I've been watching a 1986 Volvo 740 Turbo on my local Craigslist over the last few weeks. Broken timing belt, otherwise looks half decent. Price has dropped from $700 to $550 to $400 currently. Thinking of calling him and showing up with $200 cash and seeing how badly he wants to get rid of it.

So...assuming the motor is ok, I could spend a little, replace the timing belt, and then start playing with the turbo till I break it.

Or...I could look for a cheap 302 and try one of those Volvo swaps. Anyone have any experience with them?

 

FYI. That 740 volvo motor is a b230 engine., Classic 4 cyl motor.

IT IS A NON INTERFERENCE motor. you could break 100 belts and the pistons will never hit the valves.

Now the seller might also know this, and you could get a junker with other problems.. notorious for decaying wiring harnesses, worn out suspensions.
By all means, you could get it for a steal. Put a belt on it right in front of him and drive it away. ( I wouldnt sudgest this ) but it is possible.

That engine as it sits has great potential in turbo form. built b230's easily see over 300 hp. But your still in a volvo brick chassis.

Lots of information on Turbobricks.org

from turbo, to v8 volvo swaps etc.

 

Try this place, TurboBricks | High Performance Volvo Club They have tons of v8 builds.

I wanted a turbo volvo for longest time....SOOOO Bad

I will..one of these days.

 

Awesome, thanks for the links. I was messing around at volvo-forums.com which kinda sucked. Looks like MS is pretty popular for the Volvo crowd as well.

 

Do a interweb search for "Volvette".

http://videos.streetfire.net/video/T...-740_84833.htm





Or watch this badass video..though not the Volvette... it's still pretty sick to think of this car's potential...

 

Crap, this is when I wish I owned my own tow dolly.

 

Called the guy a few minutes ago....the car has been sitting for 8 MONTHS. What the hell has he been doing?

He claims it was running fine before the belt broke, not burning or leaking any oil, only problem he could recall was that the A/C was intermittent (but did blow cold when it worked). Automatic transmission. Told me had just installed a new Pioneer CD player (with remote!) and new speakers before the belt broke.

Wouldn't budge off of $400, even when I told him he could pull the stereo stuff if he wanted. On the other hand, when I told him that if he changed his mind, he was welcome to call me and I'd show up with cash in hand, he said, "Ah, hold on, let me get a pen and write your number down." We'll see.

 

Arrghh....friend of mine just mentioned in an email that he's about to dump his old 1995 unmodded Integra GS-R. When I inquired how much he wanted for it, he said, "Oh, about a thousand I guess."

 

This.

 

No brainer between the two.

 

Yeah, it's not a bad car at all....body is straight, no rust, A/C works ok, paint is a little pinkish but not terrible, tires are 4 months old. He's a good friend, though, so I'm going to make sure he realizes it's worth more than that...even if it costs me the deal.

 

If you've got a recent edition of GRM there was a good article on the 'Teg Rs...

If I could get an unriced one for a grand I'd be ALL over it.

While old projects are intriguing, I miss having a Honda in the garage (although I don't miss being a "Honda" guy).

 

A buddy of mine had a 760 turbo, same car but with some luxury as the 740. With a holset hybrid, MS, and a few really cheap tricks he was making 350 whp, running low 13's. Badass car.

He's now running a built 16v that should push 550 whp, that's as soon as he gets his tranny problems sorted out.

 

He told YOU $1K so take it.

 

My next LSX swap will be a 3 series or a Jeep. There's just too much ugliness in the Volvo wagons to look at them for swap potential.

Frank

 

I know someone whos trying to sell a complete v8 swap. And damn they beat the **** out of those cars!

 

My high school shop teacher drove a gold 740 wagon that he swapped a later fuel-injected Mustang 5.0 into with the T-5, it was sick! He also had a "beater" Jag XJ12.

But for an EASY 3 grand profit, buy your buddies stock Integra GS-R & sell it for 4K on Honda-Tech or Team-Integra.

 

i worked at a volvo dealer for a few years, those wagons would suck even with 1000hp

 

Bastid traded the Integra in on an 07 Accord. Dealer "gave" him $1800 for which is more than I had in spare cash anyway, so not a big deal.

I did rag him about buying a massive slushbox family-mobile though. Not that I wouldn't take it in a second for highway cruising.

 

Bastid traded the Integra in on an 07 Accord. Dealer "gave" him $1800 for which is more than I had in spare cash anyway, so not a big deal.

I did rag him about buying a massive slushbox family-mobile though. Not that I wouldn't take it in a second for highway cruising.