Mechanical tips
Oilsystem
- Use pressed fittings when it comes to the oilsystem and use loctite or other locking sealant/fluid on bolts to the oilpump.
- When you take apart your engine there is a lot of information to take from looking closer at the condition of the bearings. The crankshaft can be bent/tight clearences. Early/high ignition point can break the oil film so that the upper bearing half failes. Link
- An oilpump with ball is better than the one with flat base which can capsize or get stuck (this is only true for the older b20/early b21 not b230 who you can just polish up/clean) with the consequence of oilpressure loss(volvo). Link
- An other common fault to witch the oilpressure light turns on at idling is that one of the rubber o-ring has failed/inproper assembly(squashed). Two original orings to each end is to prefer if you want it safe.
- With any horsepower upgrade from 16v and turbo we prefer to use the thicker coolingradiator from volvo 240 called "tropic" cooler or newer 740/940/960 (Total outermessurements Width71xHeight54xDepth6cm without connections
Cellpackage messurement W60xH50D4,5cm and the green expansionlid from 940 turbo for higher boilingpoint (margins).
- Ethanol as fuel increases the demand for better crankcase ventilation, recirculating ones is far from optimal and an open solution from the cylinderhead is the prefered way.
The more horsepower output from the engine the smaller margins for mistakes/faults it becomes, which can lead to engine knocking and destroyed engine.It's crucial to get input data from monitoring sensors and set thresholds preferebly in an engine management box. Oil temperature is one of those, as oil ages faster at higher temperatures.
Always make sure that the oil has come uo to operating temperatures before you go flat out, oiltemp is not the same as enginetemp.
The following is general oilpan temperatures:
- 90-110°C idealtemp, this is so that water/condensation could vaporize.
- 110-120°C fine.
- 120-130°C fine for shorter periods, but needs more cooling if this is it's normal state.
- 130-140°C To hot, needs more cooling.
- >140°C russian roulette.
A good/strong clutchkit is sinter(4-6 pucks) or buy a used chevrolet 2-3 disc together with a quartermaster 7.25" from USA. As gearbox is a bmw zf/getrag and 1-2 rubber hardydiscs from volvo/bmw M. Tilton has a "flow control valve" that takes away some of the worst drivetrain abuse, it is also mounted as standard on some cars (nissan 200sx for example). Or else your local hydraulics shop have one with same characteristics of restricting/delay softenup clutch engagement. Avoid clutchdisc hubs with springs with torque of 600Nm or beyond as they become to hot and loses there tension and starts rattle.
Engine recipe fun volvo redblock ohc "8v"
With a standard body and 400 to maximum 450whp i personally think a b230 is at its best/economic sweetspot, more than that requires a bigger turbo and they becomes less responsive/laggy if you dont buy a proper raceturbo with witch 500whp is reachable. But with that comes so high boost pressures(torque) that reliability on engine and drivetrain is significantly affected.
An common "cheap" recipe that gives much "bang for the buck". give or take full torque from 4500 rpm, revlimiter at moderate 7300-7500, boost pressure 1,5-1,7 bar (21,7-24,6 psi, and should be around 350-400whp depending on where you dyno, who is tuning, fuel etc.
B230 base with h-profile rods and standard pistons (built on a "fresh" block, no drilling or grinding of crankshaft, etc.)
"street port" 530 cylinderhead or lightly touch upped 531 (standard valves is good enought for this effect, possibly 38mm exhaust) mira grinded valveseats milling with a few nicer seat angles mostly for personal satisfaction, even if it does not make any difference.
A very well-tested fine camshaft is axt 275 114 degree nock angle, there are a lot of other combinations that give the same or marginally better effect, etc., but this one among them I tested is unbeatable in terms of fine rev register with really good vacuum etc
(a b230 with bad vacuum becomes boring in the low and middle registers, and more difficult to tune over all) standard intake or some "plainer race-intake manifold" mostly for the looks of it, neither here is a big difference.
