Projects Redoing an old Gasser, and telling a good story.

I got an old car project fall in my lap, some time ago, I've been collecting some parts, but not near enough.

It's an Small European car, with an V8, and I hope Ryan will allow this, because I really need the help.
I want it to be Gasser class legal and Legal under Danish law too.
This means it need a lot of advice to improve on its 1/4 mile ET.

Just to get the basics out, we are talking about a 1965 Volvo 122S, a 2400 lbs 2 door sedan, with a Rover 215 cui V8 stuffed in it.
I'm not allowed to have more then 150HP and 168NM.
It already got a full disc brake conversion, all around, and a Dana 31 with Posi.
I can't cut the front of the car off and go full tubular and I can't tub it.
This is the rules I'm bound by, and then the Era correct Gasser rules that may apply to this type of car.


But it was a pretty decent street/track back in its day (compared to other European cars), but I want to improve on the 14.7 ET and 140 KMH trap speed.
Here is some pics of the car





I want it to run ansen styled mag slots again, but nothing is set in stone, yet.
It ran a Rover 5 speed, but there area little rare, but the should be other options.

So one hopping some of the Gasser era experts have some advice to offer up,
Guys like

@falcongeorge
@squirrel
@Scott Quinn
@HRP
@loudbang

And the list might go on, when I remember the names I forgot right this instant.

 

cool project. Front axle? Your plan?

 

I'm no gasser expert, but that is just pretty damned cool.

 

For period correct, you could say that the Rover V8 is a Buick, since it kinda is...... joking.
Cool little project, but what's it look like now?

 

Gotta follow this one, a V8 in that tiny car has to be fun to drive. If you need any photoshop work let me know. Eli

 

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Thanks, you know you 1/4 mile stuff too, maybe I should have added you too (you ran drag week too, right?)
Double wishbone set up, I plan to run it stock. This might be pushing it a little, but the stock
Suspension is an Era Perfect M2 setup but pretty



But please feel free to stop me, but wasn't it only top ranking classes, like very fast/very light cars that ran straight axles?
According to Danish law I can't cut front suspension, with out getting put in to street rod class, and that means 130.000 Danish Krones has to be put in to paperwork/tax/legal fees/road tests by independent engineers, so I stay stock and "go to town" with my cup drill, before I cut the front suspension off.

I plan to De-Rover it, because I want it to look like and old car.
There is no steel sleeves in an Rover and the heads is like aftermarket compared to Buick heads. But I'm trying to find out how I can make it look like an Factory fresh early Buick, painted green with pressed steel valve covers and and older painted manifold.
I know I say this a lot, but on some stuff I have to go All-Smokey to make it happen. But I can and I will keep it within the spirit of this game (era perfect looking/traditional, and true to the rule books).
Anybody got an Era correct rule book, and who can help med put the quotation marks in the right spot?
Like "full" interior don't have to be stock to be legal.

Feel free to go to town, if you got the time to do it, i defenetly have the time to look at them!

 

England is a skip and hop away for you ?... Should be pleanty of rover parts there?... I believe the later ones got a fairly big displacement ..

Not all gassers had axles, and not all axle cars were gassers, I know it's hard to believe in hambland

Motor and weight keeping it Danish legal will probably keep the car fun and it a true resto to a local car

 

Yes, and there is an insane amount of info on tuning the Rover engine, what the internet lack, except the HAMB (hopefully), is how to build a mild Rover V8 out of a Mid-80s Land Rover engine, make it look like a Mid-60s Gasser and run better then 14sec ET.

I know the not all Gasser was axle cars, but I don't when/what/why set em apart.
What class would mine end up in Gas/E?

 

The car was actually born with a decent cast iron, push rod, non-cross flow banger. Does a good job for a banger, and is very popular over here, easy to increase power and is very well backed in the aftermarket.

But a B20 (121 ci) long block weighs 100lbs more then a complete 215.


Will Buick valve covers fit an Rover?
Will the intake fit? What intake look the most Era Perfect for a Buick 215 Gasser engine?
4 bbl or Tri power?
Or FI? Or was that only the blown Olds?

