This is my first post!

I'm purchasing a '92 240 wagon with 250K miles. Needs a timing belt so I thought I might as well do the cam upgrade from IPD while I'm in there.
Are there any other engine modifications I can do while sticking to a budget and with modest mechanic skills?

Regarding the suspension, is new parts always best or can I get away with pull apart wrecking yard parts for things like better sway bars? obviously I would buy the bushings new.

Where can I get interior parts? I need both new front door panels, beige.
Also where can I get a Tach to replace my clock? In the instrument cluster.

thanks a ton for helping a newbie with all the info!!!!

 

junkyards is the answer for the parts.

I don't think that IPD cam will do much unless you're also doing quite a lot more to the rest of the engine setup like porting the heads, beefing up the fuel injection, etc. all these things get quite expensive. it probably *will* make the car dependent on premium gas (stock 240's burn regular just fine).

btw, timing belt swap doesn't even require taking the valve cover off, so changing the cam will be a lot more work.

interior parts, from a pick and pull. ditto the tach (they were no longer an option by 92, our 87 240GL has one. its kind of pointless with an automatic.

 

Also I would like to let her breath better, so new intake and exhaust. who makes a good intake manifold and who makes a good exhaust manifold?

Also new intake kit and exhaust setup. should I go with custom exhaust from local exhaust shop or buy setup like from IPD?

Thanks guys for the help!!!!!

 

If you get a new CAM also get the cam pully.

Get better plugs and wires

port your intake and exhaust

upgrade your intake

delete your CAT or upgrade the exhaust.

If you do all of this you might as well delete the main fuel pump and change the in-tank pump to something beefier, but the fuel injectors you already have will be perfect, they are plenty good, even if you turbocharge it

 

if you actually want more horses, you turbocharge these things. easiest way is to swap the motor with a turbo 940.

new intake and exhaust will just make the car louder, not faster, unless you also do a ton of internal engine upgrading, such as boring, stroking.

 

well I want to do the intake and exhaust for MPG reasons. I made a previous car of mine hit 50 mpg, it was a commute car of mine. I would like to do the same with this car, see what my best MPG would be. I know the car is big and heavy so maybe 40 MPG is more reasonable

 

hahahhaaha. what was that previous car?

volvo 240's get about 25 MPG typical. on the freeway, driving long distances on cruise control at 60mph, you might sustain 28 MPG with an automatic, and 1-2 MPG more with a stick shift. I doubt *ANYTHING* you can do will improve that. the turbo versions get more like 15-16mpg in town and 18 on the highway.

for the stock motor, the air intake and exhaust paths are quite optimal. the stock exhaust is quite large diameter stainless steel piping, big easy flow stainless mufflers that last virtually forever unless you're in the rust belt. ditto the stock airbox.

 

RATS!!!!!
can't blame a guy for trying!

Yes the other car was a Honda, different bird all together, I know.

Is head porting volvo specific or can any local head shop do the trick for me? What is a reasonable price for mild head work to be done run?

 

there is a person selling turbo sway bars 23/21 for $175, is that a good price? where would I buy the new bushing for the bars? that would fit my '92 240, correct? Do they every wear out?

 

Head porting is a science that requires an artist. Any competent engine builder can set you up with a good machinist and head guy. do you have smog checks In your area? that will limit you on your mods. Don't worry about engine stuff until you add the turbo on it.


Oh, a standard base price for a very mild ported head with all new hardware will be around $1000. Of course that varies.


you will need the chassis bushing for he 23mm front bar. The cups might be the same size. I don't remember... Check IPD? I thought they had a poly bushing kit for stock sway bars.


All bushings wear out, but question is how long till that happens? That, I'm not sure on either.


The ipd front sway bar, and their lowering springs are a nice place to start. grab some upgraded shocks to compliment the package.


$175 is an ok price for stock front and rear bar. See if you can find the ipd front bar instead. you don't need a rear bar upgrade.

 

if you want to go down a path of no return...

dual cam the engine (at that point might as well bore the calendars and cut customer pistons with groves for the valves)
turbo the thing
port the head
you will also need a stronger fuel pump and better injectors at this point for anything over 10lb's or so of boost (depending on how large the calendars go)

upgrade all of the suspension and add braces including solid engine mounts

This engine has huge huge huge tolerances for modifications, but its still a small/heavy engine and a large heavy car


We are proud to own bricks, and bricks they will always be...smoke and fire wont change the fact that its a heap of steal, glorious though it might be

 

Keep it simply to begin with by cleaning the intake system. I would recommend removing the intake and throttle body. Clean, clean and clean. Replace all suspect hoses and if you have the money buy new. Clean the MAF. Plenty of stuff on youtube to get you started.

 

As knowledgeable as these kind gentlemen are, and they've helped me HUGELY in the past and present, I'll throw my 2 cents in, and it's not worth that much.... You might want to head over to turbo bricks or some of the high performance Volvo forums too, they're more into the horsepower addiction thing, which I now have. Mid life crisis I guess...who cares. But Father/Son long term project is what I'm really thinking about/plus a second back up to a 940 daily driver I already have, that isn't slow. He's 5 but he knows more about Volvos and cars that many grown men. We have back seat arguments over turbocharging vs. supercharging...with gas powered leaf blowers... I blame "RoadKill" for putting crap ides into his head on that one.. it's his favorite show. Probably because stuff blows up, a lot.

