Basically, I come from a VAG background, where parts are plentiful and mods are easy.
I used to have a Mk3 Golf, of which I'll post a picture now:

I had it for about a month, then I grew tired of it. My first car was a Mk2 Golf, which I am parting out
Anyway, I listed it for sale. I wanted something bigger, so I was looking around for cars who were listed for trade.
Anyway, nothing really started growing on me. I wanted a Volvo, but nothing was appetizing.
Until I saw a letter in my mailbox, about a trade.
And so, here I am.



















Anyway. It's a Volvo 940GL with a 2.3 non-turbo engine, which produces a whopping 96kW. All of that massive power is transmitted through a 5-speed manual box to the rear wheels. It's had only one owner in Estonia since 1995, came here from Holland, where it was sold in 1991.
It is totally original, has done only 158k kilometres, even has the original handling book.
It also has a factory LPG system, which needs going over. It has almost no rust! Which is amazing. It has some surface, but nothing major. It has been also painted in some point of its life, but not a good job was done about it. So, maybe I'll repaint it. If I don't decide to sell.
Any if you ask "Why did you trade the mk3 for a brick?!?"
Well. The Brick is in better condition, RWD, manual, it's cheaper to run, it's also rare to find such a car. And the Golf had many small, but expensive faults. And it was rotten on the drivers' side.
So, ideas-suggestions etc welcome!
Especially looking for easy, cheap mods to get more power out of it. Turbo will come in the autumn, until then I'd like some more power.
Anyway, be gentle!

 

there really aren't any cheap easy mods that deliver more horsepower. to get more power, you need more air and more fuel, and that requires significant engine modifications. the more you mod it, the worse the 'drivability' is in normal road conditions.

converting a non-turbo engine to a turbo will require quite a lot of work, too. the B230FT engines have a lower compression ratio (since the turbo boost effectively raises the compression ratio), different valves and cam, and the air path is quite different (air filter box on the other side, intercooler in front of the radiator, etc). you'll also need higher flow fuel pumps, and a turbo ECU. the turbo engines have a relocated oil filter since the turbo is too close to the stock filter, they have additional coolant and oil plumbing to cool and lube the turbo.

the easiest way to get more actual torque and horsepower is to replace the engine entirely with something else, like a V8 from a Ford Mustang etc, but this will require extensive mods too.

also, the Volvo 5 speed (known as an M47) isn't really strong enough for significant power boosts. the manual transmission turbos came with a M46 that was a 4 speed with overdrive, it was quite a bit beefier.

 

This is a great car you got there! I'd love to have it here but they never saw fit to import manual transmissions 940 in the US... But a power monster it's not and never will be unless you sink all kinds of money in it but then what's the point? Adding turbo, well, anything's doable but... You can just buy a turbo 940 for much less.

 

Well, due to the condition of the car, if I tidy it up a bit, I'll be able to sell it for 2000€. But, there are absolutely 0 turbobricks for sale in my country. Especially cars with such low mileage and such. I could buy a 960 with the 2.9 for a grand, it's also a special edition, made for the Lillehammer (?) winter olympics, but it looks like it's tatty and needs more work.
So, that is why I am thinking about making what I have, better.
And well, sinking money into cars is something I'm familiar with. I spent on my first car over 6000€, with no possible way of getting that money back..

 

Well, if money is no object... Still, there is a lot of 940s up to 1998 models in Germany for sale but they are still not cheap. You can go on scout24.de or mobile.de sites and see. I am not familiar with the Swedish market but I am sure there are some interesting 940s still left there, and that's close to you. I personally don't much like the 960, and stay away from them (as does everybody else apparently).
I like those wheels on your car, they were exclusive to the 1985 740Turbo imported here.

 

his license plates say Estonia, thats pretty far from Germany. Sweden is a boat ride. No idea if there's import duties on cars, that could make going international $$$$$, or should I say, €€€€

 

No import duty within EU. Easy.

 

Yes, there's no import duty.
I've actually looked towards Sweden, but not really sure, what should I look at. I've thought about something, that's been modified, but the body is crap. Something, which can bring over, take what I want and scrap the rest.
I've checked Finland also, there's something good over there also, but way more expensive.
But, what should I think about a 2.0 Turbo? There's one complete engine for sale for 200€, but don't know, if it's a good deal or not.
Also, is there a name for those rims?

 

I like these rims on a 740/940 wagon.



they are called Hydra, and were a factory 16" wheel option on late 740 and early 940.

Thats my 2.3L Turbo. its a gas guzzler. I'm getting around 18MPG (13 l/100km) driving about the county here, fair bit of zoom-zoom... and about 22-23MPG (10-11 l/100km) on a long road trip if I'm cruising mellow. At 200 ft-lbs (270 N*m), its fast enough, but its not going to win any races. with its relatively small gas tank, I have to fill up every 240 miles (380 km), which is annoying.

 

Wow, that looks like a clean car.
And I'm pretty sure I have to fill up soon also, since I just got the car and have quite a heavy foot at the moment. Already 330km on the odometer, so probably have to fill up soon. Hopefully after I get the LPG system up and running, I wouldn't be troubled about filling the tank, since LPG is 0,63€/kg, compared to 1,263€/litre. Although the gas tank is the same size, but already on a tank I'll save over a half.
But, what indicators are those? US-spec?

 

yeah, thats a US spec 1992 740 turbo. has charcoal grey leather, sunroof, AW71 automatic transmission. I picked that up a few years ago for $1200... got the wheels for $200 off someone, replaced the seats. when I bought it, it had a bad head gasket, known. 9 months later, it let go, tow to shop, get it replaced, good as new. I got it from a hippie girl in Carmel, and it was her mother's originally. it had 180k miles (290k km) and now has 220k miles (350k km)

I added Hella MicroDE foglights...


here's the US wagon rear lights...

