The Morbidmobile Blog

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by TomSaintJames

It is indeed the AW70 and is usually reluctant to disengage the o/d unless your foot is on the floor at below just above 60mph, so i've ofund the lock-out button very useful for hills. It's not the smoothest downchange though! Autobox fluid change also on the list.

If you get used to hitting the button to force the downchange before you get to the hill you need it for, you should find it's smoother, an ATF change should help in that area too.

Good that you're giving it some use, even if only locally.

I suppose building the shed/log-store will be good practice for fitting the various bits in the hearse to turn it into a camper.

[AllHailKingVolvo]

Originally Posted by TomSaintJames

Thanks Dave, I naturally chose thetidiest one to photograph...

At the moment the hearse mostly does just local trips, of less than 40 mph so the vibration isn;t usually an issue. As soon as you get upto to 60/70 though it's there. It'll need to get done at some point, it's on the list! It's a big list...

It is indeed the AW70 and is usually reluctant to disengage the o/d unless your foot is on the floor at below just above 60mph, so i've ofund the lock-out button very useful for hills. It's not the smoothest downchange though! Autobox fluid change also on the list.

In terms of economy, the second measured tank came out at 25.21 mpg! It's on the up, that's almost a whole extra mpg than the previous tank.

In other news we have been having a proper go at the garden over the lovely sunny bank holiday. It;s mostly lawn, which was uneven, with holes and mounds with all sorts of crap hiding in the grass (old electric wire ducts, concrete blocks, bricks, shoes?! random bots of plastic etc) so we've rotavated the lot and levelled it. I'm also building a double shed, one part as a log store and the other as a generic garden shed. We';re going to gove it a green roof and grow some climers up it to try and make it blend in with the garden. I'm quite enjoying building it, once the design was 'negotiated' with the other half!

25.2mpg is better than I ever got with my 745 with B200F and AW70! It usually had various guitars, amps and a PA system in the back, but I was lucky to get 20mpg out of it...I do a LOT of miles (1000 in the last 36hrs in my 245 alone!) so my auto 745 was bankrupting me, and has gone to live with my Volvo fanatic MIL who loves it...I miss the smooth auto box but my manuals are worth the extra effort for economy's sake.

Sounds like you're making brilliant progress with the Morbidmobile, I'm always following with interest!

[TomSaintJames]

The hearse has the B200E, i wonder if that has an impact,, is the difference just the engine management system? As in the F has a more complex system with more sensors etc than the E.

Tbh I'd expect this car to have even worse economy than a standard 740 with its extra weight and extra brickness (even worse aerodynamics). This thing has hauled some stuff too, shame we weren't recording it's economy when we moved house as that'd be a good comparison.

Thanks for the interest! It sure doesn't feel like much progress, other life events keep happening. Work is busy and I've applied for a new, more senior and complex role, they are keen to 'develop' staff it seems, which suits me! I am also a proud owner of a 2002 Micra K11 1.0 auto that ive donated to mum, she's not had her own car for a while and is going stir crazy stuck at home in the village (shes only in her 50s), plus i can use it as and when i need to drive to commute, fuel and hospital parking put me off a 50 mile round trip in the hearse! I quite like the micra, its a CVT auto which ive never experienced before, fun!

[Laird Scooby]

If memory serves, the B200E that you have is the K-Jetronic one Tom so it's not quite as efficient as the L-Jetronic B200F but it is marginally more powerful and torquier so it's swings and roundabouts - you gain a couple of mpg back because of the extra power/torque but not always because of the more closely monitored air/fuel ratio with the B200F. Also you don't (or shouldn't have) a cat to worry about, that will release a bit more power and economy but not both!

It's not a good idea parking a hearse in a hospital car park Tom - you'll scare the patients!

