posted by
someone claiming to be RonS
on
Sun Feb 16 12:37 CST 2003 [ RELATED]
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I have just bought a 90 780 with a blown 4cyl turbo for my son. I need advice on a replacement engine a local mechanic has 2 motors but they are out of older cars. What should I look for and were should I look. there is no hurry his 16 b-day is no till July?
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Hi Ron and his lucky son. Being the father of 3 teens (20 year old boy 744t, 18 year old boy 89 744t 16 year old girl 89 244na) I can sympathise with your quandry and the previous responses(I drive a 80 262c bertone with a 400 hp 350chev and my wife drives a stock 87 780). My advice(first hand experiance) is that the more your son invests of himself, time and especially money, the better the car will fare. Invest in some GOOD driver training(my daughters drivers ed teacher knowing that she was going to drive rwd suggsted some extra curricular skid training on an iced parking lot($100.00 extra) worked so well guess what the boys got for x-mas). Finally keep the turbo, as you have hopfully noticed the boost is adjustable (easialy at that), so start him off at low boost(2-3 psi) and the car will perform less that a na b230f. As experiance grows increase boost progessively(worked for my kids)
Have safe fun
Yvan
--
73 1800es/80 262c(350ci v8)/86 740t/87 780/89 240/89 740t
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posted by
someone claiming to be MrRock
on
Mon Feb 17 17:15 CST 2003 [ RELATED]
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just to get a word in, I have a 780, and already want to get my stake in if you decide to get rid of this car :) There are some key things I am looking for that are just IMPOSSIBLE to find anywhere except another 780. I would love to nab some stuff out of the cab. Shoot me an email at rockjurai@hotmail.com if you want to get rid of a few no-essentail parts (of course, I can offer $$ in return), or just want to know more about 780's in general.
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Before you let your son loose with a turbo, you should drive it yourself in the wet.
When the road is wet, you better be going straight if you boot it, if the car is in tune, it will swap ends in a flash.
I love my 1990 turbo sedan, but I would never let a teen-age boy drive it.
I also have a nice 1988 745 GLE, a great car for a teen.
--
3 8s & 2 7s 725,000 miles total
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I've gotta agree here. I would sell it, and buy the kid a non turbo station wagon. First of all the 780 is a rare car, any body or interior damage and it'll be $$$$ to fix. That, and the 780 is one of the more collectable Volvos out there... and there's a large chance a 16 year old wouldn't appreciate the car. Then, the turbo is just way too powerful for a new driver. Let him get used to using his good judgement and ability to plan ahead to keep him from getting into accidents.
Anyhow why a wagon? The utility and ease of parallel parking. The car ends about six inches from the rear glass. This makes parallel parking very easy.
It's understandable to want a nice car for your child. However, the vast majority of 700 series Volvos were equipped with leather, air conditioning, etc. A normally aspirated 740 wagon is actually a fairly posh car.. and still has exceptionally comfortable seats.
- alex
'85 244 Turbo
'84 245 Turbo
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Watch out: the mechanical problems are the least you will face. Any body damage at all and this car is almost totalled: the cost to repair is prohibitive due to the lack of spares and the cost of the replacements that are available. This is possibly the worst car on the road for high-school parking lots, where dings and crashes are a way of life.
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You've already gotten 2 helpful replies, so I'll throw in my .002. You're crazy to give a turbo car to a 16 year old, especially a 780. Buy him a $1000 4 door NA 240 and let him bump into stuff with that. The problem with turbos is you can get going really fast really quickly. Compounding the problem is the 700 series relative isolation from the environment, so that 90MPH feels a lot like 60. Maybe I'm the exception, but I bumped into a few other cars, curbs, etc. before my 18th birthday. Luckilly, my car wasn't fast enough to put anyone in the hospital. I just don't think a turbo anything is a good car to give an inexperienced driver.
--
Bob W.
'91 744T 173K
'82 245Ti 238K
'67 122 wagon
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I have to agree with Bob on this one. All too often I deal with speeding teenagers in rice rockets and they do get fat tickets, I give no breaks. A turbocharged anything with a 16 year old is going to be expensive. Drag race down a quiet road, he wins and shuts down right away, coked bearings. Parking lot autocross and bumps off a light or another car, can we say uninsurable? Im not saying your kid is a bad driver, but from a police officers point of view I can honestly say a turbo Volvo would be a bad choice of car. Maybe he wont get a brakestand going but once he passes 30 MPH in a low gear he will find out what linear acceleration is all about.
If you want to keep him safe a 240 or 740 wagon or maybe just a sedan with a standard B21 and automatic would be the best choice in terms of budget and safety. Go read my post on August 19, 2002 and you will understand where Im coming from. My son is a living testament of Volvo safety. He now has a 240 wagon B21E/M46 equipped with nothing but a Motorola spectra to talk to dad. He is damn proud of the car, waxes it every weekend and feeds it only the best oils every 6 weeks. Not fast but hes not a speed demon.
