I have never really noticed before, but as I was looking at the rear suspension, I have never seen a setup like that. Very basic, almost like a solid axle rwd car. I am curious b/c I am still thinking that it wouldnt be that hard to do a rwd conversion. I don't mean easy, but very doable. I would be willing to bet from looking briefly under a 740 that they have the exact same rear mounting points It looks like the suspension setup is the same b/t the 740 & 850. Maybe they used the same undercarriage for the 850 to save costs. I am going to try and take some measurements to see if the front an rear mounting points are similar. It would be great if a 740 front subframe was similar to the mounting points on the 850. Even the tunnel for the exhaust on the 850 looks like enough for a driveshaft. I dream of a rwd manual 850 wagon. It would be the greatest car on the planet to me. Does anyone know if the 740's had 5 cyl.?

 

I agree. I like the power that our DOHC 2.3L I-5 engine makes. It seems to fly to 6K rpms. I just don't believe that you will be able to find a RWD transmission.

Per All Data, the 2.3L 5-cyl engine wasn't invented until 1993. The 740 Turbo and 760 Turbo came with SOHC 2.3L in-line 4 cyl.

http://www.alldata.com/TSB/926405_en.html
1992 Volvo 740 Repair Information
Please select a 1992 Volvo 740 Engine
L4-2.3L SOHC VIN 88 B230F
L4-2320cc 2.3L DOHC B234F (Can)
L4-2320cc 2.3L SOHC Turbo VIN 87 B230FT

I'll have to take another look, but I think that radiator hoses and thermostat housing might present a problem, too.

 

Good luck when you get into looking at it good everything looks alot different than you think.

None of the rear suspension points look the same as the rear wheel drive. Then only setup that might look close would be the 960 setup.Or what you might want to do is find a AWD 850 or V70 setup and bolt it in and then do the engine from there.

 

Did they make the 850 in AWD? I don't care for the front end of the V70, but maybe the chasiss' are the same. The 850 looks much more agressive with bigger headlights that don't taper as much. AWD would be sweet too, not quite as sweet as RWD to me, but better than crumby *** understeer, tearin boots off the C/V axle FWD!!!! Thanks for the input fellas.

 

Yes they did make a 850 AWD.

Also the early S70 is the same suspension.