Hello all,

About a week ago I purchased a fairly rough 2005 S40 as I wanted a cheap manual and AWD that was a little different. Its a higher mileage car and the body (doors in particular) rusted pretty bad, but previous owner put a lot of new parts on in the recent years.

After shopping daily for over a month, and not finding any fun options that werent a subaru or suzuki in my ideal price range, I decided to go ahead and buy it. Price seemed a little high, but figured thats just what the used car market is these days. Figured I would just get some used doors rust free doors and call it a day.

As always tends happen, as soon as I commit to something, better deals start coming out of the woodwork the very next day...

So today I went and bought a 2007 V50 with less rust! Unfortunatly the story doesnt end there.

Selling dealership claims that the engine overheats, they suspect a bad head gasket. Apparently the coolant expansion tank has been replaced twice now as it keeps "exploding". Otherwise the engine starts up nice and runs very smooth.

Im hoping to frankenstien one decent car out of two turds, so herein lies my question: What is the best course of action? I thinking the best and simplest option is to just swap out the complete front and rear subframes with the powertrains/steering/suspension from the S40 with the newer parts into the V50 chassis.

Both cars are manual T5 AWD but the 2007 V50 is a 6 speed vs the 5 Speed in the 2005 S40.Am I underthinking this?Or should it really be as straightforward as im thinking?I know I will have to open up the A/C and cooling systems to make this happen, but honestly I prefer that than trying to replace a head gasket (which in reality might be cracked head or block).Based on the bit of research I did on things that are considered simple on most other cars (upgrading the radio for example) turns out to be increadibly complicated on these Volvos for one reason or another.

The timing belt is of unknown age in the S40 so will be replacing that while the engine is out of the car.Any other items that are prone to failure or sore spots on these cars over 100k miles that I should be replacing "while im in there" ? Engine mounts, subframe bushings etc.

 

swapping powertrains between dissimilar models seems to be a lot of work just to sort out an issue with the engine on the 2007. My first question is, do you really want or need AWD? Second is, are you doing this for a project or a way of fixing up a daily driver? How important are the cosmetics? Is swapping the long block from the 2005 into the 2007 an option?

 

I agree that a project like this one is the domain of those with lots of experience and a WHOLE lotta spare time (or for someone looking for heartbreak). ;-)

Would the long block be the same for a turbo and non-turbo engine? Is the difference in the two (displacement and compression) in the heads?

 

I misspoke. Both cars are 6 speed transmissions, I think the lack of a shifter **** paired with the notchyness of the transmission was the root of my confusion.
Seeing as they are bot P1 cars with identical powertrains I dont see how they are dissimilar models.
I really want AWD, its one of the main reason I bought the S40 in the first place.
The goal is to get a daily driver out of this, cosmetics are reasonaly important, as the wife would rather I didnt drive around a rust bucket.
Concerning the longblock swap, anything is an option as I essentially have an entire parts car to work with.

 

As I mentioned, both cars are T5s, so longblock is the same.