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And now, the end is near; And so I face the final curtain

Joined
Jun 2, 2007
Location
UK
It is decision time, my 940 proved yesterday that Swedish cars do have a sense of humour. It decided its birthday present to me was throwing its toys out of the pram, or more precisely spitting its water out round the engine compartment.

I'm not entirely sure what it has done, but it used 2 litres of water in 8 miles:rofl:

When I started it this morning it was reluctant to turn over, indicative I think of a bit of water in the bores. It then started easily, but it doesn't run terribly well. When it was cold the clouds of oily steam out of the back were spectacular. Literally all I could see in the mirrors was blueish smoke. I think it has either spectacularly blown the head gasket or cracked something.

The engine has done a bit over 220K miles, and I know it has a lot of bore wear from when I did the head gasket about 65K miles ago. Basically although the engine does still run it is toast. The question I'm asking myself is do I

a) Scrap it and buy another car

b) Lob in a used engine and call it good, I do have one

c) Clean out a good bottom end I have, re ring and re bearing it, lob in a set of Pauter rods (got those too) and top it off with a 531 head? Originally I was going to put a set of stainless Manley valves in the head. There is however a fly in that ointment. Dom Santiago of this parish has both my valves and the $165.00 I paid for them which is boringly "Turbobricks". I do have an IPD cam in the car which should go again.

It was kind of sad driving it this morning, sick though it was it still wanted to go. I've been everywhere in that car, from Norway down to Portugal and Spain. I once made it tow a loaded car trailer 980 miles in 18 hours non stop. On another occasion I drove it from Oslo to Rome in a weekend. I started at 5.30 on Friday afternoon in Oslo, got to my meeting in Rome at 8.30 monday morning and had 3 full nights sleep..

Just in case I scrap it, here are a few highlights.....

In the middle of Sweden

<a href="http://s53.photobucket.com/albums/g80/anneke_atrium/turbobricks/?action=view&current=DSCF0604.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g80/anneke_atrium/turbobricks/DSCF0604.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

In the Alps

<a href="http://s53.photobucket.com/albums/g80/anneke_atrium/turbobricks/?action=view&current=DSCF0574.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g80/anneke_atrium/turbobricks/DSCF0574.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Meeting a friend in Germany

<a href="http://s338.photobucket.com/albums/n413/turbobrickspics/?action=view&current=DSCF0126.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i338.photobucket.com/albums/n413/turbobrickspics/DSCF0126.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Cracking 100K miles

<a href="http://s338.photobucket.com/albums/n413/turbobrickspics/?action=view&current=DSCF0130-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i338.photobucket.com/albums/n413/turbobrickspics/DSCF0130-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Hard at work

<a href="http://s338.photobucket.com/albums/n413/turbobrickspics/?action=view&current=IMG_1083.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i338.photobucket.com/albums/n413/turbobrickspics/IMG_1083.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Afsluitdijk in Holland

<a href="http://s338.photobucket.com/albums/n413/turbobrickspics/?action=view&current=DSCF0040.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i338.photobucket.com/albums/n413/turbobrickspics/DSCF0040.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Baking in Spain

<a href="http://s338.photobucket.com/albums/n413/turbobrickspics/?action=view&current=DSC_1475.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i338.photobucket.com/albums/n413/turbobrickspics/DSC_1475.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

And feeling chilly, this is just a few weeks back..

<a href="http://s338.photobucket.com/albums/n413/turbobrickspics/?action=view&current=DSC_5624.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i338.photobucket.com/albums/n413/turbobrickspics/DSC_5624.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

I've lost count of the number of ferry crossings we've made, This is Switserland to Italy

<a href="http://s338.photobucket.com/albums/n413/turbobrickspics/?action=view&current=DSC_1795.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i338.photobucket.com/albums/n413/turbobrickspics/DSC_1795.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Austria

<a href="http://s338.photobucket.com/albums/n413/turbobrickspics/?action=view&current=DSCF0042.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i338.photobucket.com/albums/n413/turbobrickspics/DSCF0042.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

And losts of towed 2CVs

<a href="http://s338.photobucket.com/albums/n413/turbobrickspics/?action=view&current=DSC_4055.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i338.photobucket.com/albums/n413/turbobrickspics/DSC_4055.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
 
1st off all i have to say is what a great car with alot of trips and memories under its belt!

great phototrip!

if i was you, i would most definitely NOT SCRAP the car, its not worth it.

either put the spare engine in and save you some money and call it a day

or go for C and build it up a little bit to give you even more trips and memories and most of all crankin out as many miles on that brick as you can!

the decision is yours, choose wisely.
 
If I go for C I'll take it off the road and give it a little make over. I have a st of V90 door handles and I make do a couple of other tweeks whilst I'm at it. The front end desperately needs a respray. The only other time it has broken down seriously is 2 days after I bought it. It had done 55K miles when I bought it, it is now on 222K. Anyway, 2 days after I bought it the gearbox failed, this is a factory manual M90 car BTW. I rang around for a gearbox but I couldn't find one; except for one.

I know the guy who had the box quite well and it came out of a B200FT engined airport taxi. He told me that car had done 375K miles. He said "look, I drove the car into the yard and the gearbox worked fine, but I don't like selling mechanical components out of a car with that sort of mileage. I've known you a long time and we're not going to fall out over a gearbox".

I told him I understood the box was high mileage, but it would get me out of trouble so could I have it please? He sold it to me for a fairly nominal sum, the equivalent of $100 or so and I promised him I wouldn't get mad if it failed. Back then good boxes were fetching $1500 or so! So far it is working just fine. It is getting just slightly baulky, but I think it is entitled to given it seems to have done 540K miles now. I guess a replacement box is on the menu too if I give the car a fresh lease of life.

Although it is very poorly at the moment it made it to the workshop under its own steam today, literally in fact:-(. In the 165K miles or so I've driven it the only time it has needed to be towed is when the gearbox went. It has been fixed by the side of the road just once, in Sweden when the adjuster for the alternator snapped and it ran its battery flat before I noticed. I could fix the adjuster with bits scavenged from the airco pump adjuster, but I couldn't start the car with a dead flat battery so someone had to come out to jump it. Unfortunately they took just over 6 hours to do so.

Does anyone know Dom Santiago BTW? I'd really like those bloody valves.......
 
Go fro V90 handles, put V90 rear bumper, spoiler on the tailgate, change trans oil, change the block or repair it, and drive for next 500k in style!
 
1. crush it
2. post pics
3. watch people bitch and moan
4. buy pristine volvo for cheeeeaaaaaaapppp like all you other yourapeeins do
5. ????
6. profit
 
She's been to good to you to leave her now.:nod: Treat her to a shopping spree, and som TLC. OPTION C is my opinion.
 
In no small part because of the rats nest of wiring on this car; this was the last (and only) time I had the head off it. All the extra wiring and the injectors on top of the cam cover run the LPG gas injection system.

<a href="http://s338.photobucket.com/albums/n413/turbobrickspics/?action=view&current=Dsc_0869.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i338.photobucket.com/albums/n413/turbobrickspics/Dsc_0869.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
 
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