People at the 1800 list already know all about me, but Walrus3 said people might be interested in what happens when young people have too many ideas, but no brains, no money, and too much time.

This is my story and I’m sticking to it. I should start with a disclaimer; I did all of this back in the 1970’s when I was 22 year old and as my neighbor always told me, “James, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing!)

I started by jacking up my 4 speed 1800 and automatic 164 side by side and lying under each for hours and hours measuring, often waking up on the garage floor with a back ache (Alcohol was involved and my memory is very foggy).

After cutting out the transmission tunnel, notching the front
radiator support and replacing it with a piece of angle iron, & dimpling the right wheel inner panel, the fuel injected engine and automatic trans almost dropped right in, one cylinder forward of the stock engine and one cylinder behind.

The stock rubber motor mounts didn't fit so I built some longer hard rubber
ones with a long bolt running through to the aluminum b30 engine
mounts. I also had to build 3/4" aluminum spacers to move the mounts outwards. This is pretty Mickey Mouse but the welded tabs on the cross member could be moved and rewelded
for stock mounts (I didn’t own a welder).

I used the transmission tunnel out of my donor 164 which fit pretty
well with little reforming. I moved the heater box to the battery location and the battery to the right side of the trunk. The shifter fit perfectly, but I cut the top of it off and glued the knob on to lower it.

I had to build a new transmission crossbar and installed the 164 gas peddle after bending the brake and clutch peddle over a few inches.

With an automatic transmission and 4.30:1 rear axle, the thing would burn up the xwx Michelin 185-70x15 tires in first and squawk them in second. I finally obtained a 410 transmission w/ overdrive and bolt this up to my shortened 1800 driveshaft and immediately sheared off the u-joint yolks dropping the clutch.

To fit the 164 rear axel, I welded the control arm brackets from the
1800 axel onto the 164 axel and it also fit right in. The 164 rear axle is 1.5” wider, but was not a problem with my original 15”x5.5” steel wheel that I had widened to 6.5”.

I had the front drive shaft from the 164 shortened and it also bolted right
in as if it had been designed for the 1800.

I had wiring schematics for both cars but not all of the wires were
shared by the same harnesses. I still haven't figured out how to get
the cold start valve to work. When I hooked it up the wire insulation vaporized. The speedometer either, for that matter,
but I always planed on installing a 3.73:1 ring and pinion and I drive using the tack like in NASCAR and that is usually at
6000 rpm shifts.

The radiator was custom built and sits in the front nose w/ two
Subaru electric fans, the only short body fans built back in the 70’s.

I also cut off part of the pivot of a Delco alternator to the length of the Volvo alternator, enlarged the hole, welded an angle on the Volvo slotted adjusting bracket and threw away the crappy Volvo alternator and regulator. I have since learned that a curved adjusting bracket can be obtained at auto parts stores.

All in all, the 1800 was almost designed for the b30 drive train and
I can't understand why Volvo never built them with them.

The 1974 b30 engine was only rated at something like 138hp and 154
foot pounds of torque which is about what the b20 engine
had, but it really woke up my car (I wish that I had saved my 71 164). With a wore out 100,000 + mile engine, and high drag tires and flares, I recently went out and ran it through a crude ¼ mile and top speed run and calculate a 16 second ¼ mile @ 90 mph w/ a top speed of 120 mph @5000rpm in 4th gear. This can be seen on you tube @:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKn-LTNa4rc

My next plan is that I will bet that the 164 front suspension cross member would almost
bolt in giving you power steering, vented brake rotors one piece spindles and control arms and better geometry.. The 164 cross member bolt holes are about 24" apart and the 1800’s
are about 26.5". I will have to hog out the notch in the so called frame of the 1800 where the upper control arm pass through and replace it with rectangular tubing. Another piece of tubing welded on the inside of this will mount the cross member and steering box from the 164. I will continue with tubing around the perimeter of the car and add a 10 point roll cage.

Of course, after getting rid of the 1800’s upper control arms, a V8 should drop right in. The next step is to turn the thing into a Camero with a 350 Chevy V8 or maybe a 295hp 4.2 liter 4 valve per cylinder aluminum straight 6 with new trans, driveshaft and rear axle. I tried to price out a healthy street motor from KG Trimning in Sweden, but since I can’t read Swedish, I don’t know what I was reading or if I used the right dollar to kronor conversion factor. It looked like it would cost over $5000.00 (ouch) and I don’t know how much hp I would get.

I also forgot to mention the 15x10” and 15”x12” Weld Racing Draglite wheels and 265/50 and 295/50 BF Goodrich tires I installed after having my local (worthless) machine shop weld up and redrill the hubs and axles for a 5x4 ½” bolt pattern which wound up a 1/10th inch out of round.

That’s all there is to it, but just when I was finally figuring it all out and ready to redo things right, I got married, had kids and now 22 years later, after finding these Volvo sites and discovering that I am not the only Volvo nut on the planet, I am again inspired and I hope to steal enough grocery money and finally finish my project. What is the speed of the world’s fastest Volvo anyway?