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

[Coupid]

So I did a thing and ordered a bunch of IPD goodies that arrived mid-week:



Spring compressor should give it away but I got lowering springs, sways, and Billy HDs.

My 91 780 was lowered when I got it and my 86 740 was lowered by Nick and Tony with a plasma cutter at an OVT workday so while I have owned a few grandpa series cars I have never experienced the joy of pulling a front strut.

Attempt one on the passenger side took about 3 hours and looked ugly:



I read more and took the lessons learned to the driver’s side where it took me about 45 min to just pull the whole assembly out:



Stock springs getting ready to go in the trash:



Now the gland nuts are soaking in PB blaster so I can hopefully deploy a big pipe wrench to get them to turn. They aren’t that rusty but they also are missing any holes or slots to get a tool in them.

Once they are off I can start reassembling the front and then move on to the much easier rear of the car!

[LC4CARL]

Chicks dig IPD.

Cut those stock spring in 1/2 and sell them for $$$ on TB...

[redblockpowered]

Which springs did the car have originally? Should be on the build plate somewhere.

[Coupid]

Originally Posted by LC4CARL

Chicks dig IPD.

Cut those stock spring in 1/2 and sell them for $$$ on TB...

#pureprofit

Originally Posted by redblockpowered

Which springs did the car have originally? Should be on the build plate somewhere.

I’m joking about throwing them away. I’ll keep them along with the stock front sway in case the car needs to return to stock at some point. I don’t see any tags on them with all the undercoating. Do you mean the build plate under the hood? Can you tell from this:



Getting the gland nuts off wasn’t too bad once I just pulled the assembly out of the car and squeezed it in my vice. Good god were those struts blown



Starting the reassemble but I ordered new strut mount bearings that arrive Monday so there isn’t much else I can do until those get here.



The rear shock bolts and the hardware that the new sway bracket will attach to are all soaking in penetrating oil. I only have two jack stands so unless I rectify that situation I will have to wait to do the rear until the front is back on the ground.

[redblockpowered]

Hmm, interesting. I checked GCP for what the stuff on your build plate meant, and it looks like the chassis code stuff didn't appear until mid '89. In any case it looks like they slimmed down the available spring rates for 88-90 740 a lot, at least compared to the 85-87 and 940 catalogs. The same front spring at a few different heights, and what looks like 745/744/Nivomat rear springs. Seems like the stock rates on that car should be something like ~127 lb/in front and 117 lb/in rear? Way soft up front.

I stashed my stock springs somewhere too. Gotta preserve that resale value (lol).

[Coupid]

Originally Posted by redblockpowered

Hmm, interesting. I checked GCP for what the stuff on your build plate meant, and it looks like the chassis code stuff didn't appear until mid '89. In any case it looks like they slimmed down the available spring rates for 88-90 740 a lot, at least compared to the 85-87 and 940 catalogs. The same front spring at a few different heights, and what looks like 745/744/Nivomat rear springs. Seems like the stock rates on that car should be something like ~127 lb/in front and 117 lb/in rear? Way soft up front.

I stashed my stock springs somewhere too. Gotta preserve that resale value (lol).

That’s interesting maybe they had to blow through a bunch of spring inventory in the late 80s. Can’t wait to see what it’s like with the ipd springs and non blown shocks. I know the sways will make a huge difference as well.


Here is the rear all done.

I didn’t realize how crusty the exhaust system is. Old me definitely just wants to delete that muffler...

[Coupid]

Everything is back together. Wow what a difference! I took the wagon on a quick shakedown this afternoon and it felt great. Here are two bad photos of how it sits currently

[Alex Mcknz]

It looks nice, I don't consider it as bad photos. The build is definitely worth it.

[Coupid]

Originally Posted by Alex Mcknz

It looks nice, I don't consider it as bad photos. The build is definitely worth it.

Thanks for the kind words, I should have been more specific. I wanted a photo that clearly showed the ride height since those other two had a lot of shadows in the wheel wells.
upload picture

[Coupid]

Had a productive few days on the wagon this week. I noticed a few areas of improvement when I was doing the struts and springs. First the lower endlink bushings were a little worn and since this car doesn’t have the post style endlinks I couldn’t just replace them with the poly from IPD. I went ahead and ordered new endlinks since I also needed the washers since my car only had nasty generic ones on it and the sway bar kit didn’t include any.

Next up were the strut rod bushings. They are likely original and even though I am not sure what they are supposed to look like, it probably isn’t this:



I also wanted to replace the old and tired ball joints with fresh Meyle ones:

Everything together again:



Finally, I wanted to replace the dracos, with something a little larger so I had more tire choices. I also went the Buttercup Ferrari route but then came to my senses because I didn’t want to have to think about the wheels, curbing them, fender rolling or have to slam the car to make it look “right”. Hydra’s were the obvious choice:



I picked them up from the tire shop today with some General GMAX RS in 205-55-16 since they were highly reviewed and not insanely expensive.

More photos and driving review to come tomorrow.

