Is any one else running a 16 valve red block

[244T]

Just a general question...


Is anyone else on here running a B234 engine???


My 740 has one, it's just burnt out an exhaust valve out but had the head rebuilt and so hopefully all should be well, while the head is off I am replacing the rings and big end shells..


So if any one is running one I would be interested to know...


Think there is a fraternity on the continent that like them ???

Thanks to all

[rogerthechorister]

They are magic. I have one and one of my Sports will soon (I hope) be a B234F+T. In due course I hope to do a very mild +T on the standard one, decompressing with a Cometic gasket and using an adaptor on the header and a 90+ and a 13C - plus of course intercooler and piping. The funny bit is going to be the turbo oil feed and drain.

[244T]

Oh...


I thought they were only ever fitted to the GLT...


With a turbo.... never seen one in the flesh... a couple on the web though..

Strange how the GLT only had steel wheels, cloth seats etc but the posh head...


I notice on the continent they have quite a following....


Are you still running the balancer belt?


Had a quick look on the "how many left" site and there are not many at all, I felt I had to have a go at keeping it going....its such a good tow car too....

Thanks again for your response!!!!!!

[rogerthechorister]

Yes, my twin-cam is badged 740GLT but is facelift body so looks like a 940. All twin cams here were N/A. The B204FT or GT turbo twin-cam 2 litre never came to England, mostly Italy.

Balance shaft belt was removed early on. Daughter tried to run her air-cooled so my spare engine had to go in, and I had the balance shaft belt on that removed at that time. Annoying as the original engine was very low mileage.

Synchro on third is not wonderful and the overdrive sticks in when hot until I get rough with it, but most of the rest is nice. Currently after a spare M46 from Minty. I have had the wing-mirrors colour-coded and she is on Galaxies so looks quite smart. Currently in the garage to have the exhaust manifold blow fixed - AGAIN, and wheel-wobble investigated - I suspect merely balance.

Then back to the bodyshop for carpark dent (daughter again) to be removed and I fear the roof has started to peel so that will be a big bill. Also, thanks to daughter, a couple of wheels need to go back to Lepsons again.

Oh, and a Jetex exhaust that sounds very crisp and crackly!

[244T]

That makes two of us..

I do like the performance. I have never driven a turbo 740 so can't compare the performance but I am happy with the twin cam, it makes a good tow car.

I don't think you can beat a rwd for towing.

Sounds like you have quite some experience with the b234 engine, I am Finding my way round them, the head is quite good thing, well made, the engineer in Preston that put in the new valves and but the seats compared it to a Cosworth, but think it was actually designed by Porsche?

I can see it needs careful assembly with the cam carrier etc.

I have the head back now, the pistons are cleaned and now installed with new rings and shells.

Rather than the turbo route, is there other tried and tested ways of extracting more horses?

I do like your idea of the Jetex exhaust, that must help.

Thanks again for your response.

[rogerthechorister]

Yes the head is Porsche design. I have heard it argued that the inlet manifold is the bottleneck. Very square so the distribution is uneven. I have seen pictures of custom-made manifolds in the USA that have much smoother curved branches, which sounds good in principle although you don't want the inlet tracts too long, and I've also seen pictures of "log" manifolds with a big fat straight chamber and then short tracts - but I'm a bit dubious about those.

Otherwise you could do the usual smoothing and polishing of everything from the airbox inwards, I suppose.

You could try doing the equivalent of the "airbox mod" on turbos but if I remember right the hole in the inner wing is not there so you'd have to cut it, or you could try a cone filter although IMHO there would not be a lot of point as it would be taking in hot air and you want cold air.

If you want to be more radical, some of the Penta cams from the twin-cam boat engines have I think higher lift, and I may be wrong but I think the boat engines came (some of them) as a 2.5 litre although I am not sure whether you need to change more than the crank. You could gain a bit of capacity by boring +60 - I think that the pistons are still available at that size, but check first.

If you can source a spare engine, Guy Croft (in Medway) used to have a prodigious reputation for blueprinting the FIAT twin-cam engines although he was far from cheap.

[rogerthechorister]

There have been a few owners of 16 valves in the past. Where are they all now? There was a Doctor, a man in Southampton (or was it Portsmouth?) Surely a couple in Birmingham or thereabouts, another in Lincoln (although it was being re-made as a track car). Have official Volvo mechanics who wrongly tensioned the balance shaft belt or failed to renew the oil pump pulley bolt destroyed them all?

[barkster1971]

There wasn't a great deal of b234 cars to start with. Being an interference engine you don't get a second chance if the belt or bolt goes. Putting a 13c on a b234 is about as much use as tits on a boar tbh. And getting more power from an na car is tricky. If you want a useful 200bhp get a turbo 8v.
You can get 375 cfm from a 16v head but that would cost big time.

[244T]

Well it cant be a bad head, the ford guys spend a lot of effort to put them on the Ford block...


The balancer shaft belt...how tight does this need to be???

I have been talking to a few folks sourcing parts tor the rebuild, every one says that it's years since they have seen one, when I look on "how many left" there are not many at all, given that not all the 740 GLT's have the 16 valve engine...

Just think that the N.A. engines are an alternative to the turn the boost up brigade..

Thanks again for your comments..

[rogerthechorister]

If a B204GT makes 204 bhp then B234FT of the mildest sort with a 13C adaptor plate and 90+ (and intercooler) should deliver 230 bhp. B234FT with slightly bigger turbo off a front-wheel drive and MBC (or turboplus) should be ahead of 250bhp. Decent bunch of bananas (or sex-mad octopus) header, and better inlet mani should see about 300 depending on engine management. In theory. After that the next problem is clutch! And brakes.