Hey all!

I just picked up a 1975 245DL last night and this thing is such a beauty! I love the early body style wagon with the more delicate lines. So excited to dig into this thing!

I checked the compression today and I’ve got 180 psi across all four cylinders, so that’s hopeful. The idle is all over the place so I’m trying to identify the engine so I can source the correct parts but not exactly sure what I have here.

The casting behind/above the fuel pump says B230M. It does have a red block and aluminum cylinder head with the numbers 1346408 punched in just above the thermostat housing. It currently has two Solex 70795 downdraft carburetors. I’ve had the carbs apart and back together twice already today but can’t seem to get rid of the vacuum leaks. So, i’m assuming this engine isn’t original to the vehicle? From what I’ve read it seems like the B230 was a penta boat engine. Is that not correct? What IS this thing?! More importantly, is there a better carb setup if I want to ditch the Solex, such as Webers?

Any info would be greatly appreciated!

Zev

 

A 1975 240 series Volvo in the US came with a B20 engine, the same pushrod cast iron engine used in the 1974 and earlier cars. It was fuel injected.

The 1976 engine was a B21 (~2.1 litres) slant 4 with red iron block and aluminum head. With fuel injection.

Later Volvos used a B23, then a refined version, the B230 slant 4. The B230 was used in turbo and non-turbo form until the 1995? 940. All are fuel injected in the United States -

Volvo did make marine engines using the slant 4 engine so it's possible you have a marine engine in your car.

 

Got it, so definitely not the original engine and someone either ditched the B230 fuel injection for a carb setup or it's a boat engine which originally had carbs.

Do you think switching to a (single or dual?) weber setup would be preferable to the solex, or should I try and rebuild the solex?

 

IIRC, when Volvo did use carbs, they used side-draft constant velocity carbs, like Zeniths, similar to vintage English cars. Setup correctly, those run great, but not as well as the OEM fuel injection systems ran. FI will get you the best balance of fuel economy and performance across the whole driving range.