[Coupid]

I had a few hours this evening so I took the wagon for a little run through a nearby curvy road even though it was like 95 degrees outside. Oh man what an improvement! Absolutely no clunks and everything felt so tight. It corners better than it has any right to. Here is a photo coming back towards our house:



I got back and wanted to give it a bath since it was really dusty from sitting in the garage with a bunch of dirty suspension work going on. After the wash, I went to pull it back in the garage but it wouldn’t event crank. After like 30 more min of sitting it fired right up like normal. As I was poking around under the hood the starter wires look a little oil soaked from when the PCV was clogged. I also noticed that the harness for the powerstage wasn’t fully clipped on. I’ve started it a handful of times since the no-crank (albeit with low under hood temps) and it seems fine. Any ideas? It picked a great spot to do this but I want to make sure the car is sorted before taking my daughter on the SLORolling drive in October.

[brickborg]

Nice to hear that the IPD stuff is as rad as advertised- still loving this thread!

As far as the no-crank, I'm sure that someone who knows better than I will chime in, but I think your idea about the ignition power stage connector not being fully seated would make sense. Also, when was the last time you re-did the heatsink paste on that thing? I re-do mine periodically with Artic Silver paste as preventative maintenance and haven't had an issue since.

[SquareD]

Car's looking great, sounds like it's a blast to drive too. 7/9s with some minor suspension mods handle surprisingly well. Enjoy!

[Coupid]

Originally Posted by brickborg

Nice to hear that the IPD stuff is as rad as advertised- still loving this thread!

As far as the no-crank, I'm sure that someone who knows better than I will chime in, but I think your idea about the ignition power stage connector not being fully seated would make sense. Also, when was the last time you re-did the heatsink paste on that thing? I re-do mine periodically with Artic Silver paste as preventative maintenance and haven't had an issue since.

Yeah, that has probably never been done. I ordered a new one and some Arctic Silver last night. It's supposed to be hot again today so I will test it again this afternoon and see if fully connecting this power stage did the trick. If it did, great. I'll just slap some paste on it and keep the new one as a spare.

Originally Posted by SquareD

Car's looking great, sounds like it's a blast to drive too. 7/9s with some minor suspension mods handle surprisingly well. Enjoy!

Thank you! This is the first 700 I have had with the suspension fully sorted instead of just modified, amazing what a difference it makes. I'm growing up lol.

[Coupid]

The car wouldn’t crank this morning after running a bunch of errands in the heat. After a few tries and shifting the car through the gears a few times it begrudgingly sprang to life. I’m thinking it must be the Neutral Safety Switch or Ignition switch. Since all the accessories seem to work well I was leaning towards NSS. It’s also a lot easier to get to the NSS than the ignition switch. This afternoon I pulled the console apart and sprayed some deoxit in the NSS. That seemed to flush a lot of crap out so I decided to pull the switch and then dissemble and fully clean it. Similar to the heated seat switches it looked like someone spilled a coffee in it as some point. I cleaned a bunch of tar-like substance off the contacts.

The new power stage arrived today so I installed that with some fresh thermal paste. Hopefully between these two fixes the car cranks and starts consistently in the heat so I can trust it to go on the SLORolling drive next weekend.

[Coupid]

My daughter and I drove up to the Slorolling Rally this morning. The car did awesome over the 100 or so miles. We got to see a P1900, a bunch of Amazons and some clean 240s. Great day:


I think that performance earned it a new brass heater core... ugh

[Coupid]

Been a while since the last update. The car was doing awesome since it’s trip to Los Alamos then this morning after running errands all morning it wouldn’t start for like 30 minutes until it cooled off. I parked it for the rest of the day and took my wife’s car to meet up with PCH and get the strut tower bar. He has a super clean looking wagon so it would have been great to see the cars together. I did a little painting and slapped the bar on this evening:


Yay!

Since I replaced the power stage and cleaned the NSS I am thinking the issue must be the starter or the ignition switch. Since it is a hot start issue that would lead me to believe the starter since it is subjected to under hood temps. Will do a little more poking around and then order a Bosch starter from FCP. Hopefully that clears it up so I don’t have to wonder every time I turn the key...

[DitosRadWheels]

Originally Posted by Coupid

Been a while since the last update. The car was doing awesome since it’s trip to Los Alamos then this morning after running errands all morning it wouldn’t start for like 30 minutes until it cooled off. I parked it for the rest of the day and took my wife’s car to meet up with PCH and get the strut tower bar. He has a super clean looking wagon so it would have been great to see the cars together. I did a little painting and slapped the bar on this evening:


Yay!

Looks great!

[Coupid]

Originally Posted by DitosRadWheels

Looks great!

Thanks man!

[Coupid]

New (rebuilt) Bosch starter arrived from FCP. I pulled the old one last night. It was annoying to get it out but clearly not the original unit so not sooo bad. I just finished installing the new starter. It sounds really good upon cold start but will have to drive it a bunch this weekend to see if the no-crank when heat-soaked condition persists. Fingers crossed. That old starter looked pretty oil soaked and unhappy. I should check the records to see how long ago it was done.

