Who, me? Nah, I'm just a Volvo fanatic in Tassie, who knows @ramrod from my days on the mainland.
From your description, it appears to have blown a head gasket. How many kays are on the car?
If done properly, the head will need to be removed, and placed in an oven under clamps to ensure it's straight.
It would be sensible to replace the cam timing belt at the time the head is removed. The balance shaft belt would be best removed and not replaced while that's being done.
Shop around for the best price - the good guys will also tell you about changing the timing belt.
Complete, good, original B234 engines are getting hard to find now. Your alternatives to replacing the HG in the car are -
swapping over to a B230F 4 cyl single OHC engine. Won't go as hard as the B234F, and will likely cost as much as a HG replacement once all the computers, etc, are changedengine swap to V8 LS1 (yawn) or similar. Not cheaper or hassle free as a HG replacement, but may go harder. part out the car. The head alone should fetch $500 (I hope you don't scrap the car and part it though)sell the car
I hope you decide to bite the bullet and repair the car properly. If the wagon is still in basically good shape, and you like it, IMO it's hard to find anything better than a 700 or 900 wagon for the price of a head gasket repair.
I bought a wagon with a blown HG, which was then fixed properly, and it's gone to NSW and back to Launceston many times since, even towing a trailer full of parts.
