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B cam vs. T cam on B230 with AW70

iHateVolvoPeople said:
Since you are working on a 240, your distributor is in the block. This means you can take the camshaft from any factory turbo 240, 740, or 940 and it is a direct swap in. Take the shims/buckets just to have a few extra laying around if needed.

Or post in the wanted section here. If you were local I'd give you a T cam, but your junkyards should have a few.
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Thanks I'll check local Junk yards for 240s.
 
All this talk about valve adjustment reminded me about a guy that wanted save some bucks by trying to do his 30k service himself. Car showed up a my dealer on the hook. Seems that he was checking the valve lash like a sbc. With the engine running.
 
Redwood Chair said:
It'll drop right in and run but like anything if you want the engine to last you're going to have to do it right.
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What ken is saying is, at least check the clearances:-P they will probably all be within spec or at least very close. A hair on the loose side won't hurt you. Too tight and the valve can burn.
 
It'll drop right in and run but like anything if you want the engine to last you're going to have to do it right.
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iHateVolvoPeople said:
What ken is saying is, at least check the clearances:-P they will probably all be within spec or at least very close. A hair on the loose side won't hurt you. Too tight and the valve can burn.
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:nod:

Never seen one drop right in and not need some shims changed to be within spec.
 
And .012" with a T cam won't kill anything, either. If it were me, I'd do .013" intake and exhaust to make it a little bigger than it is. Then retard it a few degrees for a little more sustained torque at higher rpm. Not necessary for towing, of course.
 
klr142 said:
And .012" with a T cam won't kill anything, either. If it were me, I'd do .013" intake and exhaust to make it a little bigger than it is. Then retard it a few degrees for a little more sustained torque at higher rpm. Not necessary for towing, of course.
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After all that shim swapping, might as well buy a real cam:-P
 
240-FAN said:
Folks,

This is my first post here. I have a '91 244 slushbox with the AW70. I am going to be due for a timing belt change end of the year. My goal is to keep everything stock and just swap out the cam while I am in there. It has the LH2.4 system.

From what I have read, my car has the stock M cam in it. Going 68mph on the freeway is about 2,800RPMs and oh, its a slug.

Would either the T cam or the B cam help? I do NOT hot rod this thing around. Just looking for better pull and hopefully less mashing of the gas pedal to get her on the freeway.

Are either of these cams just direct swaps? My understanding is the T cam is for more low end grunt - but does it result in the car being even less driveable on the freeways?
Or am I better off looking for a B cam?

Thanks! This forum is just a gold mine with some very amusing comments from posters :lol:
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I'm not very experienced overall, but I put in a B cam a bit ago into my 92 240, mine has the M47 tho, anyway, it was a straight swap, only bought the new seals, didn't need shims. That's not to say that you for sure won't either, depends on how they are as of now, but often the less extreme stock volvo cams have much less possibility of unintended complications. As for power, the B cam is noticably faster, and highway is much easier to pass/gain speed without flooring it, I don't have experience with the T cam, but my B is great from 50+mph EDIT: wanted to clarify, I was pretty lucky to not need shims, many people do, probably a good idea
 
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2 old for this said:
All this talk about valve adjustment reminded me about a guy that wanted save some bucks by trying to do his 30k service himself. Car showed up a my dealer on the hook. Seems that he was checking the valve lash like a sbc. With the engine running.
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You only do hydraulics like that. Solids you do the same way as every other car with non-hydraulics.

klr142 said:
And .012" with a T cam won't kill anything, either. If it were me, I'd do .013" intake and exhaust to make it a little bigger than it is. Then retard it a few degrees for a little more sustained torque at higher rpm. Not necessary for towing, of course.
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I generally hit them a bit snug too. Last B cam (a month ago) I was at .013-.014".
 
92White240 said:
I'm not very experienced overall, but I put in a B cam a bit ago into my 92 240, mine has the M47 tho, anyway, it was a straight swap, only bought the new seals, didn't need shims. That's not to say that you for sure won't either, depends on how they are as of now, but often the less extreme stock volvo cams have much less possibility of unintended complications. As for power, the B cam is noticably faster, and highway is much easier to pass/gain speed without flooring it, I don't have experience with the T cam, but my B is great from 50+mph EDIT: wanted to clarify, I was pretty lucky to not need shims, many people do, probably a good idea
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shoestring said:
I also prefer an OE Volvo cam seal. They're better than aftermarket equivalents.
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oldschoolvolvo said:
Agree. I?ve learned that this is the better route to take.
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+1 to all this. The B cam is actually really fun with a manual trans since it allows you to rev past 3,500 unlike the M and T cam. And the idle lopes HARD on cold starts with LH2.4. Not sure how 2.2 will do. Don't buy any cam seal other than OE Volvo. I know, it sucks that it's $21+ but it is what it is. I think planetman (Eric?) sold me my last one and was quick to ship it out.
 
You guys can also use a Corteco camshaft seal, it is the Volvo part with the Volvo scrubbed off of the face. Otherwise, I agree. The Corteco crank seal is different than the Volvo crank seal, not sure why but it is.
iHateVolvoPeople said:
+1 to all this. The B cam is actually really fun with a manual trans since it allows you to rev past 3,500 unlike the M and T cam. And the idle lopes HARD on cold starts with LH2.4. Not sure how 2.2 will do.
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In my experience, the cold start loping on LH2.4 is from the car running super rich and misfiring. I've leaned out some of the warm-up enrichment on my car to help with that some with custom LH tuning with TunerPro and the Ostrich chip emulator(I think as well as fuel added while cranking or post start, or I wanted to but not sure if they made a difference). If the car has a cold start injector as well, you likely don't need it.
 
I seriously don't understand why you would even want to swap to a T cam.
Read into cams and take a good look at the specs listed, The T cam is one of the worst things you could do to any NA engine..
With an auto or low rpm towing get yourself an A cam (or something equal), Really packs a punch under 3k rpm but drops off after, If you'd like to have it slightly more balanced free revving get a V, And from there you'd get into the slightly sporty cam's K, H & custom. The rest of them simply ain't worth the swap IMO.

https://turbobricks.com/resources.php?content=camspec
 
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