340 for casual drifting. Need some advice.

[Sarunasu]

Hello guys, i have recently bought a Volvo 340. It is in a semi-decent condition, a little bit riced out with stickers, fenders and other stuff that i am planning to remove soonish. Currently it runs a 1.7 F2N engine which is a total wreck for me after riding my Kompressor powered mercedes, though it skids smoothly on snow(duh). I have ran through a lot of projects in here that include modified/replaced engines, yet i am still not sure what is the easiest and the cheapest way to grow some power. I guess you guys have the experience to help with this question. Here is my list with possible ways of making it go a little bit faster:

-F7P Engine. Almost impossible to find in my country and very very expensive.
-Turbo F2N(No clue what it takes here, i guess replacing the injection to have enough power to supply fuel would be the hardest part here?)
-C1J Engine. There is one which is cheaper than F7P, though it is still a risk considering that there is only one option in the whole market.



This is all i managed to think of. I hope to turn the car into a 130-200 bhp casual drifting cart. I really hope you guys can help removing my sad face when i try to clutchkick on wet and even my welded diff fails to spin the wheels. I promise to provide a solid build thread in return!

[Speedy88]

Hello! Where abouts are you from? F7P/F7R is the usual choice but do you not have any F4R engines in your country? If I'm guessing you're from a country that already has snow that the 360 might be the better choice of car due to the availability of turbo redblocks.

[classicswede]

The 2ltr 8valve is a very easy conversion to do and would get you into the power range you want with a few mods.

[Sarunasu]

I come from Lithuania. Unfortunately currently there are no 360 Volvos for sale at all, the only choice was to buy this 340. It seems that there are some F4R engines for sale, i will give it a look. What about the older meganes that had 110 KW 2.0 engines? Are those hard to fit in? Also the F4R, i guess it is far away from a bolt-on setup, any clue if its a big hustle to setup it underneath the 340's bonnet?

What 2.0 8v engine do you have in mind?

[classicswede]

I was running one from a Volvo 440/460/480 the B20 (Renault not Volvo)

that same engine can also be found in many Renaults

[Sarunasu]

The B20 engine seems like a good choice. What about the gearbox? I heard the stock ones are really squishy in the 340's. Because of the gearbox placement in the 340's, swaps might not be easy right?

[classicswede]

No gearbox problems at all. The prop shaft is the weak point.

Drifting does kill props and all the other driveline components. I do hope to have a prop solution available next year.

[Ride_on]

I guess he means the FWD engines don't mate quite the same, so engine swaps are difficult.

I havn't looked much at using FWD engines but AFAIK the main issue is you have to add a pinion bearing, which is not difficult, otherwise they are same as the RWD versions. You either have a Renault fit to the bell housing on the 340s or a Volvo 200/700/900 (4 cyclinder) fit for the 360s. The gearbox is at the back in both cases attached to the diff.

360 running gear is more robust, engine is hard connected to the gearbox+diff by a torque tube, its heavier but with a higher power limit. 340's you need to make sure the gearbox+diff +Engine mounting bushes are in good shape to keep the prop aligned, as the engine and gearbox are not connected except by the engine speed prop.

[Sarunasu]

Hey again guys, any advice on attaching a sports steering wheel(Got a E36 M3 Raid wheel) to my 340? Did not want to make a new thread about this.

I tried finding a hub that would fit the volvo, though it seems that it is nearly impossible to find locally. Any DYI's?

[Ride_on]

One of the forum members web sites offering parts has a boss kit. Classicswede or born built beauties.