Hey guys, I'm going to buy an 87-93 Volvo 240 Sedan 5-Speed very soon. I have a few questions. Are there any known issues that these cars tend to have? Also, what are some popular power mods for these cars that people on here do aside from turbo chargers? Thanks! -Jake

 

I believe in that year range all 240s are NASP (non turbos) so for power you are limited to a turbo conversion (IDK enough about this to say anything useful) or you can throw in a K/N air filter and IPD's high flow exhaust for a bit more extra power.

240s come with great turn radius, throw in some IPD sway bars and you will LOVE the improved cornering (and its really easy). I have read that better front shocks/struts and sport springs improve handling, but I haven't done this myself.

 

Great thanks! So they handle pretty well?

 

no issues, no power mods.

 

Turbo it and enjoy the 160hp with a nice suspension and have fun with the curves.

Or

Do a mild engine build with ~300hp and have fun with unsuspecting noobs in higher dollar cars. Read up on Turbobricks.com there is a lot of documentation over there for these mods

Or

Do both suspension and ~300hp and enjoy both worlds.

If you get real serious, since you in San deigo, talk with Josh over at yoshifab.com he is ~30mins from you and is a great guy who knows these cars pretty well.

 

lol! I was at qualcomm once at the 1/8th mile and I saw a dude racing a crazy fast Volvo 242 with the name Yoshi on the rear window! Must be the same guy your talking about haha

 

Yep. That is Josh. His 242 is pretty crazy.

 

good luck getting a turbo aftermarket modified car past California smog testing, doubly so if you're in an 'enhanced smog' urban area.... the only way I'd see of making that fly would be to transplant a complete motor with all electronics, manifolds, airboxes, intercooler, etc from a 740/940 turbo of the same year. when you do it this way, your car is smogged as tho its the 740/940 turbo that donated the engine and subsystems. the engine blocks are basically the same (B230F stock on the 240, B230FT is the turbo), so the engine should just bolt right up, but its all the little things like the airbox that are completely different on a turbo car. Ideally you want the block from a 94/95 940, as these have additional piston skirt coolers and a longer skirt piston designed to reduce piston slap.

The 240 manual transmission ain't that strong, you'd probably be better off with the AW71 auto from said 740/940. The AW71 is physically just about identical to the AW70 thats likely on the 240, its just a heavier duty version.

re: handling, they aren't a sports car, they are a live axle RWD sedan, fairly heavy, relatively tall, with relatively narrow 185/70-14 tires. they handle pretty good for what they are, but nothing like a low to the ground sports car. You can upgrade the suspension (beefier springs, heavier anti-sway bars, stiffer shock absorbers) at the expense of ride comfort, ditto wider tires on after market rims.

re: what someone said about K&N Filters. BAH HUMBUG. That will make your car noisier, its extremely unlikely to add even 1 horsepower (although louder is often perceived as faster, but you can't fool a dyno). it will also allow in a lot more dirt, increasing engine wear. And it will require more maintenance (cleaning, re-oiling at more frequent intervals than the stock pleated paper filter requires changing).

 

I wasn't planning on getting a turbo. Also, I don't like to drive automatics. Stick shifts are the true way to drive a car.

 

well, the couple volvo sticks I've driven had nowhere near the 'fun' factor of the short throw short ratio stick on my last manual car, a Jetta GLI. rather, the sticks were both long throw and fairly long ratio, and I believe on the 240, they are the M46 4 speed gearbox, with a separate electric overdrive for "5th". ah, 87+ used a 5 speed M47, which may not be as strong as the earlier M46, OTOH, overdrive units can have their own problems to deal with. also they had a rather long throw and heavy footed cable activated clutch. an hour of I5 rush-hour traffic would certainly cure me of that.

 

Well that is why I said in the thread title that I'm looking for an 87-93. Those years only had the m47 5-Speed, not the prone m46 4-Speed.

Technically, in the later half of 1986, they started producing the m47 5-Speed transmissions, so I would also consider getting a 1986 if it is one of the newer ones that has it.