Well its about time for another update...

Unfortunately not a good one...

I had a little too much fun this weekend, and well had to get the car towed home...

I believe I split the block, but I will know for sure once I decide to to actually start tearing her apart, which won't be till this weekend.

I am at a cross roads...

Do I attempt to do my very first engine swap? or do I hand it over to someone else to do the engine swap? or do I start parting it out and cut my losses...

A little bitter still from this, hopefully that will subside, and turn into a renewed enthusiasm, opposed to the defeat I am currently feeling.

Holy smokes... Not a good update at all, and sincerely hope it's just a freeze plug or some other easy fix. Curious what kind of boost you were running? Symptoms of failure? (My car is seeing detonation at ~18 psi - still working with Tuner, but suspect PCV oil into intake may be the cause...)

Hopefully you're OK to hear some encouraging words - but I think all the supporting mods already done to the car deserve a new engine. I'd seriously look at getting a newer 2.5L R engine to swap into the car but limit boost / power to the 300 - 350 range to keep it reliable OR If you happen to find an already built engine that's been sleeved and has upgraded connecting rods - that would allow you to go big power fairly safely.

Keep us posted on any diagnosis and thoughts on your options.

Rabin

There's an '04 S60 T5 Manual at Barlow PNP, and the front end wasn't too smashed in if I remember correctly. Actually I'm not sure why it's there. There's also a light pressure '98 V70 with a stick, but if you're looking for the engine it's not what you want.

Thanks for the words of encouragement...
I do have a lead on a 04 2.5R Motor, but I won't pull the trigger on anything till I get to see what the carnage is to my current engine




Thanks for info... apart of me is just saying get the cheapest engine available (ie a pick n pull engine and drop it in), but based on your statement, the whole reason that 04 S60 T5 could be at the wrecker is due to mechanical failure. Where as going with a reputable dismantler, they can generally provide details on mileage, compression, etc you pay a little more, or maybe a lot more, I just checked pricing on pick n pull's website, and a fuel injected engine is: $189.00 with a $49.99 core meaning the engine could be mine for $140... wow thats cheap, but I also have no way of knowing mileage on the newer volvos (its all digital, so unless you can pull the cluster, and power it up, and hope its the one that came with the car, you won't know for sure)

I have a lead on a 04 2.5R engine with 10,000 kms on it (basically its a brand new engine), its not cheap, its literally 10x the cost of the pick n pull engine, but if I went through effort of installing an engine into my car, I would want to know the hard work was worth it...

Only issue with the newer R motors would be controlling VVT on both cams... 00R just has VVT on the exhaust cam, the 06R has it on both intake and exhaust cams.

I know there's a recipe for using the newer motors and VVT - just not sure what it is. Only thing to remember is the newer R heads use a much longer spark plug thread due to the redesigned head.

Tough call on which engine to use - Can you guys run the VIN in Alberta to see if it's a TL? Wouldn't take much to TL an 04' car - so it very well could still be there if was TL'd - if not you'd have to eliminate mechanical issues and that would be time consuming.

Rabin

Only TL I know of is an Acura.

TL=Total Loss. Maybe that's just a Saskatchewan term?

Rabin

Mebbe, yeah. We tend to use write-off.

FWIW, Ahmad: the $189 would be after you returned the $50 core. And I'm fairly shocked, 'cause the last time I tried to buy half an engine from the 52nd St PNP they wanted twice as much. They tried to ding me for intake & exhaust manifolds, fuel injectors, water pump, flywheel, etc - this may be the case at Barlow too, but 52nd is bad for this in my experience.

Playing catch up here, hope you decide to forge ahead with the motor swap after all the work you've put in so far.

So time for another update.

I picked up the 04 V70R engine with 10,000kms. Install went smoothly. I had to play around with some things (more Tuning, cam Timing, etc), but now after having the car back on the road for ~1 month, I am finally at a point where I am very happy with the way the car is driving.

No CEL. No issues with drivability. Off boost performance is noticeably improved from the stock engine, and with the new cam Timing the boost on set is very smooth

The 04 R engine does have the dual VVT solenoids, but you can essentially unplug the solenoids, and the VVT will remain locked, you lose the VVT control aspect but I'm not too worried about that.

I should be on a dyno in the next couple of weeks. The shop that I've gone to in the past for dynoing my vehicles, is having a dyno day event. The shop is called Calgary Autoworks, they are updating their Facebook page with the details of the dyno event. I think it will be on July 1st, and it would be nice to see some other volvos out that day

Congrats!

The newer R motor should be quite the treat in the 98', and with the supporting mods the car should scoot!

Can't wait to hear dyno numbers - Sadly I've got my wife's family do to go to over the long weekend - but very curious of the numbers it puts down.

Rabin