Volvo's forgotten V8 engine

[lada ok]

Find someone that works on vintage cars .... remetaling that thrust bearing will be no problem ..... asl them also if they have a contact for old volvo bits

[Theodore Rimspoke]

Find someone that works on vintage cars .... remetaling that thrust bearing will be no problem ..... asl them also if they have a contact for old volvo bits

A quick search gave me FJ Payne & Son Ltd (fjpayne.com). Thanks. I'll drop them an e-mail

[Berserk]

Some links tha might be of use:

http://www.leopardmotor.com/Repair_manual_B36.pdf

http://forum.savarturbo.se/viewtopic.ph ... 4&start=90

http://www.olssonsiellos.se/

[Keith Morganstein]

Some links tha might be of use:

http://www.leopardmotor.com/Repair_manual_B36.pdf

Nice shop manual.

[Keith Morganstein]

I read the engine has a reputation of poor fuel economy. Wonder how bad vs other V8's of it's era?

[PackardV8]

I read the engine has a reputation of poor fuel economy. Wonder how bad vs other V8's of it's era?

I'd doubt it's any worse than other '50s OHV8s. It's just that Europeans were accustomed to small 4-cyls and diesels. I drove there in the late '60s and their trucks wouldn't get out of their own way. That Volvo was also known for much better than average performance, which is where the gas went.

P.S. - it's a forgotten factoid, but the rodder's sacred Ardun was designed to give European Ford flathead-powered trucks more power. That it ended up in hot rods was an afterthought.

[pdq67]

Very true, Jack!

My Buddy Jerry bought an old used "which way is it going?" 4-Dr sedan Dauphine back in the mid '60's! Itsy-bitty 4-banger with a 3-speed stick. Sucker would only run like 55 mph or so with us two in it.

Two big farm boys picked up the ass-end of it and Jerry begged them not to drop it because the engine was in the rear!

It was just about as big as a Carny "Bumper Car"!!!

pdq67

[Theodore Rimspoke]

Some links tha might be of use:

http://www.leopardmotor.com/Repair_manual_B36.pdf

Nice shop manual.

Thanks, that's actually my own homepage

Hasn't been updated since 2007 due to loss of suitable software.

Yes, I have a Leopard 1 battle tank engine in my collection. It's new home will be a Chevy G30 Van...

[Theodore Rimspoke]

I read the engine has a reputation of poor fuel economy. Wonder how bad vs other V8's of it's era?

A small, beautiful sounding gasoline V8 in a heavy truck equals poor fuel eqonomy. Mostly due to the fact that the truck was funny to drive (source: Olsson, Christer. 1987. Volvo - Sixty Years of Truckmaking. Förlagshuset Norden AB).

[Peter M]

Theo,

Did you see this story on the Kaiser Frazer V8 that didn't make production?
http://www.macsmotorcitygarage.com/2015 ... razer-288/

There are some remarkable similarities to the Volvo motor and the timing is right. Maybe Volvo did more changes than first thought?

Cheers
Peter

[wyrmrider]

sorry
Nash v-8 did not Evolve from K-F although some of the same people worked on both
I still have several customers with 327 Nash in their Boats
Not a money maker- Damn things run forever

[wyrmrider]

1957
Ricker Motors in Whittier CA next to the old YMCA in what later became a Gas Station
Mike had one of the very few 327 Rambler Rebels with the Bendix Electrojector
we had to double key the axles to hubs but aside from that a really fast ride
Cast Iron Hydromatic was just as quick as the Borg Warner T85 OD cars which were too hard on the drivetrain
We installed Velvetouch Cerometallic brakes- had to
I had a 322 Buick stick shift and could handle the new 283 FI Chevy's but not Mike's Rebel
My 53 Ford Business Coup with x Ak Miller flathead was quicker than either but not MPH
Bought a 56 Ambassador with the dual carb Le Mans head 6 then a 57 with the 327 Both Hydromatic-
Missed the 352 Packard
Later Mike moved down to Whittier blvd to the recently departed EDSEL dealership- Custom built new building with a big E in tile coming in the front door
Mike left the E Mike was a class act and square dealer
Building later became Dick Cepek Tires anyone else have a "Baja Proven" T shirt? Dick passed out hundred on a trip to Russia
I also would be interested in any 327 KF maotor
Bore Centers on the 327 carried over to the largest production size 390-401 and the special 4.250 bore race blocks

