Hey, please don’t take this too seriously, it’s just some good ol’ bench racing.
My Volvo (2002 S40 T4, manual) has signs of a repaired engine. Overall, it’s in bad shape mechanically and body too. I bought it a year ago not knowing better, since it was the first time I bought a used car. I bought it because it’s a very rare fully loaded manual. For what it costed (around 2,200 dollars), I could probably sell the M56 box alone in the USA where the S40 T4 was never available.
Anyways, there seems to be a head bolt missing, the engine cover clips are broken and the timing belt cover was broken too.
When the guy sold it to me he told me the belt was new, and it was. This leads me to believe it snapped at some point and needed head work and a new belt. The belt is now ruined because oil fell on it due to the car needing a PCV service.
So, it seems like maybe a new head and forged internals would be a good way to go rebuilding this thing... unless. Yesterday I was thinking that my S40 would be a bitching machine with an EcoBoost swap. Please don’t school me on the cost, I said it’s all just some food for thought.
Do you think it would be feasible? Maybe mating the 2.0 EB to the stock M56 box with an adapter plate?
I know the crate engine alone costs 8k, but I love this car to death, the first turbo I rode in was an S40 just like this but auto back in 2003 and it made me a fan of the brand. So it’s a keeper, don’t care about resale. Still would be cheaper than a used Focus ST.
What would you do? Rebuild the stock matching numbers and already very capable engine or go batE36 M3 crazy on it and do an EB swap? If only there was a Fiesta ST crate engine available...
