Volvo 940 Turbo Estate

[RS Grant]

This is not the sort of thing that you'll be used to seeing on Readers' Cars. However, I'm a reader and it is now one of my cars, so sit tight...

I've owned a wide variety of cars at one time or another (My car history thread is here: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=146... )... sometimes reading a build thread or a thread asking for model-specific advice has been enough to send me to the classifieds with my mind in overdrive. One of the cars which I have always had a notion for but never actually pulled the trigger on, is a Volvo 940 Estate.

I have always liked the old, boxy looks.. then the more I have read about them on and off, the more they appealed to me with the ability to tune them yourself using fairly primative methods and how much fun they can be with very little work on power/chassis/drivetrain.

Anyway, that's my reasoning behind my newest purchase.. and it may/may not appeal to you guys, but as always, since I have a memory like a sieve this thread will at least help me keep a note of what I have done to the car!!

I got a whatsapp message from one of my friends who knew I'd always had a hankering for a 940 Estate, saying 'One of my friends on Facebook is selling this, are you interested?' with the following pictures attached:
FC030F90-D9A5-4A86-A8C8-EDF766D6BD11 by Grant F, on Flickr
D25DCA8B-0D0E-4612-87B2-2D8BD10C6AAB by Grant F, on Flickr
ACBE30E6-CDA1-4164-8C74-11F4E9E4F0CD by Grant F, on Flickr
85EE3206-AFCE-4EE4-9565-20347FAC7E9F by Grant F, on Flickr

Details on the car are:

1996 940 Estate Classic
2.3 Turbo
Manual Gearbox
119k miles
Lowering Springs
Side Exit Exhaust (surprisingly not loud or antisocial)
Welded Rear Diff

After asking my friend if he thought it had any history with it and being reminded that it was a 20yr old 940 Estate rather than an approved used XC90 that I was buying... I did an MOT check on it, which put my mind at ease that it wasn't a rotten heap of crap that had required lots of work to stay on the road each year.

So I arranged a lift to collect the car since I'd already decided that after looking at these cars on and off for so long and this one being so close by that I was more than likely going to be buying the car and finally scratching the itch. So, after being tossed the only key for the car and told to take it for a spin, I was a bit underwhelmed by the drive. But I had to remember that even though it was a 2.3 Turbo, it was also running standard boost (~3.5psi) and so putting out about 135bhp (at best!) which isn't going to be exciting in a car as big as a 940.

So I paid the money and brought the car home, 'pleased' with my new purchase.

7DC110BC-AF63-4A2A-AB23-92A0DF25F724 by Grant F, on Flickr

First thing on my list to do was to increase the boost pressure to make it feel like a turbocharged car. There are plenty of articles and web pages which outline the potential of these 'red block' engines and the ease of extracting a bit of extra poke without sacrificing reliability. They involve a boost gauge and a bleed valve... which I found after digging around in my unit for a bit.

A803B70C-FC15-40EF-84C2-B59E6BFC1747 by Grant F, on Flickr
550FB1E3-A438-4D49-8734-E636C6F2DF94 by Grant F, on Flickr

Et voila... after a wee fiddle here and there, the boost had gone from 0.24bar (3.5psi) to 0.8bar (11.6psi) and the drive of the car massively improved, it actually has a turbo kick now!!

BA5FB78E-8333-43B4-9C7B-D742ABB5A5AD by Grant F, on Flickr

While digging around the unit for the boost gauge and bleed valve, I also found an old induction cone filter in a box so thought I'd fit it to the 940 to help it breathe a wee bit better. The side effect of this is a huge 'whoooosh' when you lift off the throttle on boost; childish, but good fun. The engine bay is absolutely caked in waxoil, which makes it look horrifically dirty, but I'm in two minds whether to leave it and so leave it protected... or remove it and enjoy a nice, clean engine bay?!

02AD91E9-104E-40A6-9AAB-0E7C8F30B80C by Grant F, on Flickr

The remaining list of things to do isn't bad but there's a couple of fiddly and potentially swearing filled jobs in there!!