[Coupid]

Forgot to add that during the install I must have knocked the DS front wheel speed sensor loose since the Antilock light is random on now... ugh

[ZVOLV]

It is a good feeling to bring a neglected brick back to a level where you can feel safe in it and trust it. I just got my 300k 1991 744 running today that I just bought. It felt great to get rid of the blown out junk and get a fresh cylinder head on there and get it running on all 4.


Try a voltage drop test. Here is a post I just made in another thread:

Originally Posted by ZVOLV

You could do voltage drop tests on the battery positive and negative cables:

1.Put a meter lead between the positive battery terminal POST. and the starter positive cable connection. Crank. You don't wanna see much more than 250 millivolts. (0.25V).

2. Repeat the test for the ground side. Meter lead between battery negative POST and a good ground on the block. Like the studs on the head.


If your readings are high, especially super high (3,4,10v+) you have bunk cables/connections.

CRANK and once the reading is stabilized and steady, THAT is your measurement.

[Coupid]

Congrats on getting yours going! For sure it is a good feeling.

I’ll give the voltage drop test a shot in the next few days and see what it shows. Could the heat of the engine be enough to push a marginal cable over the failure point?

Originally Posted by ZVOLV

It is a good feeling to bring a neglected brick back to a level where you can feel safe in it and trust it. I just got my 300k 1991 744 running today that I just bought. It felt great to get rid of the blown out junk and get a fresh cylinder head on there and get it running on all 4.


Try a voltage drop test. Here is a post I just made in another thread:





CRANK and once the reading is stabilized and steady, THAT is your measurement.

[DET17]

Just found your thread. I also have a soft spot for the 7/9 Wagons. I owned a 92 745T which was one of the hardest vehicles to let go of ever..... it had stock wagon springs matched with BILS HD, and was a blast to drive. Those dampers are OE matched with full ride height and wagon springs. Ironically, the same wagon when our family got it, had the red progressive "lowering springs" and it drove horribly. It was a real eye opener for me that when the wagon went back to stock ride height, EVERYTHING got better!

You might not realize it, but when you lower these cars 1" or more you effectively destroy the front roll center. Likely yours is "hiding" behind those 25mm bars. What your wagon really needs (if you insist on keeping it lowered) is to restore the front roll center by installing the Kaplhenke QSRC kit. This change will restore the roll center to OEM..... and you won't believe the difference.

Folks want the "lowered look" for stance, Euro swag, etc...... I get that, but I would never accept the performance deterioration without correcting the front roll center. Actually all you need up front is the 24mm OE bar, stock rear bar (or no bar) and the QSRC with your lowering springs.

In my old age, I now appreciate the stock ride height and ability to take these wagons onto some gravel roads. If and when I buy another, I'll put it back to stock height and match up the factory springs with BILS HD.... it makes beautiful music together!

I'll keep an eye on your progress. Nice wagon!

[Coupid]

Thanks for the kind words. I was looking at the QSRC kit when I was still thinking about going the coilover/really low route. After reading through Ben’s description it sounded like they weren’t really needed with the modest amount of lowering provided by the IPD springs.

Buttercup, my 72 142 was lowered to the point where you had to constantly think about how low the car was when driving. It also had very wide wheels squeezed onto it so fender rubbing was a concern over bumps and while turning. I decided that I didn’t want to lower the wagon to a height that would render it completely useless for actual driving so the springs seemed like a good choice.

Assuming the new starter fixed my intermittent no cranking issue and the voltage drop test doesn’t show any issues, the next item to repair will be the heater core. I just need to bite the bullet and get that over with. After that fun is over, I will order (and actually maybe I’ll order now since they are back-ordered) the QSRC kit since your post makes me very curious. Even if I could get away with not correcting the RC since the car is only lowered a little, if it will improve the handling I’ll give it a shot.

Originally Posted by DET17

Just found your thread. I also have a soft spot for the 7/9 Wagons. I owned a 92 745T which was one of the hardest vehicles to let go of ever..... it had stock wagon springs matched with BILS HD, and was a blast to drive. Those dampers are OE matched with full ride height and wagon springs. Ironically, the same wagon when our family got it, had the red progressive "lowering springs" and it drove horribly. It was a real eye opener for me that when the wagon went back to stock ride height, EVERYTHING got better!

You might not realize it, but when you lower these cars 1" or more you effectively destroy the front roll center. Likely yours is "hiding" behind those 25mm bars. What your wagon really needs (if you insist on keeping it lowered) is to restore the front roll center by installing the Kaplhenke QSRC kit. This change will restore the roll center to OEM..... and you won't believe the difference.

Folks want the "lowered look" for stance, Euro swag, etc...... I get that, but I would never accept the performance deterioration without correcting the front roll center. Actually all you need up front is the 24mm OE bar, stock rear bar (or no bar) and the QSRC with your lowering springs.

In my old age, I now appreciate the stock ride height and ability to take these wagons onto some gravel roads. If and when I buy another, I'll put it back to stock height and match up the factory springs with BILS HD.... it makes beautiful music together!

I'll keep an eye on your progress. Nice wagon!