Motor swap questions (97 850 T5 Sedan)

Gray 97 T5 · Post by **Gray 97 T5** » 26 Oct 2012, 00:40

Hey guys I'm new here and also new to the Volvo world. I live in the US and I also live in the NW part in Seattle WA. With that being said there is a huge following here and I believe IPD is near by too.

I have somewhat high miles on this car I just bought and was thinking about looking for another motor to rebuild while I still drive my car around until it dies. I think it would be a fu project for me this winter.

What type of swaps do people usually do with this 97 t5? What blocks do they use and what is the best way to get a fun but not too crazy motor built? I've looked all around but I'm afraid I'm just missing out and not understanding because I'm new all around to Volvo's.

Any and all websites are welcome with helpful info.

Thanks,
Ken

Post by **rspi** » 26 Oct 2012, 04:22

Hey Ken, welcome to the forum.

You didn't mention what your goal is? The T5 is already fast and these motors last forever. Most people mod their cars for speed with a larger turbo or an ECU tune.

You might cruise over to www.TurboBricks.com or www.SwedeSpeed.com.

Gray 97 T5 · Post by **Gray 97 T5** » 26 Oct 2012, 04:59

Ok sounds good ty for the reply. I just want t pep it up but I dont want to start to blow anything on it. What about intercoolers and all that? I want to make sure that I replace all the things at once so that way everything works right and I don't toast the motor. This is my first turbo car so I really wasn't sure what to do safely and it has 177k miles on it but it is in near perfect condition and drives smooth.

Post by **jimmy57** » 26 Oct 2012, 05:23

Your block and crank are great. B5234T is the smaller bore (81mm instead of 83mm) which leaves thicker cylinder liner which is more rigid. The rods are weak though. They become an issue even with wastgate controllers and relatively mild perf upgrades.
There are a few companies that have beefy connecting rods for these motors.

Goldponcho · Post by **Goldponcho** » 26 Oct 2012, 15:20

Welcome aboard! I'm also up in the Seattle-area, across the water in Bremerton. This forum is a great resource for knowledge, and I spend a lot of time over on Volvospeed (seems like there's a lot of 850 owners there, too).

Gray 97 T5 · Post by **Gray 97 T5** » 26 Oct 2012, 20:36

Well today I smelt some oil burning but I believe it is just a gasket for the head? I seen some smoke coming out but its not an often thing. So I thing I just need to take that part off and replace the gasket. Simple fix I believe.

I just wanted to do some upgrades but so many people have different views on what to do because of burning the engine up or losing horsepower if you make the wrong one. So I figured I would find a junk motor and build it in my garge over the winter. Any suggestions?

Post by **jblackburn** » 26 Oct 2012, 21:20

Gray 97 T5 wrote:Well today I smelt some oil burning but I believe it is just a gasket for the head? I seen some smoke coming out but its not an often thing. So I thing I just need to take that part off and replace the gasket. Simple fix I believe.

I just wanted to do some upgrades but so many people have different views on what to do because of burning the engine up or losing horsepower if you make the wrong one. So I figured I would find a junk motor and build it in my garge over the winter. Any suggestions?

These cars leak oil everywhere. I doubt it's a head gasket. You'd know. It'd start overheating like crazy.

Do a proper stage 0 on your existing motor. Look that up here - tons of information.

Look into tunes and stage 1 equipment for your existing motor and see if you're happy with the power output then. If you want to go beyond that, then I'd start looking for one to build and head over to Volvospeed for help with that kinda stuff. This is really more of a "fix it up" site more than anything.

Gray 97 T5 · Post by **Gray 97 T5** » 26 Oct 2012, 21:34

Awesome. Everyone seems to be nice and all on here. Im loving the car so far.