Collected - 1987 Volvo 740 GL

[CaptainBoom]

Oooof, that's doing things to me on a Saturday night that in my yoof I used to pay good money for...

I like that a lot, top bombing good sir, it looks in awesome condition.

Also 740/10 for Danny John Jules inclusion.  Even The Cat would say that it's a decent steer.

[RobT]

Wonderful.  Peak 80s velour in these 740s.

[Datsuncog]

Oh, nice!

That's a solid gold, bolted-on winnermobile right there 🏆

God, I miss the acres of blue velour in my similar-era 240.

Enjoy!!

[eddyramrod]

Gorgeous, and the twin of my old one (E610 YVW).  I was admiring and enjoying the pics until the cross-interior one, showing what I must assume is a manual gearstick.  WTF did Volvo think they were doing there?

[HillmanImp]

8 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

Gorgeous, and the twin of my old one (E610 YVW).  I was admiring and enjoying the pics until the cross-interior one, showing what I must assume is a manual gearstick.  WTF did Volvo think they were doing there?

It's the first manual Volvo I've owned. TBH it's okay. I have to admit though, I've not owned many manuals over the last few years and the ones I have were modern and I'm not counting/listening to what gear I'm in and was looking at the dash to see if I needed to switch up or not. It's like we don't need to remember phone numbers anymore. Terrible habit to have got into on cars though. Sure I'll get back into the swing of it though and the stick has a fair bit of movement so you can kind of see whereabouts it is.

From reading online before I saw it, I actually thought that these should be 4 speed plus overdrive but it's a proper 5 speed. Volksy said the same. I wondered if it had a newer gearbox fitted but the original for sale ad said it was 5 speed so it's maybe a cross over.

[wuvvum]

Not sure exactly how the gearbox situation worked.   My E plater was 5 speed, but the H reg 940 TD estate I owned later was 4+OD.

[HillmanImp]

5 hours ago, wuvvum said:

Not sure exactly how the gearbox situation worked.   My E plater was 5 speed, but the H reg 940 TD estate I owned later was 4+OD.

Maybe whatever they had lying around on that particular day eh? 

[Fabergé Greggs]

At the lofty peak of my dad’s salesman career, he ordered a BRAND NEW 940 “Wentworth” which I think meant half leather and air con. 1992 maybe?  I can confirm that it was 4 + OD- I spent many a journey wondering how that little button on the gearstick worked.

I can still remember the exact smell of sitting in the back when he delightedly picked it up from the showroom. 

[Dyslexic Viking]

Volvo m46 4 speed with overdrive was used in turbo and diesel as was stronger than M47 5 speed. 940 got after a while the new M90 5 speed which was stronger than M47.

The auto gearboxes have never been liked by most here and most they tear them out and send them for recycling where they belong. And converts the car to manual.

But the UK seems to have got the cars differently than we in Scandinavia, so my info may be wrong for the UK.

But well bought looks like a great car. 

[tooSavvy]

@HillmanImp.. "The journey down from South Shields to mine could well have been the longest journey it's been on for decades".

You haven't 'done' S Sh until getting a bag of chips @Frankies Caff, *Gypsies Green.

*Links, end of GNR

Proper Chodding 👍

🚙💨

[Blunderguts]

Ahhh, a proper Volvo.  Very nice!

[Boycie]

That's as blue as a strangled Roy Chubby brown doing a gig wearing a Man city strip ..... in the sea ..

 

 

[Captain Mainwaring]

Lovely, lovely old thing. Well bought. 

[Twiggy]

That`s one delicious bit of kit ! 

[Blunderguts]

By the way @HillmanImp, a common fault on these engines is oil in the distributor.  it might be worth replacing the seal as a precaution.  It is a pain to do though.

[Jimbob McGregor]

22 hours ago, HillmanImp said:and the original for sale advert:

This bunch were in Stocksfield, Northumberland and later became Thornwood Cars, always a Volvo specialist. Possibly still there but I didn’t look last time I passed.

 

[Jimbob McGregor]

I edited that strangely. Meant to say:

This bunch were in Stocksfield, Northumberland and later became Thornwood Cars, always a Volvo specialist. Possibly still there but I didn’t look last time I passed.

[HillmanImp]

 

24 minutes ago, Jimbob McGregor said:

I edited that strangely. Meant to say:

This bunch were in Stocksfield, Northumberland and later became Thornwood Cars, always a Volvo specialist. Possibly still there but I didn’t look last time I passed.

I was trying to find them yesterday but to no avail. Looking on Google Maps in 2009 they were here:

But were gone by 2010:

Unless they moved?

[Jimbob McGregor]

To be fair, I rarely pass there and it could well have been years ago that they closed for business.

[HillmanImp]

Does anyone have any recommendations for part suppliers for these?

I've found Brookhouse Volvo but their website keeps crashing, so will just ring them up tomorrow.

