1968 Volvo project Pure Volvocity by 68EFIvert

4 minute(s) of a 271 minute read

It has been a long time since I have had an update. This is an update but not a good one. We ran into some issues when we started to crank the engine over to start the tuning process. We heard some grinding sound that we thought was coming form the transmission. The engine was also very difficult to turn over by hand. Because of these issues we never started the engine. We were also running into quite a few clearance problems with the transmission pan and the exhaust. This really had me questioning everything because the exhaust was prefabbed before tearing the car apart for final body and paint.

As it turns out, the mock up transmission used was for a 5.3LS and the transmission guy is telling me that the bellhousing on my block has a different bolt pattern than the earlier LS's or maybe it is just the 5.3L engines. I am a little unsure. To top that off the mock up transmission (using the 5.3 bellhousing is about 1/2" shorter than the later style bellhousing. That was causing the transmission mount to be off, exhaust clearance problems..... To fix the situation I either have to find an aftermarket bellhousing that has the correct depth and bolt pattern or cut and weld my two bellhousing to make one that is the correct depth and has the right bolt pattern. I think we are going to go down that path since I am unsure what other clearance issues come up with an aftermarket bellhousing.
After we pulled the transmission out and discovered the issue above we were still not able to turn over the engine. So, out it came. This is a brand mew rotating assembly (crank, rods, pistons, bearings..) from Texas Speed in my factory block that was bored out. After the pan was pulled this morning there is excessive wear on the main bearings. It looks like there is 80,000 miles on it not 8 rotations of the crank. Something is obviously wrong with the setup. It now is being taken back down to see why there is an issue. The engine builder who is also my tuner said he has had problems with TSP kits in the past with similar issues but also said we will need to make sure that the block does not need to be line bored. Seems like that should have been checked before but what do I know.

There doesn't seem to be any damage to the crank or rods so I hope this is a simple fix. Taking the engine out was a project. Everything is so tight and if you miss a step to remove a part in the right order it makes the job impossible. So glad I didn't already charge the AC system and the other small stuff like that. So frustrated but oh well.
I wish it was a better update than this. Anyone want to buy a Volvo?

3-20-2022

I got a little more clarification on the engine and bell housing. The bell housing was not as bad as I understood. The four side bolts and pin line up but the rest are misaligned. We will modify the bellhousing used for mock up to allow for the top bolt hole to be used. It will need to be filled and drilled. Not as bad as I thought it would be.

The engine has me a little perplexed. The main bearings have heat marks on them and a couple rod bearings we so tight they were not allowing the crank to rotate. Some clearances were off or perhaps it needed a line bore?

Pretty weird since the engine had not been fired.