Ford rs parts on our volvo r's

[Jdsb]

Hi all, so while the cost of living crisis has been seriously upsetting my beloved s60r I've been mentally organizing it's future upgrades, the end goal to cram a Garrett gtx 3582r in there which will obviously need bomb proof sleeves fitted, needless to say this is going to be some time away.

I'll be doing the timing belt soon complete with all new pulleys and water pump, I figured I'll put a lightweight crank pulley on while I'm there.

This then led me into a problem that I think is fairly common among the R owners, being that finding performance parts can be quite challenging as it's not a huge market.

I remembered that our blocks are shared with the focus rs but the heads are different (someone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong), so i looked up lightweight crank pulleys for the focus rs and instantly found exactly what i wanted, bit of further research to make sure it will fit and all's good, I'm fully aware that others will think what's the point but what can I say I'm like a magpie and it's shiney, once coupled with a single mass flywheel it'll aid in reducing the rotational weight just that little bit more.

Beyond all that I found myself looking at some of the upgrades for the focus rs unsurprisingly there's quite some choice and it got me thinking what parts can we poach.

One part I instantly recognised as a possibility is the upgraded 70mm throttle body, does anyone know if our electrical connector will fit? I appreciate that if it did then there would likely be further fabrication and ecu tuning to get the most out of it, if it'll plug straight up then I'd seriously consider fabricating an intake manifold and relocate the throttle body to smooth the flow of air from the intercooler, again I appreciate that many will probably say what's the point but again, it'll be shiney.

So if anyone has any knowledge on the comparability of these throttle body's please let me know, also any knowledge on other uprated components that the rs has that aren't available for the volvo t's then why not, thanks, Jim.

[stuart bowes]

'because I want to' is a perfectly acceptable reason don't worry

there's always nay-sayers, best to ignore them unless its a dire warning about terminal failure

would love to see a build thread on that just for reasons of curiosity

[Jdsb]

Thanks for the support, I'll definitely post a build thread when I get on it, I think manifold management and air flow is seriously lacking in these cars, there isn't alot of room to play with to be fair.

If the engine fuse box could be rotated and shifted to the side a little then place the air filter housing just behind the headlight it would allow an intercooler pipe to run directly to the front right corner of the manifold, im thinking place the etm there at an almost 45° angle, slightly larger plenum with shorter equal length runners, it would certainly smooth the flow of charged air entering the manifold, possibly reduce heat soak as well as the air forced in by the fan won't be restricted by the intercooler pipe and etm.

Yes I might give this a go

[Jdsb]

Just going through your link, I share your pain on the welding thin sheet, it's not easy with mig, have you improved to where you want to be yet, have you ever used tig? Much better for thin gauge

[stuart bowes]

I do wonder though if the ford RS type throttle body is compatible in that, even though the connector may be the same (or at least the same number of wires that corrolate to volvo) can it be programmed to communicate with the ECU in the same way, or is the RS Canbus/ECU/etc totally different..

I've no doubt some genius can provide a work around in some way if that is an issue, taking signals and running them through a Pi for example, but that would make it a lot of agro and an extra point of failure which would only be worth it for noteworthy gains, surely

who knows.. I'm just totally spitballing here I have no actual knowledge personally lol

[stuart bowes]

Originally Posted by Jdsb

..have you ever used tig?

the welder I have is one of those inverter type things which actually does have a Tig option, yeah I've been thinking of getting the right attachment and trying it out..

for now though I am getting better with the mig slowly but surely, there's definitely a knack to it.. the thin sheet is fine when it's new steel, but 30 year old bodywork has a habit of just popping holes when you go anywhere near it lol

[TLPower]

I have always enjoyed a good faffing thread, I feel they should be encouraged.

https://www.importsauce.com/porsche-...0-s40-v50-c70/

[Jdsb]

A couple of things to note that I think might help is being aware of contaminates on the metal and oxygen, as both will cause excess heat and fireball the weld, with thin sheet this is a problem on both sides of the metal, obviously prepping the metal both sides will reduce contamination, a trick with reducing oxygen is to use a bit of steel pressed up against the back of where you'll be welding, it'll act as a heat sink and also reduce the amount of oxygen from behind, obviously this isn't possible if you're welding over a cavity, in this case you can get run some welding gas into the cavity by feeding a line in and sealing any gaps best you can, by back purging behind the weld you'll reduce the o2 that can enter the weld and should help keep things a bit cooler, other that it's like you said, go slow, give the metal plenty of time to cool down between stitches

[Jdsb]

Tlpower, dude awesome thanks for that, this will help alot, so it looks like the throttle body's can be interchangeable, I'll read through it further today when I get a chance but nice one

[stuart bowes]

Originally Posted by Jdsb

..act as a heat sink and also reduce the amount of oxygen from behind, obviously this isn't possible if you're welding over a cavity..

In those cases you can use a bit of copper which the weld won't stick to, but holding it in place can be a bit of a contortionist act

I got a top tip from the MOT man which was start by splattering some quick weld around the edges of the hole which then acts a bit like those little hole-punch reinforcement stickies (just thickens up the edges really) and work inwards from there slowly letting it cool each time, you do end up grinding down a lot of waste weld but it works