While finishing up this summers projects, my affliction has reared its ugly head for next summer already. I am contemplating doing or having engine modifation to increase horsepower (vroom).

I am by no means a 'motorhead' ;). So I,m seeking opinions and advice. My 1800E has 49K (yup thats correct - 49K), and no previous engine rebuild or mods. I have read a little on what's available and was thinking of the following: Larger valves with hardened valve seats with an IPD cam (?which one?)with lifters and springs, an IPD header, and a new exhaust sytem.

Does anybody have opinions or advice on these? Is there anything else I should think of (?ignition upgrade)?

Thanks - Randolph

If the body is in good shape try to keep the car original or only make changes that can be easily returned to original. Rust free, low miles 1800-Es are getting harder and harder to find. This is my list of suggestions. Change to an electronic ignition, buy IPD's header, IPD sway bars, better shocks. The 1800-E is pritty fast when properly tuned. Make certain the valves are properly adjusted, double check the ignition dwell and timing; I have found that makes a major difference in performance,and set the fuel pressure to 30 psi.

You have a 1970 1800E-with only 49,000 miles! Its already almost as fast as they get! You have large valves-fuel injection-high compression. 135 HP if im not mistaken! I wouldnt get too carried away-sounds like a nice origional car. Lots of money - and time, and it might go slightly faster-unless you opt for nitrous-or something crazy! MattB hasnt got around to his mothball research yet-that might work too! If you had an old 1800-with 1 header pipe, and a worn out B-18-youd have a lot more room for improvement. There are prices to be paid for fancy camshafts in cars like yours. (rough idle-lousy milage-time and money) Your car already had a pretty good cam in it. 135 horse out of a pushrod 2.0 litre engine is very good. If you are really out to drive hard, and rev it high all the time-spend the money-it will go slightly faster-it will be finiky, get bad gas milage-and wear out much sooner. If you have lots to spend-there are definitly lots of folks who will take it, but-Id get a 2nd car-a fast one. VOLVOS ARE NOT FAST! I did all kinds of stuff to my P-1800, and I feel pretty tough when I blow a GEO metro off the line. They are safe-heavy-wear out very slowly-and they have TRACTOR MOTORS under the hood. If you want something fast-that you can work on all the time-get a...well, take your pick, but not a volvo! Truly fast cars start at about the price of a volvo camshaft-and go up from there.

Most of us wish we were starting where you are. The B20E is a high compression engine that produces more stock horsepower than just about any non-turbo 4 cylinder Volvo has ever built. I think that I would avoid most "major" work. Port and polish the head and put an IPD header on it. Yes, hardened seats are a must, but I don't think I'd go for bigger valves. That tends to get a bit risky. Wait and see if you are pleased with what you have done before you go for the cam. This will keep the car very drive-able, yet give you more horsepower.

My experience is with B20s in 122s with carbs, mostly

but I would second what John said except I am not sure

that hardened seats are a necessity unless you are going

to do a lot of continuous high-speed driving (a few days a

week). You can avoid a LOT of valve grief by just keeping

your valve lash where it ought to be or a little looser. (0.020-

0.021"). Keeping your ignition timing right is also beneficial,

because late timing causes a lot of heat to get away out the

exhaust valve and is about like a torch on it.

You may find that your cam and/or lifters are going downhill.

B20 cams are famous for that. If so, get an IPD cam and

lifter kit, using the 7001 cam. Don't get the double valve

springs -- they do more harm to the cam than good for

performance as long as you are below about 6 - 6.5K RPM.

This cam lugs well and turns on pretty hard above about

2500 on up. The B20 version is a billet cam and very

reliable.

(I had a couple soft welds on a welded B30

version. Apparently the volume is not good enough to

justify a billet cam for the B30. IPD DID replace the bad

cam for me and would have paid me for installation also.

The replacement in my 164, now probably 7 or 8

years old, is still a pretty impressive performer.)

I agree-Ive heard a lot about hardened valve seats-but Ive never really had any problems with volvo engines and unleaded fuel. I also agree that its wise to keep them a bit on the loose side. I always feel comfortable if I can hear them-at least a little bit. Ive seen them tighten up a few times-not sure why, maybe on new valve jobs the seat breaks in or something. Ive even known folks to tighten their valves too much-drive a long ways-and do no harm.(one good freind had a valve job done-over tightened them and moved a couple thousand miles away. He called me telling me how bad his car was running-I never thought about a bad valve adjustment. A year later-and many thousand miles, he limped back on about 2.5 cylenders-we loosened the valves-and it was just fine) When cams go bad in B-20's, dont they go fast-and its very noticable? I would never worry about the cam in any B-20 unless there was an obvious problem-like the valves needing very frequent adjustment or something. Ive heard a lot about cams in early B-20 being bad-all the problems Ive had though have been with '74 volvos(this could be just a matter of bad luck though)

The problem is as much with the lifters as with the cams.

The OEM lifters have a very hard skin which is not very

thick on the surface that rides on the cam. If you find an

OEM lifter that is anything but dead flat and shiny, you can

pretty much count on the cam being damaged. Once the

skin wears through, the edge is hard and sharp and is almost

like a cutting tool on the cam. The hardest area to keep

lubricated is the cam/lifter interface because it is mostly a

line contact with very high unit pressure.

A check on the cam is to put a ruler longitudinally

on the peak of the lobe in question. If it is at all

rounded lengthwise (doesn't touch the ruler all the

way across) it has started to go. I think this problem

was worst in the mid 70s but have also seen it in

B18s. Do NOT under any circumstances try to

"save" a damaged lifter. It will only destroy your

cam.

Also cams may go in anywhere from a couple minutes to

several thousand miles depending on condition of lifters

and driving circumstances.

Re: valves too tight -

They may be OK after being run "tight" too long but

chances are good that if you tear it down, you'll find

pits or cracks in the seating area of exhaust valves

run without enough clearance. May run OK for quite

a while. Once you get a crack, though, it is a tiny

flame passage during the combustion stroke, so it

will indeed get bigger and worse and continue

to cause the valve to run hotter than it otherwise

would.

You can make a strong engine out of a B20 without much loss of driveability. Just don't get too wild with the cam, for a street engine I would say the F-cam is the maximum (300 degrees, not much overlap, pulls strong from 2500-7000). If you do this you should also swap your d-jet for carbs (Weber DCOE 40 or 45's). If you want to keep the d-jet I suggest you keep the D or K-cam. I know that there exist tweaked D-jets that can have fueling set in 10 percent increments but the major drawback is that the you get 10 percent richer or leaner over the whole range which isn't good at all (if low end power and consumption is good than top end suffers and vice versa). You could port the head but you need to know exactly what you are doing or the result will be disapointing. The maximum size for the valves is 46mm intake and 38.5mm exhaust with normal guides and 46 mm in and 40 mm out with offset guides. If you get bigger valves be sure to enlarge the combustion chamber around the intake valve to unshroud the valves otherwise it won't give you extra power. Get a header with big tubing, not the skinny pipes. On the dyno it became obvious that almost all 4/1 headers loose much power in the low and midrange and only give about 3 hp gain over a stock two pipe manifold (this was with the carburettors rejetted and ignition reset to optimal for each header and on the same engine). A big tubed 4/2/1 with the cyl 2 and 3 tubes on the outside of cyl 1 and 4 tubing gives much better low and midrange and comparable top end.