I've been building on and driving Volvo's for many years. Mostly 1800s but the question is on my 142. 15 years ago I stuffed a 302 Ford in her and now that I'm retired I want to clean up a few loose ends. Has anyone converted their 140 to rack & pinion? Getting rid of that steering box would let me run some decent headers, instead of the way I originally did it. Sorry in advance to the purists, but I stopped doing restorations years ago and now I just have fun.
Great site BTW.

I'm far from a genious at modifying cars.. but here are some pictures of a 164 that had a jaguar v12 stuffed in it.. looks like it has a manual rack of somekind and an interesting steering assembly to allow for more clearance.. Also there's a pictures of a 140 with the inner fenders removed.. and last but not least is another 142 with a 302(I believe in it).. looks like custom headers? I wouldn't know however.











Hopefully those work.. i tend to muck it up all the time.

Thanks so much for sharing the photos. 4 of them showed in the thread, I'll search the links of yours for the others. A V-12 Jag in a 164-- all I can say is WHY? I pulled the 12 out of my XJS and now have a corvette 350 TPI, the car is now a pleasure and the V-12 is my wine rack / coffee table. The last photo I saw looks like a Rover V-8, the old alloy Buick olds 215 inch if I recall.

Glad you found them usefull/interesting. Thats a pretty cool coffee table you have there! I've got 100's of 140 series pictures.. so if there is anything else you want to see let me know, I might have a picture.

Good luck with your car.

I knew i wouldn't get em all first go :)

not working... :-P Just post the links to your pictures... We can go from there... =D
--
Kyle - '68 142? - Oregon Volvo Tuners?

http://www.djhudson.com/images/mods/1-12-4/Framvagn V.JPG

http://www.djhudson.com/images/mods/1-12-4/Lagrad med vipparmar V12.JPG

http://www.djhudson.com/images/mods/1-12-4/Styrstången till nya servot V12.JPG

http://www.djhudson.com/images/mods/142 turbo/motor.jpg

http://www.djhudson.com/images/mods/73658.jpg

I just don't know anymore.. they were displaying for me

wierd, I think they may work... But, I still can't see them... And when I go to your website, it says that it can't be found... I unno.
--
Kyle - '68 142? - Oregon Volvo Tuners?

If you put a small turbo on each of those manifolds, exhaust backpressure would not be a significant problem any longer.
New problems: traction, driveline breakage, points on license...

Boy that got me thinking, twin turbos. Do turbos have a problem with 10:1 CR? And what would be a small one? Give me a couple of applications and I'll go to my local yard next week. Thanks for the idea, I like it :)

So...what everyone is wondering...
What'll she do?
How much heavier is the 302 compared to a B20?
Did the 164 ever come with rack&pinion? That would adapt well if it did,(I would think). ...or was that the 264?
Check out the Summit racing catolog, it has a quick ratio MustangII non-power rack setup.
just some thoughts,
Chris

I built a 427 Ford Cobra replica few years back (used a 460 though...) and I installed a narrowed Mustang II non power steering rack. It was the only disappointing part of the car - way too slow ratio. I have heard that some use the early Subaru rack which has a good ratio and is non-power assist. Narrowing a power rack is less fun.

Firstly, welcome! Looks like a fun car you gotcha there....

I don't think you need to worry much about purists here. Most of us know that there's plenty of 140s to go around, so if you want to stick a V8 in one, hats off.

As for the steering though... that's beyond my know how. But it sure seems a lot of folks doing conversions (granted, on other types of cars) use that Mustang II unit.. I don't know if it would work in the Volvo or not

But you already know that.

Keep us posted as to how it goes, and stick around the board... Folks frequently asking advice about drivetrain replacements.. you could be of help in that regard.

--
-Matt '70 145s, '65 1800s, '66 122s wagon, others inc. '53 XK120 FHC

I'm no purist... That looks like a job well done.

Have you looked at what it would take to stuff a shortened
240 front end under the hood and between the fenders of a 140?
The 240 is a 140 that volvo revised to allow V motors, mostly
by changing the front suspension around.

For the expense and trouble, I'd say you're probably better
off starting with a 75-80 242, not because the 140s should be
saved but just because the 240s were set up for the V6 or I6
from the start.

How much more nose heavy is it that way? What are those
manifolds from?
chris

The manifolds are just reworked stock Fords turned upside down. I thought about the 240 setup since I could get the complete nose cheap, but what was holding me back was the strut front springing of the 240s. It took alot of measuring and weighing to get the custom front and rear coils right to give me the ride height I wanted. As far as nose heavy goes, not all that noticable to me as the car was a carbed B20 and a auto. so it wasn't fun in the twisties to begin with.

I actually meant that you should just go out and buy a nice
rust free 242 and put a fresh V8 into that. Of course, that's
no real fun at all...

Have you looked at the "mustang II" setups? There is an
interesting article on them at:

http://www.rodandcustommagazine.com/techarticles/54298/


chris

I can't answer your question about the rack and pinion steering, but that is a very nice and tidy installation of the Ford engine. Great job! I'm not a purist - I installed a 92 5.0 HO in an 82 GLT a few years back.