ben-dover
Part of things
You can't polish a turd, but you can roll it in glitter...
Posts: 360
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Hi peeps, I thought it was about time to get this up on here. (inspired by Count panda's thread) It's a 1989 Volvo 740 gl estate which gets used and abused! It has been working hard earning it's keep over the last year ferrying the kids to school, dump runs, parts chasing, travelling all over towing cars around and even the odd bit of wet roundabout action.  Basically this is my daily and whilst it has been a good car over the last year, it's now starting to look a bit sad... Still, with an estimated 300,000 miles (the mileage display shows 198,000 which according to the previous owner stopped working 8-9 years ago!) you can forgive the odd marks in places, missing headlining, faded paint, sagging springs, high clutch, slightly noisy camshaft, etc etc...
To be honest I'm at a crossroad at the moment, there's quite a few things that need doing far exceeding the cars value, so do I find a replacement or do I tidy it up and carry out the repairs it needs???Anyway, have some photo's of the old girl in her present state. Please excuse the mess, this is a working vehicle so it's full of tools, kiddie curse word and covered in 6 months worth of road grime.      |
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an appreciating classic, now. Worth fixing up I reckon, plus they're COOL AZ
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paul99
Part of things
Posts: 410 
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Give it a wash and a bit of attention, you'll thing better of it then. Besides, a 300k Volvo? Just run in |
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Nice, my mum drove one of these in the same colour for most of my formative years. Did school runs etc for 8 years or so!
I hated it at the time, but now I hanker after one for their boxy coolness!
As others have said, definitely a car worth saving!
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If at first you don't succeed........
....Don't try skydiving!
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ben-dover
Part of things
You can't polish a turd, but you can roll it in glitter...
Posts: 360
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Thanks for the kind words! I have been thinking about this car a lot recently. Now, I have had a few Volvo's over the years and each time I have decided to move one on I have regretted it within a few weeks. They definitely get under your skin. Looking over this one makes me realise that it isn't that bad, the body is more or less rot free and all the other issue's are either down to previous owners lack of maintenance or the pure, devilish abuse it has received during my ownership! So I have decided I'm going to fix it up, plus sort some extras I have had in mind for ages. The good news is that I have an incredibly rough 1994 940 tdi hanging around with a rotten body/interior but good mechanicals...  This would only go to scrap, I have tried to sell it for a while with no luck. Kindly it has agreed to be a donor for the 740, the kind/poor thing! Spannering and regular updates will start soon! |
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I'm glad this is going to live on. There's nothing else quite like them but sadly they're still undervalued. I saw a 1989 2.3 GLE estate on ebay a few weeks back. The thing looked close to mint, had full leather, one owner, sub 100k with full history etc and it went for just over a grand. I love mine and certainly wouldn't part with it for that sort of money.
Good luck with the resto!
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forde
Part of things
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Its not sad that they're undervalued means you can buy more cheap
That TDI doesn't look too bad
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'15 Royal Enfield Continental GT
'95 CZ 125 Type 488
'91 Vespa PX125E
'77 Camino, '86 Camino
'82 Puch Maxi S '70 Puch Maxi N
'80 Maxi S "Sport"
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ben-dover
Part of things
You can't polish a turd, but you can roll it in glitter...
Posts: 360
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Its not sad that they're undervalued means you can buy more cheap That TDI doesn't look too bad That's always been my excuse! 'When it break's, there cheap, so buy another' But I'm determined to keep this one. I know at first glance the tdi looks ok, but I have never seen one with so much rot, even the towbar is twisted where its so rotten. The only thing I can think of is that the original owner launched boats with it, then the next used it as a van! I just noticed it has a 'turbo bricks' sticker in the window! Anyway tomorrow is it's final chapter, it's going to start getting stripped. |
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Last Edit: Jan 8, 2016 0:06:17 GMT by ben-dover
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ben-dover
Part of things
You can't polish a turd, but you can roll it in glitter...
Posts: 360
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Right, awoke today to find that it's not raining!!! Action stations, quickly drop my youngest to school, come home and get prepared   Then the stripping began (not me, the car...)  This above was around 9.30 am, and by 12.30 pm...  One VERY heavy D24 engine and M90 combo sitting pretty on the floor! And in case your worried that I have stripped a perfectly good 940...   
