Part of the pleasure of driving these amazing cars is being able to say that your high mileage engine is origional. I'm at 321K and the engine runs more smoothly that it ever has thanks in part to the brickboard. The rest of the car will fall apart before the engine does. I wouldn't touch it.
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Simon 1980 240 320k 19 years. 'White Lightning' 1986 240 (recently adopted)

Ok two things here. First if it ain't broke don't fix it. Remember that saying came from somewhere. I own 6, 240's at the present or rather I have 6 of them in my immediate family. All serviced by yours truly, at least till I get another year or two older, it gets harder at my age. Only one of these cars have less than 200, 000 miles on them, the rest have in excess of 250K and one has over 1/2 million miles. The one I drive has over 250K, I reworked the head myself,(due to broken timing belt and a large interference cam) complete cam upgrade, ported runners and intake, knife edged throttle valve and so on. The bottom end was perfect. So in my judgement there is no way I would rebuild without a major problem. Ok number two: If I am not mistaken does Volvo not have different measurements for each cylinder and bearings? Sort of a blueprinted type engine. So in order to rebuild the bottom end you would have to measure first and then replace parts to match. Course I could be wrong as age has impared my thoughts....Max :<)
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Max..1989 244 DL 5 Spd., V15 Phase II Cam Bilstein HD, Turbo Swaybars, Poly Bushings all round, Turbo Wheels, Black leather interior, Electric mirrors, LED dash and gauge lights and now NEW ECODES with the turn signals, 1992 black 244 next project

Why on earth would you think you'll ever need to use those lower end parts?

Hey, at 300,000 miles, you may need a head tweaking, but the lower end will still "mic" within specs, as long as you've maintained the car (oil changes) the right way. Red blocks don't die -- their bodies around them (at least on 240s) just rust away.

I've been buying 240s at 150K miles and keeping them to ~300K miles, and every time even up to the end the engines are fine (even pass state emissions testing) but the bodies rust away (I'm in the N.E.) too soon.

re: "...Am I crazy to do it and not get a used low milage engine?..."

Again, why do you think you need (either the rebuild) or have to get a low mileage engine? Are you having engine trouble?

So you ask, am I crazy? Maybe, but I think you're not, and I think I know the real reason that's driving this idea.

Hey, I'm only guessing, but I think you're very much like me (that phrase, "I'm a preventive type of Volvo owner", is the giveaway)! Not only do I cringe when anyone but me has to do something on the car, but also I love to tinker -- can't stand having a car that's "stock". I've got to change it, improve it, etc., so that it's an expression of myself!
So I'll bet what's really happening is that you've just got an itch to dive in and tear it apart, just to put it back together your way.

Any possibility that I'm close to the truth?

In any case, listen to all the others -- don't fix what ain't broke!

Best regards,

If the engine has no problems inside the block now, I'd put the parts away, and see if you need them at 297k mi....then at 397k.

Really, a decently maintained red block will turn those kinds of mileages routinely, with no need for a rebuild. Your friend is right.
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Bob (son's 81-244GL B21F/M46, dtr's 83-244DL B23F/M46, my 94-944 B230FD and 89 745 (LT-1 V8); hobbycar 77 MGB, and a few old motorcycles)