The B18 is a 1.8 L inline four cylinder

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded ...

engine produced by

Volvo The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...

from 1961 through 1968. A larger 2.0 L derivative called the B20 debuted in 1969. Despite being a pushrod design, the engines can rev to 6,500 rpm. They are also reputed to be very durable. The world's highest mileage car, a 1966 Volvo P1800S, traveled more than on its original B18 engine.

B18

The B18 has a single

cam-in-block A cam-in-block engine is where the camshaft is located in the engine block. Types of cam-in-block engines are: * F-Head Engine * Flathead engine * Overhead valve engine (the only type where the valves are above the combustion chamber) * T-head eng ...

, operating two

overhead valve An overhead valve (OHV) engine, sometimes called a ''pushrod engine'', is a piston engine whose valves are located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier flathead engines, where the valves were located be ...

s (OHV) per cylinder by

pushrod A valvetrain or valve train is a mechanical system that controls the operation of the intake and exhaust valves in an internal combustion engine. The intake valves control the flow of air/fuel mixture (or air alone for direct-injected engines) ...

s and

rocker arm In the context of an internal combustion engine, a rocker arm is a valvetrain component that typically transfers the motion of a pushrod to the corresponding intake/exhaust valve. Rocker arms in automobiles are typically made from stamped steel ...

s. The

crankshaft A crankshaft is a mechanical component used in a piston engine to convert the reciprocating motion into rotational motion. The crankshaft is a rotating shaft containing one or more crankpins, that are driven by the pistons via the connecti ...

rides in five

main bearing Main may refer to: Geography * Main River (disambiguation) **Most commonly the Main (river) in Germany * Main, Iran, a village in Fars Province *"Spanish Main", the Caribbean coasts of mainland Spanish territories in the 16th and 17th centuries ...

s, making the B18 quite different in design from its predecessor, the three-bearing B16. With a bore of and stroke of , the B18 displaces . The engine was used in Volvo's

PV544 The Volvo PV is a series of two-door, four-passenger car models — the PV444 and the PV544 — made by Volvo from 1947 to 1965. During World War II's early stages, Volvo decided that a new, smaller car that could deliver good fuel economy woul ...

, P210 Duett, 120 (Amazon), P1800 and 140 series. It could also be found in the L3314 and the

Bandvagn 202 Bandvagn 202 (Bv 202) is a tracked articulated, all-terrain vehicle developed by Bolinder-Munktell, a subsidiary of Volvo, for the Swedish Army. Description The vehicle is formed by two rubber Kegresse track units with a multi-directional pivot ...

military vehicles. The B18 was fitted to many

Volvo Penta Volvo Penta was founded as Penta in 1907 with the production of its first marine engine, the B1. The Penta company soon became an established internal combustion engine manufacturer, which in 1927 delivered the engine for Volvo's first passenge ...

sterndrive A sterndrive or inboard/outboard drive (I/O) is a form of marine propulsion which combines inboard power with outboard drive. The engine sits just forward of the transom while the drive unit (outdrive or drive leg) lies outside the hull. Opera ...

marine propulsion Marine propulsion is the mechanism or system used to generate thrust to move a watercraft through water. While paddles and sails are still used on some smaller boats, most modern ships are propelled by mechanical systems consisting of an electr ...

systems. It was also used in the

Facel Vega Facel S.A. was a French manufacturer of pressed steel automobile components, later complete automobiles of their own design. To intensify its World War II war effort, French subcontracting company for military aeronautics Bronzavia created a s ...

Facel III and the Marcos 1800 GT. There are four variations of this engine: * B18A: Single

carburettor A carburetor (also spelled carburettor) is a device used by an internal combustion engine to control and mix air and fuel entering the engine. The primary method of adding fuel to the intake air is through the venturi tube in the main meterin ...

version. * B18B: Dual carburettor version with a higher

compression ratio The compression ratio is the ratio between the volume of the cylinder and combustion chamber in an internal combustion engine at their maximum and minimum values. A fundamental specification for such engines, it is measured two ways: the stati ...

, fitted variously with dual sidedraft SU or

Zenith The zenith (, ) is an imaginary point directly "above" a particular location, on the celestial sphere. "Above" means in the vertical direction ( plumb line) opposite to the gravity direction at that location ( nadir). The zenith is the "high ...

Stromberg carburettor Stromberg, Strömberg, Strømberg, Stroemberg, or ''variant'' may refer to: Places Germany * Stromberg, Oelde, a town in Oelde * Stromberg (landscape), a region in Baden-Württemberg ** Stromberg-Heuchelberg Nature Park * Stromberg (Siebengebi ...

s. * B18C: Single carburettor version with a lower compression ratio and mechanical RPM regulator, fitted in the gasoline powered versions of the Volvo BM 320

tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or construction. Most commo ...

. This version was also used for the elevator in the PS-15 radar system. * B18D Dual carburettor version with a lower compression ratio.

DOHC

In 1971 Swedish engineer Gunnar Axelsson developed a

DOHC An overhead camshaft (OHC) engine is a piston engine where the camshaft is located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier overhead valve engines (OHV), where the camshaft is located below the combustion cha ...

cylinder head for the B18 engine family. This cylinder head was used in competition Volvos for several years. On 1 January 2014 the Grainger & Worrall company announced that they had partnered with Axelsson to reproduce the DOHC head for the B18 engine. Power output of the base engine was expected to be , while a high-output version developing would also be available.

