What am I in for?

[XCR-700]

Originally Posted by Dave R

You'll need to verify the casting numbers and cross check the specs, but odds are good this is what you need: https://www.alliedmotorparts.com/96-...nder-head.html The GM year and the Volvo year are meaningless, VP used Vortecs for years after GM stopped putting them in vehicles in 2002. If it has casting plugs (freeze plugs) and they are steel, you'll need to replace them with bras unless you have fresh water cooling.

WOW, thats a really good price for a complete head!

I would have expected double or triple that.

[Dave R]

Originally Posted by XCR-700

WOW, thats a really good price for a complete head!

I would have expected double or triple that.

They made a zillion of them and there's very little market anymore for the small block chevy. The GM LS motors are so awesomely powerful, compact, efficient, and cheap, few people are bothering with Vortec motors anymore. Variable valve timing really rocks.

[Juiced06GTO]

I have contemplated pulling the LS2 out of the GTO and dropping her in the boat so we can make vacation, but what would I do with 500+ hp in a deck boat on a lake with a 45mph speed limit

Originally Posted by Dave R

They made a zillion of them and there's very little market anymore for the small block chevy. The GM LS motors are so awesomely powerful, compact, efficient, and cheap, few people are bothering with Vortec motors anymore. Variable valve timing really rocks.

[8gv]

You could get on plane, very quickly.

[Dave R]

Originally Posted by Juiced06GTO

I have contemplated pulling the LS2 out of the GTO and dropping her in the boat so we can make vacation, but what would I do with 500+ hp in a deck boat on a lake with a 45mph speed limit

The Roadkill guys made a video where they towed an engineless boat to Lake Elsinore with a Chevy pickup, transplanted the LS engine from the truck into the boat at the launch ramp, drove the boat around the lake (cannot recall how they launched it without the truck...) put the engine back in the truck, and towed the boat home.

[Juiced06GTO]

I have seen that episode, those guys are great. I got everything apart, ordered the 906 casting head from the link you posted thanks Dave!! Ordered 600 bucks worth of filters, belts, hoses, t stat, gaskets, etc. The maintenance items should be here Friday, head on Monday. I may take Tues off from work to slap it all back together so I have a few days to take care of any issues before vacation.

[Dave R]

Originally Posted by Juiced06GTO

I have seen that episode, those guys are great. I got everything apart, ordered the 906 casting head from the link you posted thanks Dave!! Ordered 600 bucks worth of filters, belts, hoses, t stat, gaskets, etc. The maintenance items should be here Friday, head on Monday. I may take Tues off from work to slap it all back together so I have a few days to take care of any issues before vacation.

I like your can-do attitude and I hope it all goes back together smoothly. If, for some reason, you need a scanner for that engine, I have a Tech Mate that you can borrow.

[Poor Richard]

How do the cylinder walls look? More specifically #7?

[Juiced06GTO]

I didn't take off the other head, so I am hoping that cylinder 7 is fine! All the cylinder walls look great, can still see the factory cross hatch and there is no lip at the top of the bore. The engine only has about 480hrs on it.

I was hoping to catch some sleep after I got done taking this apart, but alas, the world had other plans! My deck fell apart a few weeks ago, so that wasn't safe for the little guys 2nd birthday today! My wife really wanted it done for his party,so it looks I am going to sleep my entire vacation away next week averaging 4hrs of sleep a night over the last week, but I sure got a lot of stuff done! Here's the new deck!

[Hillcountry]

Nice workmanship on that deck railing! My wife and I just re-did our deck and we had all we could do to get the 45’s to kiss!
Of course, we are not carpenters by any means!

[Juiced06GTO]

Quick update for those who are following along. Sloooow progress tonight! All my parts showed up, so only thing holding me back now is not having the time and feeling the effects of lack of sleep!

Everything is all cleaned up and ready to go back together for the most part. One weird thing I found is, I figured since I had everything apart I'd go ahead and replace the thermostat. So i split the tstat housing from the intake manifold and.....its empty There is no tstat in the housing?? The factory red Volvo paint was still completely intact and it doesn't look like anyone has ever been in there from what I can tell unless they sprayed it after so not sure what is going on there. I am going to replace the housing and the thermostat anyhow and we'll see how she runs. Maybe it disintegrated and is lodged somewhere in the block??

Anyhow, I have a buddy coming to help me tomorrow to get the head and intake installed (cast iron is heavy and its awkward climbing into the engine bay holding them!) and hopefully get the motor back together completely. I am hoping to test fire her on Weds using the muffs to make sure there are no issues then he head for Moultonboro on Sat morning.

