960: turbo work and better head gasket? Topic is solved

Post by **CIK7** » 17 Nov 2020, 21:38

Y'all know there's the 9 series and then the 8 series. The upgraded 8 series has a 2.9na and 2.8tt setup. What makes the smaller size ideal for tt? Fuel economy? If I'm not mistaken, it seems 1st gen 6cyl (9series) have more blown head gaskets in the warmer climate. Is there such a thing as a heavy duty head gasket? I'm sitting here dreaming about my 2.9 with a tt and twin 3" exhaust. I've also thought about the heat issues. Anyone here familiar with gaming pc water coolers? Some are custom. I wonder if there's a custom way to increase the low temps under the hood. I've seen the 960/s90 custom tubular EM and custom 6-port throttle body setup videos on YouTube. Sick!

Post by **volvolugnut** » 24 Nov 2020, 14:39

WAG (Wild Ass Guess): The 2.8 has thicker cylinder walls which make it stronger for the higher cylinder pressures of the twin turbo. Racing engines often have special head gaskets for higher cylinder pressure. Nearly anything is possible to get with $$$$. Cool, go fast stuff is not cheap.
volvolugnut

Post by **bmdubya1198** » 24 Nov 2020, 23:28

Volvo only used the 2.8 for a couple years in the S80 T6 too, the later ones had a 2.9. I think the thicker cylinder wall comment is accurate, this is a big problem with the 83mm blocks in general. Look at the S60R... those crack liners all the time. I have an S60R block in my garage right now with a nice little crack in cylinder 4.

Head gasket failures aren't SUPER common, but it happens. It seems mostly in cars that were poorly maintained. Same goes for NA 850s, the turbo ones rarely fail. However, the early white block 6 cylinders ('92-'93ish) have issues with block porosity and will just start leaking coolant right through the aluminum.

I really considered a turbo setup on my S90. It would have been a lot of fun to build and drive! I would love to drop a 2.8 T6 into one and swap to a larger single turbo. Track down an M90 from Europe and that's an incredibly fun car!

Post by **CIK7** » 25 Nov 2020, 05:52

bmdubya1198 wrote: ↑24 Nov 2020, 23:28
I really considered a turbo setup on my S90. It would have been a lot of fun to build and drive! I would love to drop a 2.8 T6 into one and swap to a larger single turbo. Track down an M90 from Europe and that's an incredibly fun car!

I'm dreaming of a turbooooo... Christmas! On YouTube there a guy that modded his 2.9 from na to turbo. The intake manifold was super tubular and so was the exhaust. The would be two manifolds just like with the factory, but my idea is each manifold goes into a 3" pipe instead of the factory 2.25". Blue injectors. Either the 2.9 is based on the 2.4na/T or the 2.4na/T is based on the 2.9. same with 2.3t/2.8tt. Bore and stroke are identical. Because of this, I would imagine that shops providing tunes for the 2.4T should be able to provide a tune for the 2.9.

I just now got a beaming lightbulb. Is there a way to bump up the power on my factory na setup without a tune or fancy exhaust? That turbo stuff is me blowing smoke. I can't afford such extravagant things. Aren't there different air intakes? I don't want a hot box. It would be cool to directly feed the IM from a straight air intake tube that pokes out from the factory grille location, or pokes neatly through the hood. I keep imagining a round air filter that fits securely inside the intake tube right before the MAF sensor.