Herman and Operation 30MPG

[Richard99]

Quite frankly, I don't believe people claiming 30 mpg on these cars.

[abscate]

Maybe on a hypermiling turbo.

Definitely achievable on an NA driving normally

[callahanoffroad]

So I decided to try those headlight bulbs you posted about. I found the install to be quite annoying. I had to remove the housing to see what I was doing. I haven't tested them at night yet. My bulbs have the large heatsinks with a cooling fan installed. Should I leave the covers off to prevent overheating? On another note one of my reflectors detached when installing....

Oh my goodness! Detached reflectors!!!! Sounds like you need to see an optometrist!

Sorry for the delay in response I've been obviously busy with everything going on. Grocery delivery is crazy busy right now.

So I left the caps off, knowing that I'll need to clean the reflectors more often. I think the caps fit over the high beams. But yes they sit almost exact to the housing. I guess some one might be annoyed by that but it doesn't bother me as I can actually see at night .

Hope you like them!!!!

Quick update. Herman got new tires, a mass airflow sensor cleaning and a fresh air filter. Mpg popped up from 20.5-21mpg to 22.5-23mpg on average. So that's nice!

I have my parts list for my valve stem seals passed over to the CFO for budgeting. I suspect once this current madness is over I'll get to work on that.

Good news is that locally everything is pretty much under control. Stores are well stocked (except toilet paper [but I use a bidet, because I'm civilized ]) two weeks ago we had a run on the stores which made my job difficult. But everything is levelling out now.

I'm going to keep delivering because it's really the right thing to do. Many of my customers are high risk people who shouldn't go to the store. So I'll keep doing it for them. I wash my hands so much these days it makes me want to scream!!!! Hahahaha.

Anyways. Stay safe out there everyone. Wash your hands. Tell jokes. Laugh and enjoy life. It's spring time here.

[callahanoffroad]

Okay. Small update. Well, Covid killed my job. So I've done less than 1000 miles since my last update. So that kinda sucks. But, I'm doing fine and I've switched focuses so that's all cool. I've had some time to start some "luxury" projects.

I attempted to repair my failed headliner. Repair wasn't to difficult, but my glue didn't spray correctly and so I have some saggy spots. Being a sedan I had to pull it out of the passenger side door. So I had to fold the headliner a bit to fanagle it out out the door. I am pretty confident that Volvo installed the headliners through the front windshield, seems the only wide enough place to do it.

So here's some pictures of the project.

First you sand the liner to get all the foam off

One it's nice and clean you apply some spray adhesive.

Picture of me test fitting the new vinyl. I decided to use vinyl as it is wipeable, and I do a lot of heavy duty stuff that requires wiping.

After you test fit you glue, and start from the center and work outwards. Make sure you get lots of glue in the recesses.

Pic of the finished project.

Here's a pic of the roof. Unbelievably clean underneath.

There's also some preinstalled drilled holes by the back doors, looks like you can bolt and accessory there not sure if anyone had seen those before or what they were for!

[callahanoffroad]

Quite frankly, I don't believe people claiming 30 mpg on these cars.

Sorry for the late reply,

I actually used to do 34 MPG on my 96 wagon (non turbo) between Denver and St. Louis doing about 85 the whole way.

I'd change the name of the thread to "Herman's Build Thread" but I don't have sufficient mod authority.

Okay back to some regularly scheduled maintenance. This week Herman received an oil change (I know very exciting). I finally had to license my car in my current state (Missouri), so I took it to get the safety inspection on Thursday. Well... Herman failed. Turns out my muffler had some holes it it! Ordered a new Walker muffler on Thursday, and amazon had it on my porch on Friday!!! Wow! I couldn't believe how fast that was.

So I prepped the Walker muffler by treating the seams with high temp paint as I have read previously that is where they like to fail. So all the hangers and seams are painted with high temp grill paint! We will see how that works out.

New muffler system weighs around 10 pounds. Old one weighs about 50. Couldn't believe how heavy the original one was!

Had to cut the original exhaust clamp off with my angle grinder. Took me about an hour and a half total to swap the systems. If I twas more confident with my angle grinder I could have had in done in 30 minutes. Those things scare the bejesus out of me.

New exhaust is super quiet with subtle low growly noises. Aside from the intake noises you can't even really tell the engine is running hahaha.

Got a decent exhaust tip. Chrome, round 9" long. Looks very close to stock. Was $10.

So hopefully we will pass safety inspection this time!

Quick side note Missouri requires all vehicles to have a safety inspection but only 96+ to have emissions testing.

Okay onto the next project. Thanks to feedback from various club members I will be beginning to source engine overhaul parts to overhaul the engine. As you may remember from earlier posts, when I repaired my exhaust manifold I found leaky exhaust valve seals.

So that will be my next project. Not certain if I'm going to buy a second motor to refresh and then swap it. Pull the current motor and overhaul it. Or just pop the valve stems with the motor in place. Stay tuned for details.

[surfbug1]

Callahan off road

How did the light bulbs workout?

Ii have a 98 v70 wagon, and wonder if the 9006 would fit ....

[matthew1]

Callahan is sadly not here any more... viewtopic.php?p=568066#p568066

Maybe he'll see this and respond however.