Thanks to everyone for the words of encouragement and advice along the way! Hope to see you guys out on the lake in a few days!!

[thinkxingu]

Originally Posted by Juiced06GTO

Quick update for those who are following along. Sloooow progress tonight! All my parts showed up, so only thing holding me back now is not having the time and feeling the effects of lack of sleep!

Everything is all cleaned up and ready to go back together for the most part. One weird thing I found is, I figured since I had everything apart I'd go ahead and replace the thermostat. So i split the tstat housing from the intake manifold and.....its empty There is no tstat in the housing?? The factory red Volvo paint was still completely intact and it doesn't look like anyone has ever been in there from what I can tell unless they sprayed it after so not sure what is going on there. I am going to replace the housing and the thermostat anyhow and we'll see how she runs. Maybe it disintegrated and is lodged somewhere in the block??

Anyhow, I have a buddy coming to help me tomorrow to get the head and intake installed (cast iron is heavy and its awkward climbing into the engine bay holding them!) and hopefully get the motor back together completely. I am hoping to test fire her on Weds using the muffs to make sure there are no issues then he head for Moultonboro on Sat morning.

Thanks to everyone for the words of encouragement and advice along the way! Hope to see you guys out on the lake in a few days!!

Good luck, friend—hope to see you in the north!

Sent from my SM-G950U using Winnipesaukee Forum mobile app

[Dave R]

Originally Posted by Juiced06GTO

Quick update for those who are following along. Sloooow progress tonight! All my parts showed up, so only thing holding me back now is not having the time and feeling the effects of lack of sleep!

Everything is all cleaned up and ready to go back together for the most part. One weird thing I found is, I figured since I had everything apart I'd go ahead and replace the thermostat. So i split the tstat housing from the intake manifold and.....its empty There is no tstat in the housing?? The factory red Volvo paint was still completely intact and it doesn't look like anyone has ever been in there from what I can tell unless they sprayed it after so not sure what is going on there. I am going to replace the housing and the thermostat anyhow and we'll see how she runs. Maybe it disintegrated and is lodged somewhere in the block??

Anyhow, I have a buddy coming to help me tomorrow to get the head and intake installed (cast iron is heavy and its awkward climbing into the engine bay holding them!) and hopefully get the motor back together completely. I am hoping to test fire her on Weds using the muffs to make sure there are no issues then he head for Moultonboro on Sat morning.

Thanks to everyone for the words of encouragement and advice along the way! Hope to see you guys out on the lake in a few days!!

I recommend that you make 4 temporary studs out of threaded rod or bolts. 2 the size of the head bolts (7/16-14, I think) and 2 the size of the exhaust manifold bolts (3/8-16, I think). It makes alignment much easier and reduces the risk of gasket damage. I have used stainless steel for the exhaust manifold bolts with no issues in the past. I don't think they require much torque, unlike the head bolts.

The missing thermostat is very odd. That's not good for engine longevity and is usually a band-aid fix for some other problem in the cooling system. There's no way the thermostat disintegrated. There were two designs of the thermostat housing if memory serves, the two piece has the thermostat in between the two pieces, the one piece sits on top of the thermostat. Maybe you have a two piece?

[BroadHopper]

Originally Posted by Top-Water

Good luck on your project. Seems like you have a good handle on it. I remember many many years ago during the days of the old water ski races we lost a cylinder head to cracks. Had another pair rebuilt at an automotive machine shop in Woburn, Mass drove them up the lake and swapped them out on the water. My Dad, after that never complained about my junk car parts in the garage ever again.

Funny you said that! During the waterski racing days, I would scrounge around for used QuickSilver parts for rebuild! Found a gem down in Chelmsford, Middlesex Marine. When I told them about the races, they came up and were formidable contenders. They were the best days on the lake!

You mentioned a machine shop in Woburn. The Gallante boys?

[Juiced06GTO]

So close to getting her going again!! Valve lash is set, cover will go on, hopefully for good tomorrow, restring the harness, plug everything back in along with a few misc hoses, spark plugs, wires, swap out the impeller pump, hook the exhaust manifold and risers back up, charge the battery back up, hook up the muffs and turn her over!

Note to anyone who does this, don't spray paint the head in your finished basement with only a drop cloth down unless you like a Volvo red tinge to the floors, walls, cabinets.......my poor wife.....

Oh, and I found the thermostat.......didn't realize it was up in the housing and not in the intake manifold....rookie mistake there or lack of sleep...

