A tale of two Volvo's

Anyone can do it, if your a mechanic that is. You have to modify the combustion chamber, by making incesions in the head. I know it sounds crazy, but so am I.

I read about it in Popular Science, about a year ago. Some Car Doctor in India, had claimed to find the answer to better fuel efficiency. Sumender Singh has a shop that he modified his cars, and bikes at. He makes several claims, about the benefits of his mod. Better gas mileage, less smog emissions, longer engine life, no overheating. Well his claims sound too good to be true.

I was at a mid point of an engine rebuild, when I read about this. So I decided to give it a try. I wasn't exactlly sure what he did, but came up with my own idea from inspirations from the Aztecs. I formed triangular shapes into the surronding edges of the head. First I drew the pattern onto the head, then cut it with a hacksaw, and finished it with a dremel tool. The whole time I'm thinking this mother better not crack. I happen to take a long time on projects, so no biggy if it doesn't work out.

Ok so I get the whole thing back together, and start it up. It started up right away, but the idle was up to high, way too high. I checked all the linkage, and it was where it should be, but still running too fast. I had to take the throttle housing off, and adjust it so it could close off the air completely. That worked much better, now the car would idle at 500 RPMs. its not practical to idle at that speed, but it could do it. Thats not something it would do before.

I started driving the car to work right away, since the weather was getting colder, and I was sick of freezing my ass off every morning going to work. Commuting 50 miles every day on a bike is no fun at 5:00am, on a canyon road. The first day driving the car seemed to glide down the road easier, like I didn't have to stick my foot into it as much. All the gauges where reading normal, so I did not worry about anything. I got to work, and noticed a big puddle of water under it. Shit my new engine, I must have fried it. I filled it up with water before going home, and hoped for the best. And that I make it home. Still all gauges reading normal, water temp is half way up. Got home ok, tightened up all the hoses, and found the heater core was leaking alot of water inside the car, which would finally drain out the bottom of the floor board. Shit no heat, OK bypass that, its still better than being in the wind. The next day, I get to work, and again huge puddle under the front of the car. Shit what the f&%$, the gauges all read ok. The head must be leaking the water out, I screwed it up. I was really upset, I drove it home that way, with more water, and noticed the rubber was cracked on the radiator cap, not a little, alot. Wow, I ran down to the parts store put the new cap on, and it stopped leaking. On my way home the temp gauge was at the cold portion most of the way home. Like it did not warmup, or not working. But the car ran fine all the way back home. I still had half a tank of gas, but not sure of my mileage, being on my first tank of gas, and the begining of the break-in period, on the motor. I just wanted to rack up some miles. the didn't leak water anymore, and it always ran cold. I ran it for a while to work and back. The car started right up every time, ran smooth, and quiet. I could even run in a high gear, slow speeds, and  the engine would not seem to mind. In traffic the egine temp would reach normal levels, but once on the freeway, it would cool way down.

I then smogged the car, with flying colors. it registered very low emission levels.
   Later I advanced the timing some to see what would happen. Thats when I started to notice my mileage had gone way up. I don't know exactly what the car originally got, since I purchased the car half dead, overheating its way home. I only drove it once, before rebuilding it. But a medium size car, with a box style, automatic trans, 4 cylinder, 2.3 L could not get more than 20MPG. I think I was getting 25-28MPG after the mod. I still am not sure how much my MPG is cuz my speedometer stopped working due to mechanical changes in the rear end. The automatic died after 30K on the canyon road. Now I have a 5 speed, and no speedo still. Recently went to Vegas, and used somewhere between 1/2 to 3/4 of a tank of gas(8-10 gallons) the mileage is about 300 to 350 miles. And I was running late so I maintained an average speed of 85MPH. No the A/C is not working at this time. But still I think my MPG has gone up, and the car never gets hot.

I would like to calculate my exact mileage. I have changed the wheels to slighty larger diameter mags, wide low profile tires. But I think the second generation mod will be running before I get my exact MPG on the first mod.

The first car was intended to be a budget car, but I love it now, and plan on doing cosmetic work to it, later. Second gen mod, is done, and waiting to be dropped in the car. I hope this week, I will start, and get done by month end.

  Ok thats the scoupe, I posted a couple of pics, check it out.

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coolant temp. Written by janspeed on 2006-12-06 07:14:45 if your engine stays cooler after the groove-mods, try using a later-opening thermostat(like 96-98C), you'll get even better thermo-efficiency and therefor better mileage and a working heater too!

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