I have a '89 765ti, with a newly warped head, due to failure of water valve on highway. Anyway, that's water under the car so to speak and now i have the dreaded warped head (drove about 5 km before realizing there is no idiot light for temp, just the gauge that i rarely (used to) look at.

My local Volvo mechanic (who has been great to date) is telling me that a head from a '95 940 non turbo will fit nicely on my 89 b230ft. My review of the specs says that there is a different cam on the non turbo, and the valve clearance is slightly less on intake and slightly more on exhaust.

Any comments, concerns or otherwise would be appreciated.

Anyone interested in feeling good about their brick would best ask me for what i have spent since purchasing mine in July of this year. Total is up to $6,500CDN and thats before whatever it is going to cost for head.

But, i'm still smilin'!!!

Peter

http://www.brickboard.com/RWD/index.htm?id=541914
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Kenric Tam
1990 Volvo 740 base sedan (B230F)
My Volvo 'Project'

Hey I had to put a rebuilt engine in my 945 turbo for the very same reason.
Inattentive teenage driver, a busted heater hose and 90+ weather. I figure that mistake cost me $3K.

Oh well, ecoli happens.

Most machine shops that deal with aluminum headed cars know
how to deal with warped heads. You can often plane them flat
and align-bore the thing the cam sits in and you're as good
as new but with slightly higher compression. There are also
places that can un-warp heads by heating them up then bending
them and cooling them. This is often done for diesels. Ask
around.

You don't want a NA head -- the turbo and NA heads have
different valves; the turbo valves have blobs of sodium inside
them that splatters around when the valve pops up and down.
Sodium has really good heat transfer properties so when it
splashes against the inside face then up into the valve stem
it takes lots of heat with it and into the valve guides. They
also have a coating that makes them harder and less prone to
cracking. Maybe you could take a warped turbo head and a good
NA head and swap valves?

Any honest machine shop will be able to tell you your cheapest
or best or most expensive alternatives. Here in California, there
are turbo volvos in salvage yards enough to keep people in
unwarped heads for years.
chris

While the NA head will bolt on, don't use it. Besides the cam differnece, the turbo engines use sodium cooled exhaust valves. Get a used turbo head.

thanks for both quick responses. Its always nice to go to the shop armed with some sort of intelligence. i think i'll go the fix the warped head route instead of what seemed to me to be a wrong solution.

Hey, perhaps there is more compression in my future. Anything to help!

Is it common that during overheating any of the other components in the head itself get toasted, and is it worth getting extra work done on stuff while the shop has it ripped apart?

If you havent yet deduced, my extent of technical knowledge is calling the other stuff in the head "the other stuff"

thanks
Peter

SOme time ago, my 745 B230E overheated and after having the head done, there were loads of funny faults. It would sometimes not start which turned out to be the ground for the starter which had burnt. In general, all wires near or on the engine block and head had burnt out. I would check for that and other things similar.

George
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1987 745 GLE Turbodiesel Intercooler (D24TIC)/1988 745 Turbo Intercooler (B230FT/M46)

If your head is too far gonne to save, you could have the exhaust valves and cam installed in the NA head. Most turbo heads of your vintage are 530 castings, NA heads may have a different casting number.