Just my $0.05 here, $0.02 on thoughts and $0.03 taxes
Badge988
Heres the URL for my post http://www.brickboard.com/STORIES/index.htm?id=510336
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Oh come on, havent we heard enough from the cynical adults who hate teen drivers. The kid in question could be a great driver, and besides a turbo dosen't give him the power of a Porsche under his right foot. Even turbocharged the 780 Bertone's make 180 hp stock. Even thats in the neighborhood of the NA 5cyl and NA 6cyl. I know several kids my age with turbos, a 780, an 854T5, and a 940. They are all good drivers with clean records and don't assume a a Volvo makes them invincible. Heck, I wish i had a turbo in my 854. RonS I hope your son fixes that car and is a great driver to prove all these doubters wrong.
--
Matt in MA, '93 850 GLT
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Hey, I AM a kid.
I have two turbos, both with manual transmissions. I love them both. I have a clean record, and I consider myself a fairly safe driver.
However, I'm still glad that I learned to drive on a less powerful car with an a automatic. Learning to drive on the Taurus helped drive home the importance of planning ahead. In that car, you couldn't pass much.. in an emergency or otherwise. I can still remember bouncing off a curb on my first trip behind the wheel (thankfully it was one of those driver's ed cars with two sets of controls). Heck, in the few years I've been driving I've scraped my cars a few times. Not really a big deal, but then again I don't own any cars that it would be hard to find body parts for. Heck, if nothing else high school was quite hard on the interior of my car.. the random passenger that would put his/her cigarette out on the seats, etc.
It's really too bad you felt that you've made the right decision and too bad that you feel like you've written to Ann Landers. You've found a group of people who appreciate the 780 for what it is. A rare Volvo.
Handing any turbo'd car to a teenager probably wouldn't result in too many positive responses on the board.. but handing a 780 seems worse. A 764 is just as fast... you gave a 240 to your daughter, and yet a 240 isn't good enough for your son? Hmm.
As for NOS... if you can't fathom how reckless it is to equip a 16 year old's first car with it, I shouldn't bother with a response.
SUGGESTIONS: if you insist on giving the car to the son, have him pay to fix it up or fix it up himself. At least this way he will appreciate the money and effort it takes to make a car nice. Take the money you're spending on the car, and send him to a defensive driving class. BMW of America offers a minimal class like that. They travel around the US and offer you a chance to hone your driving skills on some 323i's. And they offer an autocross for those who are 21+. Loads of fun, and skills you can take home with you.
- alex
'85 244 Turbo
'84 245 Turbo
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Thanks for the note Alex but I have the son thing under control we home school our kids they are both very disciplined and don't smoke. As far as power goes I taught them both to drive and they have driven my truck many times its a 2500HDChevy with a 8.1. D.J., my son, knows the rarity of the car he paid for the car and help me bring it back from TX. Every time we stopped for gas, and that was often with my truck, 10 miles per gallon, he could not stop looking at it. He already knows more about the car than I do. It has been 2 years since I sold our 740 turbo but I don't think it had the power of my first car a 69 mustang fast back with a 351. I had one of those to rebuild for him but I thought he would be safer in a Volvo and we found the 780
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Finally, for a moment I thought I had inadvertently sent my message to Ann Launders or dear Abby, having read some other posts I can see I am not nearly technical enough for some. My daughter is driving 85 240 that I bought for her 16th b-day, that car made the 5th Volvo I have owned including a 86 740ti The 780 I bought (#6 Volvo) for under $1000. I have located a motor out of a 94 940 that had 80000 miles on it when it got hit in 12/02. How ever he wants $1600 sounds high what do you guys think? PS My son would like to put NOS on the car (he like the movie The Fast and The Furious) has any one done this and how did it turn out? Can't wait to get the responses back on that question.
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You want an engine with 13mm conecting rods. Volvo went from 9mm to 13mm conecting rods as a running change about 2 months into the 1989 model year. The earlier rods are weaker, see my post from yesterday.
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posted by
someone claiming to be Mike Gambone
on
Sun Feb 16 12:53 CST 2003 [ RELATED]
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Not sure what you mean by "blown", rod sticking out side of block, or just doesn't run. If its truly dead, why not pull engine, disassemble and have a local machine shop do the necessary work (even assemble) and re-install. Should be a good father/son project, your son will learn a lot (though he might not need a turbo). Personally, I would avoid the used engine installed by a "trusting" mechanic, seems like it always costs almost as much as a new engine with old engine problems. Good luck.
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