Hi everyone,

Just wondering about getting a good used or remanufactured cylinder head for my 94 945T Any info/links would be great. Thanks in advance.

Steve

 

The turbo head is identical to the non turbo. The casting is a 530. The difference is in the exhaust valves. Turbos use sodium infused Stellite coated exhaust valves to provide a certain increase in heat dissipation. Is your head warped? Are the valves ok? Cam carriers not worn out? How much of your head is reusable?

 

Thanks for the reply Swift...
My car has 177K on it and runs OK... recently the idle has been a bit rougher lately... just had distributor o-ring replaced, cam cover, plugs, wires, distributor cap/rotor replace... issue still present. Performed Compression test, Cylinders #1,2,4 @ 165-175 PSI and #3 cylinder @ 100 PSI... Engine does not stall and runs fine at highway speeds, turbo boosts fine etc...

The technician is assuming a burnt exhaust valve... I am trying to figure out if it is worth fixing, was given a quote of $1500 total parts/machine shop/labor to repair, but I am not too keen on spending that on a car with that many miles... However It has new tires/radiator/ plus the previously mentioned work. SO I was wondering if it would be cheaper just to R&R with a used or remain head rather than rebuild mine...

Any thoughts/suggestions?

 

If you could find a good reman for $300 or less you'd probably be money ahead. The issue is just exactly what your tech will do for $1500. Will he replace the valve guides, replace the cam followers that are worn, re-lap the valves, check springs, resurface the head...or will he just throw a valve in there...if it needs one...that's always been a concern for me. Until not too long ago, I was sitting on a reman turbo head but sold it to a forum member. I'm assuming the tech did a coolant test to check for combustion by products indicative of a head gasket failure? Man, it's hard for me to say...I'd do the work on my own car for $150. I will tell you, the 94 B230FT is an L block meaning it has piston oil squirters to cool the pistons under boost...arguably the 2nd best OHC redblock for a performance build. As a daily driver and under abused, it should go another 100k.

 

Why don't you just get a used head from a junkyard? Try the self service types, U-Pull-It types, head costs like $40... Plenty of Volvos there.

 

Get the head rebuilt if you plan to keep the car. New Volvo valves are cheap for what they are and any head rebuilding business will do the work easily.
I am concerned by people advocating buying used $40 heads and throwing them on...you see, I've owned several various marques of affordable cars in the past, and have seen this mentality cause parts supplies to dry up and become ridiculously expensive.
It's wasteful, pure and simple. One day, probably very soon, those heads will cost $250 and they'll ALL be warped.

Regards, Andrew.

 

Well, I don't know about "being wasteful" buying recycled parts. I'd think being wasteful is letting good parts get discarded. I can see your point about new supplies drying up and becoming expensive if not enough buyers need them, still you can make this point about buying new versus used cars... Sure, a rebuilt head is better but a used head may be an option...

 

Just pulled a used head from a socal pick-your-part this morning and paid $127. Ordered a gasket kit from fcpgroten. Next stop is a recommended machine shop for head resurfacing and valve servicing. Hoping for quality attention and some pricing love there. We'll see....