1974 144: Racekor Edition

[roflcopter]

I just picked this thing up this weekend, and boy is it cool. As far as I can tell it was originally built in the PNW by someone who was using it for hill climbs and autocross, a few years back it was shipped to Kentucky after being bought by someone who wanted to road race it.



Sadly, a lot of info has been lost due to the circumstances that I acquired the car under, but the plan is to use it as a track toy for the time being and hopefully slot it into a NASA class to have some fun down the road. The car has a chromoly cage in it already, completely stripped interior with the emphasis on weight reduction. Supposedly it was at 1900lbs before the cage and fuel cell went in it, I'm not sure I buy it but we shall see.

Hopefully the motor is making ~160whp, it has two 40DCOEs on it, supposedly blueprinted and built right. M40 gearbox.

So far here is the 'list' as it sits...

Engine:
Blueprinted and balanced B20
Aluminum timing set
ISKY max competition cam (the 310 duration one)
Chevy/IPD pushrods/lifters
Dual 40DCOE carbs (not sure what brand manifold)
Canadian head with larger valves and ported
Mahle pistons

Chassis:
Swiss cheesed everything
Lexan windows except for the front
Fiberglass fenders/hood/trunk
Chromoly cage
JAZ fuel cell
Fenders pulled/rolled for clearance

Suspension:
QA1 shocks
Custom watts link
Stock car adjustable upper A arms
Relocated upper A arm attachment points
IPD adjustable sway bars

I'm sure there is a ton more to be said, but I'm still going through the thing and sorting it all out. I'll post more pictures as I take them.

I'm somewhat new to the older (pre-early 80's) Volvos so I'm sure I'm going to have a million questions. Some of the first are...

- What is a typical redline for B20? Anyone running this cam or similar have a good idea of how fast to spin it somewhat safely?

- At what point do you need race fuel? The car currently has some 110 octane in it, I know the compression is bumped to 11.0:1 but as far as I can tell the only ignition mods are a MSD 6AL box, I'll get the base timing numbers some day soon but I doubt it's pushed enough to warrant 110...

[vwbusman66]

We want a running video, asap.

Re: the rev limit, Others will differ and may be more knowledgeable, but assuming it was balanced to a pretty close tolerance, you should be good to push 7500. The bearings will take it, and worse comes to worst, you float the valves or bend a pushrod.

[Dicktater]

That's badass! How did you come across this?

[roflcopter]

I've done some digging through the parts/spares/crap that came with the car and I think I have some parts I'll be listing for sale soon, mostly stock parts that have since been upgraded for this thing.

Further investigation shows that one side of the front suspension is messed up, looks like they hit something and bent up the mounting point on the control arm, and both upper shock mounts on the front look like they've seen some abuse, I'll probably fab up some better mounts down the road.

I was digging through receipts that came with the car and found one for a 7000 rpm pill for the MSD box, so I'm going to assume that is where it is currently set and trust it. If it seem happy on the dyno I may try to bump it up a little more eventually.

I'll get a video of it running next time I have to move it, she fires right up first try though!

As for how I found it, a friend of the person selling it mentioned it on a forum I frequent and after looking into what all was there it seemed like a steal for the price so I decided to chance it.

[culberro]

Rob at Vol Tech in Portland would probably know who built the car, if you're looking for any information on it.

http://www.vol-techinc.com/volvo-racing/

[roflcopter]

Thanks!

I'll contact him once I have more insight on what to even ask about... I figure this thing is interesting enough that there has to be a few people who know about it.

[R32RennSport]

I'm super jealous, this thing is rad!

[Shinchan]

Did someone say "I have some parts I'll be listing for sale soon"????

[roflcopter]

Originally Posted by Shinchan

Did someone say "I have some parts I'll be listing for sale soon"????

Yep!

Fuel tank, filler neck, mirrors, steering wheel, parking brake assembly, some other unidentified bit. Basically anything that came with the car that isn't race-essential.

[hiperfauto]

Nice score but it's not a '74. The shifter is in the early location, it has the early brake booster and the exterior door handles are pre '72.

What's the chassis #?

[roflcopter]

Originally Posted by hiperfauto

Nice score but it's not a '74. The shifter is in the early location, it has the early brake booster and the exterior door handles are pre '72.

What's the chassis #?

I was going off what the seller (not previous owner, long story) of the car said, so all info is suspect until proven, I had not even looked at the title until I just dug it out...