 

Man, I'd love some full leather, especially in black..
Wonder how much would shipping cost from the US..
But, today I found out what's wrong with the LPG system. Hopefully I'll be able to get the part for cheap.
Also, got a new rear light, which isn't damaged like mine.
And, got some LED-s for the number plate lights and xenon-effect bulbs for the hi-beams. There are already some xenon-effect bulbs in my low-beams, but they don't light up much. I might install some xenons in the lights and set them up properly, so I won't blind oncoming traffic, but we'll see.

 

blue tinted halogen bulbs are a waste. I'm using Sylvania XV ("xtravision") which are a xenon doped conventional halogen with no tinting.

putting HID xenon lamps in a conventional reflector assembly is a bad idea, the light distribution is all wrong, you WILL blind oncoming traffic, there's no way to correctly adjust it to prevent this. HID's need to be in proper projector lamps designed for HID. This guy did it right -> https://volvoforums.com/forum/volvo-...9-740-a-70454/

 

Totally different ball game in EU lightwise... Both legally and as far as what's available.

Full leather is available but the cost to ship them, forgetaboutit! But you can find good seats in Europe--actually better as the weather is cooler and people take better care of their cars--leather last longer...

 

Well, I was hoping for some loopholes in my country's legal system, but no, found nothing.
And I'm pretty sure these Volvos didn't have xenons from the factory.
Anyway, fitted the rear light and finished my trunk repair.
One of the "plugs" from the bottom of the spare wheel well was missing, and another one was cracked open.
So, went to m Mk2, got two different size rubber plugs, fitted them with silicone, just in case, and voila, no more soggy trunk.
Also removed the rust from there, so it would look good.
But, an interesting question.
My stereo doesn't work properly. When I adjust the balance to the left, it works fine. When it's on the centre, it sometimes acts up and doesn't play properly. And when balanced to the right, only one speaker works.
So, my question is: where do the speaker wires usually break, causing a short? And what size are the biggest speakers which I can fit, and still keep the original speaker cover.

 

I got JL Audio brand 6.5" component speakers into my front doors with only minor modifications, first I installed the tweakers in the factory dashboard speakers (removed speaker plant, gently removed grill from speaker assembly, scraped away remnants of dead tweeter and old magnet, used RTV silicone to glue new tweeter down, reinstalled grill, replaced speaker on dash, and the woofers in the door like so...



basically, just needed new mounting holes, and I had to grind off a 'flat' on the top flange of the speaker so the grill would go back over it. I used a liberal amount of RTV (silicone) to seal the speaker to the door panel, also to glue down all the hardware on the door to minimize rattle/buzz at louder volumes. I had to dremel-grind away some metal from the door sot he magnet would fit (and remove a bulky rubber cover from the magnet, replacing it with a layer of gaffers tape to eliminate metal-on-metal rattles), and gently dremel-grind the inside of the grill on top where it went against that sliced flange so it would go back on.



these 2-way component speakers use a fairly bulky external crossover network, I secured both of them to the bracket that would have supported the clutch pedal had I a 3-pedal manual transmission. Even tho this car only came with dash speakers, wires were in place for door speakers, so I used those, both door and dash speakers are wired to crossover, and crossover is wired to my aftermarket Alpine deck.

I put 5.25" 2-way coaxial speakers (also JL Audio) in the rear doors, this was /much/ easier using mounting flanges from ... PVC Speaker Adapters - CNC Machined - In Stock or Custom Made

I also used a fair amount of RTV to seal/secure these, as well as screws of course.

 

Speaker wires break at the door hinges or at the speakers themselves or the speakers may be blown or the radio itself may be faulty... Will you be keeping this radio?

Speaker upgrade without butchering the doors is difficult--the size there is pretty optimal; I have seen some ugly, ugly work done by stereo enthusiasts trying to fit bigger speakers... I'd just get better quality speaker and a more modern radio if you are after a better sound.

 

Well, I'd like to install a newer or a better original stereo, but for now I'll keep it. Because, I really like the originality of the car, and I'd like to do subtle mods, which will keep it looking like a bone-stock, old man's car, but really isn't.
But, I quite like Pierce's way of dealing it. I'll be on the lookout for some speakers in that size. Also, nice to know about the silicone, since there are quite a few creaks and such coming from the door panels, which I would like to deal with.
So, hopefully I'll find some great deals.

 

I also replaced any broken pins and clips which hold the panels on. that speaker grill is part of the door panel mounts via those red pins. so is the courtesy light cover in the door jam. when I had the door apart, I cleaned out the bottom of the insides of all 4 doors, its amazing how much crud gathers down there, and I made sure the drain holes were clear. on this car, the rubber window sill wiper blades were all in good shape, or I would have replaced those, too.

 

Anyway, some time has passed.
Tomorrow I'm graduating, so don't have any time to deal with the car tomorrow.
But, today I changed the timing belt, alternator belt, power steering belt, water pump, spark plugs, ignition wires and the coolant fluid.
All of it took me from 2pm to 10pm, due to many different setbacks.
But, now I have no coolant leaks and the car works a treat.
Also, as you can see, on the engine compartment pictures, the air pipe is taped up.
But, due to that I had a wonk in the engine work, it didn't rev up properly.
But, today I changed the air pipe and the air filter compartment with the filter, and no more empty spot, it runs a treat.
I'll probably have someone else do the oil change and also the fuel filter, since I probably won't have the time to do it. I'd like to do a full service before the 24th, sine I'll be doing a 900km trip then. So, a car in good working order is a must.