Hey everybody. I'm very close to buying a 1986 740 turbo. I'm a student and this is pretty much all i can afford that meets my needs. There is no rust on the car. The only thing I'm kinda weirded out by is the engine has been replaced with another b230ft and has around 54k miles on it. The orig price was around 2295 but now its 1395. I would appreciate any help on what to look for during a test drive, or any advice from 740 t owners. Thanks.

 

My thoughts;
1) how many miles on the CAR? theres stuff other than an engine to consider wear and tear on.
2) Is the replacement engine new? If not, is the 54k a total milage or just what it has in this car? It may have had 200,000 before the transplant.
3) whay was the engine replaced? If it was because of lack of maintanence then the rest of the car is likely shot. If because of ultra high mileage, ditto. If because of abuse, ditto. A fluke is highly unlikely.
4) And WHY is the price being dropped so drastically? Maybe other potential buyers (with more experience) have been seeing something you aren't.

Find a local Volvo independent shop and ask them to look at it for you. If they charge you, consider it money well spent. If they don't, (it happens!), grace them with your business in the future.

 

Ask for any service records you can. If you can judge the character of the man then that most likely can tell you a lot about the car. That price drop is also a bit scary.

 

The story of the car is as follows. The car is at a higher end car lot in central florida, i will include a link to the autotrader page. The car used to belong to the man who owns the car lots friend. The friends wife was the primary driver of the car. Apparently she was very spoiled and when something happened to the old engine, they took it to the volvo dealer and had them swap out the engine with a newer b230ft (engine, turbo, tranny). All together the "new" engine has around 54k. Then on the wifes birthday this year, she was gifted a brand new convertible c6 corvette (god knows why) and she ditched the 740 which has sat @ this lot for a few months. The guy @ the lot says he lowered the price just to sell it but wont go any lower because of principle ("new" engine, vehicle is in pretty good shape for 25 yrs old).

Anything with the body, suspension, brakes, etc... doesnt bother me. I will fix anything that comes along. The only thing that matters to me is that I dont buy the car and the engine dies shortly after. I would have no way to school and be completely screwed.

Central florida is in a major slump right now so i'm not surprised the car hasn't sold. People in this area arent the type to appreciate a little gem like this.

here is the autotrader link...Cars for Sale: 1986 Volvo 740 Turbo Sedan in Longwood, FL 32750: Sedan Details - 276385716 - AutoTrader.com

 

I find it amazing how often cars end up on used car lots with such interesting stories. I draw your attention to the fact the fog lights are missing. The wheels are Dracos originally offered on the 88, 89 and 91 740T. I find it difficult to believe that any woman would drive such a car if she was in the market to receive a new Corvette. BTW, if you're a student, you should know that gift is a noun; give is a verb. A car is not gifted...it is given. Just sayin'

 

I do agree, and hello other Dallas owner!



Now i will pirate this thread haha,
I know it's short notice but it happens every Monday night, if you enjoy modified cars you should come out to the Palladium ballroom where Ricekiller.com hosts 600+ car, car meets with free monster and friendly(ish) people! would love to see a few more Volvo's out there.

 

I bought the car yesterday (8-26-11)! Had a blowout of I-4 which was awful, but who cares. Its in my driveway with 4 new tires. Time to start work! Thanks everybody for the input!

 

Sweet! Post pics along the way when you can!!

 

On the advice of TIPSP, I moved my thread. Mine is a B23F. I have changed the external pump. My trouble shooting directs me to the FP relay. I changed that but no go. I am at a loss as to how power is supplied to the #5 fuse. If I provide power to it, I can hear the pump running. There is however no power to either side of it normally. I plan to change the internal pump also, but I want to know what works before proceeding with more major repairs. I have already bought the pump Tbelt and some other parts.

 

Christine was gifted Ha Ha.

 

how accurate is the info on this car, I recntly bought a 96 850 wagon with 93K miles we liked the car and paid for it in full. We had not paid attention to the fact that the odometer was not working. We took it home only to find inspection papers from the previous 4years that indicated the same mileage as today. We took it back and was refuded our money. PS the dealer signed that DMv document that indicated that the mileage was correct.

 

CarFax is your friend...

 

Hey guys, im putting a boost gauge in the 740 and i had a question about where to put it. Any time ive ever put a boost gauge in a car its come with a "T" fitting and you just splice a vac line. This one came with a set of compression fittings and a bushing to install in the intake manifold. I cant find a place to put the bushing. Will I have to drill and tap a hole in the manifold? Thanks in advance for the input.

 

Hmmm...your 740 already has boost gauge, why not just T into that vac line?

 

I should have mentioned that i have the non-graduated boost gauge on the car. The gauge that i bought can't use a t. It came with compression fittings and the vac line wont fit on a t. I also cant find any "Plugs" in the intake manifold that could be removed so that i could put in the bushing.

 

OK, got the boost gauge installed via the factory vac lines and a little bit of fabrication using brass plumbing fitting. The 744 is an automatic and is pushing around 5.5 to 6 psi under full throttle. I don't plan on boosting it anymore until i get my stage 0-2 complete. I also want to swap the auto tranny for a manual. What is a safe boost after stage 2. I only want about 230-250 bhp, I'm not looking to turn it into a monster, just a quick classy ride. Thanks again for everybody's help.

 

Might want to give some more thought to a tranny swap. The AW71 auto you have is a beast...will handle way more torque than an M46 or M47. There's an accumulator lock up mod that actually helps the tranny; the clutch packs engage for a shorter time. The result is barking the tires in all 3 gears under hard acceleration. And...it's much easier to do burn outs with an auto. Assuming your plugs and wires are good and you run 93 octane, your car is good for 12psi right now. Volvo was ultra conservative. Depending on year, you either have a T3 or 13c turbo...both pretty much max out around 15-16 psi. Ditto the stock intercooler. To go any higher with stock i/c means you'll be pumping hot air. I added a methanol injection setup, IPD turbo cam and then larger injectors and 3" exhaust. On the 760, that's as far as I went under the hood. I was dusting stock 5.0 Mustangs routinely.

 

Wow 12 psi?! I had always heard that manuals handle more power better than autos. I do use 93 octane every time i gas up. My next project is gonna be fixing the speedo and the gas gauge. I looked at the write up on turbo bricks about how to fix the 1990+ gauge cluster but I'm not sure if the same problem persists in earlier gauge clusters. I'm afraid I'm going to run out of gas on a date or something because I'm not sure if the fuel light comes on or not.

I have to say that this is the friendliest and most helpful forum I have ever seen and I really appreciate everyone's help.