Parts compatibility between raw water cooled and freshwater cooled Volvo MD11D

[BYCKarma]

I have a 1983 freshwater cooled MD11D; as any vintage Volvo owner knows, spare parts are unavailable or cost prohibitive. I have the opportunity to buy a raw water cooled MD11D (same year) at a good price and I’m thinking of buying it just for the spares. Other than obviously the freshwater system parts, how compatible are the parts between the fresh and raw engines?

[jamhass]

best to compare via the parts diagrams. Yeah, can be time consuming, but you can start here:

https://www.marinepartsexpress.com/s...cs/volvo-penta

[barnakiel]

Very compatible.


The challenge is that the parts you may need most tend to be worn most - on any old engine : valves, seats, rings, bearings, etc. And most gaskets cannot be re-used (e.g. head)


Still, if free or very well priced, and if storage is free, a spare identical is always a happy choice.


b.

[BYCKarma]

@barnakiel Fair point about worn out items. In the 5 years I've owned her, I've replaced the fresh water pump and mixing elbow, which together costed more than this RW engine ($1k), but neither of which could be salvaged from this engine. eBay people still seem to be selling aftermarket gaskets, seals, etc at only a slightly ruinous price. I'm struggling with whether it's worth a $1k insurance policy in case some random rod, cover, etc goes bad.