You can scrape that filth off the floor, it's nearly 2cm deep in places!   Picture above shows the bent tow bar due to the amount of rot, the chassis rails were no better! Have to go and do family duties now, more to come soon! |
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Last Edit: Jan 8, 2016 14:01:06 GMT by ben-dover
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steveg
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,563
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That will be a nice car once it's done. I swapped almost everything over when I went from auto non turbo to manual turbo on my 940 lots of differences in the wiring amd even the abs is fitted on the other side of the engine bay, makes it a lot easier to do if you have the complete car. IF you get bored with the diesel you can always fit some sort of Audi V8 in it instead.
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ben-dover
Part of things
You can't polish a turd, but you can roll it in glitter...
Posts: 360
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Thanks mate Audi V8! Its a vag bellhousing pattern so I thought about putting in a 1.9tdi (cheap, as powerful and apparently more reliable) but I like the noise of the d24. Also what other engines in the range share that pattern, are there any differences through the range/age? |
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Last Edit: Jan 8, 2016 16:33:26 GMT by ben-dover
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ben-dover
Part of things
You can't polish a turd, but you can roll it in glitter...
Posts: 360
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I'm going to have to use the whole front 'clip' as the cross-member is different on the petrol 740. That will be the next thing to strip out. I have only removed the basic loom, everything else was redundant as it control'd the egr system etc and the glow plug control is easy enough to hook up. My plan is to leave the battery in it's original location (it's the other side on the tdi to allow for the air filter) and run a cone filter instead. Or a snorkel... |
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steveg
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,563
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Rumour has it that most VW Audi engines will bolt up to a diesel M90 gearbox although I have only read about it. I am tempted to try it but struggle enough finding the cash for insurance for mine as it is though !
One of the guys in the Volvo owners club has a d24 with the boost wound up a bit, only seen it a couple of times at a couple of the southern meets they put on. Did sound nice though.
Another thing to consider fitting is the brake servo and pedal box. Late 940's had different servos with matching pedals and it takes a lot less effort to stop mine now with it fitted. I can't see from the pictures is if it's got a black painted servo on the 940 or not. The black one is the one to have.
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ben-dover
Part of things
You can't polish a turd, but you can roll it in glitter...
Posts: 360
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The 940 tdi has a black servo, the one on the 740 is silver. I have always found the brakes on the 740 quite good tbh, I may keep it though as there may be a difference in vacuum from the pump on the tdi. Just been looking at this a raised 240, it's giving me idea's!  |
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Ahh that TDI is yours, I was put off the ebay listing as the listing said the engine smoked!
am I right in saying you had the engine listed on ebay? shame, I was about to buy it to rebuild!
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ben-dover
Part of things
You can't polish a turd, but you can roll it in glitter...
Posts: 360
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No, I bought this just before Christmas. It was advertised on Ebay with the engine smoking and a slipping clutch. I won it, picked it up and found the clutch was high (not slipping, he must of been resting his foot on the pedal when driving) and whilst it did smoke (black diesel smoke) a quick 'italian tune up' solved it!
I later advertised it for breaking but lack of interest has led me to this.
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Mark
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,097
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Cool project - is the engine shot in the 740 or did you just fancy a change?
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ben-dover
Part of things
You can't polish a turd, but you can roll it in glitter...
Posts: 360
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Hi Mark, hope your good mate. The engine is okay (ish) it's just that it has around 300k and is only a 2.0 ltr so is a bit tired and underpowered. Over the last year it really has had it's neck rung towing cars around and the idea of a more powerful diesel engine kinda made sense to me. More torque, power and lot's of black smoke to annoy people |
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Mark
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,097
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Would the 5 pot diesel from the S70/early v70&s80 fit? It was a 5pot VW lump...
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Jan 10, 2016 15:44:18 GMT
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Nice car Volvo 740 GLT ,loved mine. Driving a merc now 260e not of my choosing, but it came to me free from my cousin .One owner from new. I would sell it to-morrow if i could get a Volvo like my old 740 glt .Built like a tank. Also if you look for these around the same year ,you look and see if you can find a rusty one.
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