Volvo RWD 120-130 Forum

INDEX FOR 10/2025(CURRENT) INDEX FOR 1/2023 120-130 INDEX

[<<] [>>]

THREADED

THREADED EXPANDED

FLAT

PRINT ALL

MESSAGES IN THIS THREAD

REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE

SAVE

Need Help ID'ing a B20 Head 120-130

posted by someone claiming to be tommyt544 on Sun Apr 19 12:53 CST 2020 [RELATED]

Getting some conflicting reports on what I might have, ranging from a Canadian/Euro market B20F to a potential "R" performance head. Can anyone help?

The deck height is approximately 86.7mm ish
The combustion chamber is 92mm x 56mm (approximately)
The intake valves are 44mm and the exhaust 35mm.

The serial is 460914
There are other markings that say "14TBG" and "111"

It is an injector head with undrilled injectors. The serial is on the upper portion near the head bolt on the manifold side.

Images linked here: https://imgur.com/a/OP4OaNy

REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE

SAVE

Need Help ID'ing a B20 Head 120-130

posted by Volvo From Heck on Sun Apr 19 15:14 CST 2020
Author: [PROFILE] [EVERY POST] [THREADS] [BEST POSTS]

[IGNORE ALL POSTS]

last visit: Mon Oct 13 20:56 CST 2014

[RELATED]

I have some info--and a question. The only Greenbook I could find quickly is actually for a 1972 164 but I think this will apply to your B20 head. A deck height of 86.7mm would apply to a B30A - carburetted and a compression ratio (CR) of 9.3:1 . A B30E would have a deck height of 85.5mm and a CR of 10:1. B30F would have a deck height of 87mm and CR of 8.7:1.
My question--you mention the undrilled platform for injectors - but what do the intake ports look like? Are they machined for a locating ring? Or tapered outward as the E & F heads are, with locating pins in the head?
What you have sounds a lot like the head I used on my 1969 B20. My head has the 44mm intakes and flat surfaces where injectors might be located but it has the machined locating rings. I remember calculating (using a B20 Greenbook) it had the lowest CR (8.7). I had it milled .125" to bring it over 10:1 on a B20. The first B20E's came in at 10.5:1 (135hp). When I first built that head it was for a B18 so the CR was lower, more like the '67-'68 US market B18's with 10:1 CR. (108 cu. in.- 115 hp). Sorry to disappoint you if you thought you had a high performance head. I port matched my exhausts and cleaned up them up - left the intakes alone. I've always thought it all worked out well. -- Dave

REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE

SAVE

Need Help ID'ing a B20 Head 120-130

posted by planetman on Sun Apr 19 15:59 CST 2020
Author: [PROFILE] [EVERY POST] [THREADS] [BEST POSTS]

[IGNORE ALL POSTS]

last visit: Fri Oct 24 09:29 CST 2014

[RELATED]

460914 is a B20B cylinder head with the larger 44 mm intake valves used on the fuel injected heads that was made for the carburated 1973-1974 140s and was the updated head for the earlier B20 engines.

It's fairly rare in the US as it only came stock on 1973-1974 carburated 140s and AFAIK you had to special order a carburated 140 in those years as fuel injection was standard equipment by then.

--
Eric
Hi Performance Automotive Service (formerly OVO or Old Volvos Only)
Torrance, CA 90502
hiperformanceautoservice.com or oldvolvosonly.com

REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE

SAVE

Need Help ID'ing a B20 Head 120-130

posted by someone claiming to be tommyt544 on Sun Apr 19 20:21 CST 2020 [RELATED]

This nails it. Ok, now I have something to work with. How would you proceed? I know that my block will never have the best flow given that the cylinder bore will not match the head.

B18 block bored to 0.040"
K cam
123 GT manifold
2" exhaust

Do I keep this head that has resulted in a low compression reading between 120-130psi across all cylinders?

Do I shave it to a B20E standard or more to increase compression?

Do I leave it alone?

Do I try to find a better B18 head and work on that?

Thanks Eric. You were the first with the right info!

REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE

SAVE

Need Help ID'ing a B20 Head 120-130

posted by B20Paul. on Mon Apr 20 17:45 CST 2020
Author: [PROFILE] [EVERY POST] [THREADS] [BEST POSTS]

[IGNORE ALL POSTS]

last visit: Mon Oct 20 10:54 CST 2014

[RELATED]

The single flat next to the centre head bolt on the manifold side makes it a 73+ head like Eric said, A/B/E/F they all have an improved exhaust port that responds much better to porting due to a larger SSR. It is 1st choice for a maximum port job because it has meat in the inlet ports that is hogged out in E/F heads. It is 1st choice for strokers too.

Compression depends what octane fuel you want to use.

"I know that my block will never have the best flow given that the cylinder bore will not match the head."

92mm front to rear combustion chamber doesn't match an 88.9mm B20 either! You just need to use a B20B/E headgasket when you bolt it on. Later you can bore your B18 to B20, or put it on a B20, I would not touch a B18 head unless you had to. Some historic races might force you to use a B18 head, but that limits valve sizes.

