How much do you need to mill off the F head to make it into a E head?

You can't make an F head into an E head. They're completely different castings with different ports.

Hi,

My Haynes manual says that the height from cylinder head joint face to face for head bolts is 3.34 inches (84.9 mm) for a B20E and 3.42 inches (87 mm) for a B20F. The compression ratio is 8.7:1 for the B20F and 10.5:1 for a B20E yet the power difference is only 5 bhp and 7 lbs/ft torque. Is the small power increase worth the hassles of a higher compression ratio? You may end up losing that power increase if you have to retard the ignition to prevent pinging... Gas flowing might be much more useful.

Aidan
--
1967 131, 1969 131

The difference in power and torque is a combination of factors, NOT just the difference in chamber volume or CR.
Cleaning up the ports and combustion chamber and milling just enough off the head to give an acceptable/desired CR is the way to go. "E", "F", "Q" or "banana" are just labels and not magic unto themselves. You need to address the whole system from air cleaner to exhaust tip to get the best from your engine.

Mike!

You need to address the whole system from air cleaner to exhaust tip to get the best from your engine.

This essential and seemingly obvious fact is ignored by 98% of Volvo performance builders out there. If I may ask, Mike, who are you and how come you know this? Your posts consistently make sense. ???

Aw, shucks.

I'm a relative Volvo newbie but I've been scewing up ICE's fer years. Cut my teeth on air-cooled VW's (those die with a real BANG!) and progressed to MGs. Tinkered with this-n-that in between but always small displacement, naturally aspirated stuff. Dis-assembled more mistakes that I've built, however, thank the Spirit.

Mostly I'm a born skeptic and "improver" who just cannot understand why some things are the way they are... And bull-headed!

Educated as a Civil Engineer but I started by trying to become a MechE. Car stuff is all by the school of hard knocks and listening to other people's woes and triumphs. Shade-tree stuff.

Almost 40, wife and 4 kids (dozen assorted vehicles).

Pretty thin resume, eh?

Your'e the same Phil that occasionally publishes the e-mag for Volvo's, right? Can we expect a new one soon or is "life" intruding?

Mike!

Cool, thanks. That's pretty much how I've learned as well -- grew up wrenching on my older brother's series of old Brit sportscars, then went through a bunch of my own motorcycles, Fiat 850 and then 124 Spiders, rebuilt a '59 Corvette I bought for $600 (those were the days), butchered a few big-block Chevy motors (humbling but instructive), did a 180 and spent years tinkering with air-cooled VWs, learned fuel injection by owning a Renault nobody wanted to work on, then started "fixing up" a derelict old Volvo... been at it ever since.

Yes, I am that Phil. VClassics pretty much fell apart as any sort of organization, due to life intruding on pretty much everyone who was associated with it, not just me. Now my own over-the-top projects are under control (yes, the MPPE is finally tuned), I'm floating around on an island in the Puget Sound, wrenching on old Volvos and Brit sportscars for income, and giving some thought to what to do with the webzine, which I very much do want to revive in some form. No lack of tales to tell, for sure.

Meanwhile, I'll be writing a regular column and some additional articles for Rolling starting with the next issue.

Sorry to hear confirm but suspected the tale. Good to hear about the Rolling gig.

You are making a living fixing old cars??? wow. I couldn't do it because then I'd not have any reason to work on my own.

I thought you were an electron traffic cop (programmer) by trade? Was I thinking of one of your cohorts at VClassics?

Not Vashon (sp?) Island, certainly?

Enjoy yerself,

Mike!

p.s. forgot to mention the BSA... Wife wonders why I don't just buy $200.00 Chebbies and toss them when they finally die. Some people just never understand, I LIKE being wierd.

Mike,

VClassics will be back, and it'll be good. It'll happen when I can have fun doing it again. I spent the last four years as a Web developer for a WA State agency, and the resulting cubicle burnout may be a factor.

I'm on Whidbey Island, south part. There's not much employment opportunity here, but lots of old European cars with tool-challenged owners. It's the best gig I've been able to get going so far...

Whereabouts are you?

--Phil