[Theodore Rimspoke]

My research has taken a new direction. I visited the Volvo Museum a few days ago. Made an appointment with the Vehicle Responsible at the museum, allowing me to get access under the hood of Philip, the prototype with the B8B engine.

It turns out that the differences between the B8B prototype engine and the B36AV production engine are way more extensive than I thought.

1. The B8B is not an Y-block engine. The pictures below show a "regular" skirt engine block and a deep oil pan.

2. The B8B has more cylinder head bolts. I can count 8 bolts on the spark plug side of the head, giving an estimated total of 13-16 bolts on each head. The B36 has only 10 bolts per head.

3. The valve covers are of a different design, but still with 4 perimeter bolts on each head.

4. The timing cover is stamped sheet metal and the water pump appears to be cast iron on the prototype engine - aluminum on the B36.

My bet was on the K-F engine until I made the last discoveries, but now I'm back on square one. The Stude square.

[Theodore Rimspoke]

Received the pistons from Australia today. They look well suited for my 120 horsepower project.

[GlennArlt]

Hi guys. I signed on to SpeedTalk because I stumbled across this forum, while researching the "original" Volvo V8. Probably nobody will ever see this, but I am 99% certain I've figured out the "who" behind the original design of the engine. (I'm a member of the Society of Automotive Historians, and the Historian at Hagerty - specifically the Hagerty Institute for Collector Vehicles - and I'm the Librarian too).

I think it was Ford. I'd seen the oblong openings on the upper block through which the pushrods go, somewhere else.... sure enough, it was the 1952 Lincoln Y-block V8 engine. That engine has a bore pitch (distance between centers of cylinders on each side) of 4.63". The 1954 Ford Y-block V8 engine (and also later 221-260-289-302-351-400 small blocks) have a bore pitch of 4.38".

As Paul Harvey used to day, now for the rest of the story. (As to the presumed "why" of Ford seemingly abandoning this design and production transfer line, then starting over from scratch for the Ford V8).

A man (Chase Morsey Jr) who worked for Ford, and in fact hired in about 1948, was a real Ford guy and was appalled to learn that the Whiz Kids, and ex-GM executives hired in, number crunchers all, had decided to run with an all-new OHV Ford inline six as the exclusive Ford engine from 1952. This would have meant any work on the Ford V8, which ended up to be the Volvo V8, was scrapped. This is presumably how Volvo got the design. http://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/boo ... 8-sort-of/

As for why it originally had so many bolts holding the head down, that's easy (and you can see where the bolts would have been on the actual production Volvo V8 block, too...). Boss Kettering of GM had convinced the entire auto industry that super-high octane auto gasolines were right around the corner, and 12.5 to 1 compression ratios would improve economy by 30%, using smaller engines for lighter weight and lower production costs. Studebaker way over-built their 1951 OHV V8 for this reason.

Thus, I believe that because of this series of events, Ford let the design go (which very literally, a down-sized 4.33" bore pitch Lincoln V8) and started over from scratch with the Ford V8 (which originally probably would have come out for 1951, replacing the venerable flathead V8, a year before the OHV six of 1952). In fact, the "Volvo" B36 is closer in design to the 1952 Lincoln OHV "big Y-block" V8 than the 1954 Ford OHV "small Y-block" V8! (Look at Lincoln block photos less heads online and you'll see). Here (if it works): https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ScADnaomeDI/mqdefault.jpg