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Hi,
I would like to throw in my two cents here.
Most of the time you will find what is called upper and lower end seal kits as a bargain if you don’t mind collecting a few extra items that you may not need to use right away.
In my case I have six seven engines that vary slightly so I pick the year kits that fit the most engines, of which, when it comes to the most common gaskets they will almost cover every engine.
Front seals have been kept ton the same sizes.
It a beauty mark of the 240 red block engines of how much was interchangeable.
An endurance quality Volvo has left behind.
The newest and highest maintenance Volvos models to date have been decimated by complicated engines and complex sales marketing of short term gadgets. IMHO.
I cannot recommend Elring rear crankshaft seals due to them coming in kits with their inside diameters being one Millimeter to large.
I use too, buy mine separately from Timken who was actually National or Chicago Raw Hide that is now SKF.
Crankshaft Seal
Timken/National
355660H. 92mm is still an American or English dimension. Makes me wonder who design the crankshafts. Probably just a coincidence.
I haven’t checked but it might be offered in VITON by now. Not that it has to be in this application.
Consolidation has gone on everywhere but the future of parts is really on the chopping blocks.
The big winds are blowing to minimize this to some extent. Sad.
Here we are to possibly make electric vehicles with common platforms but everyone (our children) are still jacking around for their greedy bites!
It’s so sad to start out to go electric with a new sheet of drafting paper and we still have scribblers using crayons!
I would like to see 240 thinking come up in all of this chaos instead of randomness winning. I swear I cannot see the differences at times.
When it comes to kits, I like the Victor Reinz sets the best but they are hard to find in local parts houses.
Their distribution network could be improved upon. IMHO.
Chain stores do consumers a miss-justice for pushing profit margins or their bottom line, too far.
A product line gets in these store based on volumes not quality.
Belts and thermostats are the top of that list.
All of this keeps the better products off the shelves elsewhere.
You have to hunt harder into packages or you will be looking under the hood more often for that noise or mysterious leak.
All of this competition hassle even though the difference in the wholesale pricing is very little.
Manufacturing costs will vary very little as tooling is the same in many cases.
It’s the number of middlemen that add costs.
VR intake manifold and valve cover gaskets are thicker.
They could be possibly the same quality of the Volvo OEM.
Other kits use Felpro or thinner knock off materials.
So with various kits it becomes like a box of chocolates you gamble what you are going to get.
You own the whole package right after you open up the set. Like electrical stuff, there can be a no return policy lurking in the wings.
I have had to only change out one head gasket for a slight oil seepage over the pressure sensor area on a B21 and everything has stayed sealed up for many years afterwards.
Anyway, you are wise to beware of what’s in all packages nowadays.
With the way people are cutting corners it’s no wonder that we think our world is more round and smaller?🤓
Phil
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