This cam locking tool works fine; you can also get it from Amazon

https://www.ebay.com/p/523083561?ii...RDqARIsAKMbHDYC6PYzXBcKZT1OA5ACaMEYETQ7L-P4UyDOiEN3ZaFFH3ppy1c0-vIaAk3HEALw_wcB

For shims you can just buy four sets of feeler gauges and use the .035" gauges.

MLS head gasket only and new head bolts and you'll be in good shape.

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For sure regarding the Volvo MLS, don't use the Reinz or you will be doing it again.

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Ping Julien to publish his video from last Sunday and that will pulley answer some questions for you.


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https://www.deeworks.ca/product/volvo-whiteblock-5-6-cylinder-liner-shim-kit/

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The Volvo gasket is MLS


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Agree w/ Austin on both counts.

I used Harbor Freight feeler gauges for shims, so far so good, and the same cam / head tool.

 

Does anyone know what causes the sleeve to fail, knock or heat?

 

I can tell you this.... I've shimmed low mileage 44T5 and 54T4 engines that were on their way to failure and last week helped Julien shim his 180K mile 4T4 that was absolutely and perfect at .035" gaps.... best I've seen. Juliens car is a meticulously maintained woman owned car that I'm sure was babied.

In theory ME7 should manage knock, but with degrading fuel it's difficult to say how well "managed" it truly is. These cars are designed for 93 octane of the mid-2000's, so it's easy to assume detonation is a factor.

I can tell you how to reduce the likelihood of failure - a good tune developed with logging. To prevent it, shim it and get the same good tune. It will cost you a couple grand, but with it for the long term.

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Thanks Austin!

Well, I bought 10 cans of Mopar Combustion Chamber Cleaner so I'll be doing the heads myself and I'll also be doing oil pan pick up (updated). I definitely plan on doing the shims while I'm in there. Only thing I wish I could do also is a Snabb copper one piece exhaust gasket, can't seem to find it though.

 

Thanks Austin!

Only thing I wish I could do also is a Snabb copper one piece exhaust gasket, can't seem to find it though.

Christian offers many good products, but the thin copper gasket is more pain than it's worth... I've used it in the past and only use OE "type" gaskets now. Your studs are too long, so you'll end up with spacers under the washers, resulting in leaks. Unless you change all of your exhaust studs to full thread.

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I have read this in other places, but for the life of me cannot find it anywhere else at the moment.... Post #14 https://forums.swedespeed.com/showthread.php?63919-BLOWN-MOTOR!

This is how I believe shimming keeps the walls from cracking, since they are not connected as a unit, the vibration at high rpm, with combustion and heat causes them to eventually fail. It is my belief, (being an electronics and business major, no mechanical engineering background at all) that the repeated vibration weakens the cylinders and they eventually crack, shimming the motor gives them the extra support, like when adding earthquake anchors to structures.... It makes them stronger....
Perhaps I am way off, but it obviously works, it's obviously proven, and Arch wasted a wonderful opportunity to prevent future cracking over the cost of ~10.00 and 15 minutes... just my opinion though...

 

So how does sticking a feeler gauge into a water passage make the walls "connected as a unit"?

Have yet to see anything but anecdotal evidence supporting the claim this "prevents cracked cylinder walls"

 

The main reason is I've done everything else on the motor, turbo, pcv, manifold, injectors etc. One of the Cam seals is leaking so if I'm going to fix that I might as well do everything else. When I did the plugs 2k ago I couldn't believe how gross the pistons looked through the plug hole. Basically my goal is to replace the cam seals, might do the timing while I'm in there (did it at 90k now at 130k), parts are through FCP so just labor, clean the pistons and head up, new gaskets etc. Definitely going to go with shims because it's right there and finally the oil pick up tube update. I figure then I might be able to run the boost levels Mnr is running on his shark tune.

 

Without taking this anymore off the original question... This is the thread I remember reading a while ago which has the most sensible info..

https://forums.swedespeed.com/showt...com/showthread.php?283809-Cracked-Blocks-an-nonsensical-semi-technical-overview

 

Ok.


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if you have the head off and dont shim

 

Does it look like the shims connect the walls as one unit? The shim isn't compressible, so.......

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Does it look like the shims connect the walls as one unit? The shim isn't compressible, so.......

the guy posting a link to a knob mod in his sig will never get it " obviously "

 

The COVID lockdown has given people an opportunity to take on DIY projects that would be unobtanium in a regular life schedule.
If anyone in the universe has a better solution to prevent sleeves from cracking I'm all ears, despite all the probability math. I would counter your argument with show me one case of sleeves cracking when shimmed???

This is a relatively cheap compromise compared to a $2500 darton job plus rebuild cost. If it doesn't work out for him, what has he lost?


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The COVID lockdown has given people an opportunity to take on DIY projects that would be unobtanium in a regular life schedule.
If anyone in the universe has a better solution to prevent sleeves from cracking I'm all ears, despite all the probability math. I would counter your argument with show me one case of sleeves cracking when shimmed???

This is a relatively cheap compromise compared to a $2500 darton job plus rebuild cost. If it doesn't work out for him, what has he lost?

