Club 80-90 Forums

Hello again..
Here are a few flicks of my second attempt. I had noticed that I had made an error when mounting the gearbox onto the engine. I can be forgiven for this because for the last few months I have been working on the engine in an upright position. Remember the photo with the gearbox and engine attached..I was carrying out a "dry fix"..

The gearbox has been mounted on the wrong holes on the adapter plate. Starter motor should be inline with the starter hole on the volvo engine...I didn't see it..and the consequence being when transporting it to site I mounted it the same way.... . The adapter plate has 8 fixing points x 4 for Volvo B 19/21/23 and 230 leaning engines and the other x 4 are for a Volvo B20 straight standing motor. I checked after work and realised that I had made the mistake.

I was on a high at that point 'cos I thought by sorting this I could have a chance in getting it in. The picture shows the adapter plate and the lower studs in the correct position. Looking to the top left of the plate you will notice a locating nib. The fixing point adjacent to it is the startermoter bolt fixing. I had it previously fixed to the fixing point above...hope I made sense!
I quickly got to work with help from Phill (Work mate)..we both just finished a night shift..

I checked the input shaft and refitted the modified gear box mount


Worked hard to get it in..there was a noticable difference in gearbox height but not enough to stop me bending up the tinware above the clutch slave cylinder. The gearbox mount and plate are stopping me. Other observations include the engine bar and the improvement in distances from support plates on the block and bar suport plates plus rubbers. There is still a little distance on the left support..I am putting it down to the fact if I could lower the engine to the desired height without getting it jammed..I reckon It will sit nice. Looking along the line of the engine and gearbox and rubber mount (gearbox) ..the rubber itself looks stressed and slightly twisted (when fitted to chassis). I am very close..Aidan is right, a petrol gearbox support plate and rubber mount may solve the problem. I do hope so..
Here goes..probably spot me underneath beavering away at mount end!!






Got rid of the piece fouling the cover..tore it to bits..




Hopefully Aidan has found some bits in his lock up..out of curiosity..it will be interesting to find out what the differences are between a diesel and petrol mount and rubber. Perhaps a member who has a photo of one could share it with me..
Just before I go..I was wondering about the fixing points for the gearbox mount (rubber) under the chassis. I have two sets of 4 fixings..I am currently using the original ones (diesel)..is there a reason for the other two? Petrol mount? adjustments to the right / left ?

Tom

The diesel mounting rubber is much larger in diameter than the petrol one, the centre bolt falls in a different position to the petrol one. It has to be fitted back to front if you want to get the gearbox as far forwards as possible.
I have made my own gearbox plate.Mine is fitted so the mounting plate with the bush is about 10 - 15 mm from the gearbox plate. It also lowers the gearbox a bit which helps with clearance on the sloping bulk head.
My plate has 2 sets of holes so I can use either the diesel or petrol bush.

New gearbox plate.


Comlplete with diesel mounting

Im not sure why there are 2 sets of holes in the chassis, but neither of them are central , so the arms on the gearbox plate have to be of centre as well.

Dont give up !
Dont struggle, thats when things break! Take a step back, have a brew or a fag and start again

Thanks Richard..I will keep going..you are right ..take a step back. It's how I realised that I had mated the gearbox up wrongly..looked at what i had done..read the distructions..reflected..works well. Shame I don't have a real friend working alongside me..I have noticed I am talking to myself a lot more..I do believe I am reaching stages of madness..

I would like to try and have the option of both mounts and giving the petrol one a go, just waiting to hear from Aidan...Thanks for the photos..I can get an idea on what I could do...clever idea with the petrol and diesel rubber mount options. I have had time to look at the behaviour of the mount when trying to fit it and each time it wants to push out (towards the back of the van)..the shape of the chassis doesn't help..as you know. Messing around with the chassis isn't an option I have already butchered the back..upset me doing that..desperate times.

I have just paid another £96 notes for 8 weeks rent..which includes a key allowing 24hr access. I hope to be out well before then..just need to jump over this hurdle..

Thanks again Richard

Tom

Keep at it Tom, it'll come good in time but remember not to loose your cool over it! Many of us have been there, getting in a state when the learning curve is steep. As long as you're learning, you're making progress. Engine conversions aren't easy the first time around...some of us are stupid enough to keep doing them over and over again!

Oh, and ignore the unhelpful nay-sayers who should know better than to open their gobs despite having nothing constructive to add

thanks for the support Ian I will keep going..in fact I have been busy..spent a sat afternoon learning that little bit more..and I feel proud of my efforts. I'm in the process of uploading some photos..back soon.

I think it best to ignore negative comments in particular ones that don't contribute..the last comment made was very personalised towards Neil (axeman) and the right thing to do would be to E D I T/delete it. maybe Rod can do his magic.. Neil has helped me a great deal, support, encouragement, knowledge and research, hours on the phone...and if I need an SOS Neil has offered to come down. need I say more!!

