Hi,

Current owner of a pretty beat-up 1996 850 wagon here. I'm trying to decide whether I should look for a new car, or put a bunch of money into fixing my current car. One of the things I'd be looking for in a new car is a manual transmission, since I just hate driving automatic. But I'm wondering, if I do decide to repair my current car, whether it'd be possible to swap out to transmission for a manual. Did Volvo make 850s with manual transmissions? If so, are there parts around to do the swap? And does anyone have any idea how much it might cost? A ballpark figure from someone in the know would really help. I just moved to a new city and haven't built up a relationship with a mechanic here, so I figured I'd see what all the fine people on this forum have to say.

Thanks!

Harry Rosenberg

 

850s with a manual are out there - but most of them are naturally asprirated. Check out Craigs List, Autotrader classics etc. You can find posts where people did transmission swaps but that was usually to make a manual 850T. If your wagon is a turbo then there's some logic to a manual swap, but if not, there's no point when you can buy an 850 NA with a manual. Personally if I were going to the effort of doing a swap, I'd start with a nice 850 turbo as a base car then find a beater manual as a parts donor.

 

Thanks for the repy. No, I don't have a turbo (wish I did). I had a look on craigslist and didn't find any manual 850s. My thinking was that it'd be cheaper to do the swap in a car I already have than to buy a new car. But I might be wrong.

I do see a 740 turbo for sale in my area. Reasonable milage. I love 740s too - used to own one - and if I buy a new car, I'd be happy with a 740 instead of an 850. Can you swap a manual transmission into a 740, too?

Harry

 

Sure, you can also search for 740 donor car with a manual as well. Reason for using the donor is all the small bits - pedals, linkages, shifter etc. About the only trick you need to research is how to bypass the shifter's position sensor (not needed for the manual) that tells that the car is in gear. A cooler project for the 740 would be to drop in a GM or Ford V8. Check out jagsthatrun.com for kits and post pictures when you are done :-)

 

It is and has been pretty common to swap to a 5 speed, for people who like them, since the T5's were all automatics in the USA. The 850's manual transmissions will handle T5 power. You will need to find a 5 speed non-turbo donor. 850 donors are on the downhill side of history now, but I think $1000 for the whole car would be plenty. If you don't do it yourself, I don't know, maybe guess 20 hours x mechanic wages. if you are driving a non-turbo now, you might just decide to drive the donor car.

Incidentally, the manual and automatic axles will interchange, which I think is amazing.

 

Oh, my. Extremely wrong. how very very wrong. About 5 years ago, I bought 7 850's one at a time from different people for $450 each. I got 4 of them running with simple repairs, gave 3 away, engine swapped one, kept 2, crushed 2. Entire 25 year old cars are cheaper than a quality weed whacker.