last week my engine blew and I have had no luck finding a b23 to replace it with but I have found a potential b230
I will be rebuilding the b230 with new bearings and poison rings then I am planning on putting all of the b23 components back on the new engine including the head
Are there any concerns I should have with this swap?

 

How many miles did the engine have when it blew?

 

If you take care of the inners, as you said, bearings, rings etc...
well as you know the turbo had lower compression...120?
and the normally aspirated engine compression was or is...190?
I got me a 740 turbo head and slapped it on to my 87 240 wagon...only modification: remove the distributor cap from the back of the 740 head and replace it with the 240 rubber grommet...that is it...bolt on.....
your inners will be different...like crankshaft counterweights and longer rods..."low friction" upgrades on the guts...oil return line will need to be addressed if you go from Turbo red block to NA red block...that is what I've read...

 

early b230f's had weak main bearings, later ones fixed that.

analogy: your 740 turbo head and 87 240 wagon were both B230, the OP has a B23F head he wants to put on the B230F block (not sure why he doesn't just use the B230F head the engine came with, but...)

btw, compression is specified as a ratio, like 9.5:1, 7.0:1. The turbos are around 7:1, while the NA engines are 9 or 10:1...

 

Oooooh....I see, I will blame it on the scotch...

 

heh. PUI... posting under the influence.

 

My b23 only had 100k but its an 83 and drove it hard the replacement short block is from a 92 but I will be replacing piston rings, and bearings
So as long as the head bolts up and there are no timing issues il be happy

 

our 87 (b230f) has about 400K miles on the engine. never even had the valve cover off it. doesn't burn any oil, still has good compression and power

we've not even been religious about oil changes, sometimes I realize we've gone a year and the oil is this nasty nearly black stuff.

 

Thats the worst thing about my engine blowing is the oil looked brand new
I drive it to hard beat on it a little to much I suppose
But after this build is done she well be like brand new again apart from the numerous suspension issues hah
So as long as the head bolts up and there are no other issues to worry about