With the K cam, which is one of the only cams to use with stock springs, any head with a decent valve grind will work because the inlet doesn't actually open high enough to use the flow figures from a ported head. I wouldn't let anyone port the exhaust unless they are B20 experts, because it is far to easy to take meat out of the wrong place & ruin it, just a proper valve grind & back cut the valves.

REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE

SAVE

Need Help ID'ing a B20 Head 120-130

posted by someone claiming to be tommyt544 on Mon Apr 20 21:29 CST 2020 [RELATED]

All this info is helping me better understand what I have and what I should do with it. I thought maybe the best thing was to sell this B20B head or potentially trade it for a ported B18B head that would simply bolt on. Maybe I should keep it...

Would you shave the head to B20E specs?

You mention that porting it is dangerous. Are there specs out there that would help a machinist only take the right amount off?

Sounds like a valve grind and cut would help.

I need to do a new compression test. I did one immediately after putting it on the B18 block and only had 120PSI which seems oddly low. I'll warm up the engine fully and hopefully the valves had some time to seat themselves. I don't mind putting 91 premium octane (Shell here in Canada) as it's one of the few without ethanol.

REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE

SAVE

Need Help ID'ing a B20 Head 120-130

posted by B20Paul. on Mon Apr 27 17:34 CST 2020
Author: [PROFILE] [EVERY POST] [THREADS] [BEST POSTS]

[IGNORE ALL POSTS]

last visit: Mon Oct 20 10:54 CST 2014

[RELATED]

Do you have the head on & running with a thin B20 headgasket?

"Would you shave the head to B20E specs?"

Not if you already have it on & running. For high compression you must have stellite exhaust seat + B20E valves or better.

What is your ultimate goal? It's not worth doing anything to the head now if you are aiming to go to a bigger motor it the future.

As for current lack of grunt, that is partially compression, but mostly the big intake valve.

Cam timing: The K cam is single pattern & symeterical. Put the crank pulley to TDC & you should have both valves open the same amount on the cylinder which is in the overlap phase.(1 or 4). This is straight up timing. Ideally you would want to see the inlet open slightly further, which would indicate the cam is advanced. If it's retarded, you will loose grunt for no gain.

Lash: The old cams have long lash ramps which allow you to vary the clearence a lot. I would leave the exhaust @.018-.020", widen the inlets to .022"

Ignition Timing: with your lack of compression ratio, you can have the advance come in as fast as possible. Loosen the thick spring so it never comes in, then loosen the thin spring until it lets the advance start at 1000rpm.

Have you actually looked inside the distributor, cleaned it all out, checked the clearences & lubed it?

REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE

SAVE

Need Help ID'ing a B20 Head 120-130

posted by someone claiming to be tommyt544 on Thu Apr 30 18:08 CST 2020 [RELATED]

Hi B20Paul,

The valve lash you're mentioning is something I haven't heard before. Can you explain more about why you'd recommend the variances between inlet and exhaust? I think my book called for 016-018" and they're currently all at 016.

REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE

SAVE

Need Help ID'ing a B20 Head 120-130

posted by someone claiming to be tommyt544 on Tue Apr 28 16:50 CST 2020 [RELATED]

This is all excellent advice. The 003 dizzy was completely rebuilt so it should be fine.

REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE

SAVE

Need Help ID'ing a B20 Head 120-130

posted by Volvo From Heck on Sun Apr 19 18:43 CST 2020
Author: [PROFILE] [EVERY POST] [THREADS] [BEST POSTS]

[IGNORE ALL POSTS]

last visit: Mon Oct 13 20:56 CST 2014

[RELATED]

That's interesting. I had no idea a carbed 140 could be had here in '73 . I always figured the head I used came from a Canada car. It was the only one like it in a pile of maybe 50-60 cylinder heads. I only used intuition to make my mods and never had it flow tested or dyno'd the motor--but my '69 144 goes like stink--at least as good as any healthy 140E I've driven. Dave

REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE

SAVE

Need Help ID'ing a B20 Head 120-130

posted by planetman on Sun Apr 19 21:50 CST 2020
Author: [PROFILE] [EVERY POST] [THREADS] [BEST POSTS]

[IGNORE ALL POSTS]

last visit: Fri Oct 24 09:29 CST 2014

[RELATED]

As I said,. they were relatively rare here in the US, but Volvo sold the 460914 head as a replacement for the early B20B and then later replaced it with a 462889.
--
Eric
Hi Performance Automotive Service (formerly OVO or Old Volvos Only)
Torrance, CA 90502
hiperformanceautoservice.com or oldvolvosonly.com

<< < > >>

Brickboard.com is not affiliated with nor sponsored by AB Volvo, Volvo Car Corporation, Volvo Cars of North America, Inc. or Ford Motor Company. Brickboard.com is a Volvo owner/enthusiast site, similar to a club, and does not intend to pose as an official Volvo site. The official Volvo site can be found here.