• Hello Guest, welcome to the initial stages of our new platform!
    You can find some additional information about where we are in the process of migrating the board and setting up our new software here

    Thank you for being a part of our community!

1973 1800ES project

Hey pm alfa vs volvo. He put a b23 in a 1800 and in the lemons amazon. Fit pretty decent from what i remember and have the stock manifolds. He made his own mounts though to put the engine in there.

I know the 122 got a OHC swap but I am pretty sure their 1800 always had a B18 or B20.

As far as the exhaust manifold goes for the ES, I may have found a brand new $100 solution.....if it works it will be kind of hilarious. Scratch that - it will be absolutely hillarious
 
Last edited:
Have you considered using a thinner booster to obtain better clearance for the intake?

Could you post a picture from the side overlooking the booster and intake to show the minimal clearance there is now?

I'm interested since I am installing a b230ft upright in a 1800ES and planning on a thinner booster and would like to know how thin it needs to be. The body is on the rotisserie and I haven't got to engine install stage yet.
Thanks
 
Have you considered using a thinner booster to obtain better clearance for the intake?

Could you post a picture from the side overlooking the booster and intake to show the minimal clearance there is now?

I'm interested since I am installing a b230ft upright in a 1800ES and planning on a thinner booster and would like to know how thin it needs to be. The body is on the rotisserie and I haven't got to engine install stage yet.
Thanks

From a little earlier in the thread - this is what a B21F intake looks like with the engine upright. You can see where the booster mounts up right behind it



I don't think you will have any way of fitting any booster in the standard location if you go upright, not without a highly custom intake manifold. When I was looking at going upright I was exploring either a remote booster or a hydroboost setup.
 
I know the 122 got a OHC swap but I am pretty sure their 1800 always had a B18 or B20.

As far as the exhaust manifold goes for the ES, I may have found a brand new $100 solution.....if it works it will be kind of hilarious. Scratch that - it will be absolutely hillarious

It did but he did a swap on an 1800 waaay back he told me. The 122s lemons has a b230 in it now.
 
What would be the distance from the face of the booster mount to the back side of the intake?

The runners on the intake could be shortened or as you say a custom plenum made.
 
Right now it has 1/4 of an inch, but the engine is not in it's final spot yet and once the manifold gets a little reworked it should have 3/4 to an inch.

https://yoshifab.com/store/pre-folded-yoshifab-aluminum-intake-plenum.html

Slapping that on further down the b21f runners would definitely help with clearance issues, seen it done a few times. It would be cool if someone with a KL racing intake on their car could measure from the crank center to the edge of the intake.
 
For what its worth on disc front, drum rear 120/1800 cars they can be used without a booster. I took it off of my '67 1800s for weight loss, which has a dual master two years ago and have logged 10k road miles and 900+ road racing miles with the VSCCA. At the same time Green Stuff pads were installed and it stops fine, but needs a higher pedal effort.

R32RennSport recently installed Porterfield pads in his 120 w/o a booster on Ian at High Performance Volvo recommendation and also reports good results.

The original master cylinder is 7/8" but the earlier models made before Girling boosters came into use had 1" bore units for higher pressure. I'm going to install a dual 1" Wildwood unit over the off season because I want more braking with less effort on the road. Although on the track the brakes work excellent as is.

I don't know how well this would work on the later all disc brake cars, but it might be worth taking a look at?
 
For what its worth on disc front, drum rear 120/1800 cars they can be used without a booster. I took it off of my '67 1800s for weight loss, which has a dual master two years ago and have logged 10k road miles and 900+ road racing miles with the VSCCA. At the same time Green Stuff pads were installed and it stops fine, but needs a higher pedal effort.

R32RennSport recently installed Porterfield pads in his 120 w/o a booster on Ian at High Performance Volvo recommendation and also reports good results.

The original master cylinder is 7/8" but the earlier models made before Girling boosters came into use had 1" bore units for higher pressure. I'm going to install a dual 1" Wildwood unit over the off season because I want more braking with less effort on the road. Although on the track the brakes work excellent as is.

I don't know how well this would work on the later all disc brake cars, but it might be worth taking a look at?

I can do fine without power brakes - my rally car runs Porterfield R4's with no booster and on stage or in traffic I don't have much of an issue with it.

The biggest thing stopping me from getting rid of it on the ES is the fact I want my 70 year old parents to feel comfortable enough to hop in and drive it anytime. They have let me store the car in the garage for much of the past 10 years and they don't mind keeping it there, they just both want to drive it someday.
 
I can do fine without power brakes - my rally car runs Porterfield R4's with no booster and on stage or in traffic I don't have much of an issue with it.

