[v8volvo]

Head is off of my project TDI and unfortunately it's not good news.

#2 and #3 cylinders are scored and have aluminum deposits from the pistons, and #2 piston has visible missing material on the crown. Looks like #3 cylinder might have still been making just enough compression to fire, since it was dry. #2 is the only one that is washed with fuel and obviously was not running. But the pistons and bores in both cylinders are toast. Surprisingly #1 and #4 cylinders look OK. Maybe the outer cylinders naturally run a little cooler. Or I wonder if the piston oil squirters for 2 and 3 could have gotten slightly clogged or leaked pressure, and weren't able to pull out heat as well as the others.

Fortunately the way the engine is positioned in this chassis the oil pan can be removed easily, as there's no crossmember below it. I think I will drop the pan next and pop the pistons out of all 4. This engine obviously should be fully rebuilt and bored, but I have a few used pistons around, and my current thinking is I might clean up the two damaged bores as best I can and put it back together with used parts to get it running well enough to roll along for a little while. That will at least give me a chance to get it on the road and check out the rest of it, to see if it's worth the work and expense.