Volvo 850 build

[DoriDori]

Got this car for free from my father. It's a 1995 Volvo 850 GLT (non-turbo). He purchased it in 2010 for next to nothing from it's previous owner who ran low octane fuel and it eventually burnt a hole in the headgasket. Dad rebuilt the head himself except had a local machinist mill the head, valve job, and assemble the valve train with new seals, etc.
Ran fine until late 2011. Car began to misfire and eventually had no compression in cylinder 4. Father said he would give me the car and help me fix it if I paid for parts. So we began tearing it down the to block in January. No oil in coolant or overheating so we suspected something wrong with one of it's valves. After removing the exhaust manifold and pressurizing cylinder 4 at TDC air was pouring out the EX valve.
So here are the pictures of the journey. This was my first time doing internal engine work and I got to learn a lot.

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g192/camoismyfavcolur/1cbe5588.jpg
It sat under this shop for 2 months
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g192/camoismyfavcolur/a7460cf7.jpg
The Patient: 2.4l 5 cylinder 20 valve DOHC aluminium head and block
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g192/camoismyfavcolur/fc1d88a9.jpg
The operating room
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g192/camoismyfavcolur/e666355c.jpg
The fourth valve from the right (EX 7) has a small piece missing if you can tell or not. After taking out the valves and cleaning all of them, EX7 had some crazy damage. Then I noticed three of the valve seats were missing and on those valves stems the stem seals were cut almost like the spring compressed sooo much the it crashed into the stem seal. This means we were misfiring because of all the oil seeping into the cylinder because all the oil seeping into the cylinder. The dirtiest cylinders you see above had a valve without a spring seat. Since we didn't assembly the valve train the first time it got rebuilt we knew the machinist did something wrong. After sweeping thru the head with a magnet we found the broken pieces of the missing spring seats. The brilliant machinist installed three springs seats upside down!! When confronted about it he assured me it couldn't be done, but i tried it later myself to see if it were possible and sure enough, it can be assembled upside down. When these particular seats are in upside down, the are able to be crushed by the force of the spring. So it was only a matter of time before they shattered.
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g192/camoismyfavcolur/d20df6dd.jpg
Looks like a broken valve at first glance, but upon removal and cleaning with wire brush the back side had obvious signs of burning. I'm assuming the caked oil caused hot spots.
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g192/camoismyfavcolur/68b3f45d.jpg
Hydraulic lifters
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g192/camoismyfavcolur/IMG_9922.jpg
The only thing I had outsourced was the seating of the new valve and another valve job. This is the schley valve spring compressor tool i used to assembly the valve train. If you don't have one, get one. They make head work a walk in the park and you can use it while the head is on the car if you need.
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g192/camoismyfavcolur/IMG_9923.jpg

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g192/camoismyfavcolur/IMG_9925.jpg

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g192/camoismyfavcolur/IMG_9928.jpg

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g192/camoismyfavcolur/IMG_9929.jpg
(before installing valve train, i hand lapped all the valves for a nice tight seal. Had the head vacuum tested and came back 100%!)
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g192/camoismyfavcolur/e788bf7f.jpg
Finally!!! Some parts going back on the car instead of removed lol.
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g192/camoismyfavcolur/7ef06e9e.jpg
All buttoned up as of this past weekend. Started FIRST TRY, baby!
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g192/camoismyfavcolur/558001e0.jpg
Did a DIY lip. Came of a 90's Passat VW
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g192/camoismyfavcolur/TBplate.jpg
Throttle plate from a 960. Stock 850 plate has a restrictor preventing fast throttle response. That's Volvo for you.

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g192/camoismyfavcolur/faca5031.jpg
Rid the old sagging headliner and applied a suede one. Love it!!
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g192/camoismyfavcolur/57548861.jpg

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g192/camoismyfavcolur/ff9ab5fa.jpg
Did the door inserts too.
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g192/camoismyfavcolur/ee55d252.jpg

How it sits today. Really fun car to drive. It's different, quiet interior, smooth suspension, and quality.
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g192/camoismyfavcolur/7ccb67f5.jpg
Did some yellow fogs, blacked grill, and the passat lip.
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g192/camoismyfavcolur/3365808a.jpg
Roof rack came off a 960 Volvo wagon.
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g192/camoismyfavcolur/ee55d252.jpg

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g192/camoismyfavcolur/4b20ab46.jpg

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g192/camoismyfavcolur/7cb536e1.jpg

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g192/camoismyfavcolur/7ef06e9e.jpg



Future mods:

16" or 17" wheels (i have ready 5x114 spacers)
5 speed swap
window tint
coilovers
install my 2.5" turbo 850 catback
light pressure turbo (5-7psi) (engine has upwards of 10.5:1 compr ratio)

[j0nbunklah0m]

not bad, keep us updated!

[green91]

Seems like a good learning experience!

[C230K]

Nice work, seems like a nice DD in my opinion

[Genji-Sama]

Wow, that motor looks so pretty now :goodjob: and suede look so good

[DoriDori]

Thanks, everyone! I'll keep you posted.

[Catnip]

Always cool to get inside an engine for the first time! Props on doing it right and taking your time.

PS, always been a fan of this body style volvo.

[Franco Tirador]

im telling you, if these 5 cyl volvos were not so hard to find with a manual trans i would have been owned one, there is nothing like being safe while getting to go fast

[DeeAOne]

Nice work man. I've been looking a lot at the 200 chassis Volvos lately. Look like pretty fun cars to mess with. :goodjob:

[2turbo4u]

Props to you and your pops for keeping my car n/a brother alive, I own a 96 850r.

[Rhys.]

THATS A COOL BUILD MAN! CANT WAIT TO SEE WHERE IT GOES... THOSE CARS LOOK GOOD DROPPED ON THE GROUND.... FYI I DONT KNOW IF THAT THE DIRECTION YOUR GOING

[GlennsEK]

Nice work man!

[Drummerboy]

Suede headliners are so freakin sexy! Here's mine.

http://a3.ec-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/31/419f62ec03fa2957e8184b91265a0faf/l.jpg

[DoriDori]

Props to you and your pops for keeping my car n/a brother alive, I own a 96 850r.

I'm geeelllllllllllllous!

[DoriDori]

THATS A COOL BUILD MAN! CANT WAIT TO SEE WHERE IT GOES... THOSE CARS LOOK GOOD DROPPED ON THE GROUND.... FYI I DONT KNOW IF THAT THE DIRECTION YOUR GOING

OH, it's going there alright!! Couple weeks :)


Suede headliners are so freakin sexy! Here's mine.

http://a3.ec-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/31/419f62ec03fa2957e8184b91265a0faf/l.jpg

WOW! Your's looks 10x better than mine! Whered you get your fabric?

[DoriDori]

If anyone can lead me to buying a manual transmission for a Volvo 850 I'll give you $20!

[2turbo4u]

I been thinking about swapping mine as well!

[DoriDori]

I been thinking about swapping mine as well!

Let me know if you do or if you find any parts cars. I'd love to help with swap. I drove a 850R 5 spd that a friend owns in Jefferson. SOOOOOOOOO nice. One of a kind ride.

[2turbo4u]

he's a member of this site!

[DoriDori]

SOOOOOOOOOO test drove a cheap 5spd Volvo 850 today. Made a deal for $800 bucks and it runs! (enough to drive home anyways lol)

Plan to bring home saturday, remove 5spd components sunday, and have it scraped by next weekend (minus motor, wheels/tires, whatev else worth saving). 4,000lbs at 12.5 cents per pound should bring me at least 400 bucks for scrap metal. I'll post progress pics in original post soon!