240 General: New (to me) 1980 Volvo 244

[Stephen Edwin]

Originally Posted by Othen

... I had an old belt that I bought for for the cement mixer but didn't get round to using Dave, I measured it with a tape out of the sewing kit and it is about the right length...

That will be Perfick


Comrade Stephen Edwin



.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Good work on the prep, i'd be inclined to give all the fasteners another dose of WMP now you've cracked them 1/4 turn - don't forget to give it a good shake first!
.

... it has just occurred to me that I forgot to get any studs for the cam cover nuts - I suspect they are about M6. I'm hoping all the old ones come out easily so I can re-use them. I'll see with the first one, if not it will be a little trip to the fastener store (essential shopping!).

Stay safe.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Othen

... it has just occurred to me that I forgot to get any studs for the cam cover nuts - I suspect they are about M6. I'm hoping all the old ones come out easily so I can re-use them. I'll see with the first one, if not it will be a little trip to the fastener store (essential shopping!).

Stay safe.

I stopped for a cuppa.

So far so good. Exhaust manifold off, cam belt off, I can't get to the bottom induction manifold bolts, so I think I'll take it off with the head and sort it out of the car.

Stay safe.

Alan

[Othen]

I'd hoped to get the job finished today, but ran out of time, as you may see below.

The old head came off reasonably easily - I found it a bit easier to pull the induction manifold and carburettor off with it, then dismantle on the bench.

The old head looked a bit worse for wear (it is 40 years old), and there was quite a bit of deposition around the gasket. I'll have a better look at the head in slow time:



Fitting studs and swapping bits over to the new head took an age, but nothing broke - the only two difficult studs were for the thermostat housing, but this gadget I found in the garage (very similar to one LS recommended) was really useful:



The only other difficult bit in the disassembly was extracting one of the locating dowels that stuck in the head, rather than the block.

I swapped the cam over on the bench, then set obout measuning and adjusting the valve clearances, which took all afternoon - hence running out of time. Try as I might I just could not juggle the old shims to bring everything into specification. After a lot of fiddling around I managed to get the requirement down to 2 shims (one of 3.85mm and another 3.95mm).

Valve Shim fitted Clearance Difference Shim required
1 4.20 0.30 0.00 4.20
2 4.10 0.15 -0.15 3.95
3 4.15 0.30 0.00 4.15
4 4.04 0.30 0.00 4.04
5 4.15 0.30 0.00 4.15
6 4.00 0.15 -0.15 3.85
7 4.15 0.30 0.00 4.15
8 4.05 0.30 0.00 4.05


I'll have a look for some online this eve. They fit a number of cars, so I may be able to find some locally tomorrow. I'd rather expected the shims to have their sizes stamped on them (as per the Book of Haynes), but they didn't, so I had to measure them individually:



So, there will be a lull while I find a couple of shims for the Royal Barge. I ran out of time today, but did get the new bead on and bolted down just tight enough to keep the bugs out:



The Book of Haynes says it is possible to change the shims without removing the cam with a special Volvo tool, but I don't have one of those so when I get the shims I'll pull the cam off again. I doesn't tale long and I realised after having a look at the BofH that I should have put one of these rubber rings over each of the valve stems:



... I wondered where they went :-)

Still a bit to do: torque everything down, change two shims, fit 8 rubber rings, replace the manifolds both sides, fit a new cam belt and re-fit all the stuff I took off for access... that will be in Part 2 (maybe tomorrow, maybe later).

Stay safe.

Alan

[Othen]

Dealers (Volvo, Ford, VW...) don't seem to carry the shims in stock, but I've found the shims online (for about £7) and ordered them - should be here about Monday, so that will be Part 2.

Stay safe.

Alan

PS. I found out the little rubber rings are called hushers, I'm guessing they make the valve gear work a bit quieter. I've just had a look at the old head, it does have them fitted but they are fried and look like part of the metal, which is why I missed them when I was getting the new head ready.

[Othen]

Good morn,

Interest in the Royal Barge project has waned a little, but I'll continue with the head job story (as you may see later, we are not quite at the end yet)...

... there seems to have been one issue after another with this job (not all to do with the RB). You may remember I needed a couple of adjustment shims for the valve clearances on the reconditioned head I had bought. They arrived in the mail promptly, but turned out to be the wrong size (31mm diameter, not 33mm):



This is a really important point for anyone adjusting valve clearances on a B21 motor: get 33mm shims - beware most of the motor factors' databases seem to list 31mm as the correct size (maybe they fit later 240s?).

A bit of calling around located an excellent engine rebuilding firm in Northampton (Knight Engine Services - 01327 340900) that had the right ones. A 70 mile round trip to collect them had us back on track...

So, back to the head job. Remember to fit the hushers (I forgot the first time):



It is a good idea to measure the clearances and adjust the shims before fitting the hushers because the new rubber tends to close up the clearances by about 0.05mm afterwards.

With the cam back on this is a good time to fit the oil seal whilst the sprocket is still fitted fairly loosely:



... and the new belt (a really easy job on these engines):



... and get the rest buttoned up (the B21a is pretty simple in this respect):



So far so good (thought I)... the engine turned over on the starter with the coil disconnected with no funny noises (still good)... and started first turn of the key (very good). The car seemed to be running quite nicely as I adjusted the tick-over speed (I'd cleaned the carburettor while it was off the car) when I noticed bubbles in the expansion tank. I tested again for exhaust gas in the water and... Houston - we have a problem. Still exhaust gas in the cooling system.

