I know you're out there. Post up if you love volvos, include pics if you've got 'em!

All of mine can be seen here (http://www.pbase.com/mr740ti/volvo/thecars/).

I'm still kicking myself in the ass for wrecking this one :tears:
http://www.pbase.com/mr740ti/image/48964676.jpg

bump...

M Jarve, get your butt in here. I know you have a Volvo. ;)

I'm a nut and have a Volvo V70 GL turbo, but not a Volvo nut. It's a fun family/dog, surf, speaker hauling mobile.

btw...cool looking scenery in that pic!

We had a Volvo once. It was a wonderful car. It was a 81' 240GL and had over 300K miles when the odometer broke, we drove it for another two or three years. Automatic transmission finally gave out. For the amount of maintenance or lack there of it was truly amazing the car lasted so long. A great ride and great handling vehicle too!

Well, my 1rst Volvo was a '66 P1800 bought in 1971 or therabouts, then a stick shift '71 164 with twin carbs, from the I think another 164 I got for my newly found girlfriend. Of course I had to marry her to make sure I kept the car. The, let me see, a 144, 244, 264, 760, another 164 and now a 1995 940 and 1995 960. I think I've had a couple I can not remember along the way. All have been really decent but the v-6 in the 264 and 760 were troublesome. My favorites were the P1800 and 164s. I really like the 940 and 960 and think these are probably the best rear wheel drivers Volvo made but oh, those 1800s and 164s were so wonderful. I used to cruise the 1800 at about 110mph all day in the days when highways were 75mph and 55mph was reserved for school zones. The 164 was only good to about 90 but you knew if you hit anything, you'd squash it like a bug.

I've pretty much had a Volvo in my driveway consistently since the first. As my wife and I do not really care for the front wheel drive styles and the 850 had some issues related to reliability, we are trying to keep these last 2 rear wheel drivers in really good condition as they may be our last cars. We probably have another 10 years or so to go.

Alrighty... Here are some pics, and a bit o' history about me and Volvo.

My first car was a rusted-up '85 740GLE, which had to be towed to my house, it was such a mess. I replaced the entire fuel system (pumps, hoses, filters, etc.) and basically overhauled the engine. It was a dreamer. The non-turbo B230F really surprised me with its perkiness, and the parents were happy that it was one of the safest cars on the road. I did a lot of work on it, trying to get the rust patched up and so on. The front fenders and hood were the last bits that needed sanding and painting. In the meantime, though, it developed a problem with the fuel injection system (a faulty throttle position sensor), and being on the budget I was on, I decided to have an unemployed mechanic do the work on it.

Unfortunately, this mechanic had a drug addiction and massive debt. I never saw my car again.

I then flirted with a Pontiac Bonneville SSEi, which despite its apparent superiority, was not as fun to drive and not nearly as reliable. I then bought a ’91 940 Turbo, which I still drive to this day. It has nearly half a million miles on it, and needs some brake work, but it is bar none the best car I have driven. I’ve changed the engine over to the Euro-spec B230ET, and installed a new ROM chip from Britain (these were apparently popular police cars over there). Along with other tweaks and upgrades, I’ve coaxed about 210HP out of this “tractor engine”. I have sacrificed some top-end power for a little faster spooling turbo, though (went from Garret to Mitsubishi turbo). Even at -50F (it gets that cold up here), it fires right up- any other car on the block needs to be garaged or have a jump.

I love this car!

Mike, get a 15G turbo from an 850, get the housings reclocked and an actuator adapter fabbed up. It spools nearly as fast as the little 13C, (still far faster than the T3) but moves gobs more volume and holds out to redline. I took a ride in a car that had a 15G and 12psi and it was unbelievable. Blew my '89 744 (which had a rare .52 trim T3 - most were .42) with 15-17psi clear out of the water.

