Project 34T Part 1
Out of all the cars in the world, why a Volvo hatchback from the 80’s that lacks performance with its most exciting feature being a heated seat even on the cheapest base model? Well, I will give you three reasons:
- Rear Wheel Drive (RWD)
- Lightweight 989 kg / 2180 lbs wet
- Transaxle
Why are these three things so important? Untapped potential!
RWD is the first step. It’s a lot of fun to drive, not just sliding and drifting, but balancing throttle on the edge of grip as you power out of a corner. RWD is just better. FWD can be fun too, but lift off of oversteer is all the fun you get. Asking your front tyres to turn and accelerate: it’s just a performance compromise. AWD it’s great on low grip surfaces like in a rally, however, in my opinion, on a road car, it tends to make the driver think they are a lot better than they actually are.
Lighter cars are always better! They accelerate fast, brake even faster and are much more agile through corners. In the words of legendary F1 engineer and founder of Lotus, Colin Chapman, “simplify and add lightness”.
The transaxle it a bit of an odd one. It’s very uncommon, however if the engine is in the front of the car, having the gearbox at the back is a positive way to improve the car’s weight distribution. It’s also fairly rare on road cars; Porsches did a bit with it on the 968 and 924 models, before going back to what they know witn rear engines for the 911’s. Looking at the fastest modern race cars that are based on roads cars, we need the GT3s. Here, the transaxle is very popular with the front engine cars. Mercedes AMG GT3, BMW M4 GT3, Bentley Continental GT3 all use it to help balance the weight distribution with success when racing again mid-engine McLarens, Lambourghinis and Ferraris.
Now you have my three reasons why I think this car has great untapped potential. So, where did I get this car. Like every good project car, I bought it sight unseen at a car auction…
It wasn’t completely blind; a friend from college knew I was looking for one and one popped up at the car auction he worked at. So I put my trust in him and the young teenage me cracked open the piggy bank, spendinf everything I had: all £650 on the car. Another good friend from college drove me to the auction to pay and view what I had purchased.
A snow white, three door, rectangular brick, that looked nearly immaculate… Sitting on the skinniest 155/80/13 tyres, a full Volvo dealer service history, two owners from new (one being the dealership for a few years before it was bought by an old man, who I imagine had now died and his family had sent it to auction), a cassette stuck in the radio and small patch of rust on the door, and three keys. Yes – three! We’ve all brought used cars and know that if the spare key isn’t lost, it shows its been cared for, but coming with three keys was unheard of!
With a few favours and a bit more cash, the car was delivered to my house. I did as all new car owners do: I washed it and took it for a little drive up my road, span it round at a farmer’s field entrance, flicking mud up the one side of the car and parked it back up, where I proceeded to wash it again to clean the mud off from my one tyre fire. I proceeded to fall in love with my quirky rectangular box that extra had windscreen wipers on the headlights.
In much the same way as all young romances go, somebody had to get their heart broken. One day, I went to jack up the car to work on it…
Crunch!
The jacking point disappeared into the sill. She was rotten. The factory underseal stone chip was so thick the sill had rotted from the inside out. Checking the other side, it transpired that it was rotten too. Rust is like cancer for cars: you have to chop it out or it will consume to dust. Being a heartbroken teenager, I ignored the problem for a while because things fix themselves, right? Life moves on, so I bought another 340: a red five door knowing exactly where to check for rust, all whilst saying that one day, I would restore the white three door.
“One day” is a common phrase that car
enthusiasts use to justify buying multiple project cars and dreaming they will have the time and resources to finish all projects. I had two Volvo 340 projects, a Mercedes C Class project and BMW E46 Touring for daily use
Six years or so later, it was the autumn of 2021. For that white volvo three door, it was the beginning of that elusive “One day”. Jay, one of my closest friends from university who had taught himself to weld, reckoned we could fix the rust ourselves at his unit. I jumped at this opportunity to finally restore my first car. However, I had another project: the red Volvo I used to drive. That now had a half cage and was part the way through an engine conversion. Why do something twice? We decided to combine the projects and build a dream retro mod, hot hatch. Project 34T was born.
What does this dream build look like now?
Currently, it’s a green Volvo from all the moss, dead leaves, cobwebs and spiders from neglect.
When you build a car, it needs to be for a clear objective. Ford built the GT40 to beat Ferrari and it did. Then, on the XX Anniversary, Ford built the GT40 GTE to win at LeMans and it did. Mclaren built the F1 to be the best road car possible and they did (not only did it set records for being the fastest car, it still holds the fastest naturally aspirated production car record 20 years later. That is just one example of how ahead of its time the F1 was and the bench mark it set). Audi built the Quattro to dominate rally and it did. Having a clear purpose to the build ensures the project has a clear direction.
