Brown 244 GL

[petiww]

The accusump was used to preoil before starting. Then the oil system would fill it while running. If the oil ran away from the pickup the accusump would push oil back into the engine. It was tied into the oil cooler setup with a check valve so the oil would only go into correct flow direction.

Surely a more bulletproof solution to use both, but I was curious if the bigger capacity pan was ever used without accusump on that car?
If possible, I'd like to avoid using accusump at first for oil leak, weight, cost and complexity reasons.

Late summer cruising towards lake Balaton for my last swim in it in 2025:
20250921_104820 by Péter Gede, on Flickr
Maan, this rides so well on not so great country roads too, even with 4 full race wheels in the trunk!

After this trackday, I soon had to prepare the car for the upcoming inspections. As there are more modifications, this is starting to get ridiculous, but oh well.
Last winter I acquired a set of badly stored but late model, galvanised full struts. As I had almost every part in the shed, I decided to save them properly enough for inspections/possible normal usage.
-On one side water leaked in to the wheel bearings - bought one new bearing set
-Brake disc shields were crusty - found two good enough which i welded, wirewheeled and painted
-Seal shields were even more crusty - made two new ones from sheetmetal
-Shocks were not too good looking and not even the same - installed the lightly used TRWs which i bought 6 years ago
-Top mounts were so-so - installed the best two i found, with fresh grease in bearing
-Brake line holders were modified to be removeable
-New lower ball joints and outer tie rods
-Uncut normal springs (i guess i installed diesel springs upfront, but it is not verified)
20251007_021315 by Péter Gede, on Flickr
20251008_012254 by Péter Gede, on Flickr
Installed uncut sedan springs and normal shocks at the back too.

So, for the first time, I raised the lowered.
Installed the GT wheels:
20251008_153400 by Péter Gede, on Flickr
Actually this setup is so fun to drive around that i found myself driving this dumber than I ever drove this car on normal roads. Traction is just so all over the place with the torsen that i genuinely did not care and trashed it into every corner and roundabout.

Had to install the good old flathood too as the brush painted coffin hood had nasty rustholes in it... Well, car passed the inspections, so i quickly changed back the suspension, and exhaust to have lambda control. Installed two gauges to see oil temp and pressure. Took it on the last trackday in 2025:
574568478_1404244708369065_785355837911783877_n by Péter Gede, on Flickr
This track is right turn dominant, so i figured i could be OK with oil pressures. Oh god how wrong I was... During the warmup laps with pilot sports, just when i started to get comfortable, left corner oil starvation happened. And again, and again. I even bought two liters of random petrolstation oil to top it up even more. Result? Heavy oilsmoke ALONG with oil starvation in the heavy left corners... I really had to accept my defeat, so I was spectating, talking to others and had rides in various vehicles. At the end of the day when I packed my stuff in the trunk, the track was empty enough to have a nice peaceful joyride with the remaining people. Beautiful sunset, loved it!
574606023_1404242761702593_5797794153334375147_n by Péter Gede, on Flickr
The redblock however did not like this day. I found it not making too nice sounds over 5k rpm, so this officially became a normal usage street engine until the bearings are checked throughoutly. Good thing that it still got me home without trouble.
Somewhere in the close future a medium built B230FT should come, but it bugs my mind that so far i could not fully enjoy an NA engine on the track... So we will see!

 

[DET17]

By chance have you reviewed the Anthony Hyde (Australian 240 racer) documents? Surely he dealt with the oil starvation issue. Google AI says his pages can be located directly from Oz Volvo. I'd give it a look if you haven't already.

Love the brown 244!

 

[dl242gt]

In answer to your question. I think he had a larger capacity sump on there. It was also modified to baffle the oil sloshing around. But it still did oil starvation enough that he installed the acusump. Which eliminated the issue. This sprite was setup H Production for SCCA. So it had fat tires, stiff racing suspension. So it basically barely had to brake for corners. Just amazing how well those things can rip around turns.

 

[dl242gt]

In further conversation with my brother. He said with a better made pan than his you may be able to solve the issue. Something like the Group A oil pan would probably do the job. I think Steffansen used to sell that. We were grassroots racers so it was a home built modified pan. The Acusump really is a great way to go.
On a turbo engine you can use it as a turbo oiler for shutdown oil flow. The accumulator would continue to oil the turbo on shutdown so you eliminate coked turbo bearings. Lets you shut down your car and walk away.

 

[Cwazywazy]

Half a quart over the full mark on the dipstick and vented cap fixed oil issues on track for me. Swapping an early ps pump cap onto my late model pump fixed that puking as well (though I'm not sure why it worked, maybe it's a different fill level on the dipstick or something)

 

[petiww]

By chance have you reviewed the Anthony Hyde (Australian 240 racer) documents? Surely he dealt with the oil starvation issue. Google AI says his pages can be located directly from Oz Volvo. I'd give it a look if you haven't already.

Love the brown 244!

I tried to find it somehow, but no luck.

In further conversation with my brother. He said with a better made pan than his you may be able to solve the issue. Something like the Group A oil pan would probably do the job. I think Steffansen used to sell that. We were grassroots racers so it was a home built modified pan. The Acusump really is a great way to go.
On a turbo engine you can use it as a turbo oiler for shutdown oil flow. The accumulator would continue to oil the turbo on shutdown so you eliminate coked turbo bearings. Lets you shut down your car and walk away.

