I'm familiar with the B230FT'S and volvo's but I'm completely unfamilar with the 960 and all of its idiosyncracies.

Here's the deal.
Just put in a 93 b304 into our 92 960 that had the wonderful porous block. Dreding the big moment I hit the key tonight for the first time and the motor fired up but it runs really rough, on only 4 cyclinders. The 'new' motor had been sitting since may and was said to run like a top when it was removed. Am I missing something really obvious here? Where should I start looking? The catalytic converter lit up like a torch from all of the unburnt fuel. I took out all of the sparkplugs and cleaned them up and but them back in but there was no improvement.

Also, I added six quarts of oil (5.75), as per the manual, and I'm not getting any reading on the stick. None. What's the deal there?

What is the standard procedure for circulating the coolant into a new engine? I was worried that the thermostat wouldn't open because it is not surrounded by water thus overheating the engine.

And I thought it was going to start up and run like a gem.
Please help and thanks in advance.


JS