Well, my 1rst Volvo was a '66 P1800...My favorites were the P1800 and 164s...oh, those 1800s and 164s were so wonderful. I used to cruise the 1800 at about 110mph all day in the days when highways were 75mph and 55mph was reserved for school zones. The 164 was only good to about 90 but you knew if you hit anything, you'd squash it like a bug...

Brian,

Those 1800s are those really neat models with the delicate rear wings and either station-wagon or coupe hoodlines, right?

A fella down the street from me had a pair- a blue metallic coupe, and a brown metallic wagon, if I recall correctly.

Both had that tiny rear seat, correct? Enough for a small child?



One of the nicest looking cars, ever, in my opinion. Volvo really got that one right.



How was torque? Did they come auto and stick? And reliability and longetivity- where did they accel, and fall short?

stuff

http://www.volvo1800pictures.com/a_E_72_1/72_107_id_973_11.jpg

http://www.volvo1800pictures.com/a_ES_73/ES73_107_id_618_2.jpg

Ever driven one with a V8? My friend has an 87 760 wagon with a Ford 5.0 HO/AOD driveline. Pretty neat car, handles amazingly well too.

Ever driven one with a V8? My friend has an 87 760 wagon with a Ford 5.0 HO/AOD driveline. Pretty neat car, handles amazingly well too.

I've always thought those were funny.

Spend $2000+ getting one converted so you have a 220hp engine and run mid 14s, or spend $1000 on mods to the Volvo engine, have >300hp and run mid to low 13s...and have another $1000 sitting around to spend to get it to run 12s.

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r60/mr740ti/ugh2.gif

Whatever floats your boat I guess?

Oh, yeah, there's a guy in Montgomery who has an '89 244 with a B230FT, has about $2000 into it, runs 12.6 and drives it daily.

http://www.volvo1800pictures.com/a_ES_73/ES73_107_id_618_2.jpg

I once owned a 122S. I thought it was a fun car but I have always lusted after an 1800ES. :thmbsp: I love the style of those. I test drove a blue 73 but on E5 pay with a new wife it wasn't going to happen. Thanks PioneerGuy85 for that pic! :banana: :yes: :D

I just unloaded our '98 V90, for $4500. It was a nice car, but has many of the problems that do not make people love Volvos. I can say, that it was a great highway car. Rock solid in a Southern rain storm. When most of the other cars were pulled off the road, I would be doing 70mph. It also had a very reliable engine and trans.

We have replaced it with an Acura RL. I like it a little more.

Dan

There are some lemons in the Volvo line, just as there are in any company's history. A perfect example is the PRV (Peugeot, Renault, Volvo) V-6, most famously used as the under-powered power plant of the DeLorean (also used, though, in some 760’s and 780’s).

Another dud is the erstwhile B234 engine, which was a 16-valve version of the bullet-proof B230. A non-turbo engine, it had horse power and torque approaching that of the turbo-charged B230, but it had some reliability issues. Further, it was a so-called interference engine, meaning if the timing belt broke, you’d end up with busted valves or worse.

Early 850’s were prone to transmission failure, and some had issues with leaking oil; due in part to being an all aluminum engine.

Another issue (although relatively minor) is the tendency of pre-1993 B230’s (both turbo and NA) to develop piston-slap until the engine is warm, due to the use of aluminum pistons and an iron block.

Some 1980’s red-blocks used an inferior cast crankshaft instead of a stronger forged one. This was again corrected in later versions.

Finally, there were some 200’s and 700’s that had an issue with the transmission. The transmission could actually fail from the engine being revved while in park. This caused many failures in states where the cars would be subjected to emissions tests, though most of these states had procedures that allowed these cars to skip that portion of the test that would cause the failure. Again, this was corrected by the 1990’s.

For red-block RWD Volvos, the ones to get are the early to mid 1990’s 940 series, or the rare 1991 Coupe (a 780, but not labeled as such at this point). The pinnacle 800 series are the 96-97 850 type R.

After Ford took over Volvo, there were concerns that they would attempt to “cost reduce” Volvo; fortunately, these fears were largely unfounded, with Ford borrowing more from Volvo design and engineering than forcing the same. I dare say, though, that none of the newer engines will live up to the reputation and longevity of the million mile red-block’s of old.