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There's at least one case out there with a block failure after shimming. So, given the relatively low sample size in terms of total miles driven with shimmed blocks (a few million miles, at most), odds are there is no statistically significant difference between shimmed and unshimmed block reliability.

For every block you see driven with shims for 20,000 miles & no failures, I'll point out that the first ~100,000 miles of that blocks life were without shims-- and no failures. Sample size, sample size.

 

Still waiting on the data that doesn't support it....

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Yeah.... to most of us the absence of failures with shims makes the answer self apparent.

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Yep, 1-(nerd data) is good enough for me.

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Look.... all the Focus MKII owners must be nuts too... they even have shops performing the service and parts suppliers making the shims.

Google - focus mk2 block shimming

I purchase shims from pumaspeed BTW. Nice kits that come with sleeve seal.


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Look.... all the Focus MKII owners must be nuts too... they even have shops performing the service and parts suppliers making the shims.

Google - focus mk2 block shimming

I purchase shims from pumaspeed BTW. Nice kits that come with sleeve seal.

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So the fact that there's people out there that will sell you a few ounces of pre-cut stainless steel for £39.95 is evidence shims work? Or maybe they just want to take your money?

 

Well.... good news for all the rational potential buyers of your car who read this thread.... at least they’re aware you wouldn’t spend $20 for added peace of mind and protection while you had the head off.


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Well.... good news for all the rational potential buyers of your car who read this thread.... at least they're aware you wouldn't spend $20 for added peace of mind and protection while you had the head off.

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Peace of mind based on what, exactly? Definitely not the data...

 

here i was thinking my boss is the biggest idiot of 2020.. now i think i found the actual winner [emoji38] what was that 5 page essay? i didnt read it. if youre too cheap to spend $10 on some metal to smash in there, i bet youre the same guy who swears victor reinz is the same mls
gasket... or the same guy that swears he doesnt have to deck the head after overheating it [emoji38][emoji38]

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here i was thinking my boss is the biggest idiot of 2020.. now i think i found the actual winner [emoji38] what was that 5 page essay? i didnt read it.

you didn't read it, or you couldn't understand it?

 

There are way too many variables that are not controlled to run this 4 Million mile stat analysis to prove that shims do not work. If all of those 4 Million Miles were run with blocks shimmed vs not shimmed under higher boost conditions, this would be much closer to a valid comparison.

I do not believe anyone will go thru the pain to pull a head just to put shims in on a perfectly good running engine without having some added engine performance mods in the works. This is very time consuming and costly. If there is a reason to pull the head for repair, adding shims is insignificant to the total cost and time of doing this to the block.

Open deck cylinder move. The more pressure and less stiffness means more movement. Putting shims in adds more stiffness, which helps keep the cylinders from moving as much than without.

Since my head was off for other reasons, it was simple and very easy, with little cost, to add shims. I am going to add a bigger turbo with more boost in the future. It would have me wondering if something happened to the block after doing all this work if I could have prevented it by spending a few bucks on some shims.

 

There are way too many variables that are not controlled to run this 4 Million mile stat analysis to prove that shims do not work. If all of those 4 Million Miles were run with blocks shimmed vs not shimmed under higher boost conditions, this would be much closer to a valid comparison.

No, you don't "prove that shims do not work", you prove that shims *do* work. And it takes a lot more than 4 million miles-- 11 million miles without a failure, if the failure rate is 1 per 4 million, to actually be confident the mod works. But we already have 1 failure with an shimmed block on stock tune, so that number is now 19 million miles total, without another failure.

I do not believe anyone will go thru the pain to pull a head just to put shims in on a perfectly good running engine without having some added engine performance mods in the works. This is very time consuming and costly. If there is a reason to pull the head for repair, adding shims is insignificant to the total cost and time of doing this to the block.

Agreed 110%. I recently tore into my head to replace a burnt valve, I know just how time consuming and costly it was. Check out the original post on this thread. The OP, whom I know to be a good guy, is asking us for advice about tearing into his perfectly good block to install shims. If he already has his head off and wants to be enroll in the great "shimmed block trial", so be it. There can't be data to support a mod unless people actually try it (though the data thus far is not encouraging). But tearing into a perfectly good engine to try an unproven mod? Even with the coronavirus boredom: Please, no.

 

if you have the head off and dont shim

 

Hoo buddy, another shim battle.

To the OP: just do it!

I just did this out in the street at the curb during the quaran-times. Turbo went 100% out the top; shims, hybrid K24, ARP studs went in. I used all OEM Volvo gaskets with the one-piece exhaust gasket (also OEM Volvo, PN 8699467, needs some trimming). All of my saw cuts were a very nice interference fit with the .035 shims, and I also applied Loctite 638.

I recommend replacing the little rubber hose segments in the turbo coolant pipes, since they're cheap and hard to get to.

I worked on it for about 40 minutes a day in the morning. Took about a week of doing that, which gave me lots of time for parts to come in.

 

With all this hub-bub going on I finally re-read OP's post and clicked on the link, I find it funny their shim example is already cracked....

 

Shimming has been used successfully to repair failures, especially in the UK. The photo from Dreamscience is a repair job. This thread below is another good reference.

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/archive/index.php/t-213638.html

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