damn years.

First up was to uncover the Initial Set coupler wire which I had semi-intentionally buried when the harness work happened.
I really did not want to mess with the harness in the bay and had decided to go to the source and pick it up at the ECU.

I was again surprised at what a pain getting to the ECU is and how elaborate are the mount and cover. It certainly does it's job, so I cannot fault the result but the execution is kinda precious.

I cut the orange wire a few inches from the connector and soldered on a length of wire, hopefully long enough to get to an as yet undetermined switch site. It had an alligator clip on one end that looked like it might come in handy, so I kept it.
Install was the reverse of removal.

Unfortunately, almost all of my cool **** is still at Sigfrid's and I had no switches to choose from but the alligator clip on the door stop strap worked just fine.
I'm drawn to the sheer crudeness, yet great efficiency of this solution but will probably go for a switch when able.

So, now I had a functional initial set coupler.

Job #2 is the one I've meant to do ever since I first tried to set the TPS.
Using the volt method, one must "backprobe" the G/R wire at the connector and for me at least, this meant jamming a needle into the wire.
I've done it this way a few times now and every time I hate myself a little more...that wire was beginning to look like a junkie.

So I decided to fix the problem permanently.
Removed the TPS from the throttle body (TIP: the TPS mount bracket has three screws, two accessible from the side and one buried on the bottom. Leave that bottom ****** out and the TPS comes off with the throttle body in situ.) and cut off the loom.
Stripped off about a half inch of insulation from the G/R wire (without cutting the copper) and spliced on a pigtail. About 4" long, the new wire comes out the back of the connector and terminates in a female Molex fitting that the probe from a multimeter snaps right into.

Very, very dry and boring stuff but it sure made the adjustment process easy.

With the prep work done, she hit the highway for a warmup.
Honestly, I though she ran pretty well.

Back in the driveway, coupler wire grounded, I reset the timing, then the TPS and finally, the idle adjust on top of the throttle body.

And back on C-470.

What a difference.
I'd like to say she was better everywhere but really, the most improvement came at idle and decel.
I'm letting her go cold again so I can see what a cold start is like but I fully expect it'll be fine.

Weird how you don't notice the tiny, incremental degradation that daily driving inflicts until you rectify it all at once and the eureka! moment occurs.

Now I really want spectre and I to swap cars.
I think Sprocket is running well and he bought his car specifically for the drivetrain but neither of us have any frame of reference.
It would be interesting to compare.

 

I'm doing injectors and fuel system rectification this weekend. Come on up. I want to try to get it all done Saturday so I can make it to the paint clinic Sunday. I have four brand new injectors and what I'm pretty sure is the correct gasket for the job. I squeezed a bunch of hoses, and think I'll be pretty good there on the whole. I also located the solenoids you suggested finding, so I'll be ready for that as well.

 

So what did happen to the Z ?

 

Nothing has happened to the Z yet.
She sits in S.'s driveway, braving the elements.

Last time I was there I was able to confirm that the interior was dry, so all our efforts with door/hatch/window seals seems to have paid off.
The engine bay looked OK but those hood vents allow a lot of snow to get in.
The battery is dead (no surprise there, we haven't replaced it yet), so no info on how the electrics have fared.

I was happy with how well the Plastidip has held up and how good she looked after months of sitting outside. The thing about dip is that it doesn't look great when new (especially if you're hardwired to expect "shiny") but it looks the same kind of "meh" all the time.
Their basic grey would be the ultimate daily driver color; when my old Z was painted light battleship grey (i.e. "primer grey"), it could get incredibly dirty without showing it.
I was ambivalent about the color itself but appreciated the freedom from maintenance.

 

Gray is the best but I've found that, after owning one, a white car hides dirt well until it gets real bad. Who'd a thunk it? Way easier than a black or other dark colored car.

 

Spring has finally sprung, praise Jeebus.
The "official" first day of spring was last Friday...but we had snow and I don't care what the calendar says, it ain't spring when there's snow on the damn ground.
My metric is when it finally gets warm enough for my efan to kick in and our 70°+ weather yesterday finally made that happen.

(BTW, just to contribute to the great efan v. thermoclutch debate...it's often said that efans are better because of no mechanical drag on the engine, an argument countered by pointing out the extra drag on the alternator. Well, in Denver I drive about 5 months of the year with no fan at all, below @60° it never kicks on (195°), so I'm pretty sure there's a net advantage to the efan that the mechanical fan can never overcome.
So there.)

Anyways, I was mostly pleased with the way the car is performing but still want to tweak it.
It stumbles occasionally at idle (but quickly recovers) and could be smoother. Above 1000rpm, she's fine.
I'm going to check out the thermowax and BAC and then redo the "tune up adjustments"- TPS, timing and air bypass and I have a question...
Is there a specific sequence these adjustment should follow?
This last time I:
-ground the Initial Set coupler
-set timing
-set TPS
-set idle speed with the bypass screw on top of the throttle body
-disconnect initial set coupler

Engine was hot during the process.

Was that OK?