Cool! Actually yes, grpA only used the pan, so it should be sufficient to me aswell. https://240grupp-a.se/motor/
Lately we have been thinking of 3d scanning the pan and actually laser cutting and bending the extra capacity extension. Maybe keep sections of the original pan inside? This will be some interesting modelling for sure.

Half a quart over the full mark on the dipstick and vented cap fixed oil issues on track for me. Swapping an early ps pump cap onto my late model pump fixed that puking as well (though I'm not sure why it worked, maybe it's a different fill level on the dipstick or something)

I think i put like 1,5liters over the max mark... What oil you use? Vented cap? You ditched the stock PCV? Was this with a turbo engine already?
Maybe my 1 year old 0w40 gets too thin, and the oil pump is really tired and has a hard time 'picking' up.
Does the early PS pump cap have any venting hole or valve?

 

[Cwazywazy]

I think i put like 1,5liters over the max mark... What oil you use? Vented cap? You ditched the stock PCV? Was this with a turbo engine already?
Maybe my 1 year old 0w40 gets too thin, and the oil pump is really tired and has a hard time 'picking' up.
Does the early PS pump cap have any venting hole or valve?

Turbo engine with stock pcv box, just added the vented cap (from one of the older pushrod engines) and teed into the hose going to the turbo intake. No idea on the PS pump cap, it was the first thing I tried and it worked for me.

Maybe your engine oil is getting frothed up from being too overfull?

 

[RocketBunny]

Im running b230ft folkrace car and always used 10w60 oil. First engine was pretty worn but still held up strong for years. Finally cooked it on ice driving with Wrc Studs. But still only saw couple of times oil pressure light flicker. Eventually had no compression to start but it did pushstart and still had no abnormal noise. So in my belive the 0w40 is far too thin oil for race use and when getting hot it will loses its lubricating properties.

 

[petiww]

Turbo engine with stock pcv box, just added the vented cap (from one of the older pushrod engines) and teed into the hose going to the turbo intake. No idea on the PS pump cap, it was the first thing I tried and it worked for me.

Maybe your engine oil is getting frothed up from being too overfull?

Im running b230ft folkrace car and always used 10w60 oil. First engine was pretty worn but still held up strong for years. Finally cooked it on ice driving with Wrc Studs. But still only saw couple of times oil pressure light flicker. Eventually had no compression to start but it did pushstart and still had no abnormal noise. So in my belive the 0w40 is far too thin oil for race use and when getting hot it will loses its lubricating properties.

As I remember this 0w40 when fresh wasn't this bad, but with miles and heat cycles later it got too thin. I also agree with @Cwazywazy this frothing could be a real issue. Coupling this with the stock oil pan, where petrol-like thin fluid could quickly escape up through the baffle joint during cornering...

Anyways, already copied and lasercut the crank scraper, will modify a pan and hope for the best. I have many ideas how to improve the situation.


Yesterday I had a blast of a drive, flower scents, 20C in the night, windows rolled down slightly... I just love driving this.

20260525_233249 by Péter Gede, on Flickr

Planned to build a B230FT. Well, as I sourced another diesel M90, I might eventually go in a route nobody seemed to go before. (at least i havent seen on internet)
Audi 10vt
I need that engine sound!

 

[Bilbo19]

Do it!!!

 

[dl242gt]

I checked out a V10 powered M5 at a local BMW shop last summer. As they drove away that thing sounded amazing. Going to be a big project but you know it will sound great.

 

[petiww]

I checked out a V10 powered M5 at a local BMW shop last summer. As they drove away that thing sounded amazing. Going to be a big project but you know it will sound great.

Ah, 10vt might be confusing, I meant the straight 5 old petrol Audi engines. V10 has some similarities at least in engine sounds.
Reason that i'm thinking in going this way, is that my brother stacked up a few of these 5cyl engines over the years, and it is just as simple as a sohc redblock, but with way cooler sounds.
Volvo T5 definitely has more potential, and is lighter, but i do not like wrenching on those.

 

[Bilbo19]

Why not 20vt? Too hard to find?

 

[petiww]

Why not 20vt? Too hard to find?

Its nearly impossible to find those nowadays, and it would be more way more expensive to find a complete good one, than a good Volvo T5.

 

[dl242gt]

Ah, 10vt might be confusing, I meant the straight 5 old petrol Audi engines. V10 has some similarities at least in engine sounds.
Reason that i'm thinking in going this way, is that my brother stacked up a few of these 5cyl engines over the years, and it is just as simple as a sohc redblock, but with way cooler sounds.
Volvo T5 definitely has more potential, and is lighter, but i do not like wrenching on those.

Ok I got it. That's a cool one as well. I don't like Audi cars and engines. I also don't care for whiteblocks but do appreciate what people are doing with them along with the great sound. If I did some type of whiteblock swap it would be a B6304 in a 240 like Oldschoolvolvo did. Maybe you can find a B6304 for cheap? They don't seem to be in high demand.

 

[petiww]

Sadly i let one decent 960 sedan with M90 slip out of my hands when i could buy it. Now its double or triple the price for shittier ones.
Tinkered with the idea of having a nice 24v 6pot in this, even NA power and smoothness would be nice but honestly, to me the engine sound is just slightly better than a regular not built redblock. I'm spoiled by the sound of my brothers B2 Coupe with the 20v NA engine...