Volvo 144 Head Mods Questions

chiming in here, 123 is pricey, but it does a nice job.

shaned said:

chiming in here, 123 is pricey, but it does a nice job.

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Word, yeah I'll probably be upgrading the ignition soon

build an ms1 box or ms2 box for spark only, then if you decide to inject it its already there, and wired....

Compared to an MS2 with a Yoshifab adapter and CAS (or crank wheel trigger) with logic level coils, the 123 distributor reusing the existing coil probably looks like a bargain.

OKAY! Finished bolting everything together and fired it up!

Great news: fired right up, engine revs happily. Definitely needs to be richer at idle, but I haven't had a chance to play with it beyond that, and haven't done the break in procedure yet, just ran it at idle for a couple minutes.

Bad news:
1) coolant seemed to either boil or bubble up from the overflow reservoir, but the temp read normal, so I'm wondering if it was just that it heated up? Not sure exactly what was up with that, but I can imagine a million minor causes that aren't anything to worry about unless it happens again
2) the engine was making a wonky noise. kinda a metal on metal whirring noise. I'm wondering if it's the aluminum timing gear? Sounded like it was coming from lower in the engine, possibly near the dizzy gear... I've attached a video and would love your advice.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLTqCgB0fR0

Bump! I'm scared to start it up again and finish the break in procedure! Would love any advice! It's that whorling sound in the background. It's resonating enough that I'm really wondering if it's just the aluminum timing gear.

Yes, the steel gears are the loudest, the aluminum is a little quieter and the fiber you can't hear.
Does it change when you rev it?

It looks like you have suction at both ends of your pcv. One of those hoses just needs a filter on the end of it. Either put a little K&N on the flame trap or plug the valve cover cap hose into an air filter.

Cool, I'll fix that right away. And it doesn't get any louder when revved, so the gear makes sense.

Sadly with all the concern about the noise and getting the carbs right, I forgot the break in procedure for the cam and ran it for maybe 5 minutes at idle. I realized what I was doing and shut it off, and did the break in today and it seems okay, so here's hoping I didn't **** everything up

Alright, I'm sadly thinking that I ****ed it up. There's a lot of valve noise, and I can hear a thumping noise at high rpm (with earplugs on). Any way to determine for sure that the cam is the problem? And if it is, what are my next steps (besides getting another one and kicking myself).

Here's the video of it

https://youtu.be/S4PbR9APHtA

Recheck the valve lash. If you have an indicator, measure the lift of each lobe and see if it’s way off anywhere. Sounds like you could have an exhaust leak from the video.

Try running the engine without the PCV or the brake booster connected and cap both vacuum fittings on the intake manifold.

Thanks all. Will do. Also for some reason my AFR gauge isn't firing up, but once I get that figured out a carb tune should help a ton.

When I started up my B20E after a complete rebuild, I had so much trouble keeping it running (conversion to MS2 at the same time as rebuild) that the cam / lifter break-in procedure went out the window. It was put together with red-line assembly lube and a few years and few thousand km later, does not seem to be suffering from missing the correct cam break-in procedure.

Which cam did you end up installing, the VV71? Stock valve springs or something different? If you went with a lot more lift did you confirm that you are not getting / approaching coil bind? That would certainly do a number on the valvetrain.

After a refill with coolant, the system does need to be burped. The normal procedure on a B20 with expansion bottle is to leave the rad cap off during the start up (with the heater valve open). Fill to bottom of rad neck and watch the level in the rad. It typically drops following start up. Add to top up to bottom of neck. If it does not drop and starts to rise in the neck install rad cap. Fill expansion tank to low level and install cap. Allow engine to run through hot - cold cycle and when cool, if necessary fill to low level or just above low level. Repeat heat cycle and check for movement.

Cell phones provide lousy audio recordings. Your recording played back through the miniscule little speakers on my lap top sounds pretty much like most B18 / B20 engines - loud and noisy. As cwdodson88 suggests, check your valve lash. If one or more of them has opened up you could have damaged the cam / lifters or you may just have done a poor job of setting the clearance. If one or more is out of spec, readjust to spec. If you have a dial gauge and magnetic base you could then check the lift on each valve. If one or more of the lifts is way off you might as well stop there and plan for a cam / lifter replacement. Small variations in lift are OK because Volvo rocker arms are not exactly uniform in their rocker ratio. If you don't have a dial gauge to check lift, then just start it up and run for awhile and re check clearances. If one or more of the clearances opens up again, I think you have a cam / lifter problem. If clearances stay steady, you are probably OK cam / lifter wise.

