600HP HONDA-SWAPPED VOLVO DRIFT ROCKET!

Volvo cars have been the butt of jokes in automotive circles for as long as I can remember, however their sensible design and daggy image is giving the brand a cult following both here in Australia and abroad as penny-wise enthusiasts pick up the oft-overlooked Swedish platform for cents on the dollar, and stuff it full of the aftermarkets best performance bits.

Our relentless scroll through social media was stopped in its tracks by Felix Erikkson’s Volvo B230 from Sweden. “It was a boring 16-valve model to start with, but we went with a popular option of transplanting a BMW engine,” begins Felix of the Volvo’s transformation. His first engine swap was a M60B40 - a DOHC 4L V8.

 “It was awesome, I loved it, then I got the bad idea to put a turbo on the stock engine and we blew it up at 598rwhp on 1.3bar (18.8psi).”

“I was drifting that weekend so quickly swapped in an M62B44 [a later version of the original M60 engine],” continues Felix, who boosted that engine too and kept it alive on a modest 0.9bar for two years!

It would appear that Sweden is somewhat of an engine conversion mecca, as while Felix was riding in a buddy’s SR20-swapped BMW his mate divulged that he was thinking about ditching the Nissan four-pot for the uber trendy Honda K24. “I thought ‘great, I’ll buy one before him!” admits Felix. “That was the worst decision of my life!”

Felix built his first K24 and tidied the engine up before installing it. “It lasted all of a minute. It was full of debris from the blasting process, blocking all the oil galleries and destroying the engine,” but his bad luck wouldn’t engine there.

“I was so disheartened that I enlisted a company to build a second engine,” who managed to get this engine to the dyno before things started to go awry. “It started breaking up on the dyno so we started checking and basically nothing I’d paid for was in the engine. The tolerances were all off, there was a crack in one of the cylinder walls, even the oil pick up snapped off!”

Like Goldilocks’ porridge, engine number three was the charm. “I put the third engine together myself with the help of a friend and it rips to this day!” he exclaims. The big boosted K24 makes 601rwhp and is mated to a BMW 8HP70 transmission.

“I have done everything you can do with a Volvo chassis, with TXR suspension and steering upgrades front and rear, Torsten differential, a full cage cage and so on,” says Felix in closing.

For more on Felix’s drifting adventures or wild Volvo builds, check out his YouTube.