Volvo Redblock Gurus, Questions

I've got a '76 242 DL, its B21 needs head work, at minimum a valve job.

I've come across a low mileage "1992 Volvo turbo wagon" cylinder head. The seller doesn't offer any info about what model car it's from, and in the model name / number section lists "B-28." The PVR V6 was B28 right? The pictures of the head are obviously a SOHC 4 cylinder, which would make it a B23FT (B230FT, B23T???) right? I believe the seller made a typo or doesn't know for sure what they're selling.

I know that to use the later model head I'll have to ditch the K-Jet, or machine injector ports into it. What's more intriguing is that the seller also has the manifolds and turbo to sell along with the head.

The gears started turning, which is often a recipe for bad ideas, and I got to thinking about LH2.2 conversion on a B21+T.

I guess the real question is, assuming the head is off a B23FT, will it even fit on my B21 block? What will the turbo head on my N/A block do to my compression ratio? Is it worth even messing with? I guess an N/A LH2.2 or Megasquirt could be an option, would this head be adequate for the N/A use?

I realize my block doesn't have oil squtirters, I assume you can squriterize a B21 just like a B23. Not sure what rods/crank are in the early B21 to know if they would live under much boost.

I was originally wanting to do a Whtieblock swap, but would like to eventually bring this car to the GRM Challenge, and every time I do any figuring, I can't make a Whiteblock swap work in the budget. The B21+T seemed like a viable option though.

Sorry for the novice questions, I've read a lot on Turbo Bricks, but I seem to just wind up with more questions.

That is a B21/23/230 head. Definitely not a B27/28/280 V6 head. So you should be good there.

It will bolt right on a B21. There might be some head gasket concerns, with the location of the fire ring on the B21 vs 23. But I know the right combo will work.

The compression ratios are all varied through the pistons on U.S. cars, so the head will not change your setup. The only real difference would be that a turbo head would have the sodium filled exhaust valves, which are nice but not necessary on a turbo build. You can use a thinner MLS head gasket to bump SCR if you want.

Theres a guy on TB who rents out a drill kit to add BMW squirters to a B21/23. Again, nice to have in a serious build, but not at all necessary.

The B21 and 23 motors have rods as thick as your arm (slight exaggeration) and can take damn near anything you throw at them. The cranks may be either forged or cast, but neither one is a weak point. The pistons are the weakest link. If you have NA pistons, you will want to keep the motor from detonating. There is very little tolerance for this type of activity before you shatter one. The earliest B21 pistons (pre-'78) are a little worse in this respect.

That said, I run a B23+T at 10.7:1 SCR and 10psi. It makes a lot of torque, and pulls hard all the way to 6K. I run a cam with moderate overlap, so the dynamic CR is tolerable for the motor. I use the LH2.1 setup, which is almost what came on the car, save for the ECU itself.

before you buy it... check for cracks between the valve seats

http://people.physics.anu.edu.au/~amh110/Head/cylinder_head_531_530.htm

I keep reading conflicting info. Since my car is a '76, it's got an "early" B21, I've read that the rods on them are "weak," and the '80+ got the Hulk connecting rods.

Seems if I were to use a B230 head, then I'd use the B230 head gasket, since the B230 has a larger cylinder bore than the B21, right?

I've read folks claiming that the K-Jet can support ~250 HP before it runs out of fueling capacity, adding injectors, or modding the cold start injector can get a little more. Seems there's a growing consensus to skip the LH2.2 and go straight to Megasquirt now days too.

As far as squrterizing, I've read the how-to, and the borrow a squrterizer kit thread.

While part of me would like to use what I've got, if I'm going to have to open it up, upgrade pistons, and rods, might as well add squriters while I'm at it, then I'd be better off finding a later B23FT and swap it, there was a running 940 Turbo on the local CL last month for $500, that I let get away.

Then I've got the M45 trans to deal with, it's not really up to much abuse or power levels.

11110000 summed up what I was going to type. Nice. Turbo wise, I know its possible to make a K-jet work with more horsepower, but electronics are easier.

Don't believe everything you hear about the M45/46. Back in the early 80's, My boss at the time won the Canadian national rally championship with a 242, B23ft with some big homologated euro roadrace turbo, a European fuel distributor, and a stock M46 with overdrive available in second and third, as well as fourth. Zero trans problems.

In reply to Streetwiseguy:

Bo?

Why do you need oil squirters? Of all the turbo volvo redblock only the last 2 years had squirters. And in the supra crowd people even remove them. Its nice but not necessary at all. My advice is take the head to a head shop and have them check it, usually about $40 well spent. Lh2.2 is a nice easy upgrade but megasquirt offers lots more options for not much money. Dont worry about the rods yours even if they arent m rods are far beefier than the 9mm in my motor, which is putting down 200hp and 250ft lbs no problem.. and its a b230f so its what 9.8 to 1 cr

Edit I saw you said a later b23ft from a 940 I believe you mean b230ft the b23 was axed in what 84 or 85?

