240 General: New (to me) 1980 Volvo 244

[john.wigley]

Originally Posted by Othen

Thank you for that vote Clifford. No one will be pretending the RB has a V8 motor, so I see your point.

I think I'll see what the standard pipe looks like before I decide. I suspect it will be perfectly good, but a little bit of me would like to keep some of the RB's history - even the slightly naff bits :-)

Alan

It could have, though, Alan, had it not been for the oil crisis in the mid seventies. Volvo were at that time developing a V8 to rival the likes of the Rover SD1. On reflection, it was decided that in the circumstances this was not such a good idea and is the reason why the V6 motor in the 262/4/5 is a 90, and not 60, degree vee unit.

What a fine car that might have been had they held their nerve. A missed opportunity, I think. Pleased that you're continuing to enjoy the R.B.; do you think you'll ever run out of things to do?!

Regards, John.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Bob Meadows

Alan: ~
Another forum post exists regarding the rear box & rust etc. - it just involved drilling a small drain hole in the box – central and just enough to allow condensation out. The middle box is also reasonable priced.
Should your car be fitted with the “S” shape tail pipe? Rather than the 90 degree bend-I found this type initially made a lot of condensation on the rear screen so went back to the snake!
Regards Bob

Thank you Bob,

I'll try to find that thread - it has never made sense to me to have such a condensation trap in the back box - which probably doesn't get hot enough to boil off the water vapour if the car is used for short journeys (as I suspect the RB may have been - 108,000 miles in 40 years). Many manufacturers seem to design the back box like that though; do you think having a hole (however deliberately placed) in the exhaust would be legal (not that the RB is liable for MoT tests any more)?

I'll see what sort of tailpipe the new back box comes with. If it is the S type I'll certainly try that out first. As Dave suggests I'll hang on to the L shaped one (with the twin tail attached) - access under the back of the 244 is so good it would only take 10 minutes to swap them at some time later to compare them.

Alan

[Othen]

Originally Posted by john.wigley

It could have, though, Alan, had it not been for the oil crisis in the mid seventies. Volvo were at that time developing a V8 to rival the likes of the Rover SD1. On reflection, it was decided that in the circumstances this was not such a good idea and is the reason why the V6 motor in the 262/4/5 is a 90, and not 60, degree vee unit.

What a fine car that might have been had they held their nerve. A missed opportunity, I think. Pleased that you're continuing to enjoy the R.B.; do you think you'll ever run out of things to do?!

Regards, John.

Hi John,

What an interesting story - looking at the RB's engine bay I can imagine a V8 (particularly an OHV one like the Rover/Buick) would have fitted pretty well and would have pushed the car along quite nicely.

Will I ever run out of jobs to do on the RB? I doubt it; there will probably still be a few on the list to be included in the eulogy at my cremation!

:-)

PS. Now there is a mischievous thought: a Rover V8 conversion for the RB's 50th birthday!

[loki_the_glt]

A popular "mod" was to drill a small hole at the lowest point of the box to allow water to drain out but fit a stainless steel self-tapper immediately prior to taking the car for its MoT test; this made the system gas-tight for the tester but could be quickly undone once you had the new ticket in your hand.

As for V8 sounds, one set per bank, exiting under the front doors a la AC/Shelby Cobra... And 4 48IDAs on the intake side to boot.

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by john.wigley

It could have, though, Alan, had it not been for the oil crisis in the mid seventies. Volvo were at that time developing a V8 to rival the likes of the Rover SD1. On reflection, it was decided that in the circumstances this was not such a good idea and is the reason why the V6 motor in the 262/4/5 is a 90, and not 60, degree vee unit.

What a fine car that might have been had they held their nerve. A missed opportunity, I think. Pleased that you're continuing to enjoy the R.B.; do you think you'll ever run out of things to do?!

Regards, John.

As far as i'm aware, the only V8 car Volvo have ever produced was the Yamaha powered S80 - had Volvo grown a pair in the early 70s and gone for it, i would (presumably) be the owner of a 785GLE now and the 26x would have been 28x models. If memory serves when i worked out the capacity based on what it originally ended up as in V6 form (2664cc) it would have been just shy of 3.6L With the increasse in 1986/7, it would be 3.8L now........................

Originally Posted by Othen

Thank you Bob,

I'll try to find that thread - it has never made sense to me to have such a condensation trap in the back box - which probably doesn't get hot enough to boil off the water vapour if the car is used for short journeys (as I suspect the RB may have been - 108,000 miles in 40 years). Many manufacturers seem to design the back box like that though; do you think having a hole (however deliberately placed) in the exhaust would be legal (not that the RB is liable for MoT tests any more)?

I'll see what sort of tailpipe the new back box comes with. If it is the S type I'll certainly try that out first. As Dave suggests I'll hang on to the L shaped one (with the twin tail attached) - access under the back of the 244 is so good it would only take 10 minutes to swap them at some time later to compare them.