The biggest thing stopping me from getting rid of it on the ES is the fact I want my 70 year old parents to feel comfortable enough to hop in and drive it anytime. They have let me store the car in the garage for much of the past 10 years and they don't mind keeping it there, they just both want to drive it someday.

Well that makes perfect sense to me. Good luck with it. Maybe it will help some of the other guys with this swap.

Were can I find photos and info about your rally car?

If you are into it, there is a lot of pre-1975 Volvo vintage road racing and rally photos and info at this Facebook group myself and a couple of my friends started earlier in the year @ https://www.facebook.com/groups/232999844689051
 
Last edited:
Well that makes perfect sense to me. Good luck with it. Maybe it will help some of the other guys with this swap.

Were can I find photos and info about your rally car?

If you are into it, there is a lot of pre-1975 Volvo vintage road racing and rally photos and info at this Facebook group myself and a couple of my friends started earlier in the year @ https://www.facebook.com/groups/232999844689051

TGKQlit.jpg


Here's my project thread for it. I need to make an update on it, done a few things with it over the summer.

http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=327882

Also, I am in that group - it's really neat but I've just been observing since my race Volvos are newer than 75 [both 83's.]

Makes me want to find a 142 to race. I still love doing Lucky Dog with friends in the 244 but I'd like to run on my own in more of a sprint style race.
 
Last edited:
For what its worth on disc front, drum rear 120/1800 cars they can be used without a booster. I took it off of my '67 1800s for weight loss, which has a dual master two years ago and have logged 10k road miles and 900+ road racing miles with the VSCCA. At the same time Green Stuff pads were installed and it stops fine, but needs a higher pedal effort.

R32RennSport recently installed Porterfield pads in his 120 w/o a booster on Ian at High Performance Volvo recommendation and also reports good results.

The original master cylinder is 7/8" but the earlier models made before Girling boosters came into use had 1" bore units for higher pressure. I'm going to install a dual 1" Wildwood unit over the off season because I want more braking with less effort on the road. Although on the track the brakes work excellent as is.

I don't know how well this would work on the later all disc brake cars, but it might be worth taking a look at?


If you use a 1" master instead of a 7/8" master and the same power with your foot the pressure in the brake system will be lower.

Pressure: p=F/A

The higher A is, the lower will be p

The volume will be more at same level of pedal.

At same hydraulic pressure the pressure at your sole of your foot will be higher.

If you swap disc brakes to a drum system you need more volume, and pressure.

Modify the linkage at your brake pedal will be the solution

Good luck, Kay
 
If you use a 1" master instead of a 7/8" master and the same power with your foot the pressure in the brake system will be lower.

Pressure: p=F/A

The higher A is, the lower will be p

The volume will be more at same level of pedal.

At same hydraulic pressure the pressure at your sole of your foot will be higher.

If you swap disc brakes to a drum system you need more volume, and pressure.

Modify the linkage at your brake pedal will be the solution

Good luck, Kay

Thanks for setting the record straight turns out you are right! Just another good example of how you shouldn't believe everything you read on the internet.
 
Things have been a little slow around here on the ES front but for good reason.

I got married in September with about 20 friends and family watching in a large grove on my client's property. Immediately went on our honeymoon for a week to the desert.

ghnBV8pl.jpg


Came back, moved across town from our little cabin in the woods to our new house which is on a bluff overlooking the Monterey Bay and Capitola village.

wJD6potl.jpg


I say new house, but it's old - really ****ing old. Oldest house in Capitola- it's so old my great great great grandfather and his friend moved the materials to build it by horse over the Santa Cruz mountains. It's been in my family 140 years now. We've been doing many improvements to it - we started by spending a few weeks ripping out the floors and painting inside.

213e5Dal.jpg


Did some touch up on the outside. Now that's all done and we're moved in, so we are starting on to the big part - completely redoing the yard. We are getting a dog and every place we want to adopt from requires a 5 foot fence enclosing the property, so I've started on that. Also working on landscaping everything, ripping out stupid invasive ivy and building a firepit/outdoor cooking area. If I finish and have enough room left over, I might build myself a lil half pipe to skate on.

Most importantly, going to get to work soon on making the driveway solid and once that is done we are building a 1-car garage in the back corner of the property with a small grandma unit above it.

AS82TKol.jpg


I've poked and prodded the 1800 a couple times here and there. Picked up a Yoshifab modifed b21f intake from towery and it fits the slanted OHC engine in the 1800 bay like a glove, so I will be using it.

9RW46vcl.jpg


Probably going to finally modify the engine bracket next week so the engine will rest in it's hopefully final spot.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top