Greetings:
How many hours will a shop charge to do a head gasket repair on a 1987 245 with b230f and m-47? I'm planning to replace water pump, fan clutch, timing belt w/tensioner, head bolts, radiator and hoses, t/stat. I think almost all of this is taken off anyway, except perhaps the radiator. Local shop charges $70 per hour, not Volvo specialists but honest. I provide the parts. They say most folks don't want a head/valve job unless absolutely necessary, but I assume the $300? machine shop charge is quite necessary. BTW any good sources for head swaps complete? Thanks. bmwjohn in Indianapolis

Back in the day when there were no white engines to work on and all we had to concern ourselves with was red engines we broke it down like this:

8 hours, B230F
10 hours, B230FT
12 hours, B234F (16 valve)

To do that job right you are going to spend a day or the better part of one tearing it apart, cleaning and checking everything, and putting it all back together. If it needs to go to the machine shop then you have the added hassle of pushing it back out of your stall so you could work on something else while the head is out being gone through for 3 days to a week.
Although the parts you listed out do not change themselves I would charge you no extra except for the water pump and radiator. The fan clutch and hoses are no big deal and changing the thermostat is part of the head job. Providing your own parts is a nice way to save yourself some money but is a nice way to piss away any warranty you could expect too. You cannot expect a shop to warranty parts that they did not provide and in the case of a head job that is alot to sign off on. In my opinion you already have too many cooks in the kitchen when you combine the repair facility with the machine shop and now you throw the customer and his parts into the mix, it gets complicated fast. It is for this reason that alot of the shops in my neighborhood will not install customer parts. I would do it if a customer insisted but I would have them sign off on it with a big disclaimer that stated the only guarantee that they had was that their parts were installed correctly at the time and that if they failed 10 seconds or 10 years down the road that the customer assumed all liability. Ontop of the list of parts you have there you will need an oil filter, coolant, heater hoses, spark plugs, and you might as well change out the drive belts and air filter while you are in there. Lastly I would find out if the machine shop that you send the head out to has any Volvo experience. If they do not and they surface that head just like any other head it will probably come out with the surface too rough and it will then leak again. I have seen that one a number of times as well.

Good Luck,
Mark

you can buy an oem rebuilt head online for around $250 or cheaper. If you are handy you could do the job yourself. Then you would be able to inspect the cylinders for wear. With a proper new head job you should get at least another 200K out of her before a major repair. Buy a complete head gasket and bolt set to replace all seals. Was the engine wiring harness replaced? Inspect the wires for crumbling insulation. You should consider getting a harness from an '88. They're the same except the '88 has the new insulation to cure the problem. How about the motor mounts? Oil on them or just plain worn? Hoses and belts of couse but don't forget vaccuum lines and cleaning the throttle body and IAC.

any idea where? I have seen a $595 price for complete head plus $400 core. a nicely rebuilt head for $300 would sound better. a previous post asked about a used camshaft at same time. I have seen ads for used type a and type k cams. Wonder which would be better for mostly in town w/5 speed. modest improvement desired, not supercar. supposedly lh2.2 inj as on 87 will autoadjust for better performance, and these are euro style factory cams, not hot rod store units. about $70 delivered on e-bay from canada. 114 hp sure isn't much in a wagon, so a modest increase might be noticeable. I'll probably keep this car 5 years or so.

bmwjohn in indy

Perhaps 5 hours for a total of $1100 parts and labor, at least thats what I was quoted so I ended up pulling the head and taking it to a automotive machine shop and doing the rest myself. Not very hard - but when you break the manifold bolts it gets a little frustrating. If I ever do it again, I'll have the machine shop also replace the exhaust manifold studs so I don't have to do it in the engine bay when one breaks.