So, while doing the instrument cluster bulb change out on my 96 850 sedan, i found my dash pad is toast. Nearly every mounting point is broken or cracked, so I have to replace it. While looking online for a donor car I found a 97 850 wagon. Worked a deal with the guy for $500.00. The timing belt broke and bent the valves.

So, rather than swap out the dash, I'm going to swap engines. I'm looking for info/advice on any problems I might run inot putting my engine into the wagon body. Specifically any changes between the 96 to 97 year models. Hoping for a direct swap.

TIA
LF

 

Are they both the same motor? i.e. Both turbo? Both NA? If they are the same, move forward with speed.

Never heard of a guy that was changing out light bulbs and ended up changing a motor. LOL

 

yeah, if it weren't for bad luck, i'd have no luck at all. I had planned to just swap in the dash but the paint and body of the wagon is in lots better shape, plus its interior is leather. the sedan has paint issues and some minor body damage. Both engines are non-turbo.

One more question, does anyone know if I can pull the engine and tranny out from the top or will I need to drop the cradle and take it out from the bottom. I do not have access to a lift but an egine hoist i can get.

 

The top is fine. The hood opens to 90 degrees so you DO NOT have to remove it to do so.

What do you mean bad luck? You got a good deal on a nice wagon. I would purchase a head gasket kit, swap the heads, and keep on trucking.

 

Sounds like you'll get one up and running and have something nice and still have a "project" you can tinker with and get running and sell to cover the cost plus $$ of your daily driver.

You can also fix those tabs in most cases.
http://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/for...ic.php?t=15115

 

Got the wagon home last night. It's in better shape than I expected. I'll be pulling the head and checking the cylinder walls for wear. If need be, I will re-ring it and put new bearings in the botton end then install the cylinder head off of my sedan.

 

Too bad you can't do a compression test. I would probably do the belt and head and then a compression test to see where it is before doing anything to the lower end. Glad to hear that you have a nice body.

 

So, in the process of removing the cylinder head from my donor 850 sedan to transplant into my wagon, I somehow broke a small piece off of the donor cylinder head behind the intake cam shaft.

The only thing that I can figure is when I lifted the cam cover, after breaking it loose from the sealer, was that the cam was rotated in just such a manner that there was tension on the distributor end. As result, the cam popped up and bound itself into the back of the thrust washer area behind the cam seal.

There is only a small amount of material broken off, and in looking at the area thoroughly; I think I will be OK with reassembly without repair. This is not a high pressure lube area. In searching on this forum as well as “volvospeed” and “swedespeed”, I only ran across one post about this issue and there was a comment about “properly removing the cam cover”?

I’m at a loss here as I have not been able to find any information to that effect. My question… Have any of you had the same issue develop? What was your fix? And if you didn’t fix the broken area, did you see oil leakage?

Again, this is a small finger nail sized chip broken from the top of the intake cam thrust area on a 1997 850 N/A. The cam cover did not break at removal.

Thanks in advance for your replies.
LF

 

The cams have to be lifted directly up from the head...if lifted at an angle this is what happens. Regardless, whats done is done. No need to worry. That casting is to keep the cam in position. Because it was bent to break you should lightly sand down any raised areas that might score the cams. Overall there is plenty of material left in the head and the valve cover to keep the cam safely in place. Just clean up the burs and be more careful in the future.

If you decide to weld the section that has not broken completely off you can do that from the seal side of the head. There is room for a rough weld.

Just so you know, I did this to my first 850 about 8 years ago. Never had a problem with it.

 

Thanks for the reply. I went ahead and put it all back together this past weekend. Car runs really good. I'm pleased so far. Now to the suspension and interior issues........