[titan joe]

Early this past summer I posted an R sighting. It was across the street from a friend of mine's house. It was my first close encounter with a P80R. This one was a 2000 V70R with the green theme going on. I'm not sure what the technical nomenclature for the exterior and interior colors are, especially since I'm red/green deficient in my vision. I do know that it's green. I looked inside and saw probably the best condition drive's seat I had ever seen, plus the style of the upholstery I thought was pretty cool. This is the sighting that I posted:

Then I never saw the car there anymore until I saw a local ad for a V70 with a blow head gasket. The owner's son was driving it and the coolant reservoir sprung a leak. He did not stop, as fast as he should have. The shop that was selling it didn't feel like it was worth it to rebuild since they thought that they would need some Volvo specific tools. So I picked it up from cheap.

The overall condition is a real win. There are 3 dents and one scratch in it besides the pitting on the front end. But it looks to have been garage kept most of it's life. I think it's got around 145k miles on it. The interior is in excellent shape, minus a few broken trim pieces, but the seats really are the best I've ever seen. They just aren't cracked. One headlight has a hole in it and the fog lights are trashed too. Another big win was the transmission. It had been replaced with another unit that was professionally rebuilt last year. The satellites look like they are in great shape and the turbo feels tight and shows no sign of leaking.

I pulled the head last weekend (and broke a head bolt ) but the block looks great. No scoring form majorly overheating. The valves look pretty good too. I'm thinking about just having it shaved and slapping it back on. Today I hope to check it for warping and see how well the valves seal. The intake valves look like they've never had oil on the back side. They are shiny.

So the plan for now it get the head sorted out.

Clean the PCV.

Get it back one the road.

Sell it. I wish I could keep it, but my 740 is calling for DOHC, RSI pistons and rods, a bigger turbo, a bigger transmission and rear end. Plus these V70Rs never came in a stick.

If anyone else has anymore thoughts on what I need to do while I have it apart, please tell me. Also I would like to know people's opinion on reinz and elwis head gasket sets, After market (and much cheaper) head bolt sets and any other suggestions for a good rebuild.

Now enjoy the pics:

It really needs the spoiler. I may make a form from my friend's T-5 wagon. More pics to come when I get it out and wash it.

 

[sekse]

Congrats!

What a find! Sure need som love and work but nice anyway. The seats looks like new!

 

[JRL]

Make a form?
You can always find one for about $150 on line.
It's called Emerald Green Pearl and I would definitely use a VOLVO gasket, it's different than what you will find aftermarket

 

[Config]

Nice, looks like it fell in the right hands! I got lucky and found a rear-wing spoiler shortly after I purchased mine. It really completes the look.

 

[pedal2metal]

Congrats! My first Volvo, which I bought about 2 yrs ago is that same color w/ tan interior. (I think that color green has two names.) I added a rear spoiler right away when I got my xc too since it looked naked w/out one. Good luck with it!! -Royce

 

[kampman]

Nice find! It's my car's clone except for the two-tone interior (which I wish mine had, but beggars can't be choosers). Glad you're resurrecting it instead of parting it out.

 

[titan joe]

I took the head to a friend to let him have a look. It has a pretty good gap in the middle, but out straight edge is just a carpenter's square. We aren't sure if it's really true. He would cut it down for me if I want. Next I want to check the valves for leaks. I spent some time cleaning up the block.

Most of the pistons cleaned up pretty quick. The block is about ready. Just a little more final cleaning before I install the head gasket. Now I'm waiting on decisions with the head. Sounds like a genuine Volvo head gasket is recommended by JRL, so I'd be wise to listen. They are pretty expensive.



On another note, My friend's 98 T-5 wagon had a pretty big tear in the driver's seat, but I found a good set of front seats from a V70R that were the same color (black). It was one of those unfortunate ones that got parted. It needed a whole new engine, but he claimed it was in good shape. I just didn't understand why he didn't just put a new engine in. But this came from a guy who thought that the rear seat was too difficult to remove so he did not part that out. His hlisting for the seat was labeled a 2001 V70R, and he also commented that I was crazy for running 18" pegs in the winter. My definition of crazy must be mind blowing to him. That poor R fell into the wrong hands, but the seat at least will live on.

 

[titan joe]

Well I think I got some abrasive junk in the block. It also hasn't has a dipstick tube in it for months. A good cleaning of the block is the only way I'll rest easy, so out and apart it will come. I got one other question, the head bolts are obviously not supposed to be reused because of the clamping force required on the head, but the connecting rod bolts, can they be reused? And does anyone know the torquing procedure for the connecting rod cap bolts?

