So I acquired my 850R when my sister passed away, She bought it used and Didnt even know what she had. Needless to say, I've done my best fixing it up, and keeping it going. Recently while on my way to work My timing belt tensioner gave out, and led to bent valves. I have no intention fo getting rid of the car. But I am finding it costly to have the car fixed. I have around 2k now, and I dont know if I should find a motor, swap and take my chances. Or have my head redone and new valves and such. If I swap, is there a good "goto place" for find a motor? or should i find one with low miles from a yard? t5 or stay 850? and if I went t5 what else needs swapping?

 

I would try and fix the head redone with new valves and such. Have the head checked for cracks, and also have a good look at the pistons and if they are ok, get the head done, replace ALL the timing components (belt, tensioner, pulleys/rollers, water pump, etc...)

 

That was pretty much what i was looking at doing, all new valves, new belt, tensioner, water pump, resurface the head and all. It's was just costly. as much as i would rather be building it up, I would rather make sure it runs great first. I love the car. And would love to one day build up the motor. I figured I should ask some of you experts if its better to swap to the T5, since I was already dumping a bunch of money into it. Thanks for the input. For anyone wondering, Currently I'm more just looking to get the car on the road and running for a decent price so i can later invest the money to actually build it a bit. CA emissions laws keep me from doing most what i really want. but i can at least get started on the basics. It already has new suspension, but she has a long way to go.

 

Check out car-parts.com as a way to search for a used head from a yard -sounds like you're due a drive to Rancho Cordova :-) A head from an 850T should be the same as the R and I'd guess you can find something in the 250-500 range out of wreck. Then do all the belts, idlers, water pump etc. Also stick with an OEM quality water pump. The good thing about turbos is you get the most bang for the buck via an ECU tune. If you really want to be sly about it, buy a spare ECU and swap out for your tuned ECU when doing emissions. Then you can invest in a bigger turbo (ie a 16T or 18T) and a better exhaust which won't impact emissions. If you have done struts etc, next suspension bit is the HD IPD sway bars. (I have those on my 850T Wagon - huge diff). Then I'd consider upgrading the front brakes by going replacing the carriers (the part the holds the calipers to the knuckle) (such as those off a C70) and installing the bigger rotors (302mm). If you do this you'll need to go to 16 or 17 inch wheels...

 

The problem with this is that most of the 850 turbos in the junkyard today have warped heads from overheating or bent valves. That's what typically kills them at their current age. You'll need to find a junkyard that is willing to compression test the engine and then take the head off, or you can figure on doing an adequate inspection (including measuring the straightness) at the junkyard yourself.

 

that's why I suggested searching for a wreck (versus somebody who drove their car to the yard!) If you get just the head at the yard it should be easy enough to inspect the valves and to have a shop check for warping before starting the install. Good point about checking into what the yard will do or even guarantee and what their return policy is.

 

I found a running parts car and swap the engine into mine, after changing the waterpump/timing belt/tensioner/idler/etc.

I bought the car for $950, sold all the parts on it for $970, so engine was technically free.

 

I hunt for head at the junk yard. If the head has NOT SIGNS of having being already tampered with, and I can't find any signs of coolant damage, it could have a burnt valve which also sends them to the junk yard. I do compression test on them at the yard, hand crank and very little compression, between 60-90 psi, but it is easy to see "0". If the head looks like it had not been replaced before, it is usually ok to have done once.