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Olga the Second Revised

JerryJS8

der Junge
Joined
Sep 12, 2004
Location
Normal Saxony
Olga the Second Revised - 740(SE) Turbo 16V

1991 740(SE) 16v turbo rebuild project

TL;DR Bought Olga the Second in 2004, completed Stage 0 2005, SE bodykit and 16v turbo conversion 2006, put car in family care/storage 2008, sold car 2013, bought car back 2015, imported car to Germany 2016: begin restauration and revision of Olga the Second. Got registered and on the road in Fall 2017, cancelled registration two months later and parked it for repairs and a do88 intercooler plus an M90 swap over the Winter of 2017/2018. Spring 2018 car back together and stage 0 completed, again. Summer 2018 back on the road with Geminis as a daily driver and slowly getting pesky little gremlins sorted out. Fall 2019 - sideswiped by a Fiat Panda. Winter 2019/20 dedicated to ridding chassis of otherwise imminent rust and preparing for bodywork and full repaint. Summer 2020 - Fighting with the bodyshop to get quality results. Winter 2020/21 - The longest puzzle of my life. Spring 2021 - Restauration complete!

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Long-time member, now getting back into the game after a many year hiatus.

A little bit about me – born in Florida, now living in Germany. Always driven a Volvo, first car was a 89’ 240 that taught me a lot about problem diagnostics and got me on a first name basis with the local pull-a-part. After that I had about 4 or 5 740’s and a 960 that I fixed up and sold mostly to friends and family. Moved to Europe in 2007 and got an introduction to Volvo’s European counterparts with a 480 "sports car" (at least my insurance argued it being one on paper) and a V40 being prime examples of hodge-podge value chain management and minimum viable rust prevention manufacturing that both ended up being sold for export to countries with governments that don’t have as much to say about regulations concerning transport vehicles.

A bit about my project car – bought the car off eBay in 2004 for around 500 dollars with blown turbo seals, cracked rear window and other busted stuff I can’t remember. Best part was that the motor had been laying a nice thick layer of anti-rust film all the way to rear bumper which lead to not having a spot of rust anywhere on the chassis. The name of the car “Olga the Second” comes from it being the second blue 740 sedan I had owned having the same personality of what I would imagine a Swedish lady with a remarkable half-tank construction would be like.

A bit about the project - years before I had started collecting parts for a 16 valve conversion and by the summer of 2006 I had found an SE body kit in the junkyard, fully upgraded the suspension with Bilstien HD’s, IPD 25/25 swaybars, Lesf?rd lowering springs (only in the front, the back was squatting with em installed), adjustable panhard rod, aluminum control arms, Virgo rims, lockin diff with 4.10 final ratio, 5-angle valve seats and matched porting on the B234 head etc.. Biggest hurdle was of course the exhaust manifold, but after getting through that being the last piece of the puzzle, the project had to be completed.

In the pics below you can see the progress/final result of the car as it stood back in the summer of 2008.

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The moderately sized but responsive 50 trim T3

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A bit about the interim - in 2008 I put the car up for sale, but got cold feet about parting with it for good and was able to convince my family to take care of it for a while.

Link to my sales thread just for fun

In 2013 I ended up selling the car to a buddy of mine cause I had moved to Europe and couldn’t fit it in my carryon luggage, and my family was tired of babysitting it.

There the car proved to be quite a headache for him considering the non-standard build that most of you here are familiar with and those typical Volvo electrical issues. Sad to say, the Florida sun wasn’t kind to the paint and daily life took its toll on both the interior and motor. Last year I contacted him to ask how the car was treating him to find out he was putting it up for sale.

My wife knew how much I loved building that project (cause I often would be sitting at my computer looking at pictures of it or other turbobrick projects) and suggested importing it to Germany. Before she could even think about regretting it I told my buddy we’d take it. It was a long wait, but visiting my parents in the spring gave me the chance to get the car road ready to drive it down to Miami and get it on a boat. Here’s the car as I bought it back in Florida.

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And here it is getting off the truck in Germany.

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The white hood and door I installed before putting it on the boat for Germany and were from taken from the only 740 in the local junkyards (coincidentally that car also belonged to the former owner). At that point the car didn’t need to look good for shipment, it just needed to be functional.

And now the project “Olga the Second Revised” begins

First things first – blue door. The white hood doesn’t bother me so much, but that ther’ stock-car racing deal ain’t gonna work. So I found some local enthusiasts parting out a blue 740 and had an impromptu party getting to meet the gang while filling up on spare parts.

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Next improvement – my current daily driver is a 1989 16v 740 SW which originally comes with the 3” throttle body so I swapped manifolds :oogle:

After that I converted to an e-fan, but I’ll need to update with a pic of that since I can’t find any on my phone right now…

Dem Eyes so sad – much better with E-Codes

Before

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After

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In all my (revised)project planning, I decided the turbo is too small, and that before I get a new one, it would only make sense to first have a larger air filter. So what I’m currently up to is fabricating a stock-ish looking airbox to furnish a huge air filter. Bigger box needs moar space, so I relocated the stock wiper fluid reservoir, and relocated the battery to accommodate it.

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So my winter project is to fabricate said air filter box, and spiff up the interior with said collected spare interior parts from said cannibalized former enthusiast owned Volvo 740. Before springtime I need to also (re)complete Stage 0 for the import registration in Germany. Meanwhile I’ve been having some fun with some 3-D concepts for a bigger turbo. Someone say EFR 6758 Twin scroll?

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What a total sleeper! That's awesome that you get to reconditioning it after the person you sold it to ruined it. There are a few cars I've sold that I wish I could have helped out like that...
 
Thanks!

Just means I get more project for old my project car :) But I wouldn't go as far as saying he ruined it. Just missing a bit of its old glanz ;-)
 
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I met the guy who bought this car . He was telling me the story on it. Glad to see its back in good hands and being restored to its former glory.
 
Got to swapping the Virgos to my DD and the Remotecs on the project 744.

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Not sure how I like the look of these... but they are 7.5 inches wide, which makes them interesting.

Kinda up in the air on these or a set of Geminis, even though a 225/55 tire would go on Geminis just fine.
 
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Well the car is lowered already, and with the streets here in town I'd be afraid of going any lower.

Also got these hanging out in the garage.

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But the remotecs with new paint are kinda growing on me.
 
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Whoa awesome... So im not the only 16v turbo guy in germany anymore? :) i think we need to phone some day about 16v's n stuff :) !!
 
The mailman brought me a new present today! The car has made it this far on a square-toothed belt...

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And since this had been a Florida car probably all its life, this might be the first time it's seen snow!

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looking good.

I always thought the P80 chassis front calipers would work. Nice cheap upgrade!


also how much for your "old" header?

I got a lot of other stuff to do to get it registered and made into a reliable daily driver before I start on the twin scroll upgrade.
 
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