Hello again..thanks for looking and continued support. I have made some progress but first a big thank you to Aidan who kindly sent me a rescue package. I thought it would be a good idea to show the differences between petrol and diesel rubber mount/bush and gearbox support plates. here are a few flicks..if your not sure the petrol mount and plate is the closest...also in the flick is a diesel air filter cylinder from the old set up..A little project Neil is working on involves using this filter..i have been toying with ideas. i have decided to mount the battery on the nearside rear left opening in the engine bay as I plan to incorporate the air intake in the offside opening. I was going to set the battery under the driver seat. A big thanks to Simon (spannerboy) for a pm provoking the idea..nice one



another slant and you can see the differences...especially the plates..soon as I pulled it out of the packaging..I had a good feeling about it...




I carried out a few measurements and tried both rubber mounts/bush.

I tried the diesel rubber and because I had already carried out the mod on it (conversion instructions) ..(extra set of holes and a section cut out) I thought it would be a good shout to try it first. i might not need to use the petrol one yet and I thought it best to try the one modded first before hacking into to the other...


I treated the petrol plate to a good clean and lick of paint

I visited the camper and got to work..exciting times..I started working on the engine bar and mounting it according to the instructions..I had to mount the bar in a particular way..rear holes on the bar on the front holes on the van..take a look at these..


I took into consideration reinforcement plates and got to work on both sides...




A consequence of having a bent engine bar!!..used repair washers on all 4 bolts/fixings for added support...

Now that I had finished the bar i needed to cut a a little more off the diesel rubber/bush mount other wise it wouldn't sit flush to the bulkhead/chassis..many arm aches later using the hacksaw this is the end result..

Now the project gets really interesting..I beavered away for several hours and mounted the engine and gearbox on several occasions...if you recall I asked if there was a reason why I had two sets of rubber/bush mounting holes on the chassis/bulkhead. On my previous attempts to install I have been using the 4 original. (what diesel engine and gearbox used)..Initially I tried using them only to find that my drive shafts in relation to the gearbox were not central. (nearside closer than offside) I quickly got to work on retapping the holes as the bolts wouldn't take..and presto job done


I checked the drive shafts and they were both looking how they should be..the next step was to fit them while the going was good..getting dark now..
before I did that I did something else...
a little clue...

and here you go..


I am really chuffed..there are a few mr meaners to sort...one is the petrol mount plate..and the other is the cam cover is catching again..I am not troubled by this as I know whats needed. I plan to visit tomorrow (mon) and sort it out..I will post some more pictures tomorrow of how the engine and gearbox are sitting etc.

Thanks for looking..
Tom

Hi Tom, just finished reading your whole thread, and have to give it to you, you are one determined guy, and no matter what hurdles were thrown at you, you have handled it well. I'm with Jed though on the engine choice, especially with the height, it does confuse me a little, but this cannot distract your good efforts, and sharing them with details, links, photos etc, so anyone else who maybe considering carrying out the same conversion, will know what they are in for.

Regarding the height, you could always mod the R&R bed supports, and have the bed 8 inches higher I guess.

Good effort chap. Keep plugging away and you'll get there and have the satisfaction of knowing you did it yourself. (nice blog/thread BTW)

Looking good ! Dosnt seem to be too much sticking out the back - you should be able to get it looking quite tidy I think.
Inside the raised level floor may not be too much of a problem , Devon conversions have a storage box about 4 or 5" heigh under the rear cushion and still use a rock n roll bed, Autohomes have storage under the rear cushion as well although they use a slightly different bed mechanism.

Glad to see it's coming together Tom, hope that final installation all goes ok and you can get it mot'd and moved in time for the end of space rental
ps you can mod the petrol rubber mount to your hearts content it's not required back here as I have a new one for the pickup when that finally gets an engine and gearbox

Mickyfin wrote:Hi Tom, just finished reading your whole thread, and have to give it to you, you are one determined guy, and no matter what hurdles were thrown at you, you have handled it well. I'm with Jed though on the engine choice, especially with the height, it does confuse me a little, but this cannot distract your good efforts, and sharing them with details, links, photos etc, so anyone else who maybe considering carrying out the same conversion, will know what they are in for.

Regarding the height, you could always mod the R&R bed supports, and have the bed 8 inches higher I guess.

Thanks for your comments..most welcome. I enjoy sharing and love learning new things and I hope the thread will help others considering this type of conversion. I was toying with the idea of doing a golf gti conversion and i contacted garyd about wiring them up, nice chap too. What swung it for me to choose Volvo was the engine itself...we own a family gti and i know how good they are, we've had it for over 10 years. the volvo engine is solid and indistructable...it will go on and on. services on the engine itself are simple and very low cost. As for perfomance it has a great torque range and 115bhp. i am on the understanding from a good source that the aaz would be disapointment to me if i drove it after experiencing mine..not sure what it would be like driving a van with a gti engine..perhaps i will link up with a member who's got one installed and have a go..

as for the rock and roll bed i don't think it will be a problem and your right, just a lift in height.
Tom

ELVIS wrote:Good effort chap. Keep plugging away and you'll get there and have the satisfaction of knowing you did it yourself. (nice blog/thread BTW)

Thanks Elvis much appreciated..that feeling of satisfaction will hit me alright especially hearing her start up...
Tom