I have not had much luck trying to obtain the info that I want. I did find out that apparently some of these had some type of eaton locker.

I have a 89 740 estate with the b234f and a 5 speed w46 the one with the button in the shifter. I would like to know how many were build. I can't imagine that there was huge numbers of this combo built.

The car is a blast to drive, it turned over 252000 on the last trip to Florida I put the car on the road the middle of Oct. and made 2 trips 1700 plus miles and the car gets 22 mpg unreal, paid 300 for it and got 800 in it

Also where do I find axle id info on the car ?

On a recent trip from Ontario to Newfoundland (lots of hills for the eastern half of the trip), heavily laden and with a full size Thule box on the roof, my 1990 740 wagon B234f / M46 averaged 25 miles per US gal. Kept to the speed limit or less, respecting the extra weight on board. That's with 407,000 km on the clock. Nary a problem. Just before the trip I replaced the timing belt but removed the balance shaft belt. The engine roughness did not change and the car seemed a little more responsive.

Bill

I did not know you could do that, is thier an advantage to it ? and how exactly does that work ? To bad the Turbo 16v never came to AM. it would be interesting to get into one and build a custom bore and stroke and work the head, it's a 2.3 now thats about 140 or so cu in so with a bore and stroke you could probably get 200 out of it. put a 150 shot on it
it's 153 hp so you would be looking at around 225 hp 375 with the shot. the injectors wont cut it.
just a thought.

Well, removing the balance shaft belt gives you one less belt to break. Should it break (and it is known to have happened), it can tangle up in the timing belt and take it out too. Because it is an interference engine, you would be in for an expensive engine rebuild. Do not neglect the timing belt on this car. The balance shaft belt is there to reduce engine vibrate a bit (it counteracts a higher harmonic). It appears to be a refinement that may be more relevant to cars equiped with an automatic transmission when at idle but that is a pure guess on my part. I did not notice any difference when I removed mine. My engine idles a bit rough anyway (it does have lots of miles on it) so the extra refinement supplied by the belt is lost in the noise - literally. Since the B230f and ft do not have balance shafts and the block is the same, I can't see how any engine damage can occur by removing the belt. Theoretically, the engine should be quieter and have a bit more power since the belt can be a bit noisy and it does require energy to turn. Subjectively I can say that it certainly is no worse with the belt off and perhaps even better.

Google turbobricks and wander through that site. They do address the 16v turbo a bit. See my site www.nuceng.ca/bill for some info on the B234f engine and some general Volvo stuff.

Bill

The only B234 M46 equipped 740 I have seen had a 4.10:1 ratio rear end in a 1031 housing. That is the same ratio rear end as the AW72L equipped cars had. Very uncommon 700 series.

The car I saw was a 1991 model. It had a P/J overdrive unit on the M46. The transmission is currently on my garage floor where it waits to be installed in my son's 1995 940. 1991 was the first year for the Eaton locker, and it came in the turbo cars. I don't recall this 1991 B234 equipped car having the Eaton locker. For the 1992 model year, all 700/900 cars came with the Eaton locker.
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john

Might've been a swap, Volvo only sold the 740 with B234/M46 combination in the US in 1989 and 1990, not sure about Canada though.

Zack
1980 245DL M46 296k
1988 745T+ M46 246k

If it was a swap it's the cleanest one I have ever seen, And I have been turning wrenches for a living since I was 17 years old.
The info I have found is 89 / 90 wagons with the b234f but no referance to transmission, It's production numbers have to be small I just haven't found them yet,

Another guy on here gave me some info on the rear ends so it will have a factory locker in it soon.

I hope to find a resource of information that I can bring back to this site for everyone that is interested to enjoy.

I wasn't suggesting your '89 was a swap, I was saying that the '91 that another poster mentioned was almost certainly a swap.

VLVworld shows 200000 740s produced in 1989-1990 (I'm assuming that's for US market cars). Just random guessing that 10% were 16v, and let's guess 60% of those 20k were sedans, that leaves 8k wagons, let's guess 3% of those were M46, that would be 240 B234F/M46/wagon 740s covering 2 model years. I would be curious to see the real numbers though.

Zack
1980 245DL M46 297k
1988 745T+ M46 247k

You sure? I thought the B234f with the manual transmission had a 3.73 rear end. The 4.10 is for the auto.


Bill

You could be correct. The 1991 specimen I saw had the 4.10 ratio. It could have been replaced.
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john

Thank you will the later model axles swap out with my wagon ? sure would be nice to have a locker.

Yes. Get a 3.73 ratio from a 1991+ turbo 700/900. They have Eaton lockers.
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john

John,
Are the M46's found in n/a 8 valve cars the same as the ones found in the B234's? I have one from a '90 240 that I want to put in my '89 16V.

Thanks,
Dave

Eight valve NA cars used the M46 with J type OD. Turbo 740s, starting during the 1986 model year, used the P type OD. Very late turbo 700s used the P/J or J/P type overdrives. The B234 cars came with the same OD as the turbo cars. The J type is actually quite durable, and will do well in a turbo or B234 car. The weak link will be third gear in the M46.

Your 1990 240 would have been delivered with an M47, Volvo's 5 speed derived from the M46.
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john

Thanks John, that's good to know. I just need to find all of the other conversion parts now.

Dave

sweet is that the heavy duty housing as well ? I think I have a 4:10 because I get 22 mpg and it is quick, the 373 would give me better mileage but I would loose some low end. I pulled out of work giong to lunch and a mustang at highway speed moved over like he was going to breeze past me, well not only did he not catch me but I was pulling away in about 1/8 mile I was doing 80 and I got out of it right and when the mustang got beside me he was looking at my wagon noding like damn... It is quick and will rev 5000
This car is just so fun to drive, Does the axle have to be a wagon or can I use a sedan ?

The 1041 is the heavy duty version of Volvo's Dana rear end with the Eaton locker. The 3.73 ratio is very common and found in 700/900 turbo wagons and sedans from 1991 on. Your 1989 car should have a 48 tooth tone ring, as all later 700/900 cars do. 1987-88 700s with ABS have a 96 tooth tone ring, and it is a lot of work to get the speedometer to work correctly if a 48 tooth tone ring rear end is installed.

See the picture, from the 700/900 FAQ for the axle identification tag.

Thanks again, I prefer to use factory parts when I can or add factory options.

I really would like to find out how many were built with the b234 and m46 trans in a wagon, I know it's a 2 year model for the gle. And I can't imagine that it was masively produced.

I would like to drive a turbo version of the b234.

Do you know of any performance mods. ?

This guy is amazing. He makes and sells performance chips, is very active on Turbobricks among other things.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhuRQPu1IOY

Over 300hp, smokes Mustangs regularly, daily driver.

The amount of performance mods available is stunning, for cars that are now at least 15 years old and in your case 20.

Some guys are making custom adapters to mount Chevy auto trans to Volvo redblocks (faster shifting for dragracing) which only requires a completely different type of ignition due to not being able to use the tone ring. Some of these guys are serious.
Apparently the manual Volvo trans cannot cope with higher power. Those who want manual trans and high output go with a BMW Getrag

16v info
http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=16750

16v turbo info
http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=31900