I think it’s Time for a Wagon 1988 740 Turbo

[Coupid]

My wife, daughter and I are departing for Monterey tomorrow to pick up this gem:



I’ve been looking on and off for a Volvo project since I sold Buttercup my 142s a few years ago. Since we have a 1 year old it seemed like time to get a wagon.

The car was owned by the same family since 1991 and lived its entire life in CA. More to come

[Corey]

I was looking at that add the other day. Def miss mine, same color/year/trim. So comfy, one day I will own another..

[Coupid]

Originally Posted by Corey

I was looking at that add the other day. Def miss mine, same color/year/trim. So comfy, one day I will own another..

I can’t wait to drive it. Will let everyone know how it goes and start tracking the project immediately. I test drove a beat up 240 a few weeks ago and it cemented the fact that I wanted another Volvo. When this car popped up the long term email owner and pretty body/interior made it too perfect not to go get it.

[doucheNozzle]

[Coupid]

Originally Posted by doucheNozzle

Thanks dude! We stopped for gas at your old exit in SLO today and I was reminiscing about WM...

Okay so we went to see the wagon this morning. PO and his wife were the most hospitable people we have met. He had a binder with his service records starting when they bought it in 1995 plus the original owner’s dating back to 1988.

I looked around the car in their driveway. The roof and hood had been respirated due to failing clear coat. The interior is in great shape. I was especially shocked at the nice condition of the plastics. He had a dog gate, two more Dracos plus many more odds and ends that he included. I also noticed a little coolant near the radiator hose connection which made me a little nervous.

We took it for a test drive around their neighborhood where it behaved very well while I got it up to temp. When we got back I looked for more coolant and it had all evaporated and hadn’t returned.



After a breakfast stop at Alta Bakery in Monterey, the three of us headed out, me in the 740 and my wife and daughter following in her car.

I was a little nervous because save the odd trip to SFO the car hadn’t been out of Monterey recently. I had checked the weather and saw that it was going to be over 90 from Greenfield to Paso. In spite of the lack of AC and Heat I survived San Ardo, where temps topped 98.

We stopped for a picnic at the Camp Roberts truck stop and also used the back seat as a changing table:

Getting back into Santa Barbara:



The rest of the drive was uneventful and we arrived back at home:

After dinner, I couldn’t help myself so I started going through the car. I back to blacked the bumpers, installed the dog gate, removed the hardwired garmin and the custom wood cup holder. I think that will probably be refinished and reinstalled.

As it sits after an hour of work before I ran out of light:

Tomorrow I will pick at a few more easy projects and work on putting together a list of projects I want to tackle.

[Vol242vo]

Hey congrats on the new project, awesome it made the trip back home without headaches. Great family car and sure to have fun with it.

[John242Ti]

I guess you might want to change your username to 88volvo745ti... Had the red '89 version of that for a while. When/if you add fog lamps again, I'd go with amber lenses this time around, and maybe get the Bosch Pilot fog lamp grilles, like what are shown on my 240s in the .sig pics below.

[Coupid]

Originally Posted by Vol242vo

Hey congrats on the new project, awesome it made the trip back home without headaches. Great family car and sure to have fun with it.

With the mileage I was a little hesitant but since it was well maintained I figured it might just work out. Thanks! I grew up in a 245 with the third row so it just seems right that my daughter gets to do the same thing.

Originally Posted by John242Ti

I guess you might want to change your username to 88volvo745ti... Had the red '89 version of that for a while. When/if you add fog lamps again, I'd go with amber lenses this time around, and maybe get the Bosch Pilot fog lamp grilles, like what are shown on my 240s in the .sig pics below.

Haha yeah I should. I’m definitely planning to do what you describe WRT fog lights.

Here is the start to the running list of items I’d like to work on. Once I have a chance to really go through the 2 inch tall stack of maintenance records I’ll have a better idea of what needs work mechanically

Exterior:
Pass front Turn signal bulb socket replacement
Tail light replacement (PS is completely sun bleached, DS is cracked a little)
AC leak fix and recharge (already converted to R134a)
Clay bar and wax
Fog lights, respray chin spoiler
Belly pan

Suspension:
New struts at a minimum (then decide if I want to keep it totally stock or do mild lowering springs... or Kaplehenke coil overs lol)
Probably will need bushings
Clean and then likely Refinish wheels due to brake dust accumulation
Tires

Interior:
Heater core
Third brake light cover
Treat leather
Remove seats and carpet for deep cleaning
Fix Pass Window
Fix heated seats
Fix clock

I’ll be busy for a while...

[Corey]

Congrats! looks pretty clean

[Centsableone]

Nice looking car. GL with it. Hey, at 300k it's just about broken in!

[Coupid]

Originally Posted by Corey

Congrats! looks pretty clean

Originally Posted by Centsableone

Nice looking car. GL with it. Hey, at 300k it's just about broken in!

Thanks guys, yeah she is just a baby at this point lol

[Coupid]

Okay, no photos cause it got dark but I got a little bit of time to look through the car. I spent some time pulling the window switches so I could investigate the PS front not rolling up or down on either the master switch or the passenger door card one. All three other windows work great. I started by cleaning the contacts. No change. Then I swapped the DS switch to the PS harness and it still didn’t move or make a sound. I’m thinking that means regulator or motor? Anything else I can check?

I also traced the hyper blinker to the PS front turn signal. The bulb looked okay but was loose in the socket. I read in the maintenance notes that this was originally noted back in like 2007 and even then the parts were NLA. I ordered a few corner lamp sockets from IPD to try to modify to make work. We’ll see how that goes.