My driving yesterday carried me over to Sigfrid's...first I've seen him since Thanksgiving.
The whole "CA or CO" thing is still up in the air but there seems to be a fairly hard deadline coming up next week to make a decision.
If he goes, the car will be sold (hopefully) here in Denver.
If he comes back, she gets finished.

We charged up the battery and the Z fired right up and idled but still doesn't run properly at all.
If she stays, the next step is a Megasquirt.
We've basically agreed that if the project continues, the best plan is to keep the Nissan engine and hop it up a bit. Maybe go turbo.
Committing to the engine makes the Squirt a more viable option as we can run either NA or turbo without major changes to the engine control hardware, the basic package would carry over.

So, I guess we'll find out pretty soon.

Meanwhile, I'm off to spectre's place today to observe and hinder work on his cars intake.
Given the number of weird, unforeseeable issues he's already run into, I can't wait to see what jumps out today.
I'm sure he'll let y'all know.

 

It's definitely been in the vein of "everything that can go wrong will go wrong", but NOTHING like my truck... I have never had anything (man, beast, or machine) fight me as hard as that truck did...

 

yep. when i have a new to me car, these things need adjustment right when i get it, and then when the weather changes, and then maybe 6 months after that i'll check it again. the TPS's and idle speed moves around a little

 

I ran across this new thing- all the cool kids are using it- called photography.
You can preserve images and look at them later, anytime, in fact.
I think it may have a future...


I acquired this wheel a year ago as I was yarding for the Z and it got conflated with other parts and ended up hiding in Sigfrid's attic...where I forgot about it.
Drugs are bad, mmmkay?
I think it's a MX-6 part but it could be 626, not sure.

It's slightly smaller than stock (350mm v. 380mm) with a thicker rim.
It has the least bulbous center pad of any airbag wheel I've seen and I like the way it looks and feels. The horn is functional but none of the switches are.

I've only taken a short drive (to confirm the wheel was straight...which it wasn't) but holy cow, what a difference.
Really points up how little it takes to noticeably alter the overall "feel" of the ergonomics.
Wonder how long it'll feel different to me.

 

You beat me! I still have three minutes left on the video upload...

Looks good. I'm not a fan of nonfunctional buttons though. I'd have to go find a photo or look at the one in the box you brought me, but I think it looks like a modern attempt at the look of the original S5 wheel. Despite the oddly shaped instrument binacle, I think the interior of these cars has held up well over time. The very modern steering wheel fitting so well in context really drives it home.

 

i think that is a 6 wheel? it does look good though!

the parts catalog says that wheel was available without the audio buttons, which seems a bit odd, you'd think cruise would be the option... the other oddity is that the blanking plate is only sold with the wheel, the Rx8 has them separate.

 

Oddly enough, from a junkyarder's perspective the most valuable piece of that wheel is the pristine center pad. I've passed up others that had nicer rims (this ones leather is, shall we say..."patinated") but deployed airbags (if the center is there at all). Now I'm set up I can keep an eye out for a nicer example, maybe one with fewer buttons, without concern for the pad condition.

Besides, it's conceivable (albeit barely) that the buttons could be made functional.
I've done weirder things.

 

Should be first generation Mazda 6, 2002-2008. Looks mint

 

That is indeed a Mazda 6 wheel - I look at that nearly every day in my '05. Along with the Miata cluster, both looks quite good there too (I know the cluster was covered a long time ago) - it reminds me that I'd like to find a 6 cluster and find a way to put it in the '7's dash, but both have the drawback of only running to 8K rpm, and I routinely run to 86-8700. I wonder if there's any harm in blowing past the end of the indicated scale.

I bet it wouldn't be too hard to integrate the steering wheel audio controls with newer head units, at least ones that are a step up from entry level.

Edit: okay, yes it probably would be hard, because our column has none of the required wiring/contacts to make those wheel audio controls work, unlike swapping an aftermarket head unit into a new-ish car that came with such controls.

 

i wonder if the Rx8, or even Mazda 6 clock spring and or radios would work?

 

A clockspring could probably be fitted, the problem is the gauge bezel which would be too narrow for its width.

 

Meeting spectre just as emissions forced me back to my car has really been more of a boon to me than him, I suspect. I had only a "mechanical" understanding of the intake, he has forced me to become more mental about it.

So, "mental" is where I went...

But first, a bit of catching up.
I'm pleased I finally made up proper plug wires to fit the relocated coil (I even made a test wire with the plug end exposed so my ancient timing light will work), I think they look nice. Starting with new stock NGK wires made it pretty simple, I'm sorry I could only get "toilet plunger orange" plug boots, but I was impatient.




Frequent fiddling with the TPS finally goaded me into adding the test port I'd long considered:


No more John Barleycorning the poor G/R wire with a needle.

The TPS was lying around like that because I'd done this:


Which is how the <s>manifestly insane</s> interesting experiment begins.

I've wanted to cosmetically tart up my throttle body for a while and while recently sorting through my crap for spectre, rediscovered my old secondary-delete unit. It still had the thermowax and throttle damper/delay thingie.

