Engine: 140 1986cc B20A: Head gasket issues

[arcturus]

Unless it gives an appreciable power increase I can't see the point of it. Gives a very cluttered look to an otherwise uncluttered engine bay. But hey, it's your car

[Computer Jones]

Thanks for the continued support, everyone. Sadly I'm very poor at the moment and can't even afford the ~£50 in parts it would take to fix it. Maybe I'll be able to find a job soon but we'll see. Also it's SORN until the post office decide to be helpful and let me change the tax class- it should be tax-exempt now but I have to re-register it as a 'historic vehicle' first.

[Computer Jones]

Well, OK! I finally got around to doing the head gasket again. Made sure the head bolt holes were super clean using my homemade thread chaser (an old head bolt with two sides grinded flat), a vacuum cleaner, and a can of brake cleaner. Made sure the mating surfaces were really clean and flat.

So it's running now; I want to make sure the timing and air/fuel mixtures are spot on before I put it through its paces, though. I have been timing 'by ear'- turning the distributor until it reaches its fastest idle, then gradually retarding the timing until there's no detonation. Is this good enough? Is it worth buying/borrowing a timing light? My crank pulley doesn't seem to have any timing markings on it, so I would have to perhaps paint some on myself...

[Derek UK]

I hope you've torqued the head down in the proper order. It will need doing again after about 500 miles. That means taking the rocker assembly off to do it. Slacken a quarter of a turn and then retighten, again in the proper order. I know you've only had the head off but changing the oil and filter at the same time is a good idea.
No it's not a good idea to advance and then retard the ignition to set the timing. Do it by the book. It's very unlikely that there's no timing notch on the pulley for setting the timing, so check carefully. Clean it off with a wire brush. Mark it with Tippex or white paint for permanence. You'll need that if you ever use a strobe on it.

[Computer Jones]

Yes, of course. I torqued the bolts in the correct order according to the Haynes manual. 40NM, 80NM, did a valve adjustment, ran the engine for 10 minutes, 90NM, valve adjustment again. good call on retorquing- I've reset my trip counter so I'll do that when it reaches 500 or so.

time to pick up a timing light!

[teacherman]

It's simple. When the 1-st piston is fully upper position, and both valves are close, mark red or black line to the crankshaft wheel, after that throuth 10 degre, there is a sharp mark into aliminium cover back. When you work with strobe, make sure that the vacum adjastment is OFF. the proper advance is about 25-30 degree
"It will need doing again after about 500 miles"
it doesn"t need that. It''s a Volvo red block real engine, not any Voxhol or Rover. 30 min working after first start and re torque the bolts to 9,5 nm. and of course valve adjustment again - both valves 0,45 or 0,50 mm.

Ps. Full injection engines - B20E don't required to re torque in Volvo manual.
and if you have any saspisious about above see Volvotips.com - the oficial Svenska resaurce for all Volvo models

[Computer Jones]

Thanks, I did the timing yesterday. Seems pretty much spot on but I still need to take a test drive!

I did question the retorquing... it's not mentioned in the Haynes manual, for example.

The one thing I want to do now is check the air/fuel mixture- I have a Gunson Colourtune- but it's much too bright out to really see the spark! I think I'll have to wait until 10pm one night in order to check it still, can't complain!

[arcturus]

Pull a spark plug, eg. number one and number three after a hard run. The color is the best indicator.