I was hoping someone might be able to give me some opinions on the '91 940 GLE sixteen valve engine. The reason I'm asking is because I have this '91 but the engine is blown and I'm wondering if its better to:

1.) rebuild the engine (looks like the balancer shaft belt broke, and maybe the timing belt too, b/c some of the valves are bent), in which case, can I use the block from a low mileage B230 that I already have, and then just have the head rebuilt? I have heard that the blocks are the same...is this true? If so, will the balancer shafts (which I believe are in their own external housings) bolt on to the B230 block.

or

2.)swap in a B230, in which case, can I use the existing wiring harness from the sixteen valve engine (B234) engine?

Thanks in advance for any assistance or recommendations on this matter.

Ben Costello

Ben,

For starters the B230 block and B234 block are not the same so you can not use the B230 block and the b234 head.

Two plus years ago I rebuilt the head on my sisters 16v after the belt broke. If if had to do it again I would swap out the engine for an 8v. The cost of the rebuild along with the ongoing 16v concerns about timing belts was not worth it. The swap won't be a swap of blocks and heads, the exhaust head pipes are different and the electronic controls are different. My bet is that if you just swap the engines and leave everything else as is the car will run lousy.

But based on my experience I would swap the engine out rather than rebuild.