Andy's 2000 V70 R

[Andzey]

@andyb5 I just opened the 2002 B5234T3 and it had 147 mm rods, lightened crankshaft, shorter pistons with 21mm pin and without any teflon coating on the skirts

Previously I purchased a 2001 B5234T3 that had old type heavy crank, longer pistons, 139 mm rods, 23 mm wrist pins.

still both are RN with solid valve pushers and slim valve stems. identical heads. 

All this was done for hunting an old 81mm block in order to rebore it to my LPT pistons,but they turned out to be perfect 81mm blocks and Im kinda worried to ruin any of them. 

I see two budget options to get something close to 9.5:1 or 10:1 either use lpt pistons + minor head lowering or 81mm pistons with chopping off some 1,5-2 mm of the head

Another ghetto version would be using 93.2mm crank + 147 mm rods + stock 81mm hpt pistons being shaved the dish in lathe, maybe only that perimeter around the dish to prevent any interference with head,reaching needed cr

Now I wish finding a late B5254T2 with new style head cast (long thread spark plug) and 93.2mm crank. I have early one from xc90, and it has dual vvt head with short thread spark plug and 90mm crank with 147mm rods. 

Hope @Simply Volvo will return to his engine build topic.. 

Edited December 4, 2018 by Andzey

[German850R]

Not the nicest one in the world but affordable: https://www.ebay.de/itm/Zylinderkopf-B5254T2-154KW-291Tkm-Volvo-XC-90-2-5T-AWD-XC90-06-1043-076/311983651813?hash=item48a3acbbe5:g:iGUAAOSwh9hZ6JU9:rk:20:pf:0

 

[JoshV70]

15 hours ago, andyb5 said:

When you consider that this motor now has close to 240,000 miles, still has the original oil pan o-rings, and has had several brushes with low oil level/pressure throughout the nearly 90,000 miles of hard driving in 2 different chassis since I purchased the 99 R it came in almost exactly 7 years ago, it is my hypothesis that the level of wear that the engine was able to tolerate before exhibiting a major symptom of imminent failure has finally been reached. 

I would start by replacing that.  Did you also check the VVT hub - those rattle like crazy when oil pressure is low...

[andyb5]

 Here’s a short clip of the sound - it starts a few seconds into the video, then fades out at the end. Based on the frequency of when it occurs, it sounds to me like it’s coming from the bottom end. 

It gets worse as the engine warms up, and increases proportionally with the RPMs as the gas is applied. The video is only at idle but I can get a video of it being revved if that helps. 

[andyb5]

21 hours ago, B_Dub said:

That’s a drag Andy, I’m sorry. You’ll be better off in the end, that’s a heap of miles on that engine. Here’s to finding a good, low mileage replacement and good luck! 

Thanks Brandon! 

16 hours ago, Andzey said:

  (shortened) 

Sounds like an interesting project. You should start a thread to keep track of all the progress on your engine build! Matt’s motor was being dropped at the machine shop in Connecticut a couple months ago, my guess is it’ll be a bit longer before he has any updates. 

6 hours ago, JoshV70 said:

I would start by replacing that.  Did you also check the VVT hub - those rattle like crazy when oil pressure is low...

Yeah I should’ve done the pan o-rings already but I didn’t have any indications of trouble until this noise started. I have a feeling it’s too late now. I didn’t check the VVT hub yet, that hadn’t occurred to me. @JoshV70 let me know what you think of the video I just posted. 

[Commander Riker]

Bummer.  But alas, it can be fixed.  How many miles are on the chassis?

[RBoy8]

On 12/3/2018 at 10:02 PM, andyb5 said:

As of now, with limited diagnostics performed, I DO NOT believe it to be related to Steve's tune, and would like to remind anyone who thinks otherwise that I ran a tune from Steve for over 25,000 miles on this engine in my old car without any issues.  When you consider that this motor now has close to 240,000 miles, still has the original oil pan o-rings, and has had several brushes with low oil level/pressure throughout the nearly 90,000 miles of hard driving in 2 different chassis since I purchased the 99 R it came in almost exactly 7 years ago, it is my hypothesis that the level of wear that the engine was able to tolerate before exhibiting a major symptom of imminent failure has finally been reached. 

Bummer, Andy! Sorry to see :(

And I agree, I don't think it has anything to do with Steve-O's tune.  With the engine getting up there in age and mileage being pushed harder than normal, things are bound to go quicker. It was sorta like when I had to rebuild the head on mine. At over 400K km, valve stem seals were worn and one of the cylinders already had really low compression (especially compared to the rest), so I knew it was bound to go; I just didn't know when, so I continued to push it hard until it gave out. Now that it's rebuilt, it pulls harder than ever with the mods.

Looking forward to seeing where you go next with it, Andy! It'll be running better than ever once you've got it swapped.

 

 

[p4eAaLcLe]

On 10/31/2018 at 3:20 PM, andyb5 said:

It has been buffed and ceramic coated 😊 I’m thrilled with how the fresh paint and ceramic coating all turned out! 

I’ll take some better (non-iPhone) pictures but heres a quick preview. 

 

The ceramic coating sheds water like it’s glass, and the way it has improved the depth and gloss is hard to capture in a photo, but it’s very noticeable in person. 

 

Sorry I’ve been MIA. Looks good! Definitely worth the investment!