Alan

I believe it's legal to drill a 1/8" (3mm hole) at the end of the box which is lower to drain it Alan and now need for a self-tapper to seal it so it "drains as you drives".

Originally Posted by Othen

Hi John,

What an interesting story - looking at the RB's engine bay I can imagine a V8 (particularly an OHV one like the Rover/Buick) would have fitted pretty well and would have pushed the car along quite nicely.

Will I ever run out of jobs to do on the RB? I doubt it; there will probably still be a few on the list to be included in the eulogy at my cremation!

:-)

PS. Now there is a mischievous thought: a Rover V8 conversion for the RB's 50th birthday!

The POB/Rover V8 conversion has been done Alan and in terms of what was around at the time, would be a contemporay conversion - very nice with a 4-speed auto! These days most people look at using the Lexus/Toyota 4.0L V8, 250bhp of easy power and the gearbox is an AW71 in disguise so makes life easier!

Hmmmm, let me think - 4-speed AW71 conversion for the RBs 40th, an extra 4 cylinders in the form of a V8 for its 50th? That sounds like a good, progressive plan!

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

The POB/Rover V8 conversion has been done Alan and in terms of what was around at the time, would be a contemporay conversion - very nice with a 4-speed auto! These days most people look at using the Lexus/Toyota 4.0L V8, 250bhp of easy power and the gearbox is an AW71 in disguise so makes life easier!

Hmmmm, let me think - 4-speed AW71 conversion for the RBs 40th, an extra 4 cylinders in the form of a V8 for its 50th? That sounds like a good, progressive plan!

I thought that idea might amuse you Dave - as John suggested earlier, I don't suppose I'll ever run out of things to do with the RB. A 4L Toyota motor in 2030 mated to an AW71 box fitted in 2021 would be a pretty cool progression for the RB :-)

[loki_the_glt]

Originally Posted by Othen

Hi John,

What an interesting story - looking at the RB's engine bay I can imagine a V8 (particularly an OHV one like the Rover/Buick) would have fitted pretty well and would have pushed the car along quite nicely.



PS. Now there is a mischievous thought: a Rover V8 conversion for the RB's 50th birthday!

Attached are shots taken at Billing and Market Harborough VBOA National meets showing the underbonnet layouts of an FD-series V8, an VX-series with the standard Vauxhall slant-4 and an FE-series (essentially identical to the VX-series) car with a Rover V8 to give you an idea of what might be possible.

Another FD showed up that had a Chevy 327 cu in V8 with an Edelbrock riser manifold and a BIG Holley 4-barrel petrol pump fitted but I can't find a decent photograph of that one. (I'll keep looking though as I'm sure I photographed it...)

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by loki_the_glt

Attached are shots taken at Billing and Market Harborough VBOA National meets showing the underbonnet layouts of an FD-series V8, an VX-series with the standard Vauxhall slant-4 and an FE-series (essentially identical to the VX-series) car with a Rover V8 to give you an idea of what might be possible.

Another FD showed up that had a Chevy 327 cu in V8 with an Edelbrock riser manifold and a BIG Holley 4-barrel petrol pump fitted but I can't find a decent photograph of that one. (I'll keep looking though as I'm sure I photographed it...)

I'm sure the FE series was designed with a V8 in mind, i know in Australia Holden built them with V8s as standard but they were called something else and had minor styling changes, a bit like the Holden Gemini which was really a Chevette as we knew it but with styling changes and a 2.0 turbo under the bonnet of some, donated i believe from the Isuzu Piazza Turbo, itself based on the same floorpan as the Chevette.

Back to the Victor/Ventora range, the slant-4 we got in the UK was a peach of an engine, heard rumours it started life as a Chevy V8 diesel but they got rid of 4 cylinders and the Devils Fuel from it and created smaller cylinders to give us the 1800 and 2300. I always wanted to redress the balance and fit a Rover V8 in the one i had but it never happened.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by loki_the_glt

Attached are shots taken at Billing and Market Harborough VBOA National meets showing the underbonnet layouts of an FD-series V8, an VX-series with the standard Vauxhall slant-4 and an FE-series (essentially identical to the VX-series) car with a Rover V8 to give you an idea of what might be possible.

Another FD showed up that had a Chevy 327 cu in V8 with an Edelbrock riser manifold and a BIG Holley 4-barrel petrol pump fitted but I can't find a decent photograph of that one. (I'll keep looking though as I'm sure I photographed it...)

Excellent!

[Laird Scooby]

Apologies Alan for the slight hijack as this is really for Loki :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindustan_Contessa



Isuzu 1.8 powered VX-copy ^^^^^

Just wondered if you'd come across any at Billing at all?