Any Advice?

[Laird Scooby]

Good choices there Chris, 2.3 non-cat, injection (K-Jet?) would be a good choice.

There was a 240 Turbo in some markets, i don't know much about it other than it existed.

I suspect it was a K-Jet turbo, like the very early 740 Turbos (they quickly changed to BoschLE-Jetronic and later to LH2.4 Jetronic) and if so that would probably be the easiest way to go.

However, there is an alternative. The Volvo Penta AQ151-C engine. Still stamped on the block as a B230 (usually), it's actually a 2.5 with a long-stroke crank. Gives even more torque than the standard 2.3 so makes acceleration and overtaking quicker. If you get a complete one, it usually has twin carbs and kicks out about 150-155bhp which would be a useful power hike. I don't remember the exact spec but seem to recall it has a V or VX cam, closest to what Volvo fitted to a high lift cam (most B230Es have the V cam anyway) but because of the extra capacity, feels more like a road cam.

They're not usually cheap (about £5-600) but as a complete "bolt-in" package without the complications of add a turbo and the oil feed and coolant pipes for it, changing the exhaust and so on is probably a better bet in the long run.

The other option would be a B234 which is the 16v version of the B230 which is 155bhp but would involve a lot of wiring for the ECU to run it. That said an aftermarket engine management system could simplify things. Again you'd have to change the front of the exhaust as well.

As for the exhaust in stainless, a cheap one will be the most expensive option. No, i haven't started talking gibberish, the cheap stainless exhausts don't last, even the custom built ones.
Two options, first is find a respected exhaust builder in your area, talk through what you want and leave it with them for a day (maybe a little more) and expect to pay £4-500.

Second option is to lurk on ebay.com (the USA ebay) and search for an OBX Racing stainless exhaust. Shopping is generally about $160-200 and the exhausts around $3-400 so about $600 worst case.
By the time you've paid Import VAT (unless it's prepaid, some sellers do that for you) and taken into account the exchange rate, it's likely to be in the region of £5-600.

A good start would be :

https://www.ebay.com/itm/OBX-Header-...l/153645179405

If you look for OBX Racing and check their products, you'll probably find they have a listing for a 240 exhaust.

[loki_the_glt]

Volvo exhausts have a 3-year guarantee and the beauty is that the Volvo delaers have people who know the cars. There's a firm that advertise in "Driver" doing stainless systems for the cars; my 940 has a cat-back syystem from them and it's got a life-time guarantee sbjected to inspection (at MoT for mine). I haven't got a copy to hand but will try to dig one out.

Turbo engines will fit but the B230FT/FK use a camshaft-driven distributor which means hacking the bulkhead about to fit it unless you go for an after-market engine management system.

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by loki_the_glt

Turbo engines will fit but the B230FT/FK use a camshaft-driven distributor which means hacking the bulkhead about to fit it unless you go for an after-market engine management system.

There was a B23ET in the 740 with block mounted dizzy and i believe the later (post 87) 240s used the B2x0 engines with the cam mounted dizzy so presumably Volvo made some modification to the bulkheads?

[loki_the_glt]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

There was a B23ET in the 740 with block mounted dizzy and i believe the later (post 87) 240s used the B2x0 engines with the cam mounted dizzy so presumably Volvo made some modification to the bulkheads?

The B23ET is a rare, and very fussy, beast that needs premium unleaded; if fed on anything of lower octane it will melt pistons as I discovered when given one FOC as a "reluctant starter". No compression on no.1 cylinder meant a head removal disclosing a large (2pence-piece diameter!) hole in the piston. It was still lively with 135 of its 180BHP or thereabouts and a 4+O/D manual box.

The 2x0 engine comes in two flavours: for the 240s it retains the block-mounted distributor, as per my 240GLT, while the 940 got the distributor mounted on the camshaft end (a stupid location for a longitudinally-aligned engine IMO, but I'm not a car designer) hence requests for "slotted/non-slotted" camshafts on the forum.

It is feasible to convert to a block-mount but the auxiliary shaft might need to be changed to the 240-type as I don't know whether the 940 version has the distributor drive gear fitted.

If going down the turbo route there are threads about the conversion and I know of both an early and a late 240 estate that have been converted and run around Yorkshire.

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by loki_the_glt

The B23ET is a rare, and very fussy, beast that needs premium unleaded; if fed on anything of lower octane it will melt pistons as I discovered when given one FOC as a "reluctant starter". No compression on no.1 cylinder meant a head removal disclosing a large (2pence-piece diameter!) hole in the piston. It was still lively with 135 of its 180BHP or thereabouts and a 4+O/D manual box.

