• Hello Guest, welcome to the initial stages of our new platform!
    You can find some additional information about where we are in the process of migrating the board and setting up our new software here

    Thank you for being a part of our community!

Cheap Performance Increase

1968 volvo

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 29, 2021
Location
Santa Rosa California
Hello Turbo Bricks. I have a 1968 Volvo 142s with a b20 in it and su hs6 carburetors. It currently has a bw35 in it but I hopefully very soon will have swapped a m40 into it.

Anyway.. I have been rebuilding the car and I have been setting everything back to the specs in the Haynes manual. I was wondering if there any good cheap modifications or tuning that I can do to pump out a little bit more power from the 4 cylinder. I'm not trying to go crazy and I really don't want it to be too hard on the engine but I think it would be fun to play around with. :cool:
 
Nitrous oxide. Jk

Don't they make cams for those things? Idk much about making the old ones faster with the original engine.
 
Nitrous oxide. Jk

Don't they make cams for those things? Idk much about making the old ones faster with the original engine.

Why yes they do.

Street Performance Camshaft - B18 B20 $275.95

https://www.ipdusa.com/Media/34597/Large/34597.jpg

34597.jpg
 
Stock B20s with dual carbs were rated at something like 100-115 SAE gross hp... the high-compression EFI motors were supposedly rated around 135 hp.

You're probably not going to gain much until you start doing headwork or a cam swap in the old OHV engines.

The other option is just to lighten the car.

EDIT: If you go the cam route, get a K or a D. Pretty much anything bigger (or hawg-aftermarket-y) is going to require headwork to take advantage of the extra lift. I went down this rabbit hole once.
 
Last edited:
So if I was to go with a camshaft, what camshaft would you choose? What would I gain from that? Would I loose anything to a camshaft? Is there anything else I would need to do besides installing the new camshaft and some tuning?

I don't fell like I need to make more power... I just think it would be fun to play around with. This whole car is getting restored but I'm also enjoying experimenting with the car. I've never done any of this b4.
 
Back
Top