The Fire Breathing Monster 
John Lane's turbo V-6 Volvo rally car. 
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At the Thurston Co. ORV Park Rallysprint.
 
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Humble beginnings, circa 1996.
 
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Aftermath of the first rollover, which happened at the first stage rally. I believe this was late 1996. Note the Porsche Weber carbs.
 
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Roof off, preparing to do some rollcage additions.
 
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New roof being fitted. I told John he only gets one new roof per shell. He eventually took me at my word as fate would have it.
 
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Here we go again! Landing site for the 3rd rollover. (Number 2 was a minor affair that He-Man John singlehandedly righted himself. We've got it on tape.)
 
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This was at the Wild West Rally 1998. The car was still pre-turbo at this point, but John was testing out the Electramotive injection on the N/A V-6.
 
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John caught a slower car and it was extremely dusty. He went off the road about 80mph and went tumbling through the stumps. Notice the $1500 worth of brand new smashed rally lights.
 
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The car landed on its roof but was righted with the help of some nearby spectators. John's hand got a bit hamburgered when it got caught between the winshield and the dash. Even the dashboard got bent.
 
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Codriver Scott Huhn took a stump right in the door. I nicknamed him Seymore Stumps after that. John's nickname was Max Damage.
 
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Everyone thought the car was a writeoff. The trunklid was literally folded in half. But we drove it into the back of the truck, took it to the rally finish and drove it in front of the casino and parked it for everyone to see.
 
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Here we are a little later on. The only original body panel now is the valance panel below the windshield. The whole rear body from the firewall back is from a '80 240. The rollcage is original, though.
 
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Turbo power! Not pretty but it gets the job done. This photo is prior to the upper motor mounts shown later.
 
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The V-6's have this wonderful space behind the engine for a big honkin' turbo. You can see the Electramotive unit on top of the intake manifold.
 
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You can just make out the end of the SAAB 9000 intercooler to the left.
 
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Note the cold air intake in the upper left corner. The scoop on the hood feeds it. You can just see the HKS wastegate down below it. Turbo is a Garret TO4.
 
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Turbo manifold. Ugly but it works well. Bolts to the stock exhaust manifolds, couldn't be easier. Made out of rollbar tubing to stand up to the heat.
 
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The stock motor mounts couldn't handle the incredible torque of this engine. Every time he rolled the car they would break anyway. So I added two more up top.
 
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It now has 4 motor mounts, 2 up top and 2 below. You may recognize these as shortened upper rear suspension trailing links.
 
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After we added all that power the first thing to break was the rear end. We kept twisting the splines off the axles. Time for a Ford 9 inch! Left to right: nodular iron center section with 3.50 gears and spool, Moser 35 spline axle, stock Volvo axle.
 
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9 inch Ford housing out of an old Mustang shortened and with mounting brackets added to fit the Volvo, courtesy Scribner Welding.
 
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The next thing to break was the tranny. Even with a Quaife straight cut gearset the M46 wouldn't last. We broke 2 Quaife gearsets. THe Jerico 4 speed dogbox is out of a Winston Cup stockcar. Compare the gear sizes!
 
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The Jerico is bigger and the shift linkage is external on the left side so some tunnel surgery was required. You can just see the bellhousing with adapter plate behind the gas pedal.
 
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New tunnel prior to painting.
 
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Quartermaster triple disc clutch on lightened flywheel. Believe it or not the stock clutch mechanism and throwout bearing work on this.
 
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Jerico installed. You can see the modified Volvo bellhousing. This was a relatively easy conversion. The Jerico input shaft length and pilot bearing were the same size as Volvo.
 
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Tranny mount was easy. Extending the shift linkage rods was a bitch. The Jerico has a magnesium case.
 
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Driveshaft center bearing support for Ford F150 driveshaft.
 
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Porsche Brembo front caliper. Not current setup. Car now uses Ford Escort Cosworth Group A front suspension and huge AP brakes.
 
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Custom bulletproof a-arm needed to clear Brembo calipers. Again, not current setup.
 
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Rear Brembo calipers and vented rotors. Still on the car.
 
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Rooster tail! 'Nuff said.
 
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"Dangerous rock spray, stay back!" Also you can't read it but the license plate frame reads: "Rolled hard and put away bent!" This car is also known as the Swedish Penis Enlarger. Maybe you can spot the reference?l
 
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Traction limited.
 
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The casualties of a broken spindle. (Well, that and John not stopping after the wheel went bouncing into the woods. He only stopped because the skidplate tore off and jammed into the road.)
 
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Part of the reason the car now has Ford Escort Cosworth Group A suspension and DMS struts up front.
 
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New bodywork prior to blue paint job. Riding on the "burnout tires." Note vented hood. NACA ducts at back edge feed cool air over turbo. To the left of those is the air intake scoop for the air filter. The holes in the middle vent air from the radiator
 
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At the IPD track day a few years ago. John is about to take Topi Hynynen for a "spin."
 
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This is what happens when you try to send 500ft/lbs of torque through a Volvo Dana 30 axle. The reason the car now has a 9" Ford rear end.
 
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Axle on left is twisted about 5mm. Axle on right has been shortened! (Which means now there's something stuck inside the diff...)
 
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Here is the Ford Escort Cosworth Group A front suspension and brakes. The strut is a DMS 50mm 2 way adjustable unit.
 
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Another view. You can see the Group A aluminum upright and the custom steering tie rod a little better here. The brakes are huge, as you can see.
 
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Magnesium 15" wheel from Ford RS200 Group B car. Notice brake caliper clearance (or lack thereof...)
 
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View of Ford 9 inch rear under the Volvo. Sorry it's so dirty, it's a rally car!
 
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Here's a view of the panhard rod to rearend clearance. People keep asking me if there are any clearance issues here. Obviously not, even less than I remembered.
 
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Rear suspension showing DMS rear shock and Porsche Brembo caliper. Window in upper shock mount allows access to bump and rebound adjusters.
 
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Rear shock bottom mount. Yes I approve of your shock mounting, John, it looks plenty strong.
 
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Another view of the (very dirty) rear end. Rear shocks are mounted lower than stock because they are longer for more travel.
 
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Doh! Somebody forgot to do up the hoodpins....or was it on purpose? This was at the ORV Park Rallysprint, August 2002.
 
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This was actually NorPac Divisional Steward John Forespring driving, who was sharing John's car at this event. Possible sabotage? ;)
 

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