B36

In 1952 Volvo unveiled the

Volvo Philip The Volvo Philip was a concept car that was built by Volvo in 1952. It was designed especially for the United States market and so was fitted with a prototype V8 engine called the B8B, which produced at 4000 rpm and was fitted with whitewall t ...

concept car powered by a 3.6 litre

V8 engine A V8 engine is an eight-cylinder piston engine in which two banks of four cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. The first V8 engine was produced by the French Antoinette company in 1904, developed and u ...

that would later be called the B36. The V8 engine had exactly the same bore and stroke dimensions as the four-cylinder B18, leading some to suggest that the B18 is one-half of the V8. Significant differences between the two engines included the fact that while the V8 engine has

crossflow cylinder head A crossflow cylinder head is a cylinder head that features the intake and exhaust ports on opposite sides. The gases can be thought to flow across the head. This is in contrast to reverse-flow cylinder head designs that have the ports on the same ...

s, the four cylinder has a

reverse-flow cylinder head In engine technology, a reverse-flow or non-crossflow cylinder head is one that locates the intake and exhaust ports on the same side of the engine. The gases can be thought to enter the cylinder head and then change direction to exit the head. T ...

. This suggests that the engines are for the most part separate designs.

B20

With the same stroke as the B18 but a bore enlarged to , the B20 displaces . The cylinders are on split bore centers, where the spacing between cylinders 2 and 3 is wider than that between cylinders 1 and 2 or 3 and 4. The design is virtually identical to the earlier B18, thus most parts are functionally interchangeable, albeit with running changes to the manufacture and design of components. The B20 engine was used in the Volvo

120 120 may refer to: *120 (number), the number * AD 120, a year in the 2nd century AD *120 BC, a year in the 2nd century BC *120 film, a film format for still photography * ''120'' (film), a 2008 film * 120 (MBTA bus) * 120 (New Jersey bus) * 120 (Ken ...

1800 As of March 1 ( O.S. February 18), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 12 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 16 ...

, 140, C202 and

240 __NOTOC__ Year 240 ( CCXL) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sabinus and Venustus (or, less frequently, year 993 ''Ab u ...

series, and also in the

Bofors AB Bofors ( , , ) is a former Swedish arms manufacturer which today is part of the British arms concern BAE Systems. The name has been associated with the iron industry and artillery manufacturing for more than 350 years. History Located ...

Haubits FH77 Fälthaubits 77 (Swedish "Field Howitzer 77") or FH77 is a Swedish 155 mm howitzer, developed and manufactured by Bofors. It is also colloquially known as the Bofors gun in India. There were several versions, the original (sometimes referred ...

howitzer A howitzer () is a long- ranged weapon, falling between a cannon (also known as an artillery gun in the United States), which fires shells at flat trajectories, and a mortar, which fires at high angles of ascent and descent. Howitzers, like ot ...

. A modified version was used in the one-off 1969

Volvo GTZ The Volvo GTZ and GTZ 3000 are Swedish concept cars built for Volvo. Both were designed by Zagato, with the GTZ debuting at the 1969 Turin Auto Show on the Zagato stand and the GTZ 3000 debuting the following year at the 1970 Geneva Motor Show. ...

concept car. The B20 was produced from 1969 to 1981. There are five variations of this engine: * B20A: Single carburettor version. First produced in 1969. * B20B: Dual carburettor version with a higher compression ratio. First produced in 1969. * B20D: Dual carburettor version with a lower compression ratio. First produced in 1971. * B20E:

Fuel injection Fuel injection is the introduction of fuel in an internal combustion engine, most commonly automotive engines, by the means of an injector. This article focuses on fuel injection in reciprocating piston and Wankel rotary engines. All com ...

version with a high compression ratio. First produced in 1970. * B20F: Fuel injection version with low compression ratio. First produced in 1972 for lower emissions. The B20E and B20F versions featured larger valves, and intake/exhaust ports and for 1974–1975 switched from electronic D-Jetronic to mechanical K-Jetronic injection. In 1974 the number of bolts holding the

flywheel A flywheel is a mechanical device which uses the conservation of angular momentum to store rotational energy; a form of kinetic energy proportional to the product of its moment of inertia and the square of its rotational speed. In particular, as ...

increased from 6 to 8 and the size of the

connecting rod A connecting rod, also called a 'con rod', is the part of a piston engine which connects the piston to the crankshaft. Together with the crank, the connecting rod converts the reciprocating motion of the piston into the rotation of the crank ...

s was increased. The B20A was revived for use in the C202 from 1977 to 1981.

B30

From the 1969 model year Volvo produced a

six-cylinder The straight-six engine (also referred to as an inline-six engine; abbreviated I6 or L6) is a piston engine with six cylinders arranged in a straight line along the crankshaft. A straight-six engine has perfect primary and secondary engine balan ...

version of this engine called the B30 for the newly released

Volvo 164 The Volvo 164 is a 4-door, 6-cylinder luxury sedan unveiled by Volvo at the Paris Motor Show early in October 1968 and first sold as a 1969 model. 46,008 164s were built before the car was succeeded by the 264 in 1975. The 164 was Volvo's first ...

. Adding two extra cylinders with the same dimensions to the B20 produced a engine.

Engine chart

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Volvo B18 Engine B18 Gasoline engines by model Straight-four engines

B18

DOHC

B36

B20

B30

Engine chart

See also

References

External links