Finally I looked into the fog lights. The bolts are still in the bumper along with parts of the plastic brackets. No harness in sight. Does anyone know if it comes off the DS or PS engine harness so I can look a little harder in case the PO’s mechanic tucked it up somewhere in the engine bay?

[Coupid]

The clean out continues and the first parts arrived this evening. Lighted window switches:




I figured these are always a nice upgrade and I could double check the front passenger side switch while I was in there. The new switches worked great but the front PS window still wont budge. I did notice that the switch lights up now and when I try to roll it down from the drivers side switch the light on the passenger side switch light goes out. Strange... will have to investigate further. I’m really hoping for a loose ground somewhere since all the other windows work great.

[Coupid]

Had my usual 2 hours after bedtime to get some work done on the car. My chemical guys Deiron spray arrived so I wanted to try to tackle the neglected dracos. Here’s the before but in typical fashion it got too dark for an after.

They all look a lot better but a few wheels will need to be refinished, just too much pitting and no paint left on the wheels. Will need to do that or find some Hydras... or Gottis lol.

I also investigated the PS front window some more. I pulled the door card to look for any obvious breaks in the wires. Nothing jumped out at me so I pulled the motor and regulator out of the door. I tried connecting it to the PS rear harness but it didn’t work (maybe cause the front window is used to receiving power directly from fuse 8?). I took it into the garage so I could write down the PN and start looking for a used one. While I was in there I decided to hook it up to a spare 12V battery. It jumped to life!!! Then I tried it in the car and it was good to go.

In retrospect the motor studs seemed really jammed into the door so maybe pulling it out freed it up? Regardless I am thrilled to have four working windows since I am a window down guy even in cars that have functioning AC.

Rear tails and supplies to fix the front turn signal should arrive tomorrow or Sat!

[Coupid]

IPD package arrive today so I got to work replacing the taillights:



With these:



Not impressed with the build quality or seals so I might keep an eye out for some used OEM ones. Until then they look about 10x better.

I also got a couple front parking light bulb holders since the passenger turn signal socket is trash and NLA. I was able to pull the pins out of the harness and plug them directly into the incorrect socket. The keys are the same so it clipped into the turn signal housing and works great.

I love it when things work out like I was hoping they would!

[LC4CARL]

Chicks dig Volvo wagons.

[brickcupra]

Hey , glad to hear you got your wish!!!
I am still doing mods in my 240 wagon, hopefully i get them done by September.
Take care and enjoy the build!!!
Dz

[Coupid]

Originally Posted by LC4CARL

Chicks dig Volvo wagons.

Originally Posted by brickcupra

Hey , glad to hear you got your wish!!!
I am still doing mods in my 240 wagon, hopefully i get them done by September.
Take care and enjoy the build!!!
Dz

Wagons are the best!

I had a few minutes to investigate the heated seats, neither switch powers on. It looks like someone spilled a coffee on the switches at some point. I replaced the little backlight bulb for them and cleaned up the outside. Now I need to see if I can dissemble and clean the contacts inside the rocker or if I just need to replace them. ::: edit::: Figured out how to get them out... sure enough they were full of ancient coffee:

After a reasonably solid cleaning I got one of them to at least light up. The internal bulb in the other looked pretty blown so I’m not surprised it didn’t bounce back. Does the car have to be running for the heater to turn on? I didn’t want to start the car up to confirm if the seat heated up but tomorrow is a new day!

I also found out that the front fog light switch turns on the ac aux fan... that will be fun to sort out I’m sure.

[Hilding]

Nice car.
I never got my seat heaters to work nor the buttons for them, replaced the wire-stuff in the driver seat (AND PUT IN EXTRA FLUFF), which came with it's own 6 step dial instead of the button.
If you can't get the original working, maybe you can find aftermarket?

[Coupid]

Originally Posted by Hilding

Nice car.
I never got my seat heaters to work nor the buttons for them, replaced the wire-stuff in the driver seat (AND PUT IN EXTRA FLUFF), which came with it's own 6 step dial instead of the button.
If you can't get the original working, maybe you can find aftermarket?

That would make a lot more sense probably but I like the challenge of making the factory stuff work. I ordered a new DS switch so hopefully that does the trick. If not I will look at the wire mat heating elements and check for continuity.

Tonight I pulled off the chin spoiler and took it from this :



To this:



Now I’m on the hunt for some fogs and brackets and the front end will be all set!

[white855T]

Not OEM but new lights and brackets. https://www.ebay.com/itm/362450187809

[Coupid]

Originally Posted by white855T

Not OEM but new lights and brackets. https://www.ebay.com/itm/362450187809

Thanks, I've been tempted by those but feel like I should just hold out for used OEM. They'll will probably stand the test of time a little better. Speaking of which, I should PM you on those taillights lol.

[Coupid]

Originally Posted by Coupid

I also got a couple front parking light bulb holders since the passenger turn signal socket is trash and NLA. I was able to pull the pins out of the harness and plug them directly into the incorrect socket. The keys are the same so it clipped into the turn signal housing and works great.

I love it when things work out like I was hoping they would!

After a little more driving I noticed that while the passenger turn signal did flash, it was pretty dim. I looked at the holder again and since it is for the parking light it was setup to contact the dim filament connection on the 1157 bulb. Tonight I was able to rotate the contact in the bulb holder so that it hit the brighter filament. Now everything is 100% right and I didn't have to resort to buying a $125 NOS turn signal off ebay just to get the bulb holder!

[Scaramanga]

Nice car! Congrats

[DanMarino]

I can totally appreciate this car. Best wishes with it. I need to get another wagon in my live someday and one like yours would be on my short list.