 

[titan joe]

Progress...

 

[burnout8488]

Yikes, you pulled the engine? There is a screen on the oil pickup tube and an oil filter that won't let anything through... that may have been overkill.

Good to hear you're using an OEM head gasket. The aftermarket ones disintegrate and deposit themselves into the coolant overflow tank. Make sure you use OEM valve stem seals too. They are also expensive, but they don't fail quickly like the aftermarket ones do. (Victor Reinz)

 

[Big Will]

For the head bolts, you can buy the Victor Reinz or Febi ones. They're both good quality. I found the VR ones were actually made by Mahle and used those in my build recently. That saves some money vs. the Volvo ones.

I don't think I would re-use rod bolts personally for peace of mind.

 

[SonicBlueR]

Isn't a worthwhile upgrade to go to the 01+ head on the 99-00 cars? I think that's what Ben and I talked about for when I do mine over the summer.

The valves are bigger and more durable and don't get burnt up as easy right?

 

[titan joe]

Hmmmm, I just had elwis valve stem seals put on. I read that the VR are green and don't go for them. I read somewhere that the red ones are better. You know, real specific stuff to go on. The elwis stuff is red, I think, I'm red/green deficient anyway. I think that they are all made out of some sort of Viton. We'll see I suppose. The head was warped and the valves leaked a little, so I have the shop the go ahead to do it all. The block needed to be honed to get the new rings to seal. Over heating seemed to have glazed it a bit. The bores were straight and virtually without wear. The bearing look great too, but since I'm here, it's getting new ones. I got the block back today, so I just need to orders the last few parts.

That brings me to tonight: valve lash. It took me a while to find a spec, but Mathew's Volvo Site came through. Check this out. .20mm on the intake and .40mm on the exhaust. there's a +/- .03mm tolerance, but on the exhaust they recommend staying away from .43mm. Once I know what I've got and what I need, I'll order new rings, bearings (mains and con-rods) and the proper tappets.

 

[apizzaparty]

the green with the tan seats is crazy rare. wow good find

 

[MnOpRacInG]

IDO NOT USE ANY OFF BRAND VALVE SEALS! I posted a while back my experience using non OEM seals. In a nutshell I had my head rebuilt back in 2010 at a well respected shop down in FL. They put in brown colored aftermarket valve stem seals and they leaked immediately. It was an ongoing problem for four years (about 70,000 miles). It got to the point where I was burning 1qt of oil every 700 miles.

Then one day.........

Both exhaust valves in cylinder 4 took a dump. I can only imagine the huge amount of carbon build up and oil consumption caused a lean condition.

The old non OEM seals are the brown, the greens are oem. Since the rebuild using the OEM seals I haven't burned any oil in a little over a year (12,000 miles).

I did give me a chance to do something fun with the cam cover tho.

And like others have said, use the Volvo head gasket as its worlds better than the Victor Renz or the like. For that matter id be hard pressed to use anything but OEM seals/gaskets as I've had really bad experiences with anything non-OEM on these motors.

I'll get off my soap box now.

 

[titan joe]

The old non OEM seals are the brown, the greens are oem. Since the rebuild using the OEM seals I haven't burned any oil in a little over a year (12,000 miles).

I'll be honest, there are two sizes of valve seals, and the brown ones look like the larger ones. But since the plan is to sell the car, guess what I'm going to do. I'm already going with Volvo front and rear main seals, may as well go for it all. $$$ I can't stand selling stuff I don't trust. This is why I come here. Thanks.

 

[titan joe]

I placed an order for a lot of OEM parts. When they get here, the fun begins!

 

[MnOpRacInG]

Spend all the money!

 

[titan joe]

Oh I'm definitely working on it!

 

[titan joe]

Waiting on parts....

I was reading about valves and found that on redblocks the turbo cars got stellite coated exhaust valves. They cannot be reground since you will grind through the hard coating. This had me worried. It looks like whiteblocks are not the same. They use a stainless valve head with a steel stem. You can tell this with a magnet. The intake valves are magnetic. The exhaust valves are on magnetic on the stem. Stainless steel resists wear a lot, but it expands a lot. It requires looser tolerances in the valve guide. The bimetal valve gives you the best of both worlds. So there's a little nugget of information.
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