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Volvos and V8s go together like Ikea furniture and orthogonality. Today's Nice Price or Crack Pipe trumped up 240 is probably pretty good on the straights, but will its price throw you for a curve? More »
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We've seen V8lvos here before on Nice Price or Crack Pipe, and for some reason, they always seem to be blue. Today's is no exception, however its claimed 290-whp does seem pretty exceptional. More »
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Dorothy had only to click her heels together to get back her to Kansas home. That probably wasn't as much fun as driving today's Lawrence-based Nice Price or Crack Pipe Volvo, as I don't think Dot's shoes had a V8. More »
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In all the excitement of the Scuderia Flatpack V8olvo getting on its roof at Thunderhill we forgot all about their incredible new team logo! More »
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Whew, it's been a crazy day at Thunderhill Raceway so far, as I switch between Journalist, Racer, and Judge hats/wigs. We had a little mishap in the first hour of practice today... More »
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Since many of our cheapskate thrifty readers appreciated the tip about cheap rear-battery cables from junked BMW 325s, here's another nearly-free trick we discovered while preparing the V8 Volvo for the next race. More »
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When racing started at Altamont on Sunday, we knew we had some catching up to do; thanks to overestimation of fuel consumption, some pit slowness, and a penalty incurred by yours truly (more on that later), we started the day in 44th place out of 90 cars. We had the power, we had the skilled drivers, and we had a block of Swedish steel that could shrug off hits from the biggest opponents. And, speaking of the biggest opponents, a certain bullying orange Plymouth fared quite badly in a series of paint-trading incidents with our own WhatWouldJesseDo; see that orange paint on the tire in the image above? More »
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With all the excitement of the race, I totally forgot to post photos of what the Black Metal V8olvo actually looked like by the time we had it all painted and bedecaled. Thing is, we didn't have time to apply the decals until we actually got the car to the racetrack. First of all, some commenters have wondered about the skulls mounted on the front edge of the car's roof. Those aren't just decorative skulls that just sit there. Hell, no! These are anatomically correct med-student skull replicas, and they're equipped with crowns of plumber's tape, Fiat indicator lights for eyes, and Dodge minivan vacuum motors operating the jaws! With high manifold vacuum (i.e., idling, cruising, decelerating), the vacuum motor pulls the skull's jaw shut; low manifold vacuum (i.e., gas pedal mashed to the floor) allows springs to pull the jaw open. I'll write up the fascinating details of how to build such important racing accessories for yourself, but for now let's check out the nice "before getting beat to hell" photos of the car. More »
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The inaugural race of the 24 Hours of LeMons season just concluded and we're being told it looks like the winner's Krider Racing in their Integra. Murilee will have more shortly from Altamont but he predicts our very own Team Black Metal V8olvo will come in somewhere in the top 20. Give 'em all a round of applause for not only finishing after yesterday's tragedy, but for making all of us damn proud. Keep your eyes on our 24 Hours of LeMons Altamont tag for more coverage throughout the upcoming week. (Photo Credit: PK Kool via Flickr) More »
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Just received the following text message from Murilee: "[Team Black Metal V8olvo has] gone from 44th place to 19th so far today." Continue following the team's progress along with all our coverage here. More »
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So we put in the Loverman followed by Viergangfuchs this morning and started knocking off some quick laps, passing like crazy and moving up to the 20s in the standings; Mr. Baruth has our best lap time, with 51 seconds. Now the Evil Genius is driving, and he's also fast as hell. However, the level of competition is getting ratcheted up, tempers are flaring a bit out there, and we're dishing out and receiving some damage in the heat of the action; the front suspension just needed some major toe adjustments after a bit of mutual metal grunching with our friend Xarg's Cavalier wagon. Sorry, guys! Meanwhile, the Porcubimmer, after leading for a while yesterday, has been de-quilled by various mechanical maladies; full report later. More »
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We've spent the morning applying stickers, discussing driver strategy, and being hectored by Mr. Lamm about all the horrific penalties that await overly aggro drivers (in honor of Mother's Day, one penalty involves being forced to eat an entire meatloaf while another team member plays the role of the mother, hovering and shouting that the victim is the Least Favorite Child). I'm pretty busy now, but stay tuned for more live action when I get a breather! [24 Hours of LeMons and 24 Hours of LeMons Altamont coverage] More »
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Teams competing in the 24 Hours of LeMons race can check in and get their cars past the tech inspection judges on Friday afternoon or Saturday morning. Teams showing up on Friday get first shot at the good pit spaces, and Team Black Metal V8olvo decided to claim some real estate today. Tech inspection went smoothly and we're cleared to race. More »
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24 Hours of LeMons race weekend is just about here, and we're heading out to Altamont for the early check-in and tech inspection today. Señor Loverman has applied the all-important V8 emblem to the trunk lid, we've got our checklist all checked, and we're going to be throwing some elbows as we vie for the best pit location. Stay tuned for some live race coverage on Saturday! More »
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Team Black Metal V8olvo was fortunate enough to get some track time at a Volvo club event at Thunderhill last week, and so we got the car all put together and trailered it on up to Willows. It worked pretty well, with our modified Thunderbird springs and swaybars and 242 Turbo brakes giving the car decent handling and stopping, and while the Ford 302 couldn't keep up with the wild-ass super-boosted turbo four-bangers on the other cars, it was able to get out of its own way. But then the car started running hot...
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When we started out to build a V8-powered Volvo 244 for the May 10-11 24 Hours of LeMons race, most of the team members assumed we'd be using the good ol' C4 automatic transmission. You know, automatics are way easier to swap, with no troublesome clutch linkage to futz with. But Crew Chief Hellhammer (formerly known as Dave) pointed out that he's built plenty of manual-equipped rods, and then he directed our attention to several Ford V8-compatible T-5 5-speeds (and no C4s) sitting in the weeds behind his shop (he's been working on a '57 Ford project, so his stash-o-parts is heavy on Ford running gear). With our minds filled with images of slushboxes overheating and dying at last year's Altamont race, we decided to go with three pedals instead of two... then held our collective breath when it came time to make it happen for real. More »
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