Hi there all, I am looking into buying a 1982 240 2-door turbo from a friend. But I have some initial questions and my level of car knowledge is not too great, so wanted to post to the forum.

I have owned a 1986 240 for years and had to sell it as it had rust issues, so I have had some 240 experience and dealt with fixing brakes, belts, wiring, and fuel line changes with my dad who is very familiar with the 240. I still would say I am not super experienced with cars though, I'm still a college student so I don't have much free time to learn more, although I would like to do so.

The one catch about this 242 is that it isn't really a true 242... it is a 740 turbo engine swap (VIN 1000530). This raises some concerns for me as now the car isn't stock and I am not sure how this complicates taking the car to the mechanics since now it is sort of a frankenstein of a car. Trust me, it drove awesome and had some real power to it, and the body is in beautiful condition. The 740 engine was rebuilt in the mid 2000s and has since had ~ 120,000 miles put on it. The owner did some chip work because the idle was low and got that all figured out and tells me that it drives smoothly and that he hasn't had many issues with it. He just drove it on a 2,000 mile road trip and had nothing come up.

Since I am younger though, I am worried that if a complex problem comes up involving the engine itself, I won't have the ability to work on it and that the issue could be harder to deal with since its an engine swapped car. I am curious, what are your thoughts on this situation, would you be concerned with the longevity of the 240 post-740 swap?

 

1. You are looking at a 42 year old Volvo. I would not realistically expect ANY 42 year old car to be used as a daily driver. (or to not need many $$$ spent to keep it nice - )

2. The 740 used the same basic engine (both with and without a turbo) as the 240. The difference was the Fuel injection system. The 240 Turbo used the CIS system - with an air metering plate and the 740 uses electronic injection. You can easily put (if you have all the correct parts) Volvo electronic injection into a 240 turbo (Volvo used electronic injection in the 240 beginning in 1982 for the non- turbo cars)

3. If purchasing a car that old - consider what (the other guys) insurance will pay you when you get hit and the car is totaled (it won't take much of a hit) and try not to pay more than that.



3.