The 2x0 engine comes in two flavours: for the 240s it retains the block-mounted distributor, as per my 240GLT, while the 940 got the distributor mounted on the camshaft end (a stupid location for a longitudinally-aligned engine IMO, but I'm not a car designer) hence requests for "slotted/non-slotted" camshafts on the forum.

It is feasible to convert to a block-mount but the auxiliary shaft might need to be changed to the 240-type as I don't know whether the 940 version has the distributor drive gear fitted.

If going down the turbo route there are threads about the conversion and I know of both an early and a late 240 estate that have been converted and run around Yorkshire.

Thanks for the clarification on the 240s use of the B2x0, i've had 740s with the dizzy on the back of the cam and one that had a block mounted dizzy. I kind of assumed the 240 would follow the same pattern but seems not. I know when GM put the Family II engine (originally used in FWD models like the Astra Mk1 and Cavalier Mk2) in things like the Manta and Carlton, they fitted a timing pulley on the back of the head to drive the forward facing dizzy mounted parallel to the head with a small timing belt from cam to dizzy shafts.
That meant they could continue to use the same, simple, cheap dizzy as used on the normal Family II engine.

For some unknown reason Volvo didn't take that option, preferring instead to use the same sort of dizzy as the Porsche 924, hence the ridiculous price of the dizzy cap!
Likewise when they revamped the B28 into the B280, they took the option of a BMW derived dizzy with a ridiculously priced cap on the front of the left bank camshaft.

As for premium/super unleaded, i run both my beasts on it, remember when the engines were designed, most cars still took 4 start (98 octane) so were designed to give their best on that although both are capable of running on 95 octane. It's a false economy putting the 95 in though,

[Othen]

This is a good thread - full of lots of interesting stuff.

Alan

[Chris152]

Thanks fellas - a fair bit of that's gone straight over my head, but I understand it's possible - the rest's down to him come the time!
Out of interest - how many 240s are still on the road in the UK? I've read a few sites that seem to want to tell me but I'm not understanding.

[Chris152]

Still looking...

We're learning more as we go with the help of members, and have refined/ expanded the specs list to:
Manual estate, 2.3 with or without cat (preferably without); or 2.0 without cat. History needs to show it's been looked after properly (lots of thanks to LS for patiently talking us through this one in relation to a number of maybes we've seen).
Carbs or injection, apparently both are cool (that's teenage-speak for good).

Oh, and I bought copies of Haynes Repair Manual (1976 thru 1993, brand new) and Haynes Owner's Workshop Manual (1974 to 1993, second hand). They appear to be exactly the same thing, and I have a feeling they're the one we should have avoided. Still, good to have something to read while we learn.

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Chris152

Still looking...

We're learning more as we go with the help of members, and have refined/ expanded the specs list to:
Manual estate, 2.3 with or without cat (preferably without); or 2.0 without cat. History needs to show it's been looked after properly (lots of thanks to LS for patiently talking us through this one in relation to a number of maybes we've seen).
Carbs or injection, apparently both are cool (that's teenage-speak for good).

Oh, and I bought copies of Haynes Repair Manual (1976 thru 1993, brand new) and Haynes Owner's Workshop Manual (1974 to 1993, second hand). They appear to be exactly the same thing, and I have a feeling they're the one we should have avoided. Still, good to have something to read while we learn.

The "Owners Workshop Manual" is the one to have Chris, should give you all the information you need.

The "Service & Repair Manuals" tend to be a bit lacking on real information, just the very basic stuff and have sillyspanner ratings on the jobs. THey're not a rating of how hard the job is but how much of a spanner you feel when, after following the book, you realise you could have changed the spark plugs without removing the back axle as the method suggested!

OK, slight exaggeration but i'm sure if you've had an in-depth read of both, you'll find the "Service & Repair" is a bit simple comared to the other one and tends to advocate farming harder jobs out more readily than the original OWM type.

However, the fact you simply called it a "Repair Manual" suggests you may have one of the rebranded OWMs that they brought out for a while. Why i've never known, perhaps to pave the way for the "Service & Repair" manuals or perhaps just to simplify the name. If it is one of those then you have two OWMs which is handy - one for reference before doing the job, the scruffy one to be used while doing the work, with a sheet of glass or perspex over it to keep the pages cleaner and the wind from changing the pages without you knowing!

[Bugjam1999]

Turbo engine in a 240? Have a read though this overview I wrote about a year ago...

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=290295

Cheers