We have conversations like this "DAD", yeah kiddo? "CAN YOU PUT ON MOTOR HEAD AND DRIVE FAST?" Well, I can step on it on the on ramp, but sure Motorhead it is. "DAD, GO FASTER!" Son! we're in traffic! There's a car ahead of us, I'm not going to drive like a nutcase with the most valuable thing I have in the car with me.
"YOU GOT ROOM...AND IT'S NOT LOUD ENOUGH." It's genetics, I swear.

I just got a '94 940, came here to post about it actually. It's not turbo, and has the IPD cam, no outside pulleys to advance or retard timing, which is something I'd like as it'll redline and go when you floor it and you do notice it, but the power increase just makes it not drive like a pig. With say a Nuke pulley, you can get the horses where you want them in the power band, right now mine likes to redline and shift, like a race car should, but I'd prefer the boost in the lower ranges, from standing acceleration to mid60-80mph.

I got it from a guy who races VW's, and he did excellent work on it, very knowledgeable, it was his wife's car, and it drives like a swiss watch with 250k on the motor. The parts alone...I paid $1,500 for the car, that needed nothing, had the cam, steering/suspension upgrades, talking blue IPD everywhere control arm bushings, lowered, Konis up front Bilsteins in the rear, a BOOMING system, w/kicker and a nutty head unit, and I'm diehard music nutcase with a love for brutal metal/hardcore punk, and old school Gangsta rap... I find excuses to go grocery shopping just to listen to music in it. It's burgundy with Tinted Windows so my giant Viking *** frame goes out Gangsta style. My 5 year old loves it more than I do... Point is, I got someone else's "went out and paid for a bunch of fancy parts" car already built to a high standard, for what the stereo with kicker amp... and? The three sets of wheels with almost all new rubber would cost alone...., stock Volvo alloys, Jeep Cherokee alloys w/snows on adapters, and SoCal lowrider pimp chromes with soft compound summer tires. I'm in heaven. But I'm not going to do much more. I need a dependable daily driver, this is it.

Since my wheels are all 16", and I have a sitting XC in the driveway I may do the big brake swap, and put the 302mm rotors on the front with the FCP spacer kit for propper offset, run my XC alloys, if I want, or any of the others...., It won't be the "R" 4 piston Brembo kit from IPD, but the stock ones of my XC, way cheaper-free, and they were very awesome, but I should get way better brake performance, steel lines, etc. The exhaust is brand new, and 2", and I'm not yet knowledgeable to know about ideal back pressure but the consensus is until you get to the bigger ponies a 3" cat back/no cat is wasted, and the less back pressure isn't always great.

I did the money and numbers, and I think if you're going to build a "sport" monster, and make a Brick Fly, and I get it...oh do I get it... get a block/trans drive train and build it up from the ground up, or go out and buy a stock 760 Turbo Intercooler, with the beefier transmission, or a stock turbo 940, or stock DOHC 16v-those being the hardest to find in my area, and you pay for them...and go from there. Plus you'll have all the working relays, and stuff that just starts going on 30 year old cars regardless of how awesome they were for longevity.

From what I've learned the non turbo 940 with an M45 trans, and the turbo an M47, so if you really increase power, I've been told you need a beefier tranny to handle the extra torque without blowing, I could be wrong here,

Pierce will know better than me... or if you have knees that work, unlike me, get a 5 spd MT...something I'll never be able to really drive again but I'm old and broken with dual torn menisucs, so no clutching for me. Torque is where that "mild" ipd cam really shines in my slightly modded 940 and I love it, it remains dependable.

SO. I am going with a full stock turbo, either a 940 or 760 T.I. 4 cylinder, and then start upgrading on what was meant to be faster. I still miss my old 960... 6 cylinder, but the parts... worse than Regina cars as in finding them. But man...that thing could fly. The 760 T.I I'm looking at, and they had both 4/6 cylinder cars in the 760 series right now is $1k, and 1990 with the B230FT motor 4 cylinder. I don't think I'd want to try and sport up a Volvo 6, just based on parts, plus what those crazy Swedes do with stock red block 4 motors is crazy.

I'm building a small grave yard of wagons. With one that runs really damn well, one that runs, one that's a POS, and all with parts for each other sitting right in my driveway.

Pierce may, and probably will correct me, but the transmission for me was the key factor, the guy I got this from knows racing, he said if I was going to do any modds, add turbos, etc. the first thing he'd do is upgrade to a stronger tranny.

Against all sane reason I bought a FordVo XCV70, which was still faster than my "mild" sport 940, but handled like a drunk sail boat and blew up after a year, the trans went and honestly it's a giant POS compared to the all steel red blocks. I had to see for myself, so I did. Never again. I have a regina 940 sitting that runs fine, but needs tons of peripheral work, and is a Regina... so, I may strip it for a Franken Volvo and put the engine from the 5 cylinder XC in it if possible, in it, but that is mostly a fantasy. I'll scavenge sheet metal probably, parts, maybe use the block someday or sell it and the trans. Also you could drop anything from a small block Chevy 350 to an LS1 in these things, but I want mine all Sweden.
With my Son the 90 760 T.I. seems like a super fun "project car", and I've always wanted a Ferrari red blacked out grille one, so..it can happen.

I might be smarter to get another 94/95 Turbo Wagon Bosch based, and parts to spare. I don't know.. My gut says go for the gold and get the 760 4 cylinder block, and go nuts.