I had run this body for a year or so with no ill effects but when I got the new chassis, it came with a perfect stock part, so I used it.
Over the years here I've read varying opinions about the thermowax and decided to see what the deal was myself. I deleted everything from this throttle body except the primary plates and the associated linkages.
It looks like this:




It was surprisingly easy to do.
Removed the water line from the BAC to the thermowax and the old "return" to the block bent right over and connected to the BAC nipple, preserving the water loop over the BAC. I had to cap the vac nipple that fed the secondary throttle actuator and ...that was it.

In the future I'd like to delete that water line altogether (if I can live without the thermowax) or at least delete the bypass over the BAC and reroute the thermowax hose.
But that's for later.
Now the only important thing is how does she run?

After some minor adjustments, amazingly well.
Like almost perfect.

One caveat...
Prior to the swap I'd driven her up to temp so I'd have a fresh baseline to compare to.
I was anticipating a much longer install and she was still warm when I was ready to test, so it was not a real cold start.
Even so, she required a bit of throttle feathering for a few minutes before holding idle.
I got her warm enough to do a quick-n-dirty TPS adjust, just to get in the ballpark, then drove around the neighborhood, stopping to tweak as necessary.
Finally, out on the highway, I stopped halfway and reset the TPS (since I was now at full temp), made a few more adjustments and drove the back way home. This last part was lots of stop and go, slow speed and idle and she was bloody well perfect.
Let off the gas and she drops to a steady 800 rpm idle...no hunting/surging, no hesitation on accel.

It's kind of freakish, I was half expecting more drama, if not dire consequences.

The best part is how Mother Nature is going to expedite results.
We go from the 70°s to snow by tomorrow, so I'll have a chance to see what a real cold start feels like.
Should be interesting.

And I really like the new steering wheel...whatever it is.

 

Hah! I read this, and saw the thing about snow. Hit the dashboard button to see my weather widget, and I'll be damned! It was like 80 yesterday!

I'd be interested to see how it runs after our conversation on the phone the other day about those systems. I'm still trying to wrap my head around all the electrickery, but it's slowly coming together. Hopefully we both get a chance to get thoroughly cerebral about these engines. That's where I like to live!

 

Well, it's 40° now- hardly an arctic blast, but should give a hint of what a cold start will be like without the thermowax.

As I perused the pics this morning, it occurred to me that it would be fairly simple to rig a manual choke using the already present cruise control cable drum.
No clue if that would be necessary/beneficial yet but it's worth keeping in mind.

 

Manual choke is awesome. I want to state that right off the bat. But I have to ask why? What's the end game here? I'm all on board for mechanical simplification, reduction of PPFs (potential points of failure), and especially mitigation of aging plastics and electronics, but where are you headed here? If it were possible to Flintstone the thing and get rid of all electrickery and black box majicks in favor of mechanical simplicity and reliability, I'd be behind you the whole way. Is it possible though? Is it desirable? Would the end result be better than the status quo? Of course with proper instrumentation (AFR, CHT, EGT) you could add timing and mixture levers to the steering wheel, but you would not likely be able to do a better job than the computer in this application... Is this an improvement or a thing to do because it can be done? Either way, let me know if I can help. I want to play with your toys. This is a super awesome idea.

 

Hey, I'm not a complete Luddite...in fact, if I were, the thermowax would be exactly the kind of device I'd adore.
I'm not averse to the concept of this system, it's the execution that appalls me.

I've now removed the water channel from about five BACs and have yet to see any decent contact in the interface with the valve body. If you lapped them and slathered on some Arctic Silver then maybe, just maybe would there be significant heat transfer. As it is, any temp control is almost completely accidental.
So, bag that.

Then there's the thermowax itself...where to start.
It's small restrictive passages seem to invite corrosion/blockage.
The hose routing, especially on the S5 is counterintuitive and actually becomes the highest point in the system, yet has no air bleed.
It's basically impossible to adjust with the throttle body in situ.

A cable choke as I described would be doing exactly the same as the thermowax with the downside of manual actuation but the upside of more control. In the summer you can get away with lower cold start rpms but the thermowax does not respond to ambient temp, so it can't compensate.

There is no "end game" per se...I saw an opportunity for an easy experiment and decided to try it.
I could swap the entirely stock throttle body back on in under a half hour, so it's not a real imposition.
Later this spring/summer I'd like to replace injectors and would like to finalize any changes to the intake beforehand so I can just concentrate on the detailing as it goes back together.

On a completely different tack...
I finally replaced my pedal rubbers with grip tape.
Why it took me two years to do is a good question.
Another annoying detail off the list.

 

It would probably be possible to replace it with a servo actuating a cable off the same cam and a temp sensor. Could probably even be rigged as a standalone affair. Might even be possible to rig up some sort of bimetallic thermostatic affair like an old VW thermostat (I might even have one around here somewhere). It would need air flow, and the temperature range and range of actuation might need some fiddling, but it would be a mechanical device with almost no moving parts that should get the job done in a manner substantially similar to the factory engineered unit.