Poik

So tonight at 9:15pm I finally got to buy and pick up the 1988 Volvo 740 Turbo sedan I have been looking at. The owner of the car told me that the car did not run, and he has no clue what was wrong with it. I quickly picked up the impression that this guy didn't know much about cars and didn't really want to know about them. He told me the car has been sitting for at least 6 months. We popped the hood and I noticed that that intake bellows that connects the intercooler to the throttle body was disconnect. Uhh.. This *might* have been the problem. He was asking $500, we agreed on $300.

Anyways.. Today I finally got to see if I could get it running and drive it to my house. Went there with my dad who was ready to tow it, and kept telling me that it was pointless and a stupid idea and not worth it to bring the jumper cables. We got there, popped the hood, hooked up the battery to charge. Slipped the throttle body intake bellows thing back on. Got in the car, turned the key and it started right up. Let it idle for a few minutes then started driving home.

Driving home I am telling my friend riding passenger how this is by far the best $300 I have ever spent. Once it was a little warmed up, I gunned it in 2nd gear and let the turbo spool.. Anyways, that wasn't good because the intake bellows popped off again and the car died a little ways down the road. BUT, not before I hit a opossom, or however you spell it, and that was hilarious. Thump thump. Battery was dead and had to jump it again, but then got it home by staying out of boost.

At home I tightened the clamp on that thing then compression started it and went around the block for a ride. This thing hauls *** compared to my other Volvo!! I just kept finding more and more features.. By far the best $300 I have ever spent:

1988 Volvo 740 Turbo sedan, 210k miles.
Perfect interior!
Power sunroof, locks, mirrors, windows.
ABS, SRS airbag..
Tinted windows.

Frick I'm just so excited right now haha. Needs to be washed and waxed BADLY and needs a new hood and some body work.. But **** what a deal!

Crisisman

iTrader: (1)

Congrats on a great find! I'm sure a little TLC will make her sing for you.

Todd2001SS

That is awesome.

Mikey 97Z M6

iTrader: (37)

Sounds like an awesome deal and a great find. Don't really know much about the turbo Volvo's though. Now turbo DSM's I know a bit about.

Mike

Steve Goodwin

Nice find, Post some pictures.

Poik

I'll post some before and after pictures when I get some time off work to wash it. Right now it is incredibly dirty and has algea growing on it or something.. But I think I can make the paint look pretty decent from about 5 feet away.

Poik

Ok, consider these the "before" pictures. Between working and driving places this weekend I had no time to wash it.

Needs 2 headlights, blinker, some brackets and some banging around.

Here you can see the algea growing all over it, and the 2 tail lights that should be replaced. I have since taken a rag to that part of the car and the algea wipes right off and the paint looks good!

Engine shot.

Side view, completely dirty..

Back seat, basically perfect.

Front seat, really good as well.


And some more info about it: It has electric heated mirrors, but the driver's side needs to be replaced. Heated seats. Front mounted oil cooler. Dual piston front and rear calipers, fronts are like LS1 style and rear are dual piston opposing. Turbo is a Mitsubishi TD05-12B, not quite sure the specs, but somewhere around .42/.48.

Todd2001SS

Man that looks like an awesome car!

GEARHED

iTrader: (5)

You are the only student I know that would make any parent proud *and* quake in their shoes at the same time

WTG - nice steal!

Poik

Here is an update on my little project if anyone cares. I fixed the "5th gear doesn't work" by taking the shift **** off and connecting the loose wires back to the button. Don't you love it when it is the first place you look? The car does have a problem with starting sometimes, and I think it is either the starter or some part of the factory alarm system. It won't start unless it has 13+ volts reading.. Anyways, I bent the passenger side support thing as much as I could back to how it is supposed to be and installed a headlight assembly I got from the junkyard for $6.50. Still need to put some spacers in and then align the lamps.

A coolant hose from the head to the heater core exploded while I was driving and leaked all the coolant out. $1.50 at the junkyard compared to $20 at Shucks, and some bloody hands later, it's fixed.

Took off the stock CBV and made a blockoff plate for it, and installed a BOV that my friend had laying around. Ha! Driving down the street and shifting, hearing "pssshhh!" come from a Volvo.. Priceless/stupid/awesome.

Washed it.. So here are some pictures, compare these to the ones above!

DrEvyl

iTrader: (5)

That's a pretty clean car for $300.

Rottluver

iTrader: (3)

Those "clean" pics remind me of my first IROC-Z.......it was an '87 and it was red as well..........several shades of red in various places on the car as a matter of fact. Gotta love that 80's quality GM paint.

Oh yeah, good job scoring that ride too. I am truly impressed. I thought I was the only guy who liked muscle cars and funky (not mainstream) luxury/sport type cars as well.........who knew.

SeaHawk

iTrader: (1)

That penny is starting to shine right up!

Grats on a finding a good deal!

Don't see anything wrong with the hood from the pics?

Now if we can get some volunteers, a buffer, mezerna IP and a few hours -- the paint looks like it's still in good enough condition to GLOW given some elbow grease

Steve Goodwin

That things looks good.

Paint looks strong spend a full day with the buffers you would be amazed how good we could make that thing look.

Wonder if Tami would allow us to do a buffing demo at her show on Sunday. Load up the supplies, extension cords an easy up shade and buff her out during the show.

Poik

Yeah I'd really like to get this paint back to how it is supposed to be. The hood has big craters and dents on the passenger side because of where the car was hit. Doesn't align properly with the hood springs. There are only minimal chips and stuff, and the only real oxidized part is the roof. Steve, can I like rent you for a day to work your magic? lol, maybe in exchange for powdercoating or something?

Mikey 97Z M6

iTrader: (37)

Mitsubishi turbo eh...same brand they put on the early Talons/Eclipses. A 14B turbo would be a huge upgrade, and a 16G would be sick. Talon's have gone low 12's on the stock 14B's and well into the 11's with 16G's. Of course that's 20+lbs boost, huge intercoolers, injectors and race gas, but still. You can find good used 14B's out there for 50-100.00 all day long if you know where to look.

Good luck with the car man. Looks like a fun little commuter.

Mike

Steve Goodwin

Sure I'll help you out. Cars like this are fun for me cause you can try new stuff. You read about a compound, pad or technique to try, but not going to try it out on like Todd's car.

I believe red is the weakest pigment of all paint colors but still you will be suprised with a little elbow grease the improvement that can be made.

Poik

Yeah I think what lots of people do when they upgrade the turbos on this is to use the 12b exhaust housing and the rest 15g. Either that or use a Volvo exhaust housing and the rest from a mustang SVO which is then like .48/.63 or something.

Thanks Steve! Yeah and the hood can be used to test out any combination of stuff because it is going to be replaced. Let me know when your schedule would allow you to help me out and I will bend mine around and make sure the car is washed and claybar'd beforehand.