Given that my 745 project is close to the point I set out to achieve barring an upcoming turbo upgrade and according tuning, the itch for a new project has been there for a while. I'm also planning to move to a place where I finally have my own garage, such that I'd have the space to get into more welding and paint. This thread will be a duplicate of my turbobricks thread, given I'm most active there!

Initially I started looking for a daf 66 or a classic mini, but being tall and having way too many b230 parts already I ended up buying a b200k from a volvo 360 instead:


It came equipped with everything needed to swap it, including mounts, a different oil pan, a special water pump setup and and the potentially different flywheel?


These other bits came along with it as well, a full exhaust and plenty of spare parts


My inspiration will be these rad 343 rallycross cars, which were clearly awesome:-P


I'd hoped to be able to just swap the bellhousing onto a 340 given the price/rarity difference, given the cool transaxle design used. But resident dutch 360 expert MrBorrie explained that this wouldn't work unfortunately, so I'm on the lookout for a 360.


Engine wise, the b200k didn't come with any reference as to where it came from making it hard to get approved, I don't mind since it has the center crank support anyway, and will be moving to a 90+ b230 block instead. I still have ITB's leftover, which in combination with some headwork, megasquirt/speeduino and a big cam should allow for some fun.


The chassis will get an assorted list of bits from ClassicSwede, to get it rally-spec for some forrest fun. A cage will also be added, as it is still build like a DAF, and is know for being crispy after some coastal seasoning. First thing first however will be to strip the b200k and pass it on

So slow progress, but progress non the less, finally obtained a 90+ squirter? b230 block. I initially thought I'd gotten a b230fb, but it ended up being a b230fd, still the strong one though, so no worries. 376579km's on the clock and a brand new clutch with it.


Cleaned it up with Lidl's oven cleaner after removing the EGR and pulsair system after a few days of soaking everything in wd40


The pulsair ports will probably get EGT sensors as shown, by tapping to 1/8 " NPT. The EGR port will need plugging and has a MAP/IAT sensor in it for now from a VAG until I settle on the ecu I'll use


The pan, oil pan and special waterpump setup will need transferring from the 360 block. The dip stick is also different, so I'll need to swap over the plug put in the block itself. Not sure if a different cam is installed in the b200k so I'll also check that before it goes.


Which also has been deep cleaned



Somewhere next week I'll swap the pan and figure out if it's a block with the squirters installed. I also took a look at the clutches, and more DAF weirdness, a 215mm 24 spline clutch on the 360, compared to the 228mm 22 spline m47 clutch I also have brand new. The 360 flywheel has the 2+2 pattern, so I'll use the 940 flywheel to have a 60+2 to determine the actual rotation. The interwebz say a opel/vauxhall 228 plate with a 740 turbo pressure plate will work, so that will probably be the setup, lightened flywheel kit might also be an option as I saw those were on offer.

New week, time to tear down the 360 engine!


The oil represented more of a gelatine than oil, it hardly drained, so some cleanup was required


I also had to get a 3/8" socket for the sump plug, at least it has cooling fins to offset the French solution


It is cool to see the parts were made in the Netherlands


The sump is much better than the stock b230 pan it appears, fully baffled on all sides of the pickup. The oil drain is in between baffles, not sure how I feel about that, that might have been why the bad oil was hard to drain. I also found some junk at the bottom of some of the baffles, so it's a trade off I guess.


I took the time to deep clean the pump, it looked fine despite what I found, so I'm happy about that


The offset baffle on the suction tube is also pretty interesting, I guess they couldn't get the angles right to land in the sumps center and solved it this way


So what I found to be required for the transfer: oil pump and transfer tube, oil drain tube, sump, longer sump bolts and the dipstick. Also the yellow seals were great still, interesting that there is a difference from the red b230 seals


Next up, the b230fd for teardown


With the b200k temporary parked


The b230fd appeared in good condition, crank was yellow, showing at least some recent oil changes. I found it came with the lager capacity pump, and was hoping to transfer the body for the extra flow, given only the top differs. Unfortunately no dice, given the stackup height was different and I did not feel like risking it with the clearance to the bottom of the 360 sump.


Cleaned it all up and put the pump in


Also discovered it is a squirter 13mm rod block, so it appears to be from the same assembly run as the b230fk blocks, with the same pump as well.


