Volvo Canadian Rebuild Thread - The Canuck gets a new heart.

Not to sure where to begin with all this nonsense, but I thought I should get a project thread started. I'm midway through my engine swap and still have a way to go, but there is no turning back at this moment. The tired B18 came out of it's home last weekend. No photo's were taken of the process, but lets just say I'm glad my garage rafters are strong and exposed.



I decided to pull the head to make removal a little easier, and to be honest I was interested to see what the insides looked like. To my surprise, everything looked pretty darn good. No cross-hatch left on the cylinder walls, but I wasn't expecting any. The valves were not recessed, and while #4 looks rich, the rest were burning OK. #3's combustion chamber was oily - lots of carbon on everything.





One to the new engine...after spending hours polishing the block and head I wanted to make sure the paint was going to last. POR to the rescue again. I cleaned all the parts a dozen times and they were about as clean as it gets. This took a full day - not kidding. Then they were acid etched with the POR metal prep and given a coat of POR-15 sprayed right from the tin. It sprays very well - nice shiney black.

Then after it flashed off - I top coated it with POR engine enamel. This stuff is so thick it can't be sprayed...had to thin it with laquer thinner. Then it would come out of the gun! While the regular POR flashes in a couple of hours, the engine enamel takes 24 hours to recoat :shock: It was still tacky after a full day of drying. On with the second coat - even better. The gloss is crazy.









The paint had better hold up - I'm not planning on doing this again! Since the block and head were polished, the resulting paint is very smooth and shiney.

I've spent a lot of time getting everything else either polished or powder coated. Now I just have to get it assembled and put back in the car.





Engine details:

1975 B20 bored 0.030 over
Vintage Performance Head with 44/36 intake and exhaust valves -swirl polished
VPD Street Performance cam
ARP head studs
Polished and ceramic coated dual down cast manifold

Other Details:
The exhaust is 2.25" mandrel bent stainless steel.
VPD suspension
17X7 Wheels with Yoko S-Drive tires
Wilwood brakes up front - 11.75" vented disks with FSL-4's with Q compound pads.
Rebuilt M41
240 1030 (smooth bottom - I know they don't exist) differential with TrueTrac 3.73:1 gears.

And a bunch of othe custom stuff that I've built.

Here are some more photo's:

Dual down manifold




240 rear end install





Smaller stock wheel.

that wheel is sah-weet!

looks like you've got quite the project on the go

very nice bro...that block is mad glossy...n i like the steering wheel its classy

that engine work is, in itself, superb artwork. but really, that wheel finishes it so very well.

Thanks guys, the idea is to make the engine compartment as smooth as possible. To that end I've constructed some inner fender covers. They attach with 1/4 turn Dzus fasteners.





I had a aluminum rad built for this engine as well...too bad the fabricator put the mounting tabs on the wrong way around more cutting and fitting to come.

Painting the Engine Bay

I'm glad to report that the engine compartment is now primed. This has taken a colossal amount of work, and while I would do it again...not for a while

This morning found me taking apart the steering box and getting the seals out of it instead of priming the engine compartment...but once I had pulled the Pitman arm, then I figured the easiest way to get the seals changed was to pull the steering box, one less thing to mask as well.

I'll let the pictures do the talking, here's the start point - not looking too pretty.







Then came a coat of epoxy primer (no photo's) and a coat of 2K high build primer.











So after 12 hours it is all finished...now for some more sanding and filling and another coat of primer then on with the new top coat.

Craig

looking very nice.im half way through a 142 restoration and i can totally understand the amount of work you are doing

Thanks...it's a lot more work to just change an engine when you're 1/2 nuts like me...

I've finished most of the painting that I'm doing for this year. I still have the under side of the hood to do, but that will wait for a week or two while I take a little break.

Here's the shots.







White is hard to photograph.




















I'm now working on getting the interior panels installed and starting to put it all back together. Let the fun begin.

very nice work. i love the attention to detail on the entire car..

Incredible! one man and his garage a sore elbow and a million cans of paint FTW!

The brakes are finally installed and ready to go, still no engine but at least this part of the puzzle is finally off the drawing board and installed in the car.



Here you can see the brackets from the back side and the new brake lines.



Front suspension all rebuilt and as perfect as I can make it.


Other side. There is some rubbing at full steering lock, but the wheels are 7" wide for heaven's sake.



View of the front with the relocated horns and relocated oil filter.



For those that are wondering...yes those are 17" wheels, plenty of room for even larger brakes. I'm pretty sure these will be enough to slow me down.

Here they are from the side. I've added the Volvo hub caps and the brakes are sporting Q-Matrix pads.



Rear brakes, now you can finally see them.



Here's the view from the side - I'm liking it a lot. Definately not the look I was going for, but I like it.



Here's my fender cover in place and painted...I polished it up a little. Looking very clean under the hood.



And last but not least, by diff cover had a little leak, so I replaced it with this cover from Summit Racing. I painted it with PPG DCC Black and then brushed the ribs. The ribs needed some modification to clear the panhard rod. Looks loads better than the polished bling most go for.



Now all I need is my damn engine.

I wish the bottom of my car looked that nice! I can't imagine the time and effort it took to take everything out, paint it, and then put it back in.

that steering wheel is teh secks!!

mblue240 said:

I wish the bottom of my car looked that nice! I can't imagine the time and effort it took to take everything out, paint it, and then put it back in.

Click to expand...

Ya, things sort of got out of hand. At this point, I've essentially got a new car. Can't wait to get the engine in it and drive it for a change.

Love your Project 122!

Incredibly nice work on that car! What color is that paint? The paint job on the engine is stunning. You and Dale have set the bar very high for 122 restorations.

I spent the weekend getting the engine assembled and managed to get it installed with the assistance of Greg and Dale (Volvoshredder and 245gti). Here's the overall shot of the tight working conditions. Made tighter by the installation of 2X4's to keep the roof from collapsing. The overhead crane I build worked perfectly, but I sure was happy to have 3 sets of hands to get this damn thing in. Painted stuff makes me nervous.



Here's a couple of shots of the engine in it's new home.






Now I've got to get the lines made and finish the electrical install and a few other things need to get reassembled. Should fire it for the first time next weekend.

Fingers crossed.

That looks awesome! Keep up the great work

Very sweet man. Can't wait for more progress.

Turborg said:

Incredibly nice work on that car! What color is that paint? The paint job on the engine is stunning. You and Dale have set the bar very high for 122 restorations.

Click to expand...

The paint on the car is 79-1 (I've posted the paint code here somewhere) - it's about as close as my paint supplier could get to the original colour. The paint on the engine is POR-15 Ford Red. Not the right colour, but it still looks great. The rest of the engine was powder coated (pullies, water lines, valve cover)

More pics to come this week as I get the plumbing done.