"ported" volvo 940 turbo exhaust manifold or a more simple "xtractor tube manifold)" (dont buy the china stainless steel one which have bad welds) at least 3 " exhaust size(preferably 3.25" -3.5 ") fuel injector at least 1280cc for ethanol
ignition system I'm only running wastefire or cop (coil on plug) on such a motor, distributors usually fail and the MSD gadgets are of low quality.
Turbo then, it's here (in cooperation with the camshaft and a good mapping/tuning) like the whole secret how the engine will be sitting.
personally I have two favorites if you want something "cheap" borgwarner / swister 200 / s2 with a small exhaust gas (usually find new / used for a few hundred pounds even though they have decreased in number of recent years)
or alternatively, an upgraded china turbo "t34 / t04e / tb58" "dear child has many names" These turbos have a relatively modern design, exhaust wheel around 56-58mm exducer, 52-56mm inducer.
These turbos respond well without giving too much pressure, and can pull the engine to the revlimiter quite well without complaining.
Bang for the buck Bmw with original engine mangement system
NOTE! ALL CARS DOWN BELOW ARE WITH STANDARD INJECTION BOX AND ORIGINAL CHIP.
- make sure that the car is working fine with all Se till att bilen funkar bra org med alla givare mm.
- buy a wideband lambda.
- Before you start make sure you buy a set of sparkplugs (ngk bcpr7es) and narrow the sparkgap to 0.45mm.
- Use a apropriate turbo i have tried from 50mm- 64mm turbo impeller width(inlet). full boost should arrive after 4000rpm and if you have standard cylinderhead bolts try to stay under 1bar in boost pressure. ARP bolts/studs is a good alternative to change without needing to take the camshafts out.
- most primative solutions of piping from original exhaust manifold works for these moderate horsepower numbers.
- Remove the original fuelpressure regulator and replace it with a dummy/plug it shut.
- Buy a progressive 2:1 fuelpressure regulator.
- 525cc fuel injectors on ethanol/e85 works great any smaller and the engine goes rich on deload so it can give proper fuel on fullload/boost. And if you run with bigger fuel injectors it goes lean on low load so it can give proper lambda on full load.
- Rebuild the air measure measurer to 3.5"-4". there are some different ways to build on but make sure you get it bigger. air mass sensor with heated thread is best to have on the suction side before the turbo.
- Use glue or other way to seal the connection for the idle motor on the intake manifold.
- rebuild the crankcase ventilation so that it dosn´t connect to the intake manifold.
- i recommend to change the bmw engine cooler to an volvo with separate expansion tank. As an alternative sease the original cooler fan and drill a 5mm hole i the enginecooler thermostat.
- Dont build to small exhaust system, 3" minimum.
- Buy a proper fuelpump, the walbro 450l/h is a very good intank pump for the fueltank.
Then you need a intercooler, clutch and more but the recepie above is proven to work best. 👍
Short specification on some old builds:
E36 m52b28 -98
Step1: t70 turbo, brown volvo injectors 334cc, 2:1 btr. 396whp at 0.9 boost on gasoline
Step2: t70 turbo, 525cc, 2:1 btr. 439whp at 1.2, at 1.3 headgasket broke.
Step3: m50 med 328 topp, mls, arp,k29, 2:1 btr, 730cc. broken lambda and air mass sensor= runs rich before turbo pressure.
464who at 1,5.
Volvo 960 m50b25iv
Step1: hx35, 525cc, 2:1btr, 4" lmm
448whp vid 1,35 before headgasket blew.
Changed to 3mm gasket and arp-headbolts then we run it on 1.5bar in boost.
528 med m50b25 iv.
brown volvo injectors 334cc, t3t4, 2:1 btr. 303whp vid 0,55 in boost.
Bmw 740 m60.
525Cc, 2:1 btr, k31.
514whp at 0,7.