Little Low Red Wagon - The other Volvo wagon

[carter]

Daviticus: I just used the stock A/C bracket. Volvo's came with Yorks from the factory.

Well I'm back from the machine shop. Built the short block over the weekend and snapped some pictures. Turned out quite well. Checked all the bearing clearances Saturday. Everything was well within spec and put everything together Sunday. Pulling the little red block out this weekend and dropping in the bigger red block. So stoked for this, with the parts I have I should be almost to the 400HP mark, it won't hurt my feelings if I'm closer to 350 though. on 14's it'll be a tire scorcher and that's really all I care about for this build. I used Clevite bearings and ARP hardware on everything I could. Even oil pan bolts since I was missing a few bolts from the original owner not providing me with them. Cam is a Trick Flow stage 1 and bolted to a Comp Cams timing gear set.









Never mind the over spray on the cam gear...we got that removed lol.





Mounts were shipped out today, I'll be buying some Trick Flow heads, intake and Holley carb within the next few weeks. I'm just buying it as I need it kinda basis. My T5 transmission and B&M short shifter are also there but not pictured. So much for the budget build...I'm about $900 into the short block at this point.

[DragginWagon]

hells yes man. im seriously debating going this route eventually.

[DeleriousZ]

I was cruising through pictures and instantly knew you were from Canada. Why? That torque wrench lol.

Tons of guys on here from Calgary, it's weird!

[carter]

Lol they are always on sale I think. I have 2. 1 for work and 1 for at home haha

[kibur]

The old girl needed some sunshine today, haven't ran her in a few months either so I thought I'd let her breath a little. Man I can not wait for endless summer nights filled with cruising and hanging out at the local meets with something worth bringing. Although it isnt finished, I can not even begin to describe the feeling of accomplishment to anyone who hasn't spent the greater portion of their past few years building whatever goes on in their head. If you haven't spent the time to build your own car the way you envisioned - do it. If you do it right, do it reasonably cheap you'll have no reason to regret it. I think I'm still less than $2500 into it. You can hardly get a set of wheels and tires for that much. Get out there and build something.

This thing is too sweet dude. I am in love.

[carter]

Thanks guys! Working hard on it for a local spring cruise event.

Well...goodbye little 2.1L...you've served your purpose but now i have tires to burn and a mark to make on this city.







Lovely wiring on the engine side of the plug lol





As I left it for tonight. I bought some wheel dollies that are worth their weight in GOLD! With only a double car garage at my disposal they allow me to tuck the car away when I'm not working on it and yank it back out when I do. For $180, it's a great investment for anyone in my position. It's hard enough to do anything in such a small work space. There's lots of shuffling stuff around and that takes up a lot of time.

[martinm13]

I was cruising through pictures and instantly knew you were from Canada. Why? That torque wrench lol.

Tons of guys on here from Calgary, it's weird!

It is kinda weird! We should all get together for a mini meet some time.

[SheaMoose]

I love this thing soo much.
I can't wait to see it shredding tires.
<3

[DeleriousZ]

It is kinda weird! We should all get together for a mini meet some time.

That'd be wicked!! Could all meet at a beyond meet or something too, one of the weds night ones.

[VanDamage]

This thing just got serious! So baddass, Also it's good to see some more Albertan's on here.

[martinm13]

That'd be wicked!! Could all meet at a beyond meet or something too, one of the weds night ones.

Yeah that could work, I have seen your car at beyond meets before

[PoLonY]

fantastic car, love it

[carter]

Well I'm long over due for an update...busy with work and that means more money. More money means more car parts. So I finally purchased some heads. A set of Trickflow Twisted Wedge's to be exact. After all my research they seemed to be the best bang for buck. Excuse the ****ty pictures. All I had was my iphone 5. I bought a Nikon D7100 to take pictures of this project and forgot to bring it with me this time around. Much more to come!







With the heads I bought ARP head bolts. My "budget" built motor now has ARP bolts from the oil pan to the intake. Cost of the build this far is as follows

Engine used: $100
Machine shop bill: $260
Hardware (ARP bolt kits with thread lock, sealant etc.): ~$400
Heads:$1200
TrickFlow Stage 1 cam: $260
Gasket kit: $140
Engine bearings: $60

I assembled everything myself and sit at $2420 so far. A lot more than I was expecting that's for sure. Still not too bad considering it's fresh and should be around 370HP. Engine building is a slippery slope. The whole "well I'm in here I may as well do this..." really gets you. Glad I did it this way though. It's the best way. I cheaped out on the heads a little to keep costs down but they are by no means "cheap" in quality nor performance and will dance circles around GT40 cobra heads.







Wasn't really planning on dropping it in for awhile but I figured what the hell, I'm excited. Tossed the valve covers on to keep things clean. I have a set of Scorpion roller rockers on order yet and hardened push rods coming as well.













Clearance on either side will be okay I think. Tight on the driver side for sure.





It sits SO much lower than I had originally thought. This is just dandy as far as I'm concerned, if its an issue raising it will be easy.

[martinm13]

You have a ton of room from the valve covers to the hood, I would just raise it now. That way you know you wont have any issues with the oil pan contacting the ground.

[carter]

Clearance isn't an issue I don't think. The pan isn't any lower than stock as far as I can tell.

Pulled the motor back out and installed the roller rockers. Ill get around to setting them up tomorrow. It's a shame you don't get to see them after they're installed.









Picked up a clutch cable and shift fork today. Flywheel should be here tomorrow. Then things should get rolling shortly. A lot more money has been invested into this motor than I anticipated that's for sure. I feel like I'd regret not doing it before I drop it in. It's easier to do it now instead of after for sure.