Wow and now I see the horror... good to see you’re in good spirits. Looking forward to the direction you go from here..

Edited December 7, 2018 by p4eAaLcLe

[lookforjoe]

On 12/3/2018 at 10:02 PM, andyb5 said:

Well, recent events may lead to an unexpected change of direction for this project.  

The engine has developed a ticking sound from the engine.  I first noticed the sound occasionally appearing late last week, and it has begun to become more constant.  I'll do some more investigation/documentation to confirm, but right now I'm 99% sure one of the rod bearings is toast  

I'm now on the hunt for a replacement engine.  As much as I'd like to build a fresh bottom end, budget and time constraints mean that won't happen at this time.  My ideal replacement for this 99 B5234T8 would be a B5234T9 from an 03/04 C70, which is nearly the same engine, with a number of small incremental improvements that should help make it a bit more reliable and develop a bit more power when compared to the older engine.   I did consider a number of other options, but ultimately would like to stick with an 81mm bore block for the increased integrity of the block that offers when compared to an 83mm bore.  The 147mm rods used on the later motors theoretically offer a small improvement in higher-RPM breathing than the 139.5mm rods in the 99 B5234T8 that I have now.  

As of now, with limited diagnostics performed, I DO NOT believe it to be related to Steve's tune, and would like to remind anyone who thinks otherwise that I ran a tune from Steve for over 25,000 miles on this engine in my old car without any issues.  When you consider that this motor now has close to 240,000 miles, still has the original oil pan o-rings, and has had several brushes with low oil level/pressure throughout the nearly 90,000 miles of hard driving in 2 different chassis since I purchased the 99 R it came in almost exactly 7 years ago, it is my hypothesis that the level of wear that the engine was able to tolerate before exhibiting a major symptom of imminent failure has finally been reached. 

I have a B5234T short block from C70 of that vintage :D Bought from Maciek back then. Don't recall mileage precisely , my recollection is that it was 75K range.

 

 

coated bores with grease 3 years ago when I stashed it after parting out the XR - I was going to use it.

 

[andyb5]

On 12/5/2018 at 9:02 AM, Commander Riker said:

Bummer.  But alas, it can be fixed.  How many miles are on the chassis?

Just rolled over 209,000 on the chassis and close to 10,000 miles since the engine install/M66 swap in January. 

On 12/6/2018 at 1:51 PM, RBoy8 said:

Bummer, Andy! Sorry to see :(

And I agree, I don't think it has anything to do with Steve-O's tune.  With the engine getting up there in age and mileage being pushed harder than normal, things are bound to go quicker. It was sorta like when I had to rebuild the head on mine. At over 400K km, valve stem seals were worn and one of the cylinders already had really low compression (especially compared to the rest), so I knew it was bound to go; I just didn't know when, so I continued to push it hard until it gave out. Now that it's rebuilt, it pulls harder than ever with the mods.

Looking forward to seeing where you go next with it, Andy! It'll be running better than ever once you've got it swapped.

My thoughts exactly. Thanks for the encouragement Mike, it sucks right now but I know it’ll be better than ever once it’s sorted out. 

On 12/6/2018 at 9:00 PM, p4eAaLcLe said:

Sorry I’ve been MIA. Looks good! Definitely worth the investment!

Wow and now I see the horror... good to see you’re in good spirits. Looking forward to the direction you go from here..

Thanks Dan, I appreciate the advice you gave me about the ceramic coating. I love seeing the paint all cleaned up, it makes me so happy! 

On 12/6/2018 at 9:00 PM, lookforjoe said:

I have a B5234T short block from C70 of that vintage :D Bought from Maciek back then. Don't recall mileage precisely , my recollection is that it was 75K range.

coated bores with grease 3 years ago when I stashed it after parting out the XR - I was going to use it.

Thanks for the offer Hussein. Right now I’m looking at picking up a complete engine from Re-Volv but if anything changes I’ll let you know! 

[andyb5]

Drove out to Re-Volv and picked up the replacement engine from Nick yesterday. 

It’s a B5234T9 with 127k from an 04 C70 - this is exactly the engine I was looking for!

When it came time to unload the engine from the truck I rented, the shop’s lift couldn’t quite go high enough to allow me to drive the truck out so I had to enlist a couple friends to help  

 

[apeacock]

Nice! Also the shop looks very clean. 

[Ol' Dirty Noodle]

3 hours ago, apeacock said:

Nice! Also the shop looks very clean. 

Save for a few stray ball bearings 🙄

[B_Dub]

Nice score, that was fast! Are you going to pull the head off or anything or just drop it in?

[andyb5]

On 12/16/2018 at 5:40 PM, apeacock said:

Nice! Also the shop looks very clean. 

Thanks! Yeah it’s pretty clean, the students in charge have done a good job with it this year.

On 12/16/2018 at 8:56 PM, Ol' Dirty Noodle said:

Save for a few stray ball bearings 🙄

Those are long gone at this point  

On 12/17/2018 at 12:57 AM, B_Dub said:

Nice score, that was fast! Are you going to pull the head off or anything or just drop it in?

I’m going to do a bunch of preventative maintenance but as of now, I wasn’t planning to take the head off it. If the head comes off, the probability of scope creep greatly increases and since this is an unplanned project, I’m trying to keep my time and money spent somewhat reasonable. I can always freshen up the head at a later date.