I think I found one for pretty cheap, the only problem is if it's not local then it would be a bish for shipping.

 

Well, it is officially mine, brought it to where I'm storing momentarily until it goes to my cabin where it will rest until spring, and then let the fun begin.

E break was locked up when we tried pushing it out, had to hook up a chain to it to break it loose. Oh well, it was smooth rolling from there.


My new family!

 

Cool!!!!!!!!

 

Congrats! You could just pull it around on the trailer, then you would not have to hear the breaks squeal. Have fun with it!

 

Congrats on the new Acquisition! I will have my wagon one day! I was actively searching, but the fact that I am trying to buy a house as we speak put the wagon on hold, unless I sell my motorcycle ( yea right!)....Good Luck with the work.. If you need and help and or info. make sure to post or PM.

 

Thanks! And just wait, you will all be receiving tons of questions I'm sure when I start on the engine. Everything seems fine on it, the undercarriage was actually pretty clean, the rear bumper was kind of saggy, no biggy. The only weird thing about it was that there were a couple random wires running across the fuse panel, but when the time comes I'll take it off and see what's going on under there, I'm guessing someone tried adding something, if anything, I'll just get a new fuse panel.

But when spring comes, you just have to promise to not get annoyed with my series of questions. Haha.

 

OK, so I may have found a motor. It has 129k miles on it and the guy is only asking 500 bucks. It has had routine oil changes and timing belt serviced by a Volvo dealership. Sounds like a good deal, but when I asked him to do a compression test the results were 145 across all five cylinders. What do you think? Would the results of a compression test be any different without the motor in the car? Or maybe since it's been out of the car for a while and hasn't run, would that change the numbers?

 

Have him shoot a little oil in the cylinders and do another compression test.
Also how many times did he crank the motor over?

 

I'm not sure. He said he is going to do it again tonight with a better compression tester. He is a Volvo enthusiast so I think he knows what he's doing, at the same time he's saying that 145 is pretty good. But when we had the "Engine Compression" discussion on here before, people were getting 160-180 (boxpin for ex.) so I know that 145 is low.

I like the fact that I know a little about the engine, but if I'm doing performance mods I want the engine to have as little mileage as possible and compression where it should be.

 

I usually turn the motor over about 8 times or so to make sure the compression has reached the max.
If he only turned it over 2 times that might be why it is showing low.

 

I guess when he gets back to me I'll ask him how many times he turned it over. There is a salvage yard up north from me that specializes in Volvo's and they have several 97 an 98 engines with 90k to 110k miles but they are asking a grand for one of them. So if I can find an engine with 130k miles for 500 bucks, it'd be nice.

 

Yes it will be nice.

 

If I want to get mine tested where should I go and how much should I expect to pay?

 

It should be about 1 hour labor. A local Volvo specialist or Dealer.

 

Doing a compression test is really easy, if your able to, just do it yourself. Autozone has compression testers that you can use for free.

 

So what exactly is the difference between the 94/95 M56L and the 96/97M56H? I've read that the H is better, but by how much? Right now I have the option of purchasing a full M56H transmission kit that was swapped into the 94/95 casing to accommodate the speed sensor. Is this something that I should jump on? Or will a M56L work just as good?

 

I am not exactly sure. Maybe someone on here knows and can let us know. I think mine is the L but not 100% sure. It works fine for me so far.

 

Is there a thread about how to do it?

 

Trainwreck there are a couple places on here how to do it, it's really easy. unplug your coil, take off the plug cover, take out the first spark plug, screw in the compression tester, turn your car over several times, read the numbers off the tool. then put that plug back in and go on to the next. If you search there should be better descriptions on how to do it.


Teck: Yeah, if you got your transmission out of a 94/95 then it's an L. I read that gears 1 and 2 are a little bit shorter in the L. And one of the main differences is that the L's and early H's used plastic shift forks (something like that) and then in the later L's they used metal ones. I guess that's about the only difference, at least I didn't find anything else.

 

Well we will see how long it lasts.