I know I've been talking on how I want to try and find an R, I was really looking for an R that was stressed and needed some work. Then I got to thinking, wait, why pay 2-3k dollars for a car that I'm just going to sink money in to rebuilding an engine and fixing up when I have my own 850 Turbo that has about 80% of the engine bay replaced over the last couple years. Well, I want to see what it would cost to rebuild my engine.

I'm not talking full blown rebuild, I'm not building an engine for a high HP output car. I am mainly going to focus on the piston rings, bearings, and the lifters. Since I had even compression across the board, I'm pretty sure that all of my valves are fine (which I will clarify this weekend the oil drop compression test).

I notice there are different size piston rings that I can get, how do I know which ones I need, and what else should I maybe look at doing? Obviously I would need a head gasket kit (IPD), any other seals or kits that I should look for?

This is what I have priced out:

Bearings (connecting rod)-157.10
Cylinder head bolt x12 -22.96
Piston rings (partsforvolvosonline.com)-set for 77.80
Lifters-150.59
Head gasket kit (IPD)-105.18
Valve stem seal x12-22.68
Grand total--541.31

Everything I found from swedishautoparts.com, I didn't know where else to look if there are better sites.

This is my first time ever even looking at piston rings and internal components, so any and all help would be greatly appreciated. I need all the help I can get.

 

Smart thinking..........That makes more sence... Then once you are done, buy a tuned ECU and you should be good to GO!

 

tuned ecu will be a little down the line, I want to do suspension first (original shocks still, and tired shocks) and then stylin motors hoses and vac lines.

But do you think that sounds like what I would all need? Am I missing anything in that list?

 

Sounds like a good list.... How old is the radiator? If it was my car, I would do rad and thermostat too to complement the new hoses and probably new coolant you will be adding!

 

radiator is pretty new, probably last year. What about bearings? On swedishautoparts.com I see "bearings connecting rod" and "bearings main", which is which?

 

I would email them for clarification to be honest as you don't want to assume on such a big job then find out you go the wrong stuff. Also, email FCP and get those guys to give you a quote on those parts too.... Sometimes they are able to get stuff that's not on the main catalog. If you want, email scott@fcp and tell him I refered you from here. scottd@fcpgroton.com

 

Ok, cool, thanks, I will actually do that right now.

 

what happend with "i cant wait to buy my wagon" idea?

 

Haha, I would like a wagon, but for money right now, the cheapest and the way that I'm going to get the biggest return for me would be just fixing up what I have now. For the cost of a new car I can do a lot to this. I'm still going to get a wagon, it just won't be for a little while.

 

Are you going to rebuild the engine yourself, or a have volvo shop do the job?

 

I'm going to do it with my dad's help. He's rebuilt countless engines so he knows what he's doing.

 

Sweet.....That will save you so much money in labor!

 

Yeah, I know. Plus I've been saying to him for the past couple months how I really want to rebuild an engine, just so I can see first hand what's all going on in there, haha. And I think he's a little excited for it too. It should be fun.

If I can save enough, which I don't think should be a problem, I want to do this in spring along with Bilstein touring shocks/struts and IPD springs, and complete stylin motors hoses/vac lines.

The guy from fcp emailed me back and I sent him my VIN so he can look at exactly what parts I would need, so just waiting to hear back from him.

 

Cool! THat's essentially the only place I only order parts from, unless I need something specific. They are usually on it. I think working on your car is a good idea, that way you know what's going on with your own car First hand! Good Luck with the progress. Keep us updated ! and remember, Pics, Pics, and Pics....lol.

 

there will definitely be pictures.

 

Have you gotten the break down from FCP yet? I am sure I will be needing the same parts.

 

Well, I am still rebuilding my 850, except it won't be my sedan. I am picking this up next week sometime, will be storing it through winter and in the spring will start working on it. I got it for super cheap, but it's got a lot of miles on it and isn't running, so I will be swapping a low mileage engine into it, 16T, samco hoses, suspension, wheels, brakes, the works.






Who wants the fish?....





It looks rough right now, but it's actually really clean, the paint is in good shape, some rust here and there, but I will be fixing that, the interior is really dirty, obviously, but with a good cleaning will look good as new. This is going to be a project car that I am going to work on over the next couple years, and since I'm in college I can keep driving my 854 (which is technically my parents so the only thing I pay for is gas), and then I will eventually start driving my wagon, this is the first car I ever bought by the way.

I will update this when stuff starts to happen.

P.S.: I will be looking for an R interior and an R bumper to update the look of this, being harder things to find if anyone has one of these items or can get their hands on something, PM me. Thanks.

PSS: If you have or know someone who has a low mileage (100k miles ish) motor in good shape PM as that is my first priority.

 

Definitely looks like a project car. Good luck. How many miles are on it?

 

It has 300k, which is why I'm I'm doing an engine and transmission swap, along with just about everything else. I got the car cheap enough to make it worth while though.

 

Not to bad I really like the steelies and 940 hubcaps!!!