I have had 100% opposite experience/results with the 92 and newer 7-9 series cars. They all run cool and rarely even turn on the e-fan. Volvo knew what they were doing when the designed the later cooling systems. I have had exactly one 940 get hot. This was last summer and after 20+ years, the radiator decided it was done. It was my 92 940 Turbo sedan and it didn't even start to climb in temperature until the radiator was less than half full sitting in Eugene stop and go traffic at peak traffic. It turned out the radiator had sprung a pin hole leak in one of the tubes that was finally big enough to let a fine stream of coolant escape through it. All my e-fan Volvos stay cool with the AC on in 100 degree weather. I don't think twice about turning on the AC. The temperature gage never moves off the 9 o'clock position.
Compensated temp gauge that reads middle from ~170-220F on those, tho?
I wanna say the fan comes on ~208F and shuts off ~just before 200F on those?
Rather warm for an old iron/aluminum turbo engine, but emissions and noise concerns are what they are?
They work / it’s not like they’ll ‘explode,’ and the ‘92+ B230FT Cars do get the tallest & largest surface area radiator of any of the RWD Volvos.
They did what they could / it's a reasonable engineering compromise, all things considered?
It’s more of an ‘over time’ engine longevity thing?
I don’t fear turning the a/c on per se, either, it’s not that?
Just, ‘92+ B230FTs often show signs of running hotter on those on teardown compared to their clutch fan predecessors (even if both are well maintained)?
Run the fan a little more or find a way to backdate to mech fan for the long haul or heavier loads in the hot, idk?
Or not?
To each their own?
I just fixed a ton of overheated B230FTs beat around in city traffic and if I was keeping one longer term I'd do the brickboard low coolant warning lamp wire-up on '92+ redblock models, run a cooler temp switch in a SAAB T in the lower hose & use the larger late n/a 940 water pump pulley as well as the late '94+ accessory bracket for the A/C pump & alt that's more robust, holds the accessories more securely and less prone to crack / break over time?
Maybe that's overly paranoid and just experience based with some real beat cars that lived a hard life in the city?
I'm probably not qualified to make that determination nor a dealer?
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Anyway, pics FWIW?
B280 7/9 fan shroud w/ larger clutched plastic blade fan compared to 4cyl:
Distance to passenger side of radiator end tank:
Distance to driver side radiator end tank:
Distance to bottom:
Distance from top:
4cyl redblock '81+ Plastic fan blade overlaid on B280F fan blade:
B280F fan blade 16.5"⌀ (nominally w/crude carpentry tools).
4cyl Redblock '81+ Fan Blade ~15.5"⌀
Metal aftermarket 7/9 n/a ‘92+ 3 row radiator in top of pic. 260 radiator bottom:
Aftermarket 3-row '92+ radiator water inlet usual 1.25" 4cyl redblock size:
260 Metal radiator top hose water 1.5" ⌀ water inlet:
Lower mounting tab for '92+ N/A 7/9 aftermarket rad to remove or trim for use in a 2xx application:
Lacking a diesel radiator picture for both 200 & 700 and the fan shroud for late ‘81- 260 that uses the larger plastic clutch fan (pictured) to compare w/ the 7/9 B280 fan shroud (pictured).
I want to say the V6 sits ~ 1” lower in relation to the radiator in 2xx, unsure with the wider radiator if the fan is offset more toward the driver side on 200 vs. 7/9 on the wider V6/D24 radiator models like it is on the 4cyl clutch fan models?
Fan center line comparable distance from crank center line in SBF & PRV-6. Many SBF fans are ~PRV6 size ( trim the shroud fan blade opening larger if need be, looks doable given the shape?).
Used to be possible to order / walk every Volvo shop’s side yard with many dead / languishing diesels & earlier odd fire PRV6s 20 years ago and junkyards w/exploders, town cars, crown vics & fox bodies + order that aftermarket '92+ metal rad (maybe still can?), install the larger hose inlets for V6/V8 use & find basically everything needed for a nice 'all junkyard recombine' V8 Volvo driver w/ all the cooling parts necessary for an appropriately sized clutched mechanical fan? Maybe not so much now?
Saved these parts more to recombine to use larger hoses & a larger fan in a D24TIC or OM606 all mechanical heavier towing application?
But also watched SBF guys creatively & cleanly recombine them as well for similar reasons some time ago?
The replacement aftermarket 4cyl metal 92+ E-fan 3-row radiators used to he decent quality and fairly readily available worked well with larger V6 sized inlets soldered on, but difficult to find a battery & radiator shop and someone w/ those plumbing/HVAC skills to just do that up real quick / maybe there’s something off the shelf that makes more sense these days?
Liked being able to retain all the stock expansion tanks & radiator mounts in the Volvo w/o cutting anything / minimal fab and mostly order or repair the radiator thereafter / no sudden death of a plastic tank radiator (not a huge deal, but all metal is nice in that way?)?
Go to the junkyard with the spot weld driller and grab the mounting for the (still available?) '92+ coolant reservoir w/ the float switch that's a little closer in size to the larger 240 /260 expansion tank/ reservoir iDK? Low coolant warning lamp is a nice feature / coolant isn't supposed to be consumable, after all?
That bracket for the 92+ expansion tank used to also be available new as well as the expansion tank, but unsure now?
Clear as mud for an all-junkyard / used parts recombine from back in the day when this stuff was more available, eh?
Not necessarily making a recommendation, have only recombined these parts for my own other uses / OE engines in 200 chassis & casually observed SBF V8 guys do similar things recombining some combo of these / similar parts / passed on used Volvo & Ford parts I had pursuant to (what I believe were?) their goals, but never installed an SBF or done *any* engine conversion on one of these cars myself, so take all this w/ appropriate huge grain of salt? HTH?
