- Joined
- Mar 19, 2003
- Location
- Denver, CO
Hello Turbobrickstas. You may have been wondering why I haven't been updating my other car project threads lately, but probably not. Honestly I haven't updated much because I'm lazy and have too many hobbies sucking my time. But also, it's because I haven't been working on MY own Volvos much. I have been really distracted and busy working on this other Volvo project you are going to read about. After 2 years and lots of hours in the garage it seems I should start a project thread. So here it goes.
Back Story on how this all developed.
I have always wanted to go road racing, but it seemed like a stretch financially. Unfortunately I have a group of friends that also like car racing. And they have been trying to get a race team going for 24 Hours of Lemons for about 5 years. Problem is that they just like fancy new cars, but aren't really mechanics. But one day over some beers, these guys talked me into trying to build a car for 24HoL. It's only $500 for car! What could possibly go wrong? So we formed a loose consortium and we tried to buy a previously built race BMW with a blown motor from across the country. We failed there because it was $3000 to ship this heap of metal across the country. We shopped for cheap cars around town for a while and just couldn't find something we wanted to commit to. Everyone had their favorite, and nothing seemed cheap enough. Too much talking and not enough doing. Blah Blah Blah.
After alot of bench racing, I got tired of all the talk and no action. Knowing that I would be the head mechanic on the team I wanted to have a car that I liked to work on. And also a car that I knew where to find doors, transmissions, engines, and whatever else I needed to keep this hunk of racing metal running. And I'm somewhat blinded by Volvo loyalty, I actually think these cars are fast. (they aren't really, not any more). Short story long... I have been around Turbobricks for 20 years now. I have lots of Volvos and parts kicking around. Many things pointing me toward a Volvo. Also my team mates are GIANT. Like 6'6" tall. A Miata would have been nearly impossible. So I decided with only some agreement from my team that our race car was going to have to be a rear wheel drive Volvo. They reluctantly agreed, and I went out to find one.
Years ago I convinced a co-worker he needed to buy this black Volvo 740 wagon from Craigslist for $1500. It would be great to haul his kids around in style. It had leather, 3rd row seat, sunroof, a turbo! It was awesome. He liked it alot and I fed him some of the best Turbobricks modification tips. After driving it daily for about a year or so he "blew" the engine. He had intentions to rebuild, but life took over and he parked it in his back yard for 10 years to rot. Lucky for me, while it ran he did install quite a few goodies from the IPD catalog and had partially set up megasquirt on the car. (maybe that's why it blew up) LOL. A few good bonus parts to get us going.
After 10 years there were lots of wasp nests and other critters inside. It was hailed on several times, and the floor was soaking wet. I was guessing rusty floors for sure. There was lots of other rust and grime. The brakes were so rusty the car drug the flat tires across the pavement when we towed it onto the flatbed truck. It wouldn't even roll. But it had potential, AND it looks OK from a distance. Maybe too good. I'm still not sure how we are going to pass the BS inspection and convince anybody this is a $500 car. Penalty laps are a given I think. It has many blue IPD suspension parts that scream EXPENSIVE. Some Koni shocks, but they were dead. I loved it. I convinced my friend it needed a new home and our race team was a charity that needed help! We begged and bribed and offered to buy it for $500, because that's the price limit! After some consideration he agreed to sell it and we were in business! We had a race car. Sort of. I think we bought some IPD suspension parts and got a free Volvo really. But we were stoked. We had a car and our team was real now!
Here are the pictures from day 1 when we picked it up.
It was April 2021. We were in a full on Covid pandemic and we were all sent home from work for lockdown. But we had a project!!
It looked pretty good, and all there. But I was told it smoked badly, and the engine was blown.
-------------
What you see here is a 1989 740 Turbo with an automatic transmission with a handful of nice but old and crusty performance parts.
Back Story on how this all developed.
I have always wanted to go road racing, but it seemed like a stretch financially. Unfortunately I have a group of friends that also like car racing. And they have been trying to get a race team going for 24 Hours of Lemons for about 5 years. Problem is that they just like fancy new cars, but aren't really mechanics. But one day over some beers, these guys talked me into trying to build a car for 24HoL. It's only $500 for car! What could possibly go wrong? So we formed a loose consortium and we tried to buy a previously built race BMW with a blown motor from across the country. We failed there because it was $3000 to ship this heap of metal across the country. We shopped for cheap cars around town for a while and just couldn't find something we wanted to commit to. Everyone had their favorite, and nothing seemed cheap enough. Too much talking and not enough doing. Blah Blah Blah.
After alot of bench racing, I got tired of all the talk and no action. Knowing that I would be the head mechanic on the team I wanted to have a car that I liked to work on. And also a car that I knew where to find doors, transmissions, engines, and whatever else I needed to keep this hunk of racing metal running. And I'm somewhat blinded by Volvo loyalty, I actually think these cars are fast. (they aren't really, not any more). Short story long... I have been around Turbobricks for 20 years now. I have lots of Volvos and parts kicking around. Many things pointing me toward a Volvo. Also my team mates are GIANT. Like 6'6" tall. A Miata would have been nearly impossible. So I decided with only some agreement from my team that our race car was going to have to be a rear wheel drive Volvo. They reluctantly agreed, and I went out to find one.
Years ago I convinced a co-worker he needed to buy this black Volvo 740 wagon from Craigslist for $1500. It would be great to haul his kids around in style. It had leather, 3rd row seat, sunroof, a turbo! It was awesome. He liked it alot and I fed him some of the best Turbobricks modification tips. After driving it daily for about a year or so he "blew" the engine. He had intentions to rebuild, but life took over and he parked it in his back yard for 10 years to rot. Lucky for me, while it ran he did install quite a few goodies from the IPD catalog and had partially set up megasquirt on the car. (maybe that's why it blew up) LOL. A few good bonus parts to get us going.
After 10 years there were lots of wasp nests and other critters inside. It was hailed on several times, and the floor was soaking wet. I was guessing rusty floors for sure. There was lots of other rust and grime. The brakes were so rusty the car drug the flat tires across the pavement when we towed it onto the flatbed truck. It wouldn't even roll. But it had potential, AND it looks OK from a distance. Maybe too good. I'm still not sure how we are going to pass the BS inspection and convince anybody this is a $500 car. Penalty laps are a given I think. It has many blue IPD suspension parts that scream EXPENSIVE. Some Koni shocks, but they were dead. I loved it. I convinced my friend it needed a new home and our race team was a charity that needed help! We begged and bribed and offered to buy it for $500, because that's the price limit! After some consideration he agreed to sell it and we were in business! We had a race car. Sort of. I think we bought some IPD suspension parts and got a free Volvo really. But we were stoked. We had a car and our team was real now!
Here are the pictures from day 1 when we picked it up.
It was April 2021. We were in a full on Covid pandemic and we were all sent home from work for lockdown. But we had a project!!
It looked pretty good, and all there. But I was told it smoked badly, and the engine was blown.
-------------
What you see here is a 1989 740 Turbo with an automatic transmission with a handful of nice but old and crusty performance parts.