So, there are 3 possibilities:

a. The head gasket I fitted was no good. It was a NOS item I bought cheaply, perhaps it is 40 years old and had become damaged in storage? This seems to be the most likely explanation.

b. The reconditioned head I fitted is no good. I took it in good faith from the engine builders and it certainly looked good.

c. The block is no good. This seems unlikely with a cast iron block.

The head has to come off again for an investigation. I suspect I will find the new gasket failed, so I've ordered a new set (really new, not 40 year old NOS) and also a set of new head bolts (the old ones look okay, but they have been in and out of the motor 3 times to my knowledge and are 40 years old). The chances are that will fix the problem.

If that doesn't work then I'll take both the heads to Knight Engines in Northampton and have them pressure tested (I'd planned to do that with the old head I removed anyway, and if it passes then have it reconditioned as a spare as John suggested some time ago).

So, a slightly disappointing pause, but not a calamity. The Royal Barge is certainly giving me something to do.

Stay alert.

Alan

[john.wigley]

'Morning, Alan, I thought that you had 🐝 quiet of late! On the balance of probabilities, I would also lean towards the HG as being at the root of your problem.

It is reasonable to assume that the head is good, and an inspection will reveal if it is not. Presumably in that event it would be covered under warranty?

I agree that it is unlikely to be the block. The most common failure of an iron block is through frost damage.

It is sound policy to replace the head bolts as they do stretch - hence the importance of torquing and retourquing after an initial period (as recommended by 'L.S.'). Personally, I much preferred working on engines using studs and nuts, but then I am unashamedly old-fashioned!

I'm sure that you will very quickly get to the bottom of this problem and overcome the setback.

Regards, John.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by john.wigley

'Morning, Alan, I thought that you had 🐝 quiet of late! On the balance of probabilities, I would also lean towards the HG as being at the root of your problem.

It is reasonable to assume that the head is good, and an inspection will reveal if it is not. Presumably in that event it would be covered under warranty?

I agree that it is unlikely to be the block. The most common failure of an iron block is through frost damage.

It is sound policy to replace the head bolts as they do stretch - hence the importance of torquing and retourquing after an initial period (as recommended by 'L.S.'). Personally, I much preferred working on engines using studs and nuts, but then I am unashamedly old-fashioned!

I'm sure that you will very quickly get to the bottom of this problem and overcome the setback.

Regards, John.

Good morn John,

Thank you for that - it is always a good idea to have a second opinion, just in case one is completely barking up the wrong tree.

I think the gasket is the most likely cause - I didn't really give it much attention as I look it out of its wrapping, but later I found the cam cover gasket in the same set was brittle and decided not to use that one.

The good news is that having already done it once it should not take too long to get it apart again once the gasket set and bolts arrive.

The engine builder did sell the head as completely checked and re-manufactured, so I'd have a really good case for a return if it turned out to be defective (although I think that a bit unlikely at the moment).

I think we can discount damage to the block as being highly unlikely at the moment.

Stay alert,

Alan

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

I think we can discount damage to the block as being highly unlikely at the moment.

Stay alert,

Alan

I'm going to be the voice of dissent on this one Alan. Looking at your picture from a few days ago, #1 combustion chamber to the water channel above it in the pic nearest the thermostat, it can be seen there is corrosion in that area on both the gasket and the head - chances are this was where the combustion gases were getting into the cooling system.

You will almost certainly find similar markings on the block in the same area. If the head (above the gasket) has eroded as the photo seems to show, this means the gasket can also lift up, allowing water to pass under the gasket and erode the block in the same area.

Have you retorqued the head since the rebuild? As in got the engine hot and retorqued by cracking each head bolt 1/4 turn then retightening to spec? Might pay to double-check to see what Haynes suggets in this respect, you may have to get it hot and alow to cool before retorquing, i can't remember and not fully awake yet. You may find this solves the problem with no further investigation needed.

It could also be related to the head bolts, i believe they can be re-used once on red blocks, if they've been in and out like a fiddlers elbow they really need replacing though. Out of interest, did you run a tap through the head bolt holes or otherwise ensure (by running each bolt in and out of its hole) they were free to turn easily all the way in and out?

Something in the back of my mind also wonders if the bubbles in the tank were just an air lock shifting gradually and bringing residual bubbles of CO - being heavier than air, if it was trapped in the coolant in the block, it's possible there was still some lurking in the system. Until it was heated up, the gas would have remained compressed under the water in the block then expanded with heat into a big enough bubble to force their way up and out.

[Stephen Edwin]

Othen.

OUCH !!!!

Now if it were me myself or I ...

1. Take a deep breath and yet another sustaining beverage.

2. Dig out the remains of the kit and test for engine gas in the coolant. As David approximately said the cooling systm might just be burping.

If there is still any cause or reason for concern then ... I have not looked back, I think the head currently fitted is not the one photographed as corroded. Or am I missing David's point. Anyways.

3. Take both heads to reliable engineers and seek avice without further ado.

I hope that helps.




Stay alert mantra seems to have been changed without any announcement or memo.

Comrade Stephen Edwin

in haste