The last bit was to transfer the 360 waterpump, what a mess this was


It cleaned up alright, 360 pumps are hard to come by, so hopefully it will live


During the install another sign the b230 engine was well maintained, clean as can be on the coolant channels


Slapped the accessories intend on running of the block, and put it on a holding cart for now. I have my sights on a 360 that has been sitting, but who knows when I end up getting a chassis. Upping the power on the red wagon first is very tempting

I obtained a car! After much discussion with Borrie we agreed upon a price for his old race car such that it can be put back in action. It's the coolest 360, being a three door


The will be a lot of work involved, but I should have most of the bits to get it back together!


With the car in storage for now waiting for the move to a new garage, I got started on slapping all the parts for the new motor together on the dolly


I still had four unused egt sensors left over, and my 1/8NPT tap finally arrived so I got to installing those


A 20mm forsner bit worked suprisingly well to enlarge the port openings, after pre drilling with 8.5mm for the NPT tap. I had to get a bit creative with the tapping iron but it all worked out


Four sensors installed


With suprisingly little extension into the ports, but it will have to do


The next few month will mostly be parts hunting on this project, whilst the red wagon gets some upgrades

Well parts turned out to be a donor car, whoops (This might end up becoming a f7p track toy )


Borrie still had this mint donor car when I picked up the green racer, which I decided to also pick up after some consideration



It's shy of a driveline, but in great condition



And best a full luxury interior if I decide to go back to that in the green car:-P



Back at the storage facility I also got some proper matching feet under the green car, forgot how much stiffer these are in comparison to the 7-series.


I also bought the cage that came originally with the green car, which I'll probably convert to a no-helmet safe half cage for street duty. (inspiration)


The current front bars need replacement since they are of the knee type, which is no longer allowed within most racing classes. Which can easily be done if I decide to take it racing again.


Pretty exited to get going with this project, a lot of fabrication will be involved, but that was what I was going for!

I finally moved to a place to a garage, so I took last weekend to pick up the car!


Got going by stripping out all of the remaining interior


And proceeded with the doors


This took more than a little convincing with the rusted out door pins


Whilst taking out the dash I encountered some remainders of previous repairs, unfortunately it kept on rusting so I have quite some work to do still


To make sure it stays in place, I took to the welder to get some braces in, so I can piece it together again with bits from the rust free front I got with the car


The welding will keep me occupied for a while, so it might take a bit for big updates again:-P

Epic work.

So this popped up on marketplace, a b234 block with intact pistons


I bought it to pull the pistons, but what a curious thing


I was suprised to find that the block was a completely different casting, making transfer of the balancing axles impossible to a regular b230


The oil system is also completely different, with the secondary cam being removed in favor for a directly belt driven oil pump fed by this intake


Even the engine mounts and crankcase breather are worlds apart, weirdness:-P Anyway, pistons pulled for future 16v plans!

Given the mint condition of the donor car, I decided to make it into a fun little track only project for the winter, to keep me motivated through the welding on the green car. As part of that I bought this B172 (renault f3) engine that was seized with all the attachments to put a f7p/f7r/f3x engine into the volvo 340:


With the engine I also got a set of tow hitch bumpers, given the green car is registered to be allowed to pull 1200kg's (it weighs 1000:lol:)


After searching around a bit I found this F3N engine, which apparently got a 2.0 litre head amongst some other work from a renault mechanic:


It should be a pretty good upgrade and relatively similar in power to the 115hp b200 from the 360:


For some updates on the green car, I got a H-cam for it after exchanging the hatch with spoiler. Got to love that it fits the trunk of the 244:


And pulled the front subframe, finding this gem amongst loose bolts and improvised solutions:-P


I also discovered that on these crazy cars, the shock tower body is also the damper, it has no cartridge. So now I am in need of a nut to suit the gaz dampers I got second hand, guess the shop corner will have to stay a bit crowded until I do:


Three of the four strut's I have were in decent condition, so I'll build up two and sell the rest given many of the parts are hard to find these days:


As for the welding progress has been steady (slow) as the spot welds on these cars are far from logically place. I was optimistic I would drive this car this winter, that has been bumped to at least past the summer. I did enter the group for dutch time attack, so let's see where this car ends up:oogle:

I had this issue when welding up my 360, the spot welds were all over the place and some grouped so close they were touching!

Loving the work