- Give the car a full service.
- Replace lambda sensor.
- Install a radio/facia adapter/wiring.
- Give it a proper deep clean inside and out.
- Have some fun in it.




Cheers,
Grant

Edited by RS Grant on Friday 26th February 11:25

[problemchild1976]

superb............!!

i spend my evenings looking at volvo 240 torslandas and hoping to find one for small money

JJ

[Sillyhatday]

Even if I'm a big JDM person, I love turbo bricks. Love it

[Shadow R1]

I like that.

Keep us updated.

[RS Grant]

problemchild1976 said:

superb............!!

i spend my evenings looking at volvo 240 torslandas and hoping to find one for small money

JJ

Sillyhatday said:

Even if I'm a big JDM person, I love turbo bricks. Love it

Shadow R1 said:

I like that.

Keep us updated.

Thanks very much, glad you all like it!! I'll try to keep this thread ticking over.


Cheers,
Grant

[J4CKO]

That looks very tidy, a mate used to have one, proper old dog of a 740 but it went very well

[stevieturbo]

If it's lasted this long without rusting...dont muck about with cleaning it ! Cant see air filter doing anything for it either

Oddly mine is pretty clean, a 97 Norwegian import. But the horn never worked right since I've owned it so went to change it a few weeks ago to find it was totally and utterly rotten ! one horn had corroded into a hole in the middle lol

Also noticed a metal cage on the drivers side underneath that holds the alarm siren, it too was rotten and the alarm siren knackered because of it.

Not everyones taste, but I like em and they're bloody comfy !

I'd have preferred an auto though

[Hooli]

Lovely old shed. Proper old school Volvos are fun, they don't handle until on a loose surface - must be all the gravel roads they have at home.

[RS Grant]

J4CKO said:

That looks very tidy, a mate used to have one, proper old dog of a 740 but it went very well

I like seeing something so square and boxy going so quickly, one of my favorite BTCC cars was the Volvo 850 Estate.. absolutely loved them. Obviously this won't ever be on the same level, but it gets down the road well enough!!


Cheers,
Grant

[RS Grant]

stevieturbo said:

If it's lasted this long without rusting...dont muck about with cleaning it ! Cant see air filter doing anything for it either

Oddly mine is pretty clean, a 97 Norwegian import. But the horn never worked right since I've owned it so went to change it a few weeks ago to find it was totally and utterly rotten ! one horn had corroded into a hole in the middle lol

Also noticed a metal cage on the drivers side underneath that holds the alarm siren, it too was rotten and the alarm siren knackered because of it.

Not everyones taste, but I like em and they're bloody comfy !

I'd have preferred an auto though

The intake/cone filter is probably something which isn't going to help performance and possibly reduce performance with heatsoak.. but it does make a great sound, as I said, I know it's childish!!

I might have to investigate the horn actually, it seems tempremental on mine. So could be looking at some corrosion and something else to add to my list of things to do.

Yeah, I don't think I'd have enjoyed the older manual gearbox with the overdrive.. but with this being a later model with the M90 gearbox and given that it's something which I'll play around with, I think it's correct box for me.


Cheers,
Grant

[RS Grant]

Hooli said:

Lovely old shed. Proper old school Volvos are fun, they don't handle until on a loose surface - must be all the gravel roads they have at home.

I agree, it's great!!

The handling is interesting, it certainly shows that the seats were designed for maximum comfort without any thought about providing support..


Cheers,
Grant

[T5XARV]

This is the sort of thing I was looking for before settling on my V70 T5. Quite fancy a 960 next in a dark colour with a comfy black leather interior.....

Were you aware that theres a company who sell the full BTCC sticker kit for the 940/850 ?
......and, as it's in the correct base-coat of white......