Is there an engine front plate available for a Buick, or is it DIY? Or should I just run upgraded stock mounts?

 

If your talking about in the 60s my understanding is a displacement/weight to designate a class so the motor that makes an anglia A/gas the same motor would make a 57 Chevy C/gas

But unless your racing .. A 283 SBC looks just like a 454 SBC .. I think the same may apply to the rover
Why go mild?
Build a big rover and log intake with muti carbs of course other ways to make a rover breathe

 

That's a nice Rover!!

But as stated in post one

I can't have more then 150HP and 168NM, to be street legal.
It's free upgrades on the stock engine, if I keep head, crank and block. But it's only 20% power increase, or manufacture most wrote you a "get out of jail free card". And that's what Volvo allows us to do with our cars.
What designation would 215CUI/2400lbs make mine in designation?

 

That is a really neat car! I am not sure I understand-you are allowed 150 hp-is that rated by the manufacturer horsepower? If so I would do whatever I wanted to the engine and just not tell the rule people. Do they actually make you run the car on a dyno?

 

Sounds KOOL, interesting to read all your restrictions on what you can do or can't do because of regulations. We can do anything we want here as there are full blown race cars, registered and on the street. Had a 215 Buick in my Dad's Midget that I drove, early seventies, pretty good engine, had fun, we were a low buck deal and ran it at 215, rules were 160, several ran destroked, sleeved and very sucessful. Good Luck w/ your Project and Be Safe racing.

 

Rasmus do you mean the engine has to start out from the factory rating of 150 hp? and you can build it up from there?
the trick is to lighten that thing up. can you run plexiglass side windows?

 

I don't understand the hp limit .. Even if they dyno it , surely you can detune it so it passes? A 300 hp motor can make 150 pretty ez with screwed up ignition and not enough carb, ect , I just posted the blown rover cause it was cool

 

Great looking little car. I'm going to enjoy following this thread.

Bobby

 

That blown Rover is very cool.
Would look great in my OT Landy.

You could always build it as a full on Gasser, and trailer it to the track........ or move countries.

 

We are very strict on the testing of cars.

We most submit our cars to a inspection every two years, where they can test almost anything on the car.
This should be seen as tech'ing an actual race car at your local track.
You can't break the rules, but you can bend em.
If you cant comply with the rules, they revoke your plates. And make it an full on race car.

My car set the baseline for engine swapping an V8 in to Volvo 122 shell. So it was actually taken apart, by a firm that validated/tech important stuff and dynoed. So if I stay with in the ball park of 150/168, nobody can stop me driving that thing on the street.
I belive OB, Tech'ed it with the an weak cam and a lousy carb on it.
And then changed to a 4bbl ( most likely carter AFB 390 or 360 cfm) and ran it like that.
But car has to pass an emissions test, and can't pass an CO% of 7 in the exhaust.

So it's very complicated.
But that blown engine is the tits!!

I can run Lexan windows all around, I plan on running the stock laminated windshield and use lexan for the rest.
I plan run Fiberglass front and fenders, but I can't remove to basic shell, because the car is frameless and thereby the body shell keeps the shape/rigidity of the car.

 

When Rover bought the Buick tooling from GM, they did redesign it a fair amount (while keeping the basic architecture) so I don't think you'll have much luck using Buick bits on it. You can swap in a 300 CI iron Buick crankshaft (with suitable machining) for more cubes, but Rover built their own 4.6L version so that would probably be easier.

I used to know a guy with a Rover V8-powered Morgan, and while you could see the 'family resemblance', he used to bitch about the fact that the cheaper-in-the-US Buick parts usually didn't fit.

 

I can see on summit that there intake for the BOR 215 (Buick/Olds/Rover) is the same. So I hope to run a stock Buick one, because I read it as a they will swap.
One of my new car club buddy's is a Buick guy. I hope to borrow a pair of valve covers to test fit.
But what other Buicks share valve covers with the 215?

