As much as I like my 850 turbo, I dont have the money for a new engine. And the rod knock is bad and it wont last long.

So today I looked hard threw Clist for another volvo. Mind you, I have less than 1K to spend. I couldnt find another 850 turbo for that.

But I did find a 740 turbo sedan. Cosmetically the car has some sore spots. But the engine more than makes up for it!

Its no stock 740tic. Someone raced this car...at the least I know it has larger fuel injectors, some IPD parts and the boost is higher than stock. I have owned a 740 turbo wagon...and it did not boost like this car does. the blow off on this car is 3 times louder than that of my old 740tic or of the 850 turbo.

The current owners got it from a friend. He has to sell cause the wife doesnt like RWD in the winter. She spun out 1 time and told him to sell it. He said he would get in contact with his buddy and get more info on the mods. But this thing has some real kick to it!

It needs some paint attention...new headlight and tail light covers, rear brake pads installed (he has a set) a new exhaust manifold gasket and a switch wired up for the heater fan. It also has all the other common 740 woes like head liner falling down, cracked dash, ripped leather seats ect.
But it does have a current sticker and I got it for $770. Well, I paid $70 for the car, but the roof racks were not included. So I offerd $50 for them and he said he'd take $70.

I may put the wheels/rims from my 850 on the 740 (assuming they fit)

The 740 needs TLC as far as looks, but I am glad to be back into the RWD volvo's.

 

Nice. Sorry to hear that. There are 2 850's in my area with bad tranny's in them for around $600. Sorry you are so far away.

 

what you gonna do with your bricked brick?

 

There are a handful of 850 Turboes for under 2000. Save up and get another.

 

I did look at 850 parts cars for a replacement motor 1st.
There is actually a '97 850 turbo with only 140k on it for $500. front end is toast but motor and running gear is all good.
Problem is, a motor swap is out of my skill level. I dont have any friends that have the know-how either. And then there is tools.

The volvo guy I talked to today said its a 10 hour job for him to take the motor out and put another in. I cant imagine how long it would take me! I had quotes of $800-$1200 to install a used motor. Its just more money than I can afford to put into this car. I mean, putting $1500+ into a car I paid almost 2k for...and is only work $2500 in good condition doenst make sense. I might have still done it anyway if I had the money, but i dont.

Plus, I have onwed 4 740's in the past and I paid between $450 and $1500 for them and they all gave me a year or more of good running. One got totalled. One I traded. And 2 I sold for more than I paid for them! And this 740 turbo I bought for $800 has way more power than I expected! And I do actually prefer RWD.

Tomorrow Im gonna clear out my car port and put the 850 there and start parting out the best bits. the cap/rotor/wires have 100 miles on them. fuel pump was installed last week.

It was a hard lesson learned. I was way overtired and should have gone home and not tried to work on the car. I am no mechanic, but I know the difference between oil and ATF. How I missed that, or took the car for a spin before checking the ATF level shows I was not thinking straight.

I feel bad that I killed such a nice motor

 

Hey it is what it is... Theres a lot of cheap 850's u can find you just need to look a lil bit more. So sad to hear that, i fell in love with mine, bought it for 1700 and have put so far two new tires,oils, rear shocks and couple of inside stuff and about to service the pcv. Dont give up yet.

 

@ Nitro, I understand your reasoning. Usually you can get the motor out of a car for $100, maybe the mechanic would charge a little less if he didn't have to remove the motors from both cars.

Also, if you already had $2,300 in the car, and put another $1,500 in it, that wouldn't have been such a bad thing since you ALREADY had $2,300 in the car. So, really, you would have been putting $1,500 in a car that you would likely keep for a few years. So, having $3,800 in a car that you would drive for 3 or 4 years would not have been to bad. Believe you me, people do still pay over $3,500 for some 850's. I recently sold one for $5,900.

I'm not trying to say that you made a bad decission or should have done something different, you know you. And I do love RWD bricks, they are great (I miss my 960). The main reason I would have tried to hang on was that the 850 is several years newer and has more easy access to parts (at this time).

Glad to have meet you and hope to see you aroung.

 

ill be on here some more, just in the 740 forum.

This 740 I bought has been tweaked. I cant wait to find out just what has been done to it. Ill I can say for sure is it felt just as powerful as the 850 did (before i killed it)

Its too bad the 850 wasnt RWD...then I would hold onto it till I could find a cheap v8 and install it. It would take me a while to do it, more of a project car. but it would be cool.

Thats my thoughts on the 740 I just bought. Its running good and I will try to keep it that way. But it has 230k on it. Should the motor go, ill look into a small v8 swap. I think im handy enough to do the work myself on that car. Maybe the 850 isnt that much harder to do an engine swap on...just seems that way cause the engine bay is so tight. I cant even see all the main parts!

