1uz vvti into a Volga

[George_R]

PROJECT V8LGA (Volga+V8)

I thought I could add my own car here after quite a number of posts and threads started here.

It has a long story involving a number of engine conversions, new suspension, all 4 disc brakes (instead of 4 drums), new rear axle with Detroit TrueTrac diff, and a number of smaller goodies.

Currently, it has 1uz-fe vvti in it. The engine came off some '2000 UCF21 Celsior with about 60.000 km on it. Timing belt and water pump were like new upon replacement. Nothing has been done to increase engine's performance, however it's enough for me 99.9% of the time

Short specs
Wheels - 15" , 195mm wide for winter, 215 for summer
Rear diff: 4.1
Fuel pump: Pierburg, 160LPH @ 3.5bar. Stock 3.3 bar regulator off LS430 with a custom off-tank adapter
Exhaust: 3UZ headers, 2x63mm into single 63mm, lots of space restrictions here
ECU: factory unit 89661-50521 with immo bypass, sub-o2 sensor emulators
Plan to use European ECU 89661-50440 to get rid of the speed limit, but it won't control Celsior's hydro fan speed.
Weight: 1570 kg with fuel and me onboard.
Cx: 0.41 (factory spec)
The body is 1970 model. My car was built in 1990.

I use the car daily. For summer season, its fuel consumption is 15.5 L/100km (city) and 11.2 L/100km (highway). That's 15.18 MPG and 21.0 MPG respectively.

 

[George_R]

And a couple of short onboards
1 with a tesla model s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVf0RCM7SxI

2 with audi a5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JSRv7NlJwU

 

[Zuffen]

24 years on salted Russian roads and it still looks good!

I was surprised at the weight of it given the vehicle's age.

Seems to go well.

 

[George_R]

Thanks! It's been sitting in a garage for the first 10 years or so. Then it become a birthday gift. After a couple years of seeing salty roads it received a quick and dirty paint job which was good enough for the next 10 years.

This year it went for a massive paint and body job, mostly for better alignment of body panels. The key points about preventing rust are mud flaps, plastic wheel arc inserts, and anti-corrosion gel , dispersed under high pressure.

The weight is no wonder keeping in mind the car has no frame, and that its interior has no luxury options like powered everything

 

[irmantas]

Privet,awesome conversion!Have this idea lurking in my head for long time.By doing 1uz swaps in other different cars,I must buy Volga and do it finally...Must be great having this as a daily.I like my 1uz Mercrod too,but always had a soft spot on GAZ 24.When I was young been working on these...
Car looks great!Good luck!

 

[George_R]

Thanks!!! Would be tricky to get a GAZ24 in Ireland, that's very surprising the car is recognizable.

One thing to mention is that my car received a number of parts that came off next gen Volgas (mostly front suspension and steering system), which may be extremely hard to find nowadays.

 

[irmantas]

I am from Lithuania,just live in Ireland 11 years already)There is a lot GAZ 24 in Lithuania still.Will get one there.
Here is one Volga in Ireland,it is hybrid LS400/Volga.There was body of LS400 cut of,just all floor and runing gear left and than Volga body was put on and welded.I know the guy who owns it.

 

[George_R]

I've been quite close to where you are from, my relatives live in Vilnius. The single USSR-made car I seen there was my uncle's lada niva )) It's very surprising you can still see a Volga somewhere in Lithuania

Could you ask the owner of the LS400/GAZ24 conversion for a couple pictures and maybe a very brief outline of the car's story? That would be extremely interesting for the GAZ community I took part in (gaz-24.com) . There have been a number of GAZ-21 and GAZ-24 conversion projects involving BMW rolling chassis, but nobody tried LS400

p/s we see growing interest to old car conversions these days. This one looks fine, too http://info.drom.ru/tuning/29852/ except it has a heavy turbo six banger =)

 

[irmantas]

Here is some pic...

 

[George_R]

Thanks a lot! The interior looks awesome, RHD and the mix of Lexus / Volga interior is mind-blowing. Would be nice though if there were more appropriate wheels and mirrors.

If I ever visit Ireland, I'd definitely like to see it personally, if it's owner doesn't mind. Thanks again for the pictures. I will repost them in my GAZ community referring to this thread.

 

[irmantas]

Whoever did body transplant,the job was't done nicely.I had close look at it.But it looks cool,drives well and who cares...
If you ever be in Ireland I will help you to have a look at it.You are more than welcome to come over here.We'll show you more cool cars....

 

[George_R]

I'm only worried about the lack of windshield wipers. The rest of the car looks ok keeping in mind it was built without any access to original parts. On one of the photos the car leans left a bit while staying on a flat surface, I can't explain this as well.

Thanks for being welcome ) My wife actually travels a lot to Britain and Scotland for dog shows, I guess we might figure out some vacation together by the next fall, with enough spare time and everything

 

[black_LS]

Very nice project, thanks for posting. Do you happen to have any pics of the fuel pressure regulator setup?

 

[4U2QUIK]

this Volga looks like a 66 dodge dart and a Datsun 510 had babies

 

[George_R]

black_LS I will post some pics and videos that would help you get the idea.
My current setup is like that. External off-tank fuel pump located below tank. T-piece diverts part of fuel flow back to the tank. The regulator is connected between the T-piece's outlet and fuel tank return line's inlet. p/n is Toyota 23020-46030. I machined a special adapter to allow for hose and clamp connection of both regulator's inlet and outlet.

On the pics and video below, injector cleaning liquid is being used. Fuel tank access lid is removed from trunk's floor. A bottle is filled with the liquid and connected to fuel pump's inlet hose. Return line is disconnected from fuel tank and is fed into the bottle. You can see the regulator on the return line.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmPojZmwpGU


After I finalized the setup I found out that fuel filters with built-in regulators are readily available for cheap. They are fitted from factory to some BMW, Audi, Skoda etc etc. I bought one such filter rated at 4.0bar (Skoda stock part) and always have it in the trunk as a spare.


4U2QUIK
'70 Plymouth Valiant and Ford Falcon would also be good parents )

 

[George_R]

video update
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVYuFU3jjf0

 

[irmantas]

Cool stuff....Surprise surprise Volga overtaking you ha ha ha.....

 

[George_R]

Yep! Strong indication that something's wrong with your car =) check engine =)

 

[black_LS]

Thanks for the tip. I came across those VW/Audi filters with integrated regulators, but they all seemed to use push-on fuel line fittings. The BMW e46 filter uses clamp style fittings, but it's a little too long for my application. With a little more research, I found a Mercedes filter with a 3.8 bar regulator that should do the trick. I would prefer a non vacuum type regulator, but this will have to work.

http://catalog.mann-filter.com/EU/eng/catalog/MANN-FILTER Katalog Europa/Fuel Filter/WK 720

For those interested, here is the BMW filter:

http://catalog.mann-filter.com/EU/eng/catalog/MANN-FILTER Katalog Europa/Fuel Filter/WK 532~1

 

[George_R]

Awesome man! Thanks for the info!
As I mentioned, I bought my VW/Audi filter as a spare. It does use the push type fittings, however I seem to be able to grind the connection lines down with quite ease, so they would accept clamp connections.