 

This is pictures of a Swedish build one, but I'm unsure if it's a Rover or Buick. But I can say that it looked a 1000 times better then my polished Rover valve covers

Maybe some of the Swedish guys can tell/remember this car.
@AndersF

My car actually had pretty good setup for handeling, it was 1058 lbs on the front axle, and 1278 lbs on the rear, when it was raced.

I would so much love to se it with appropriate Gasser designation, and the car being able to live up to the Gasser heritage it already has.
When this car was build we (in Denmark) was just starting to get in to this drag racing deal, apposed to street racing and road racing. We was late bloomers in drag racing compared to most other racing types.
We just started in late 70s. But did all the same stuff all over, as you did in the "golden days" of drag racing. Weight transfer (nose bleed stance) to get a good launch on the best street tires available.
So if this car looks a little 70s-ish styled, I plan to remedy that, so it looks more like an 54/55 Chevy would like around 1960ish.
Because to me those was the "glory days", despite I wasn't born then.

And to put any miss understanding out of the way, I'm just as old as the "born in the USA" album by Springsteen, but I do my best to soak up all the info out there, and I'm ALWAYS willing to listen to the greybeards.

 

The American radio stations played that album to death. Twice.
Personally, I think the car has good proportions. Short deck lid, long nose. Rear tires fit the wheelwells perfectly. To hear how you must follow strict rules to drive on the street is shocking. We live in the wild West here!

 

I just found this;

http://www.selectric.org/ahra/1966rules/index.html

I just read through it, and got some questions.

What does "safety hubs" mean?

What does "flywheel shield" mean? Scatter shields? Does it have to be AHRA/NHRA approved?

 

I dont remember that Volvo but it looks like early 80:s.
Your post made me remember the hell we had here in Sweden.
From 69-84 we where forbidden to modify or build your own car.
The hotrodders and chopper guys have to transport them self on
backroads at nights to hide from the police when they going to meets.
If you widen the track more than a 1/2 inch they say your axels will brake
and you was not legal. And even if the aftermarket wheel where legal you
where harassed couse you try to fool the system.

I guess you want suggestions on how to improve the power without to be to visible.
And should be easy to detune for techinspections.
And some tips to improve the looks on a modern Rover V8.
My suggestion on valvecovers.
If the Buicks dont fit you could find a set of covers thats have abut the same size as Rover.
Than make a adapter that fits Rover on one side and the covers on the other.

 

Sorry I forgot the as-found pics.

 

I remember that Swedish Amazon (as they were named in Sweden). Think it was an Olds F-85 V-8 that was installed there.


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I don't understand the question about the carburetion, but maybe this will help:

When the 215 was still GM, it was used by Buick, Oldsmobile, and Pontiac.

Carburetion was:

Rochester R, RC single barrel used on the turbo Olds Jetfire
Rochester 2GC two barrel
Rochester 4GC four barrel

No CFM rating was published on the Rochester four barrel, but is was approximately 400 CFM.

Later, Carter offered an AFB that was rated 400 CFM. Carter part number 9400s which was superceded by 9410s (same carb, with an added port for EGR).

The original Rochester 4GC carbs for this engine are SCARCE and EXPENSIVE. The Carter AFB is more readily available, and is much easier to tune for either emissions or performance by simply changing metering rods. The Carter metering rods can be changed without removing even the top of the carb (to prove a point of ease of changability, I once changed a set while the engine was running, but don't recommend doing this).

The Rochester 4GC can be modified, but must be taken apart to do so.

The Rochester R and RC is scarce, expensive, and the turbo is apt to last about as long as a snowball in the warm place! They were so reliable, Oldsmobile had to offer a recall where the entire turbo setup was replaced with a 4-barrel!

Jon.

 

The question regarding intake manifold, more then actually carb, I was interested in what cars and what horsepower rating, I had to check for when I needed a donor.
But I might end up going aftermarked for intake and carb.

But you have been very helpfull.

 

Thank you, Anders!
We have the same rules regarding track, and "no part of wheel or tire is allowed to protrude out of the fenderwell" rules is also a very hated one.

I would have liked to know if Buick valve covers fit, but the spacer is an excellent idea m.