Title says 1970! So you are correct. That may have thrown me for a loop later with parts sourcing, thanks for that!

Chassis number is 1443461151128 if you're still curious. I know the car was originally an automatic as well, it now has the M40 in it and it came with one of the remote turrets for the shifter in a box, not sure if that's because it was on the M40 when they got it or if they planned on swapping it in later to move the shifter further back, I honestly don't mind the mile long stalk so I'll probably avoid the extra hole in the tunnel and leave it alone.

[hiperfauto]

Chassis #151128 puts it squarely in the middle of the '70 model year.



Having to move the shifter so far to change gears will get old quickly. It's not hard to cut the tunnel and install a 240 tunnel section.



I have these in stock if you're interested.

[R32RennSport]

Well worth the change if you ask me. I stole my tunnel from a P1800 and took it all the way to the firewall, though I did this in a 122S. Though I haven't driven the car yet, sitting in the driver seat and static shifting the ergonomics are so much better. Also, the crispness of shifts from the remote shifter are much more satisfying then that long throw, feels much more mechanical.

[Tfrasca]

I can also recommend the 240 tunnel and closer shifter. Much nicer to rip through the gears than with the old school bus shifter. Also, this car is awesome.

[roflcopter]

Hmmmm. The car came with a turret in a box, no clue how serviceable it is. How much do the tunnels go for? And is it easy to source the actual shifter for that setup? I don't think I have one.

That may be a good route to go, but I'll have to move electronics in the cabin and also probably fab up the tunnel a bit differently, the drivetrain is actually moved backwards and lower by about 2 inches, along with a custom driveshaft.

[vwbusman66]

I grew up driving VW buses, so for me, I quite enjoy the long throw school-bus style shifter. I can imagine in a racecar, however, the long throw would be a problem.

[sspony]

Hiperfauto, do you have a link for the tunnel mod? Is that designed for 140 series only or 120 as well?

[hiperfauto]

It's a 240 part that can be adapted to 140 or 120. Sorry, no link but it's simply a matter or cutting straight back from the existing hole until the shift cover fits. Setting the shift cover on top of the tunnel will give you an idea of how far back you need to cut.

[R32RennSport]

Here is a P1800 tunnel installed in a 122S. I guess not relevant to you in both regards, but an example of what can be done I suppose.

[roflcopter]

Little bit of an update on this thing...

Did some more snooping around in it and found that the front passenger shock wasn't attached to anything on the bottom and had done a good number on the control arm from continuously hammering on it. Hammered everything back straight, got new hardware and added some large washers to both sides. Replaced the pillow ball setup too. I'm not a fan of how the front suspension was adapted into this thing so I figured get it 'working' and I'll cut it all apart and make it proper later. There is a little slop still in one pillow ball assembly since the upper mount is tweaked pretty good on the drivers side.

Also found out that the alternator wasn't charging due to the P.O. not knowing how to wire a GM alternator as a single wire. Now it charges, but only above about 1500rpm. Good enough for a racecar I guess, maybe the GM has a slightly different pulley size and it's being underdriven on this thing?

I probably will do the tunnel mod down the road, the return springs are pretty crappy in the trans currently so all of that will get addressed at once. I did go beat on it a bit harder once I had things sorted and this thing is fun! No problems breaking the back end loose in 1st or 2nd, decently balanced while sideways too. Did I mention it has 5.30:1 gears in it?

[vwbusman66]

Originally Posted by roflcopter

Did I mention it has 5.30:1 gears in it?

[roflcopter]

It's positively absurd.

It will be getting something closer to the 4.10 range down the road. I guess for autoX and hill climbs the 5.30s were awesome, but that puts the top speed rpm limited to ~90mph with these tires on it. I'm fairly certain the car is capable of pulling past that.

[Vol242vo]

Absolutely RAD. Looks like a ridiculous amount of fun waiting to happen...

[Tfrasca]

Yeah, 5.30 gears are insane. Mine has 4.30s and I thought that was peppy.

[volvorelix]

Originally Posted by roflcopter

- What is a typical redline for B20? Anyone running this cam or similar have a good idea of how fast to spin it somewhat safely?

If it has stock rods, I wouldn't go much higher than 7K. And I wouldn't hold it there for very long.

If you don't yet know what rods it has, I'd err on the side of caution. Seems like the kind of engine that could handle higher rpms, but there's no guarantee...

Cameron
Portland