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Interchangable engines for the ES 1800

Does anyone out there know which Volvo engines are interchangable in my 1973 ES? I was thinking that a newer engine might breath some life into my little girl. How about turbocharging? Is there a "kit" for my car that would work? Will the stock ECU work with a turbo? I would like a bit more HP as I am tired of looking at the rear bumpers of the little Japanese cars when the light turns green. Thanks.








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    Interchangable engines for the ES 1800

    The 1800ES' were the least powerful of the series, as Volvo switched to a low-compression 'F' head and introduced emissions control equipment beginning with 1972 model year vehicles.

    If your ES is now smog exempt, you could swap in an 'E' head from a '70-'71 1800E, which would theoretically yield an increase of about 18 horsepower. Supposing that there are no other differences between the B20E and the B20F, which could be a totally erroneous assumption on my part.

    Beyond that, there are a plethora of aftermarket performance parts for your engine. Check with IPD (www.ipdusa.com) and RPR (www.rprusa.com).

    Regarding your query as to what engines are interchangeable, any OHV red block motor will mate perfectly with your existing drive train. That includes the B16, B18, and B20. The B16 and B18 are, of course, smaller engines and would be a step backwards in terms of power and economy. None of the OHC engines (B21, B23, B230) will work.










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    Interchangable engines for the ES 1800

    My take on the "want more power" issue is this... and it is this because I've made many silly mistakes over the years.

    1) Do you know that your present motor is performing as it was designed to do? Worn and/or mistuned motors may appear to run well; they just don't make much power. Fixing what's wrong is far cheaper, simpler, and less prone to nasty side effects than doing performance "upgrades," and may well be all you need. You can get quite a bit more performance from blueprinting, balancing, and very minor head work -- this gives you a better-than-factory motor at a budget cost.

    2) If you do need more power than item #1 provides, you can get vast performance increases from a B20 if the modifications are done in a well-engineered way. Performance comes from the entire system, including intake, exhaust, the motor's internal parts, and really the car as a whole all working in harmony to produce the desired characteristics. You cannot get anything significant from just bolting on a header, or changing out the cam, doing a big bore, or anything of that sort. It takes real engineering, but it is there to be had.

    3) Vintage Performance Developments offers a supercharger kit that will boost performance of a stock B20 significantly. It is the exception to what I said in item #2. The current version of the kit replaces your fuel injection. Kits are under development that will work with your existing fuel injection, but I wouldn't expect that to be available this year. There may be a long wait for the basic kit, as this is a very limited production item and each is basically hand made.

    4) Engine swaps are certainly possible, but not at all simple. The devil is in the details. As George said, B21/23 motors in stock form are really quite similar to your B20 and don't offer much performance increase. Turbo is a possibility, but what I said in item #3 is simpler, more effective, and likely cheaper in the end.

    --Phil S.








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    Interchangable engines for the ES 1800

    Most of the engine changes are either pretty difficult or amount to
    performance mods of an engine almost exactly like yours.

    You can gain a LOT of power if you do it right though, and your D-jet
    is a really great system for performance compared to most others.
    Might look at Vclassics articles on engine building. I don't always
    agree with them but they are loaded with great info.
    --
    George Downs, The "original" Walrus3, Bartlesville, Oklahoma







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