[J4CKO]

RS Grant said:

J4CKO said:

That looks very tidy, a mate used to have one, proper old dog of a 740 but it went very well

I like seeing something so square and boxy going so quickly, one of my favorite BTCC cars was the Volvo 850 Estate.. absolutely loved them. Obviously this won't ever be on the same level, but it gets down the road well enough!!


Cheers,
Grant

We got an 850 T5 estate in 1997 when it was 3 years old, I was only 26/27 then, it was a great car, faster than the 740 but not by as much as I thought it would be, had it for four years and then had to get a people carrier, our one was still MOTed until 2014 and is sorned, amazing that its 22 years old now.

[T5XARV]

This is the sort of thing I was looking for before settling on my V70 T5. Quite fancy a 960 next in a dark colour with a comfy black leather interior.....

Were you aware that theres a company who sell the full BTCC sticker kit for the 940/850 ?

http://www.creative-vinyl.com/578-volvo-850-1994-b...

......and, as it's in the correct base-coat of white......do it !!!!

[BenWRXSEi]

Lovely. My dad had one of these (a 2.0 high-pressure turbo IIRC?) back in the day as a work car. Used to pound up and down the country full of camera gear.

Compared to his actual car back then (a Sierra XR4x4) and my Mum's 1981 Escort 1.3L it was a lovely, comfortable and surprisingly quick thing to be in. I was gutted when they swapped the fleet over to a bunch of crappy Ford Galaxies

[RS Grant]

J4CKO said:

RS Grant said:

J4CKO said:

That looks very tidy, a mate used to have one, proper old dog of a 740 but it went very well

I like seeing something so square and boxy going so quickly, one of my favorite BTCC cars was the Volvo 850 Estate.. absolutely loved them. Obviously this won't ever be on the same level, but it gets down the road well enough!!


Cheers,
Grant

We got an 850 T5 estate in 1997 when it was 3 years old, I was only 26/27 then, it was a great car, faster than the 740 but not by as much as I thought it would be, had it for four years and then had to get a people carrier, our one was still MOTed until 2014 and is sorned, amazing that its 22 years old now.

I remember going with my dad to look at an 850 Estate T5 GLT back in 1995, which I was very into... but he ended up buying an Omega Estate instead, which to be fair was great too. Just not as great as the Volvo was IMO.

I'm not sure what the newer Volvos are like but the older stuff was extremely well built, so I hope that the newer cars are still built to last.


Cheers,
Grant

[RS Grant]

T5XARV said:

This is the sort of thing I was looking for before settling on my V70 T5. Quite fancy a 960 next in a dark colour with a comfy black leather interior.....

Were you aware that theres a company who sell the full BTCC sticker kit for the 940/850 ?

http://www.creative-vinyl.com/578-volvo-850-1994-b...

......and, as it's in the correct base-coat of white......do it !!!!

Haha!! ...thanks for that link, I'd be lying if I said that I didn't like the idea of doing a BTCC rep!! However if I did it, then I think that I'd probably want to do it with an 850 track car to try and keep it looking as 'authentic' as possible.


Cheers,
Grant

[RS Grant]

BenWRXSEi said:

Lovely. My dad had one of these (a 2.0 high-pressure turbo IIRC?) back in the day as a work car. Used to pound up and down the country full of camera gear.

Compared to his actual car back then (a Sierra XR4x4) and my Mum's 1981 Escort 1.3L it was a lovely, comfortable and surprisingly quick thing to be in. I was gutted when they swapped the fleet over to a bunch of crappy Ford Galaxies

Haha what a change, a 940 Turbo to a Ford Galaxy... surely grounds for resignation?!


Cheers,
Grant

[BenWRXSEi]

Well, he did take early retirement not long after the V6 Galaxy turned into a 1.9TDI Galaxy...

Edit: now I come to think about it, he was actually subject to no less than THREE Ford Galaxies. The first one shat out its ECU shortly after delivery, turning it into a giant, locked, immobile paperweight

Anyway. As you were

[T5XARV]

Bit premature I realise but if you are selling in the near future please send me a PM.