Managed to get a cambelt kit (well, just a belt and tensioner) from my local-ish motor factors but could probably do with a few other bits and bobs as I've no idea if the seals are leaking and need replacing yet. 

I'm also not 100% sure which engine I have. I followed this guide as best I cold against the VIN but it doesn't really work with mine using these pages:

https://www.volvoclub.org.uk/faq/700ModelData.html#VehicleIdentificationNumberCoding

https://www.volvoclub.org.uk/faq/700ModelData.html#VehicleIdentificationNumberCoding

It would suggest that I have a B230FD which sounds wrong as I think that is injected, not carbed.

[Lankytim]

Shouldn't this have the B230K “Heron Head” engine or was that just 240s?

If it does have a B230k then it’s an interference engine too. 

[Shep Shepherd]

Aside from eBay, I've always found this outfit to be pretty good for obtaining parts for The Volvo: https://www.partsforvolvosonline.com 

https://www.skandix.de are also pretty good, especially for obscure parts, but they aren't cheap 😮

A good source of used parts is/was Lakes Autos in Wyboston.

[coachie]

FRF Volvo parts department in Swansea were always good for mail order.  Can't remember the name of the bloke.

https://www.facebook.com/FRFVolvoParts/?locale=en_GB

I used these a few times, but before Br***t.

https://www.skandix.de/en/ 

Top buying by the way.  I bought my FiL's white/blue velour 740 GL estate C992FTA from him back in about 1997/8. I only replaced it as I was on a mad buying spree at the time.  I remember electrical gremlins, so took it into the college in Twickenham where I was working at the time, the physics technician reflowed all the relays and voila, all sorted.

I think the bloke I sold it to was either a builder and ran it into the ground, or a bank robber and ram raided it into a cashpoint, as it didn't last long afterwards.

[EyesWeldedShut]

If you ask on https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/index.php  about the engine they'll put you right - there's a lot of useful knowledge on there which, sometimes, can get delivered with a bit of a sniffy air. Usually it's OK though.
^^^ on all the suppliers listed above I tend to use https://www.partsforvolvosonline.com  as @Shep Shepherd has listed.
eBay can be a confusing mess of miss-matched part numbers and model years - witness my four weeks in the summer just trying to get the correct discs and pads for a 940.

[Dyslexic Viking]

I think you have a B200K or B230K engine. B230K in a 240 under. And the K engine is  carburetor.

Can you remove the timing belt sticker and see if there is a sticker under it with engine type? Because if it is there, it can confirm what engine.

[HillmanImp]

2 hours ago, Lankytim said:

If it does have a B230k then it’s an interference engine too. 

ZIONKS!!!!

1 hour ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

I think you have a B200K or B230K engine. B230K in a 240 under. And the K engine is  carburetor.

Can you remove the timing belt sticker and see if there is a sticker under it with engine type? Because if it is there, it can confirm what engine.

There isn't a sticker there and it's not come off on the back of the one I pulled either.

I'd read somewhere on one of the Volvo forums before I collected it that all 8 valve non interference but it was just some guy replying to some other guy and was probably talking bollocks.😄

Looking at the code on the head it's 1000631 which google suggests is indeed a B230K and according to some guy talking to some other guy on a Volvo forum suggests is interference as Tim suggested.

Well, that put things in a different perspective. At least it didn't go on the way down, what you don't know doesn't hurt you, ignorance is bliss etc.

[wuvvum]

Brookhouse are pretty good but they're not at all cheap.  If you have a big order you may find Skandix are better value - they're rarely worth bothering with for small orders due to the postage cost.

[Blunderguts]

DVLA site says it is 2316cc. That's a B230 I think.

[cms206]

On 740s the carb fed 2.3s and all 2.0s were 5-speed manual, 2.3 injections, diesels and turbos were 4+OD.

Similar story on the autos, injected 2.3s, diesels and turbos were ZF 4HP22, the rest I think were all Aisin Warner (AW71 I think).

 

Earlier 940s shared the whole multitude of gearbox shenanigans but eventually settled down to M90 manual or AW auto.

 

Theres something like a dozen different braking systems too. Sensible* Swedes.

[Lankytim]

7 hours ago, HillmanImp said:

ZIONKS!!!!

There isn't a sticker there and it's not come off on the back of the one I pulled either.

I'd read somewhere on one of the Volvo forums before I collected it that all 8 valve non interference but it was just some guy replying to some other guy and was probably talking bollocks.😄

Looking at the code on the head it's 1000631 which google suggests is indeed a B230K and according to some guy talking to some other guy on a Volvo forum suggests is interference as Tim suggested.

Well, that put things in a different perspective. At least it didn't go on the way down, what you don't know doesn't hurt you, ignorance is bliss etc.

It’s got a “pulse air” system too I think! This was a system of pipes that fed air into the exhaust manifold in an effort to reduce emissions, they often corroded away and resulted in poor running and backfires. They’ve mostly been removed and blanked off now as it was a shite system.