Volvo Nerds Help Confirm my Suspicions

Guy is selling a lot of 240 parts for cheap.  He's claiming this is from a '91 turbo 240 wagon.  This is the only picture he's provided, that's a N/A intake tube hanging off the intake manifold isn't it?  Which would lead one to believe this is not a turbo engine, right?

That's definitely NA. 

If you want it to add turbo parts to it is still fine, if you are looking for one that includes the turbo setup that wouldn't help much. 

I don't know if they even made a turbo wagon in 91.  Edit: There were no factory turbo wagons after 1985. 

Thanks Evan!

I was 95% sure that wasn't a turbo engine. 

I already have the N/A B21 in my 242, and a basket case, not sure what it is, in my 760 wagon "parts car."  I've got 90% of what I need to add a turbo to the B21, just thought I had found a great deal, on an already turboed engine.  I don't  think I need another N/A block, and with the seller (I believe intentionally) misrepresenting the engine I don't want to do any business with him.

Mass air sensor hanging on the intake tube says N/A.  Its on the air box on a turbo.

as Evan said, there's no such thing as a 91 240 turbo wagon anyway.  they ended in 85.  your 760, depending on year, has either a B23FT (83-84), B230F/FT, or a PRV V6.  

If that block is really from a 91, it would have the 13mm rods already, which is good for boost.  but would also have 9.8:1 compression which means you can't run quite as much boost.  It's also most likely LH2.4, which is preferable to any of the older management systems, as it can be chipped more easily, and it self-learns to some extent. 

In reply to stylngle2003 :

Yeah the 760 "should" have a B230FT,  and while it still has the intercooler badge on the hatch, the engine has NA exhaust and intake.  No clue if the manifolds were swapped or the whole engine was?  The whole car, engine included, was in various stages of disassembly when I bought it. 

I bought it for the wheels and a few other parts, but it has a title so I'm thinking about it becoming a project car too.

I pointed out that the engine wasn't a turbo and this was the response:

"It does have an exhaust on it. But it came out of a turbo wagon. That’s all I know. It is good motor. I have the mani for it. The na and the boosted motor have the same internals."

they don't really.  different pistons, cam, and exhaust valves.  that's picking nits, but he sounds like an idiot. 

what year is your 760?  turbo engine would have an oil drain hole under the 3rd cylinder on the exhaust side, among other things.  injectors are different, cooling hoses are different, there might be a cold start injector in the intake manifold, injector wiring is different, etc.  

In reply to stylngle2003 :

The 760 is an '87.

Dude is only asking $200 for that engine, trans, "boxes of parts," and 5 random Volvo wheels, 3x 14" steelies, and 2x 17".  Claims the engine has 147K on it and "ran good," was pulled for a V8 swap.

I'm considering going and at least taking a look, even if it is N/A.

that's worth it, i'd say.  $100 for the engine and $!00 for the trans.  though the trans is likely an AW70, which isn't as strong as the AW71.  Not a big deal really, AW71 are easy to find if you need one.  your 760 has one.

So, say I drag home this B230, assuming it's a '91 with the desirable rods, can I just stick some B230T pistons in it to get the CR down?

I've been collecting parts for 3+ years now to turbo the 242 and drag it to Gainesville some October in the unforeseen future.

I've got the original B21 in the 242.  Additionally, I've got a mystery B230? in the 760, and I've got a bunch of parts off a turbo 740 (530 head, complete with valves/springs and T cam, intake manifold, exhaust manifold, Garrett T3 turbocharger, intercooler charge pipes, throttle body, MAF, fan/clutch, and various little related bits).  Plus I've got a couple Megasquirt 2s to choose from. 

I've got ~$600 in all of those additional parts, that includes the $300 I paid for for the complete-ish (but in pieces) 760.  I gave <$1K for the 242, and it's in pretty good shape, so I've still got room in the budget, and hopefully A LOT of parts to sell off.  Maybe sell the T3 and buy a Chinese GT35 or something...

I'm hesitant to rely on the 760's engine, it really should be pulled apart and hot tanked at the very least, the previous owner left it open to the elements, with the valve cover and coolant hoses off for who knows how long, hood up, parked under a pecan tree. 