I did get to take an ’87 740 that had been modified with a Ford V-8 (an ’84 Lincoln mk. VII had been the donor) for a spin once. Having a much heavier engine mitigated much of the performance benefits, and significantly changed the handling of the car. This particular modification was not very elegant, either, as nothing, save the power steering and engine, worked after it. The V-8 also felt a little more sluggish than the quick-revving I-4 (which a friend once described as “feeling” like a snowmobile engine). It is not a modification I would do to mine unless I went whole-hog. This would include making the engine turbo-charged or super-charged to make the performance benefits more tangible. I will say that I discovered, after the fact, that the V-8 that had been used was only 140HP- less than 30HP more than the original engine, but it weighed a couple hundred pounds more. How it would perform with a later 300HP Ford V8 could change my mind. As PioneerGuy pointed out above, though, for less money you can perform stage 3 or 4 upgrades and end up with the same (or more) power, but with a lighter, faster revving engine.

Add the early 164 blocks that were porous as well as the early 960 blocks with the same isue. Happily my early 164 did not experieince it and my 960 is late enough not to have the problem. Have always had the feeling that maybe engines are just not the place for aluminum. Just seems too many issues.

Out of the 30 plus cars Ive owned in this life,
My 1967 P1800s was my favorite,electric overdrive
on the dash,All british "Lucas electronics" and
body by Sheffield steel,Sorry no pic's,but heres a great P1800 link with tons of photos-
http://www.volvo1800pictures.com/

I've always thought those were funny.

Spend $2000+ getting one converted so you have a 220hp engine and run mid 14s, or spend $1000 on mods to the Volvo engine, have >300hp and run mid to low 13s...and have another $1000 sitting around to spend to get it to run 12s.

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r60/mr740ti/ugh2.gif

Whatever floats your boat I guess?

Oh, yeah, there's a guy in Montgomery who has an '89 244 with a B230FT, has about $2000 into it, runs 12.6 and drives it daily.

He got the car used and already converted in exchange for labor on the owner's other car. The person he got it from bought it already converted as well. Its pretty much a disaster, everything is all cobbled in there in a fairly poor manner, the motor mount adapters are simple pieces of plate steel bent into an angle, no gussets for support or anything. You can watch the plates bend when you rev the motor. The AC plumbing has clamps and splices all over, the high pressure fuel lines were mated from frame to fuel rail with rubber hose that blew out one day on an errands run. Wiring is a complete mess too. It would have been easier to pump some bucks into the stock turbo 4 but people want what they want. I don't know the backstory on the reason for conversion. We were actually considering making our own conversion kit and re-doing this one completely so its not so much of a mess.

He got the car used and already converted in exchange for labor on the owner's other car. The person he got it from bought it already converted as well. Its pretty much a disaster, everything is all cobbled in there in a fairly poor manner, the motor mount adapters are simple pieces of plate steel bent into an angle, no gussets for support or anything. You can watch the plates bend when you rev the motor. The AC plumbing has clamps and splices all over, the high pressure fuel lines were mated from frame to fuel rail with rubber hose that blew out one day on an errands run. Wiring is a complete mess too. It would have been easier to pump some bucks into the stock turbo 4 but people want what they want. I don't know the backstory on the reason for conversion. We were actually considering making our own conversion kit and re-doing this one completely so its not so much of a mess.

Yeah, if you get it used more power to ya. I just would never waste the money to have one converted, unless it were to an LS2 or something else that that actually had horsepower. (VH45DE?) Stock Ford 5.slow motors do not. Though I guess I should note that most of the conversions are old, from the mid-90s...

But hey, like I said, whatever floats your boat. Some just don't like turbo lag and would rather have the near-instant torque associated with V8s.

There is a guy on Turbobricks who stuffed an LS1 in his '87 745, then threw a couple turbos at it, and it's running about 500rwhp on conservative tune. THAT is how you do it.