The design brief
- Is not a race car! – It’s not restricted to a specific set of rules. It must have drivability when it’s not flat out.
- It’s built to be driven – It’s not a static display car design to impress people you don’t know at different car shows. Make sure its suitable for a road trip to a track day, or beautifully twisty driving road.
- Complimentary and Predictable – Key to a good handling car that is rewarding and confidence inspiring.
In the art of war, the first rule is to know yourself. Your advantages and your weakness.
Being RWD, light weight and having good weight distribution is all the Volvo has going for it at the moment.
Looking at the Volvo, what is currently in the way of achieving these goals?
- Rust repair: The car is rotten and needs some serious rust repair to get back to a solid shell.
- Chassis bracing and half cage: As the welder is already out, we need to weld some chassis bracing to stiffen the shell from a cheap commuter car to handle its new performance objectives. As this car is going to be pushed on track, a half cage and harness will be added to improve safety.
- Repositioning the fuel tank: On a 340, the fuel tank sits right behind the rear axle and as you drive and use more fuel, the rear gets lighter, changing the balance of the car. I absolutely hated this when driving the red 340. The only way to fix this was to drive everywhere on ¼ full tank! The 360 model had a central tank that would be worth converting, aiding balance and predictability.
- Upgrade rear suspension: The rear axle is a De Dion suspension system. This means that it’s not independent, however it’s not a live rear axle. The differential is mounted to the body and CV joints and two half shafts take the drive to the wheels. This reduces the unsprung mass in comparison to a live axle which you would find on something like a MK1/2 Ford Escorts or Toyota AE86. The disadvantage is it’s not independent. Personally, I think Volvo made the rear suspension very soft to help compliance, but is far too soft and shakes around like a phat ass.
I forgot to mention, it’s also on leaf springs, just like an ancient Victorian carriage or, slightly more recently but still old, MK2 Ford Escorts. The issue with leaf springs is that it’s old technology; they allow many issues like axle tramp/wheel hop. Where the axle twists with the force of the accelerating wheel, the axle then springs back creating a hopping wheel. Leaf springs can flex side to side and this lateral deflection makes the rear end feel like a lost puppy following you around. There is a solution popular with serious MK2 Escorts rally builds, which is a six link. This is where the leaf springs get replaced with coilovers: four linked bars that control the suspension vertically and two links from a watts link to control its lateral movement.
We are not following this practical solution. I’m choosing to keep the leaf springs because I would like to try out modern composite leafs. They are much lighter at 2.2kg vs 11kg-ish. As we keep the leaf springs, to overcome some of their weaknesses, we will add a watts link (to capture that lost puppy swinging side to side), upgrade the torque rod to reduce tramping, and finish the rear off with some trick custom built dampers.
- Swapping the drivetrain: Originally, the Volvo came with an awful engine, due to its Siamese port head, and a push rod 8-valve out of a Renault with barely enough power to get out of it’s own way. This will not do for the heart of Project 34T. Sticking with Volvo’s odd collaboration with Renault to keep some heritage in the car, a Renault’s F4R engine (a 2.0L V16 valve inline 4 with variable inlet valve timing found in 172/182 Clio) fits in. When I say “fits”, we need a custom sump, adapter plate, Volvo 360 torque tube and gearbox, custom engine loom, standalone ECU, fuel system and, finally (although this is more of a want than a need) some ITBs to hear this NA engine’s scream! When all is said and done, I’m hoping for a bit of spice for this 2L to make a little over 200hp. That’s more than double the car’s original power and more then enough to have fun with. This car is not built to impress the Internet with 1200hp: it’s built to be driven and enjoyed, so 200 will do!
- Brakes: With all this added power, I can’t keep the standard 340 brakes. Non-vented front discs and single leading shoe rear drum brakes create an awful combination that has already led to boiled brakes and desperately stamping on the pedal on a spirited drive. I need to upgrade the front disc to something vented with a corresponding calliper, then scrap the rear drums and replace with disc brakes.
- Front suspension: With all that work bringing the rear end to improve handling, we can’t leave the front end standard. Coilovers, camber plates and polyurethane bushes will cover our requirements.
- Wide arch: All functions over form. As the car will be lower riding on much wider tyres than the skinny 155s, body clearance will become an issue with suspension travel. To keep the car compliant, wide arches will enable the wheels to gain more compression during suspension travel.
So, we have a rough outline on what needs doing. How we get there and some of the obstacles are as yet unknown, but there is only one way to find out.
LET’S GET STUCK IN!!!