I really need to make a spreadsheet.

Getting the compression down is highly optional. I'm running 15psi on my stock NA 1993 B230 without issue.  With a good ECU (Megasquirt counts) and premium gas or e85 , the stock 9.7:1 is no big deal.

NA in more ways than one! (Miata joke!) Sorry, I came in to be helpful, but I couldn't resist. Carry on. 

As many transmissions as my friends and I have blown,  get it.  Do the accumulator mod!!!

Where are you bigdaddy?

In reply to Justjim75 :

Central Arkansas.  Ya, know, God's country.

My parents are from Arkansa.  Grew up spending summers near Marion, just across the bridge from Beale St and Graceland.  Come to Montgomery, we can build it in a weekend.  

yeah, as Matt said, skip swapping pistons in the 91 block unless there's something wrong with them (and if there is, there is something wrong with the block, too!).  also, no need to swap heads unless there's something wrong with the one in place.  T cam isn't worth it to swap, either.  IPD turbo cam can be found cheap and works great with manual or auto, NA or turbo.  an A cam works too, if you can find one.  since it's going in a 240, you don't need to find a slotted one.  the intakes should be the same between all b230s, just depends whether there's a cold start injector or not (you don't need one).  the 90+ exhaust manifold is more desirable than the earlier one, but neither will hinder you from making choo choo noises or 300+ hp.  A 57 trim T4 with a .63 t3 housing will flow well at the top, if you aren't looking for absolute max power, a the stock .48 t3 that you likely have will make boost earlier.  you can either buy housings and wheels and a rebuild kit, or swap your exhaust housing into an ebay/china turbo.  

In reply to Justjim75 :

My brother lived in Marion while going to Dental School at UTHSC in Memphis.  I spent a lot of time in West Memphis, and surrounding area as a kid.  SWMBO has family in Memphis, we take the I40 bridge by the Pyramid every Thanksgiving.  The Memphis Pyramid is a Bass Pro Shop now, because you know, fish love polyhedrons.

In reply to stylngle2003:

Well, I've been collecting parts for going on 4 years now,  the strategy has been fluid, evolving over the years.  I got the head manifolds, and turbo of a 740 originally to just do a +T to the B21.  That's much less likely, if what's in the 760 is salvageable, or if I buy the B230 in the original post.

I'm going to try and meet the seller on Sunday.

I spent 4 weeks of every summer in Crawfordsville growing up, you know any Woodruffs?  Took my wife to Memphis a couple years ago to eat, drink and be merry, with a view of the, er, um,  Bass Pro from our hotel room, but live blues at BBKings was way better!

B230ft, 16v head from an NA car plus super 60 on MS2........

if we're benchracing a 16v swap (which costs an order of magnitude more than the OP has in his entire collection), you can run a much much bigger turbo than that.  they are bottlenecks on mostly stock 8vs at about 325hp

A DIY guy with fab and boneyard hunting skillz and a TIG setup can do it for Challenge money, but I'm using Kenny and the Heebspeed guys as a reference.  I'm partial to smaller turblos for quick spool in autox

In reply to Justjim75 :

I don't know any Woodruffs.  Memphis draws bigger name artists than Little Rock does, so we've been to see some bigger name bands at the Fed Ex Forum in Memphis a few times.  Just saw the Foo Fighters there last month, we walk down Beale going and coming from the Forum to the hotel we usually stay at, but we don't usually frequent that part of town.  Central BBQ may be the best in the country.

---

16V or White Block are long term goals, but unless I have a stroke of blind dumb luck, that's outside the purview of the Challenge pipe dream.  I probably don't frequent Turbo Bricks as much as I should.  I've watched eBay for 16v heads, but I don't think I've seen one for under $600.

I come from the world of FWD Volvos, I could tell you about all you wanted to know about 850s and then some.  As if you couldn't already tell, this RWD stuff is still pretty new to me.  I greatly appreciate everyone's advice and input!

Then buy my 98 S70 T5 MANUAL already, swap the new trans in and race it!

Rendezvous has pretty good Q too

Sorry for thread jacking