Thursday, November 13, 2008
fast volvos
I'd kind of always been a fan of Paul Newman's rumored stealth V8 240 wagon. And to me that seemed like the perfect vehicle. Boring, strong, but fast. Then at some point I got a job that needed me to drive 75 miles each way. 5 days a week. And I bought a new car. A diesel. A VW. Back to the Dub I went. And with diesel power who wants a stinkin V8 anyway. things change but watchin that old 740 burn rubber is pretty cool.
i'm thinking cars mostly this week. only on the bike monday. girls off on tuesday with me, wed and today i'm doing the drop off/pick ups in the car and tomorrow, tomorrow it looks like i might just finally get to that timing belt. so if i don't pre-reg for Dayville, and i don't show up, well it isn't finished or i can't move or both. should be interesting and fun. actually looking forward to getting all dirty. it's been a while. In reality after you've done a good handful of them they aren't very complicated. Esp if you are using the right tools. The cam shaft locking plate, the injection pump locking pin, the camshaft pulley puller... the bulk of the time is just taking everything off and out of the way. And double checking torque and alignment. Then once all buttoned up, ya gotta check the timing on the computer and hopefully, with luck you'll already be w/in the acceptable range, if not. it is the arduous task of ever so minutely tweaking the injection pump, a mm this way or that, that is the last thing to do before putting the cover on and closing the hood.
still no plymouth south results?
And in case you missed it, Brooke Hoyer had a stroke while racing at PIR (oregon) this weekend. He has been writing for CX Magazine for a handful of issues lately. Covering the NAHBS in words and photos, and writing up the bottom line of bottom bracket height in Issue #4. All the best to him.
heddwch
G
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3 comments:
I remember reading a story in Globe/boston.com a long time ago about a guy up in NH that did V8 conversions for that type of Volvo.
I'm not sure if you'll see this comment as it's an older post but...
I believe Newman's Volvo was a 940, not a 240. Anyhow, I'm against the V8 swap into Volvos. One of the beautiful things about the RWD Volvos are the bulletproof 4 cylinder engines. The 4 cylinders are pretty much interchangeable in any Volvo from '76 to '94, with only 3 different blocks over that time. So you can use a 940 Turbo motor in your '76 240. Stock the turbo 2.3 liters are about 165 hp, with very little work that becomes 200, though that definitely isn't the limit.
I got a '78 242 GT, you know, the sport model. 2 doors and orange stripes on the seats. I put a '86 2.3l with efi in it this past summer, moving up from my old mechanical fuel injection Bosch K-Jetronic 2.1L. EFI is nice stuff
Anyhow, I'm a bit of a Volvo nut, as you can probably tell. Check out the www.turbobricks.com forums to see the crazy stuff people do to their Volvos. I daily drive my '78, so you might see it at a cross race sometime, silver 2 door 240 with round headlights...
Oh, and Volvo 240s are the hot choice right now for amateur rally racers. Just sayin.
I enjoy all the t-belt posts.
i think i've noticed that 242 before...
most of the folks doing the V8 conversions did it on a Diesel 200 series... mostly because the VW engine that Volvo put in there wasn't much good... a 6 iirc? or was it a 5... basically a rabbit diesel engine with a couple extra cylinders.
I've been beating around the volvo forums for years. One of the first listservers besides rec.bikes i got into was the volvo brickboard? i forget - been a long time.
We sold our '86 240 wagon back in michigan when we got the 93 850. sucked loosing the wagon but it was starting to rust in the door sills and while the engine was mechanically perfect and all that we couldn't keep 3 cars.
that 240 wagon of ours went all over the state of michigan hauling mt bikes to Pado, Pontiac, Highland, Ft Custer, Yankee Springs, Rose Lake... good times in that car...
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