Finally, there were some 200’s and 700’s that had an issue with the transmission. The transmission could actually fail from the engine being revved while in park. This caused many failures in states where the cars would be subjected to emissions tests, though most of these states had procedures that allowed these cars to skip that portion of the test that would cause the failure. Again, this was corrected by the 1990’s.

Ah yes, the ZF-22...ugh. Glad I never had the misfortune of having one of those.

And, hey, I wouldn't quite say the B234 is a dud...There's a full-weight/interior 740 in Montgomery running around with a B230 converted to a B234 and he runs 11.8... the engine is fine, he hasn't managed to do so much as make it whimper yet...he cannot, however, keep transmissions in it, nor can he seem to keep the subframe straight. He's running T-5Z manual transmissions, and going through them like water. I believe he's finally going to throw an AW-71HD at it and do the accumulator and valve mods. That might net him some better luck...

edit: the 93-98 redblocks still have an iron block and aluminum pistons...in 1993 oil squirters were added at the base of the cylinders to cool the piston tops, a side effect is significantly reduced piston/bore wear, and as such they no longer developed piston slap.

I drive an '85 740 GLE wagon with 120K. Not a typo, only 120K in over 20 years. 26 mpg on the highway, and it works great for carrying large speakers, consoles, etc. I believe I will keep driving it until forced to abandon it, which is most likely to happen next time it gets hit and is declared totaled.

My wife drives a 2007 Volvo V50. I drive a 2007 Volvo S40. Our son drives my old 1994 850 Turbo. And we have a 1979 242GT project car in the garage. 877k on the odometer and it still runs smoothly. The rest of the car needs a lot of work, but the engine still purrs.

Hi,

I am a lover and enthusiast of Volvo Cars. I especially love their Station Wagons and only get to drive them at work. I need a cheap/free 850 in running order someday. I am a wheelchair user and need the room for my wheelchair (I have spina bifida). I drive with hand controls and must have an automatic. The Swedish in my opinion make the finest practical automobiles. Volvo is the McIntosh of autodom.

Hi,

I am a lover and enthusiast of Volvo Cars. I especially love their Station Wagons and only get to drive them at work. I need a cheap/free 850 in running order someday. I am a wheelchair user and need the room for my wheelchair (I have spina bifida). I drive with hand controls and must have an automatic. The Swedish in my opinion make the finest practical automobiles. Volvo is the McIntosh of autodom.

I'd get a 945 turbo instead. They can be had of similar age. The 850s are not quite what the older cars are in terms of quality. Rear main seal issues, transmission issues, etc. Plus, you're handicapped, 940s have more room in the driver's area than do 850s. Might make it easier to get yourself situated properly. Having driven both on many occasions, I greatly prefer the 945T.

I've had 4 P1800's, still have a '62, 240 Turbo, 780 Turbo, S80 T6. Love them all except the S80, hate front wheel drive !!

Hi,

945T sounds truly lovely! Love their Wagons. Built like a Mosler Safe too. How much does a nice one go for? I'm a Norwegian by marriage. My adopted toddler is a Swede! Wife and toddler are also in wheelchairs (spina bifida too). I need an "S" and an "N" plate on it. Would be easier as I age! Need room too for my broadcast engineering gear and audio toys I haul home.

Hi,

945T sounds truly lovely! Love their Wagons. Built like a Mosler Safe too. How much does a nice one go for? I'm a Norwegian by marriage. My adopted toddler is a Swede! Wife and toddler are also in wheelchairs (spina bifida too). I need an "S" and an "N" plate on it. Would be easier as I age! Need room too for my broadcast engineering gear and audio toys I haul home.

I don't know how the licensing would work out, but here in the States, very decent 945T's can be found for €1400 - €2000.

My 1st Volvo was a 1968 144,my current Volvo is a 1990 745 turbo.between then and now there was another 6 that I've had.I think they kinda get in your blood.



David