How About a Nice Game of "Volvo B230"?

With the Big Block Ford build over, the engine installed, and waiting for the LeMons race, I decided to take advantage of this engine-building momentum and tear into something a little different:

The subject engine is a Volvo B230F out of a ~1990 240DL. It has an unknown number of miles on it, may or may not have a blown head gasket, but allegedly ran when it was pulled. On the plus side, it was free- as in, you come pick it up, and it's yours- and came with an also-allegedly good M47 transmission.

To get started, I divorced the M47 from the B230 and plunked the latter onto the engine stand in the shop.

The engine stand was much happier to be tasked with supporting this load than it had been with the 460 on it.

The "guzinta" side:

The "cumzoutta" side:

If this goes into what I hope it's going into, I'll be watching with interest.

Hell, I'll be watching with interest regardless, I guess.

+T ???

I didn't get this 'The "guzinta" side' until I read that 'The "cumzoutta" side'.

B234F head for 16 valves of fury.

+T for even more fury.

are you coming to the lemons race in Birmingham this weekend?

In reply to NoPermitNeeded:

No, the next race we're planning to do is the Spring CMP at the end of April. Mrs. VCH is due to pop out a youngin' any day now.

I tried to roll new main bearings into one of these with it still in the car once. The bearing part actually worked but there were other issues that kept the car from running again. I had a good time tearing it apart and I look forward to watching someone do it properly.

volvoclearinghouse wrote: In reply to NoPermitNeeded: No, the next race we're planning to do is the Spring CMP at the end of April. Mrs. VCH is due to pop out a youngin' any day now.

Our kids are both going to be close in age .. my first just turned 2 back in November and #2 is due in April.

Maybe in 16 years they'll be racing against (or with?) each other in Lemons!

My expereince with 8 valve Volvo heads.....

Check each chamber VERY carefully....... between the valves....

In reply to dculberson:

Congrats, man! Yes, our daughter is 2-1/2, and the boy is due mid-February. My mother-in-law is coming to stay with us for an as-yet undetermined length of time starting today, to help with the baby stuff, so I may actually get a bit more time out in the garage.

I also may have to start stocking the garage with adult beverages.

Are you going to mount it angled, or upright? I'm guessing angled with the M47, right?

unevolved wrote: Are you going to mount it angled, or upright? I'm guessing angled with the M47, right?

Yup. M47, angled mount in...something.

mazdeuce wrote: I tried to roll new main bearings into one of these with it still in the car once. The bearing part actually worked but there were other issues that kept the car from running again. I had a good time tearing it apart and I look forward to watching someone do it properly.

Wait...is this implying you expect that I'll do this properly? Did you read my 460 build?

Still unsure about the condition of the head gasket, but man, this thing sure is an oily mess.

Despite my screen-name, I've never dabbled in OHC Volvo engines before- just the old Pushrod B18/B20 plants- so there's things I'm learning as I go. Like that big, weird-looking box under the intake is some sort of PCV separator-dealie. The PCV systems on these engines seem to have a propensity to clog up, and then oil leaks out everywhere. That seems to be what happened here. Luckily, the PCV stuff isn't too expensive over at IPD.

Volvo definitely has a reputation for weird PCV issues, don't they?

Every time I walk into Northern Tool they have these big diesel fired hot water pressure washers by the door. They're expensive, but that engine makes me want one.

The B230T in my '90 740 wagon was a disgusting oily mess. The amount of oil and other unspeakables that came out of the intercooler flush was.. unsurprising considering the overall condition of the vehicle I suppose.

That being said mine blew a headgasket once I got a good working turbo on it. As in it drove maybe 10 feet and I heard a pop. That poor gasket was holding on with hopes and dreams.

Since the engine had an allegedly-bad head gasket, which could have caused overheating and potential head damage, the first thing to check would be that. So, off comes the head:

The block looks OK, as it should. It's a big chunk of cast iron. The head gasket stayed with the block as the head came off, and closer inspection of the gasket didn't show any obvious signs of degradation.

Nice detailed shot of the head, there. No obvious signs of damage, so that's promising.

Camshaft:

Close-up of the cam-follower dealies:

I have to be honest- I have no idea how any of this works. This is the first OHC engine I've ever looked at in any sort of detail. How does the cam go in? How does one compress the valve springs? How does one remove the valves?

Methinks the purchase of a Haynes manual and probably some sort of specialized new tool will be in my future...

Those little cam dealies are just simple buckets that fit over the valve and spring. Once you remove the cam journal clamps, the buckets pull off with a magnet (or fall out). Then it's a normal valve/spring/keeper setup that you're used to. Nothing special about OHC. I've never worked on Volvo but on most OHC engines you don't "set" lash, you add shims under the bucket to get it right.

In reply to maschinenbau:

I suspected something similar to what you described, I just had no basis for my assumption other than "well, how the berkeley else would they do that?".

Can one fit a normal valve spring compressor in that little cylinder that the valve spring and keepers lives in?

I've read about shims...but have no idea how to "properly" set up the shims. Likewise with removal/ installation of the cam. Does one just stick the cam in place and start tightening the nuts on the hold-down studs, and as the cam goes in it pushes down on whatever valve follower dealies happen to be in the way of whatever lobes?

You measure lash or the clearance between each small part of the lobe and the bucket and compare it to spec. If you're over or under, you measure the shim (or read the number on it but measuring is usually a better idea) and do a little math to figure out what new shim you need to get into spec.

In reply to jfryjfry:

So, basically, put the cam on, rotate it around and measure all the gaps, then take it back off again and insert shims?

What math is involved? Seems like it's pretty straightforward- if there's supposed to be 0.010" gap and there's 0.020", then you need a 0.010" spacer (or a spacer 0.010" thicker than the one that's on there already, if there is one).

That's basically it, you got it. Just be sure to write them all down and measure twice so you only have to re-install the cam once.

maschinenbau wrote: That's basically it, you got it. Just be sure to write them all down and measure twice so you only have to re-install the cam once.

Or, in my case, measure once, realize I don't have a pen, go get a pen, measure again, discover the pen won't write, go searching for another pen, go get something to eat, forget why I came in the house, go back out to the garage, measure, realize why I went into the house, go back in the house and get a pen, come back, measure once more, write them all down, take the cam off, go to the bathroom, come back, forget which orientation the head was in when I measured, put the cam back on, measure again, write them all down, take the cam off, insert shims, put the cam back on, measure, then realize I used the wrong cam to set the gap...

DRINK.