So having lurked on the forum and asked some questions here and there, and now having lived with a Turbo wagon for 9 months I seem to have been swept up by the car. If fact I am looking at a 1994 Turbo wagon with a tranny that slips in second, or a 1998 V70 that has a cracked block so that I can have a project in the garage while enjoying one on the road. At worst either could be a parts car for the current one. I know that the V70, especially the awd have a bad reputation, but at this point it depends on which guy drops his price first, since both want more for their cars then I paid for mine, and mine works.

Just as a side note, are there any differences between the blocks on na and turbo cars? I assume there is a difference in compression and cam. I wondering if I go with the 1998 if I have to stick to the same vintage block, or if I have some wiggle room, the idea being that I get a good block, clean it up, put in new gaskets and a timing belt and bolt on the original head etc.

Templar

 

The displacement is different so I guess they are not the same.

 

They should be the same block. The 2.3 and 2.4 have different cylinder bore sizes but the same stroke. The 2.5 has the 2.4 bore but a slightly longer stroke. The heads are interchangeable between all three but the cam timing is different NA to Turbo.

 

I wondered about that. At this point I am just watching to see which one drops their price first. I like the interiors on the V wagons, but I did some reading on the forum and very few people have nice things to say about the awd wagons, so I think the 850 might be the better one. The owner says the tranny in the 850 is slipping in second, but it is a local car and looks like it is in nice shape.

 

I'd go drive it and see what he means by "slipping".

 

AND, no matter how little it slips you should be shaking your head and saying boy that really is slipping .... how much were you asking ???

 

Well I am going to look once they are cheaper, and I won't be taking my 850, that way there won't be any suggestion that I have spare parts

 

Kiss: turbo has oil sprayers for bottom of pistons for added cooling, and turbo heads have sodium filled valves.

 

Yep, and when you say "turbo" you mean the HPT. The LPT models ('97 850 GLT and '98 S/V70) did not have the beefier engine parts (yes?).

Do the sodium filled valves have a different diameters/dimensions (i.e. would they fit in the LPT heads)?