Regarding how long to do the job-how long is a piece of string, it will vary with your own abilities ,how fast you want to be back on the road and if you aren't dependent on the weather, ie- you'll be doing it in your own garage. The bonus is you won't have a workshop manager looking over your shoulder timing you, so just do it at a steady and methodical pace, i would allow a day to get it stripped and cleaned up, yes cleaning the ports is worthwhile-having a tube from a vacuum cleaner at the ready, also some liquid gasket sealant on reassembly on the swirl flap plastic bush and inlet cam end cap, also while you're at it cleaning the egr valve body is worth doing, can be done in situ with blunt scrapers and carb cleaner or if you take it off do it from the 4 bolts on the throttle body far easier than taking it off complete with the cooler tube,I would also allow a day to put everything back-[proper bona fide mechanics will be squirming in their boots by now]-don't worry it's not a race. Goes without saying if you do the timing belt then just get a full kit with idler and tensioner pulleys- original volvo kits available for good prices from either FRF in Swansea, or volvoparts trade on ebay -not worth compromising on those parts also worth doing the auxilliary belt as that breaking can throw the timing belt off and cause damage also spin the water pump by hand if nice and smooth and quiet leave it alone as has been said on here before, regarding special tools i would say the main one would be the crankshaft holding tool-[the 4 bolt hole fixing with attached bar, as the main crankshaft big nut is torqued to around 250lbft, the locking pins for crank and camshaft aren't necessary but make it foolproof if you haven't got a good rack o thye-[Yorkshire speak] or if you look at the diagrams in the haynes manual you can give the dimensions to your local engineering shop and they will make you them for around £30.Sorry for suggesting the extra works, but it's just makes sense if you intend to keep the car long term, but the choice is yours, and only tackle it if you are fully confident, but you would be saving the thick end of a grand in labour costs [approx] Main thing is you have got time on your side to decide whether you get quotes from garages or get all your necessary parts together ready. If you haven't fell asleep by now please keep us posted of the outcome, cheers.
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