Did you reprofile your rocker arms or otherwise confirm that the rocker faces were absolutely flat? After extended use, the rocker face develops a groove where it contacts the valve stem which makes it impossible to accurately set the valve clearances with a conventional flat feeler gauge. You can try using one of those narrow V tipped gauges. Still hard to do. Best to confirm that the rocker face is flat.

Pull your O2 sensor out of the exhaust system until you figure out why you have no readings. If its just the display gauge that is not working that is not a major issue. If the controller is not working and not controlling the O2 sensor heater you will screw up the sensor by exposing it to the exhaust stream with no heater control.

Okay, thank you! Yeah, I think that during my break in procedure it wasn't running the sensor, but I unplugged both connectors from the back of the gauge and replugged them in and they seem to be working now. I went with the Z-322 cam and IPD springs. I'll check for coil bind as well.

Alright! I'm back and about to get to work on the car. Stupid question, but after looking at the diagram for the PCV system, I'm seeing that the Flame Trap is supposed to be pulling in air from an air filter. I snagged one of these guys for the valve cover: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00029WXS6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Should I just get another one for the flame trap?

Essentially the question is: with a PCV fitting and an unrestricted fitting, and the need to deal with the Flame Trap and the Brake Booster, how would you recommend I handle?
Options are:

1. PCV Valve on the front of the manifold, Unrestricted on the top
2. PCV Valve on the top, Unrestricted on the front
3. PCV on the top, Unrestricted capped, and filter on the flame trap

Thanks all!
Today I'm going to:

1. Torque Head
2. Adjust Valves
3. Check for Coil Bind
4. Connect hoses for PCV valve etc

OKAY! Fixed so many things, and it is running SO MUCH BETTER. Still have a vacuum leak somewhere that I have to trace down, and a few other little problems, but it's a blast.

Answers to some above questions:
-No coil bind
-PCV Valves are hooked up properly (I believe!)
-Tightened exhaust manifold to the downpipe
-coolant issue resolved (****ing thermostat was in upside down )
-O2 sensor fixed
-valves readjusted
-I did not reprofile the rocker arms. I'm just gonna drive it around as much as possible the next few days and then check the clearances. Rocker arms will be a project for the near future, as long as the cam isn't buggered.


Issues to track down:
-Vacuum leak
-Tune Carbs
-Is the cam buggered?


I would love your advice on 2 things:
1) If I drive the car around for a few days (lets say a total of 3 hours of driving), and the cam lobe is wiped, how far off should I expect the lash to be?
2) The engine seems to have a really solid dose of power, EXCEPT at sub-1,000 rpm. Is that something that I can tune out on the carb? When I'm starting from 0mph, the power is very minimal, and the AFR gauge reads up in the 14-15 range, while normally it's in the 11-12.5 range. From what I understand, I want the values to be more like:
-Idle, 15-16
-Off Idle (low rpm), 1/2 throttle more like 12-13
-Off Idle (low rpm), WOT more like 11-12
-Cruising etc, more in the 14 range

Not sure how to reach those values based on RPM, but mainly really could use help getting more power at low RPM.

Talked to my machinist and was convinced to just buy the magnetic dial indicator and measure the lift, that way I can stop worrying and know. I'll check today and get back with values.

QUOTE=CRatcliff;5882136]Alright! I'm back and about to get to work on the car. Stupid question, but after looking at the diagram for the PCV system, I'm seeing that the Flame Trap is supposed to be pulling in air from an air filter. I snagged one of these guys for the valve cover: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00029WXS6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Should I just get another one for the flame trap?

/QUOTE]

The common approach is to install that filter directly on the flame trap inlet. I don't think you have specified what you are doing for fuel supply. On the D jet system originally attached to your F head (unless it was the last of the line with the K jet) , a nipple with a restriction was mounted in the intake manifold. A hose was connected between that nipple and the fitting on the oil filler cap. At idle, this caused air to flow in to the flame trap fitting, through the crankcase and ultimately out the filler cap and into the intake manifold. There was never a PCV valve in the system (maybe on the K jet, its been too long since I have set eyes on one). Even on the carburettor equipped cars I believe that they just relied on a nipple with a restriction (I am not particularly familiar with carb version details). If you are planning on running carbs, perhaps you can find the nipple off of an old carb manifold and use it on whatever you plan for fuel supply.

If you put a filter on the oil filler and a filter on the flame trap, you will have a vented crankcase; but, no Positive Crankcase Ventilation. You need the vacuum from the intake manifold to achieve that.

Cool cool. I'm doing Mikuni carbs. I'm happy to skip out on PCV, and instead just vent 'em both, so the only thing routed to the manifold is the brake boost.

Much thanks to John V for all the help getting it together. It runs extremely well, just gotta get the distributor resolved.