[Dippydog]

Still following this great thread. I've never owned a 7 series but given the size/weight of one plus the times and technology available when they were built I'd say 25 to the gallon was a reasonable return.Loving the mental image of a hearse permanently on standby in the hospital car park

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Dippydog

Still following this great thread. I've never owned a 7 series but given the size/weight of one plus the times and technology available when they were built I'd say 25 to the gallon was a reasonable return.Loving the mental image of a hearse permanently on standby in the hospital car park

Given the aerodynamic and weight penalties of the hearse, 25mpg is pretty reasonable - now factor in the B200 was always underpowered in a bodyshell weighing what the standard 740 weighed, it's quite an achievement.
The B230 is better suited to the 7xx body, i used to get 24-26mpg for general local running about with nearer 30mpg on a longer (but still local) run. On a much loner run, it could reach the dizzy heights of 35mpg.
Adding weight to that argument (of a more powerful engine being better suited to the 7xx body), my current 760 with the B280E generally gives me 25+mpg on local running about, 30-32mpg on a longer (but local) run and i have even seen 37mpg on a longer run.
That said, if i "use the power" a bit more on the longer stuff, i can easily knock holes in those figures but still achieved 29mpg on a fast motorway run to Harlow and back (120miles round trip) a couple of years ago.

It's all "horses for courses", the B200 is never going to give great economy in the 7xx nor sparkling performance, i think the word here would be "adequate" which in my mind is a "get out of jail free" card when you can't say anything better but don't want to say anything worse!

[AllHailKingVolvo]

Hey Tom, I finally saw you out and about in the Morbidmobile this morning! I was waiting at the lights on the junction at the top of Babylon in my 744 and spied you turning right onto Horsecastles. The hearse is looking magnificent!

[GreenBrick]

Did I spy the morbidmobile in a HubNut you-tube video recently???

[TomSaintJames]

Originally Posted by AllHailKingVolvo

Hey Tom, I finally saw you out and about in the Morbidmobile this morning! I was waiting at the lights on the junction at the top of Babylon in my 744 and spied you turning right onto Horsecastles. The hearse is looking magnificent!

Hey man, that would have been my OH, he took it to work a couple of days this week because Venga = boring!

GreenBrick - quite possibly! I attended an auto****e meet (****efest 19) a couple of weeks ago and sawIan there. Needless to say the Hearse was quite popular in that crowd!

[TomSaintJames]

Morning folks, realisation has hit - we have decided to not use the Hearse for the very reason we bought it for! Calling forum guru's for advice and wisdom.

Our annual trip to France, where we are walking our way through the GR3 long distance footpath, this one traces the route of the river Loire (and just happens to go through all the associated wine regions...) is coming up in September, and we're taking the kia Venga CRDI (55-60mpg) rather than the Hearse (20odd mpg). Also diesel is quite a bit cheaper over the pond compared to petrol.

So its time to seriously think about an engine swap, and maybe get some planning done. I'd like to pick the brains of the wise folk on here as to what might be the best swap for this situation

1. Power, it must have enough grunt to be able to haul the hearse along the péage at 80 mph when fitted with campervan interior stuff, like a water tank, fridge, furniture/carpentry etc (read added weight!).

2. Economy, this is reasonably important as we want to use it for european travel, although we do plan on an LPG conversion down the line. But I imagine most engines will be better than this gutless 2.0!

3. Ease and cost of installation, without knowing any different i'm assuming this limits us to the 4cyl engines? The simplest being an n/a 2.3.

I'd love a 6cyl engine, as then there is no turbo lag to deal with (and the noise!!) and in my mind it's be easiest to have the whole car of the engine donor, so bits can be swapped straight over, the 2.0 from the hearse can go back into the donor, which can then be sold or used by us. Part of the reason for obtaining the whole donor car is that I assume i'd need a different gearbox, maybe propshaft, possibly extra sensors/looms etc which can all be swapped over.

The hearse at SF19 with some blokes perched on it. Rather good photo, courtesy of Fatharris of the appropriately named slightly sweary forum, at a slightly sweary event.



Thanks all!