Interesting. Thanks

 

One more question please. Compared to other 4 cylinder engines from that era like BMW's, Toyota's, Honda's, etc. the Volvo's had more clearance between the piston and cylinder, even when new. Why do you think the Volvo engineers designed it that way?

 

the red brick engine was designed to go freekin' forever

and, when you're comparing era, remember, the red-block was designed in the mid 70s as the B21, it later grew to B23, then the 'low friction' variant was the B230.

and, really, the B21 was based on the earlier pushrod B18-B20 family of engines, with the addition of a crossflow alloy head with overhead cam, and slanted over so it would fit under the same hood. The B18 was new in 1960.

So I would compare these clearances with 1960s, 1970s I4 engines.

 

European cars were made with a different philosophy up untill a few decades ago, to last! This ended after the '90s and now the stress is on bling, power,economy and ease of recycling--they don't want you to keep a car too long--it's bad for the economy, bad for the environment, and bad for business. Cars reached their best in terms of dependability around late '80s, early '90s. BMW e30, e28, Mercedes 123, 124, Volvo 240, 740,940. After that, well, if a car lasts forever, why buy a new one? Not a difficult lesson to draw a conclusion. Volvo being the most famously "durable" brand lost its independence and has been sliding ever since having lost its reason for being. I doubt Volvo has more than 5-10 years left as a brand. The other bigger players, VW, BMW, Daimler, they are bigger, and their identity is not based on durability so much. Volvo's fame for safety? Every car is safe today!

As much as I love Volvos I'd never touch a FWD modern Volvo! Why should I? They are below average in reliability, wear terribly, not good on gas, expensive to upkeep. I tried a few, there's no point. A VW Passat is a much better car, very similar to a FWD Volvo but better. I like Euro brands but I'll admit that a Toyota or a Honda is a much better choice for the average driver. I still hang onto a couple of redblocks for nostalgia's sake, I can't see myself selling them but besides that the RWD Volvo is running its course with fewer and fewer being dependable daily drivers. Same goes for the owners getting beaters for next to nothing or nothing and flogging them around with the help of duct tape and bailing wire because they can't afford a new Kia. Old Volvos are hard to kill so they keep trucking but in the end the downward life curve of an automobile is inevitable.

 

sad but true

 

There's a lot of discussion on turbobricks' forum about this and after reading most of them my summary is that the engineers designed the wider tolerances to allow for piston expansion due to the extra heat the turbo engines create. Which makes sense. If they had normal tolerances when cold the engine would probably seize when it got hot. The solution, on a rebuild, would be to go oversize(with standard tolerances) and use forged pistons, which expand less, and give the top of the pistons a ceramic coating to help reflect the heat and finally oil squirters to help cool the piston. Sound feasible?

 

blah blah blah ..... didn't read!

dont worry about it so much. Oil change intervals make the biggest difference.

Just listen to the engine COLD for slappy slap.