Recent threads from Tom Irwin (ALL PRAISE TO THE MULLAH) had me worried. Like he said, "potential" cost to run a 960 is prohibitive. I thought certain rather than potential cost. Certainly, engines, heads, rings, pistons, bearings, etc. will have to be repaired on high mileage cars, sooner or later. For most of our cars with up to ten years on the road and 100,000 miles or more on the odometer, I thought, likely to soon for comfort. Tom posted prices around $4,000 to rebuild the head, $2,200 for pistons plus $1,030 for rings, $5,600 for a block. That had me worried and I emailed Nick Bauer at www.fcpgroton.com to ask him whether he could get that stuff for prices the would let us run our cars with peace of mind, even as long as other Volvos.

NOW WE GO TO THE GOOD NEWS:

cylinder heads ('92-'94 or '95-) from a top rebuilder, with new cams, $1,300, plus $300 core charge, (vs. $3,500-$4,000)

piston sets with rings, $375, 1.2 mm top ring up to Vin # xxx396322, 1.5 mm top ring thereafter, (vs. $2,200+$1,030)

Rings (without pistons) are on back order. Blocks are not available.

If you want to know more, get in touch with Nick. This is all I know so far, but I thought some of you might want to know it too.