[MAXUM]

Originally Posted by Juiced06GTO

So close to getting her going again!! Valve lash is set, cover will go on, hopefully for good tomorrow, restring the harness, plug everything back in along with a few misc hoses, spark plugs, wires, swap out the impeller pump, hook the exhaust manifold and risers back up, charge the battery back up, hook up the muffs and turn her over!

Note to anyone who does this, don't spray paint the head in your finished basement with only a drop cloth down unless you like a Volvo red tinge to the floors, walls, cabinets.......my poor wife.....

Oh, and I found the thermostat.......didn't realize it was up in the housing and not in the intake manifold....rookie mistake there or lack of sleep...

I hope those spark plugs you painted (installed in the head) were temporary place holders otherwise may want to clean off the tips before you put the wires on or she may run poorly :-)

[Juiced06GTO]

Haha they were two old ones and two spares from the race car. I got all new plugs for her today.

[Juiced06GTO]

Well she starts beautifully! Had one small leak at the riser/manifold joint because I didn't clean it up well enough. Fixed that and she purred to life on the first blip of the key. Idles smooth and no unusual noises. Then the fun starts, if i open the throttle up and bring the rpm's up she starts to develop a pretty good stumble at around 1.8-2k rpms.

I did cap/rotor/wires/plugs new. The only thing left in the ignition original is the coil. I also have a feeling there is some bad gas in there. I am going to yank the fuel filter and have a look tomorrow. It was getting too late to keep futzing with it today. Also, anyone know if marina's usually carry the spark arrestor/air cleaners for these motors? Mine appears to be pretty clogged up with what i assume is fogging oil and every particle of dust known to man...

[Poor Richard]

Have you tried cleaning it with brake cleaner?


I do have a couple spark arrestors from old Mercruiser 454's that had Rochester 4bbl carbs.

If you are in a bad spot as far as sourcing a replacement, feel free to send some dimensions and I'll see if it matches up.

Unless someone (Dave R?) knows if the 5.7 and 7.4 spark arrestors are cross-compatible...?

[Dave R]

Originally Posted by Juiced06GTO

Well she starts beautifully! Had one small leak at the riser/manifold joint because I didn't clean it up well enough. Fixed that and she purred to life on the first blip of the key. Idles smooth and no unusual noises. Then the fun starts, if i open the throttle up and bring the rpm's up she starts to develop a pretty good stumble at around 1.8-2k rpms.

I did cap/rotor/wires/plugs new. The only thing left in the ignition original is the coil. I also have a feeling there is some bad gas in there. I am going to yank the fuel filter and have a look tomorrow. It was getting too late to keep futzing with it today. Also, anyone know if marina's usually carry the spark arrestor/air cleaners for these motors? Mine appears to be pretty clogged up with what i assume is fogging oil and every particle of dust known to man...

I seriously doubt the spark arrestor is causing the stumble, but it's easy enough to test, just remove it for a short test run.

Check your fuel pressure, you may have a clog in the fuel pump that developed over the off-season. VP used some paint in the fuel cooler that flakes off from ethanol in the gas and can clog a screen in the low pressure side of the fuel pump assembly.

[jbolty]

Originally Posted by Juiced06GTO

Well she starts beautifully! Had one small leak at the riser/manifold joint because I didn't clean it up well enough. Fixed that and she purred to life on the first blip of the key. Idles smooth and no unusual noises. Then the fun starts, if i open the throttle up and bring the rpm's up she starts to develop a pretty good stumble at around 1.8-2k rpms.

I did cap/rotor/wires/plugs new. The only thing left in the ignition original is the coil. I also have a feeling there is some bad gas in there. I am going to yank the fuel filter and have a look tomorrow. It was getting too late to keep futzing with it today. Also, anyone know if marina's usually carry the spark arrestor/air cleaners for these motors? Mine appears to be pretty clogged up with what i assume is fogging oil and every particle of dust known to man...

There are few things as satisfying as putting an engine back together and starting it.

I would bet on fuel delivery for the stumble

[8gv]

After all that work done by your sleep deprived self...

DON'T FORGET TO PUT THE DRAIN PLUG IN BEFORE LAUNCHING IT!

[Juiced06GTO]

Originally Posted by 8gv

After all that work done by your sleep deprived self...

DON'T FORGET TO PUT THE DRAIN PLUG IN BEFORE LAUNCHING IT!

Good Call!!! I should tie it around my wrist so I have to look at it the entire time on the way up! I realized when I woke up this morning that I failed to buy the new filters I had intended to, so hopefully one last trip to the marina to get fuel and oil filters to throw on it tonight.