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1972 164E B230FT swap?

Toast_history_47

Toast_history_47

New member
Joined
Jun 6, 2023
Hello, I was wondering what it might take to do a B230FT swap on my 164, as it appears that I cannot find much info on this sort of swap. I see that yoshifab sells B230FT motor mounts for the 140's, would that be somewhat compatible with what the B30 has? Is this swap even worth it?
 
I bid you welcome to engine bay clearance hell. Be prepared to custom fabricate all the things and cobble together parts from three or four different variations of redblocks to make it work.

You must first ask yourself, why a B230FT swapped 164 and not a 240 where it all just bolts in?

Second you must determine to go with an upright or slanted engine? Slanted means some redblock intakes will actually clear the brake booster and steering column, but you can't really run an alternator on the passenger side, there is limited space for a turbo, and oil pan clearance will be tight. Upright means a custom oil pump, sourcing a B20 pan, and a custom intake to clear the stuff on the driver's side fender, but the turbo and alternator will clear the inner fender.

Next there is the transmission question. For slanted you get an m46/47 or T5. For upright you get the nearly unobtainable B20 M410 or a T5. The T5 will be a tight fit either way.

Then there is also the intercooler. There isn't a bunch of space between the radiator and grill, so be ready to change all that.

All this for what? A '70s barge with expensive sometimes one year only parts, worm gear steering, no ability to run AC (good luck fitting it with a stock compressor bracket) making 160hp to the crank, which the B30 could do by shaving the head and chucking in the best cam you can get for it.
 
You make some fair points... I guess the idea was to avoid dealing with the B30 D-jet weirdness, but if I were to do a B230FT swap I would have to forgo LH 2.4 for something more custom anyway in order to make enough power to make the swap worth it. I mean, redblockpowered's stage 2 chip was looking pretty good but I'm not exactly sure if all of that effort is worth 230HP with ~3100 pounds. A V8 might be more up this cars alley. Or I could just be content with the B30 and try to just future proof the D-jet system. It is equipped with the M410 manual, so that is a nice plus. Do ya'll have any advice pertaining to D-jet?
 
Don't deal with the Djet crap. Either go to a stand alone like mega squirt or arduino. Or just put a set of ZS CD175 carbs on there. Personally, I would put carbs on there. With the best cam and raising the compression by shaving the head. You will easily make about 175hp with good torque. A bit more fun.
 
Fixing D jet, though expensive, is far cheaper than an engine swap.

Go look at my 144E thread and know that there were months of work and countless iterations on everything that didn't make it into the thread just to get a B23F to fit and drive well in that chassis. @AnthonyHardy2, @Pietercc, @Nagrom, and @CaliMeatWagon were witness to my descent into madness.

If I were to do it all again, I'd have just fixed the damn D jet.
 
Okay, sounds like a good consensus. What would the path look like for blocking the injector holes in the head, and getting a manifold and carbs? Also, what is this "Best cam" that is being spoken about? Is it another volvo penta thing like with the 531 heads? Thanks for the good info guys.
 
Oh awesome. Also, it is a B30F by the way so I guess that means I have the C cam with 8.7:1 compression. I couldn't really find any road going carb manifolds but I did find a triple carb manifold for a volvo penta AQ170... would that be compatible?
 
A B30F would have a D or K cam. C cams were in carbureted engines. VP sells a K cam kit.
vp-autoparts.com

Camshaft kit Volvo B30 profile K

Recomended tightening torque camshaft nut, 8 Kgm. (58 Lb.ft.) Use a folding washer or Loctite to loc...
vp-autoparts.com vp-autoparts.com

KGTrimning has some spicier cams.

The Penta manifolds/carbs will work. There are also manifolds for 3 Webers that can be used with Weber style throttle bodies.
 
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Side draft Solex AADHE are what Volvo used on their Competition Service/ R-Sport engines. They're similar to Weber side drafts.

I've never messed with the Penta down draft Solex carbs.
 
Toast_history_47 said:
You make some fair points... I guess the idea was to avoid dealing with the B30 D-jet weirdness, but if I were to do a B230FT swap I would have to forgo LH 2.4 for something more custom anyway in order to make enough power to make the swap worth it. I mean, redblockpowered's stage 2 chip was looking pretty good but I'm not exactly sure if all of that effort is worth 230HP with ~3100 pounds. A V8 might be more up this cars alley. Or I could just be content with the B30 and try to just future proof the D-jet system. It is equipped with the M410 manual, so that is a nice plus. Do ya'll have any advice pertaining to D-jet?
Click to expand...
I am going to lift the lid on my project a little. I am in the works with a B20E where I pull sync from my own design using the original distributor. I scrapped the D-jet. I am in the works doing a DCO ITB conversion later on. I have my own design Speeduino that can take low Z injectors (although I swapped my injectors already so not tested it out). I do not see why a B30E cannot be converted in the same fashion and churn out 220-240hp with little work. A B20E head as is is good for 160hp and that is what I am basing it off of.
 
Neat, are you still using the old MAP sensor with the speeduino, or is that just not a factor? I also found a case where someone modified a B30E/F intake to accept a carter 4 barrel, although he does not exactly make it clear how he went about doing it. it appears that he just made an adapter plate...

www.garaget.org

Volvo 164 (1969)

Freddan164s bil Volvo 164 (1969)
www.garaget.org www.garaget.org
 
Toast_history_47 said:
Neat, are you still using the old MAP sensor with the speeduino, or is that just not a factor? I also found a case where someone modified a B30E/F intake to accept a carter 4 barrel, although he does not exactly make it clear how he went about doing it. it appears that he just made an adapter plate...

www.garaget.org

Volvo 164 (1969)

Freddan164s bil Volvo 164 (1969)
www.garaget.org www.garaget.org
Click to expand...
The throttle body on a B30 should be about 70mm, I am not sure how they get a four barrel to fit well with an adapter plate.

You can't really use the original MAP sensor with modern systems. The original sensor actually modifies the waveform that controls the injectors via variable inductance. Modern ones just feed data to the ECU.

Edit: Oh it is a Garaget post, that explains the insanity a bit.
 
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I see, I am going to take a look at my B30F manifold tomorrow and think about the next step. So far, it appears that the penta intake setup with the solex carbs might be the most economical. Thanks for the help everyone!
 
Just get aftermarket ECU. Trigger from distributor. Maybe new injectors and FPR from Datsun. If you are handy there are HEI distros that can be easily adapted.
Your cam is probably dead, so K-cam is a good option, it will take you to 180hp region
Stock arrangement of exhaust is designed like that for a reason. Those long pipes from manifold to first silencer gives a strong low rpm torque.
 
Don't swap, M410 164s are really hard to find. We got the full on no emissions high compression B30Es up here but they're all rotten. I hope to some day have the money to import one from somewhere in Europe.
 
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