In reply to NGTD:

Yep.

Heard back from the seller, the head was pulled from an engine with 61K miles on it, allegedly the engine threw a rod due to waste gate failure and over boost. That engine was replaced and the seller salvaged the top end off of the engine that threw a rod.

The head is from a B230FT in a 740, it's a 530 casting, with a T cam.

The turbo is peculiar, I believe it "should" be a Mitsu TD04, however the seller says it's an "Allison water cooled." Either my Googlefu is off, or something else is up, I can't find any mention of Allison turbos that doesn't have something to do with aircraft engines.

Its a tdo4 13g. Pretty much volvo turbos are either old oil cooled t3 or a mitsu tdo4 unit

If you don't add the turbo, use your cam. The turbo cams are low rev commuter cams. I could try to track you down a 81 B23E cam...

Guy shot me what I believe to be a very reasonable price for everything, head, manifolds, and turbo. I figure if I'm doing this I might as well do the turbo too.

'81 B23E would be a K cam right? Has a lot more lift than my current options, assuming my car has an A cam right now. Boy this board's formatting makes me want to pull my hair out sometimes.

Cam------Lift------Dur. (in)------Dur. (exh)------LSA
A---------10.5------254-------------249-------------109
T---------9.94------225-------------218-------------109
K--------11.95-----270-------------257--------------110

I'm pretty sure it was the K cam. Rough idle, pulled hard to 6500. Nice cam unless you were trying to make it idle with the A/c on. Only used the one year here in Canada.

Your block won't be drilled for the oil feed or turbo drain, either. Not an insurmountable problem, but worth knowing, I think.

Idk about the b21 blocks but I assumed they had the front oil feed galley on the front of the block too? Right below the water pump on the front passenger side its an allen plug. Also I run an a cam in my b230f+t and im happy with it, pulls well to 6k rev limiter

Supposed to be the same for B21 & B23, others also recommend putting a T in the oil pressure sender.

Is there a reason to drill a hole for the oil return into the block vs. the oil pan?

81 B23E is definitely a K cam. I know, I took mine apart and sold the cam, since the engine was locked up from sitting too long.

bigdaddylee82 wrote: Supposed to be the same for B21 & B23, others also recommend putting a T in the oil pressure sender. Is there a reason to drill a hole for the oil return into the block vs. the oil pan?

First question, the passage is there, but the turbo blocks have a different bit cast on it so you can use a banjo fitting. Second, nope. There was a Penta (iirc)turbo kit you could buy years ago that had a return in the pan instead of the block.

Welding an oil drain onto the pan works well in most cases, but you have to get it up as high as possible to avoid dipping below the static oil level in the pan. If this happens, the oil backs up in the drain and you put on an amazing smoke show.

I drilled the block and tapped in a 45° fitting. It's kind of a pain to do that work in the engine bay, but it was worth it for me to have the drain up higher. I used the oil galley in the front of the block for my oil feed.

In reply to 11110000:

Are you using N/A pistons in your +T? Are you using a factory cam?

If I did my maths right, assuming flat top pistons my SCR would be 9.86:1, that's using numbers found online, and a .047" compressed head gasket. Seems like that A cam, again assuming that's what's in the current engine, might work okay.

You make me a little nervous about the N/A cast pistons though, especially with the "older ones being weaker statement."

Hopefully 11110000 will chime in but im running 9.8:1 at 15lbs on skinny 9mm rods and no problem. Unless you have a timing/fueling issue I can almost guarantee a baby 13g won't hurt stock pistons. Hell im running a 15g stepping up to the ebay special 50 trim t3 and not worried.

TYPICALLY it isn't boost that breaks rods... its RPM... that isn't to say you can't break a rod other ways... but rod stress goes up exponentially as RPMs rise

Well, the turbo is obviously a Garrett, I was expecting a TD04, but I guess it's a T3.

Exactly, its the rod stretching with rpm that causes more stress than more boost causong5 compressive forces. That said pistons dont have that problem and thats what it seems he was mainly weary about.

Its a flippin volvo boost it to the moon it will still be reliable! Says the guy with over half million miles of turbo redblocks

Edit yeah t3, I hear the are really happy with a cossie exhaust housing

That's the water cooled version that was used until around 87-88. Originally air cooled, in 84 or so they added the water cooled center section, and any replacements you ordered from Volvo came with the hoses and fittings to add water to the older cars.

Well it's all mine now. Was about a 5 hour round trip Saturday afternoon, met a real interesting fella, and got a lot of Volvo parts. The seller cleaned out his garage, and sold me the head, complete with valves/springs and cam, intake manifold, exhaust manifold, turbocharger, intercooler charge pipes, throttle body, MAF, fan/clutch, and various little related bits all for a hundred and seventy bucks. He had it all bubble wrapped and duck tapped up ready to go when we got there. I thought I did alright.

I guess now I'm in the market for a Challenge budget friendly Megasquirt.