 

Just a FYI to keep on the back burner. If you could borrow an engine hoist. It really is not that bad to swap the motor. Not really a ton of special tools needed either.
Granted I have been doing this for a while but I have done the swap in one day. From one running engine to another.
Maybe keep this as a second car and fix it slowly.

 

I dunno about junkyards where you're at...but JY motors here run about 250-400, sometimes cheaper if you can find one at the U-pull. I don't think it's worth parting the car out over, especially if you have a place to put it for now.

You can get a cheap engine hoist from harbor freight, and any tools you may need, will be stuff you can use forever.

 

I was quoted $750 for a junkyard motor.
The junkyards around here are a joke. They are smallish yards, that generally dont keep cars more than 10 years old. And their prices are crazy.
Maybe the 850 isnt that hard to do a motor swap on...but I have never done a motor swap. A old civic or even the 740 series looks like a better car to try my 1st motor swap on.

Plus, I gotta part out the 850 so I can afford the 740 (and do some work on it)
I am using this month's mortgage payment to buy the 740. So the sooner I get some money out of the 850 the better.

 

Where are you located?

 

central maine.

It sucks for cars all the way around. The winters put salt on them, the paved roads have ruts, massive pot holes (forget having a lowered car here) and parts car are not as easy to come by, not anything older than 15 years anyway. Not a big car scene. sure, in the summer there are some small car shows...mostly older trucks and muscle cars and the occasional ricer. Portland is almost 2 hours south of me and there is some car action down there. 1 drag strip, the occasional autocross setup in a parking lot (i have never been able to make one of these events) and many nice volvos. Not really any moddified ones, but alot of 240 and 740 models that are well-kept.
I cant stand portland tho, tons of 1-way streets and no good parking. I live in a town with less than 7k people. There are down sides to a small town, but the traffic aint bad and its fairly quiet.

 

This place in Turner, ME has a 98 V70 2.4 turbo motor for $250 This-N-That Auto There are four turbo motors at Auto & Truck Parts in Windham for $550. 1-800-974-6334. Lashin's Auto Salvage in Oxford has a 2.3 for $300. Lashin's Auto Salvage

I only did a quick search and only looked in maine. I know you are eager to recover some money, but just wanted you to be aware of the options.

 

its not really the cost of a motor thats the problem. I mean that '97 I found was a complete car for only $500. and it only had 140k on it! Its the cost of having someone else install the motor.
If I had enough left over from tax returns I would buy that car and pay someone to install the motor, trust me. but I was only able to set aside 2k for a car...all of which was spent already on the 850. The 740 is being paid for partly with a loan and partly with what should be this months house payment. If money wasnt so tight, I would hold onto the 850 till I could have better options. But as things are, I NEED to recover some of the money I spent on it to pay for the 740 and get it looking good. It needs a rear brake light cover. so far the only ones I have found are $100 on ebay. I gotta find one less than that.

Plus I will admit that once the 740 is paid for and registered and has a new sticker I will want to mod it alittle.

I dont suppose 850 headlights can be made to fit on a 740? The one im buying is a '92...with the not-so-appealing rectangle headlights.

 

i say fix the 850 dude its not that bad you can rent the hoist and do it yourself

 

I would like to fix the 850. But if I do it wont be for awhile. As is, Ill be working on the 740 i just bought for a bit.
Then id have to save up alittle for a replacement motor.

If I find a motor...what other bits do I need? I mean, usually one would replace the timing belt on the new motor. Any other gaskets or anything like that I would need to put a replacement motor in?

My wife is a school teacher...which means I do have a fair bit of free time in the summer, and could take my time doing the swap. I would be kinda slow at it, since I have never done an engine swap before.

 

I guess it's not a real good idea to tell a bunch of 850 owners that you have decided to throw in the towel.

BTW, how does your wife being off help you change a motor? Will you have her do it?

 

LOL, Im a stay at home dad...so 90% of the time I have a 2 year old to watch. Kinda hard to work on a car with him running around. When the wife has summers off I get some freedom to attend to projects (mostly around the house) and to do odd jobs for alittle extra cash.

I REALLY would like to repair the car. And last night after reading posts here I was starting to look for a used motor. But truth is I dont have the money for a motor....and the money im using to buy the 740 is mostly for this month's mortgage payment. So I really dont have any choice but to part out the 850.

I have decided that his spring/summer I will pull the motor out and take it apart. At least Ill get a chance to learn something about the insides of a motor and how they work. A motor thats no good could be a good learning tool! I wont have to worry that im gonna break it anyway...lol, I already did that!