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16 Valve Head 700 1989

posted by someone claiming to be Brad on Fri Dec 8 03:51 CST 2000 [RELATED]

I've been told that the 16 valve head was only offered on the 740 for the '89 & '90 model years in the U.S. Is this correct? I have some reference material in front of me that indicates it was sold '89 - '92 and also on the '92 - '93 940. Yes, no, maybe?

I'm trying to figure out just how rare this head is in the U.S. - I've yet to find one in a junkyard. Does anyone have an idea how many were sold here?

Also, is it true that Porsche and Cosworth provided input on the design of this head?

Thanks,

Brad

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Re: 16 Valve Head 700 1989

posted by someone claiming to be Gene Stevens on Fri Dec 8 10:50 CST 2000 [RELATED]

I'm pretty sure it was used from '89-'92 as an option in the 740 and 940. Plenty of manufacturers plastered "16 valve" on their hot cars so Volvo had to get into the ring. It was supposed to be the hot naturally aspirated engine that gave the power of the venerable B230FT turbo without the lag. It also included a counter-rotating balance shaft to offset the secondary rhythm (hi-rev buzz) that plagues all in-line 4 cylinder engine.

The 16V B234F engine was an inteference design that, besides earning a bad reputation for oil leakage, literally cost almost the car's value to repair if the timing belt failed, since 16 expensive valves were bent every time.

There are probably thousands of these engines in the yards...just none of them with GOOD heads. Without a saleable engine, these carcasses probably get crushed sooner than others.

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Re: 16 Valve Head 700 1989

posted by someone claiming to be iadr on Sat Dec 9 06:08 CST 2000 [RELATED]

Porsche was involved through their consulting arm, they also assisted with the 850 5 cyl and its descendants- the s40 4cyl and the 960 6cyl.

I don't believe Cosworth was- they did the Mercedes 2.3. Volvo did not see fit to use a trick intake manifold that allowed the engine to run on only two valves to a certain rpm like most all other 16v designs- this hurt the bottom end power. Also they specifically needed the design to meet the toughest pollution limits out there- this ended up hurting the high rpm power. Also, in view of the need for a quiet low maintenance design they put in hydraulic lifters, which didn't allow them to use an aggressive cam, and also required unsuccessful oiling system mods. Sooo, it wasn't much better than a 8 valve with stock ports, and not as good as a ported 8 valve. But if ported and fit with replacement buckets it can be a good rally head. There also exist two other castings for race use. One is still available from S.A.M in sweden, and the other is an austrian designed (& made??) head used in early eithies rallying.

Thanks to mike aaro of uniteck (and the turbobricks board) for teaching me most of what I know about this issue.

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Re: 16 Valve Head 700 1989

posted by someone claiming to be Brad on Sat Dec 9 08:10 CST 2000 [RELATED]

Thanks very much for the details. I'll provide a few more of my own, as some of you may find this interesting. The Ford 2.3 motor has the exact same cylinder bore spacing, head bolt spacing, and (for the most part), all of the oil and coolant passages line up. The stock Ford head doesn't flow very well (even with porting), is low-tech iron (heavy and prone to cracking), but the bottom-end is very robust. For turbo-charged applications, nothing was changed other than the 8:1 forged pistons.

Although a turbo-charged 16v aluminum head was created in the Dearborn labs, it never saw production, as it clearly over-powered the 5.0 N/A motor that was getting all the attention (and revenue production). Instead Ford delivered a dual-plug head for the N/A 2.3 with slightly increased compression, and never produced another turbo-charged 4 after 1989.

Obviously you can see where this is going with what has been discovered with the Volvo head. Most of the attention has been paid to making the 16v head work, but with what you have said, the 8v might be an easier route to go (and certainly the heads are more readily available).

I do have a question or two...

1) What was done to the 16v head from an emmisions standpoint that negatively effected the top-end performance?

2) In stock form, what are the rpm limits of the 8v and 16v motor?

Thanks,

Brad

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Re: 16 Valve Head 700 1989

posted by someone claiming to be iadr on Mon Dec 11 16:14 CST 2000 [RELATED]

Volvo guys think a ported 8v is the best value, so that would apply to you, too. But, for a little more money check out the Esslinger head for ford. It's better than either. Rumour is that the EVO swedish racing casting for volvo was copied off the Esslinger. If the Volvo would run in that league, you see them and not Fords running in USAC Midgets, as the Volvo bottom end is better. I'm also not sure that the head is as much a bolt up as you think. The Mercruiser marine 4 cyl is supposed to be 1/2 a 460cu Ford, and though it can be done, the heads don't bolt on easily.

I think any thought that the 2.3 could out perform the 5.0 in street dealer saleable, pump gas, drive it for 125k- form is imagination. (& that to imagine that Ford had these 'dark reasons' for not developing it any further smack of unfounded paranoia...but that's just my opinion)

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Re: 16 Valve Head 700 1989

posted by someone claiming to be Brad on Mon Dec 11 16:38 CST 2000 [RELATED]

We're well aware of the Esslinger head. It's a good product - for $3000, it had damn well better be. One of the people involved has a B230F bolted to a Ford 2.3 block as I write this, so we know that much works.

I'd say politics much more than paranoia was the reason for the stillborn death of the Ford 16V 2.3T.

Brad

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Re: 16 Valve Head 700 1989

posted by someone claiming to be scott martini on Mon Dec 11 12:47 CST 2000 [RELATED]

Hi Brad,

The 16V engine is not as bad as some people like to make it out to be (I should know after owning one for the last four years) the engine provides good power through most of the the rev range, it may be a little weak in low end torque (though no worse than the 8 valve engine IMHO) it provides acceleration between the 8V and the Turbo. As long as it is maintained properly (timing belt replaced when scheduled) it can be as reliable as any Volvo motor, if it is negelected it will be expensive to repair, but the same is true for any motor. As for it being an interference design, it is true that it is, but interference designs are not all that uncommon (and I believe all newer volvo engines are interference designs). It is probably not optimised for performance (after all they had the Turbo for that) though there were rumours that they were going to turbo charge it with 230 + hp) as for its high end performance it pretty good the car is smooth and powerful throughout the rpm range (from about 2000-2500 rpm). Strangly enough the rev limit is the same for the 16v and the 8v engine (I think it may be partly because the same accessories are used (ie the power steering pump, the air conditioner compressor ...) Anyway hope this helps

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Re: 16 Valve Head 700 1989

posted by someone claiming to be Brad on Tue Dec 12 14:59 CST 2000 [RELATED]

Thanks Scott. I figure any weakness in bottom-end torque could easily be "fixed" by some 11:1 pistons.

Brad

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