Volvo or Bust: Adopting a '92 740 Turbo Wagon

very nice progress ! Thanks for all the updating, great inspo to get back at it !

There have been a lot of in's, out's & what have you's.


I began to prep the Redblock's rear crank cover for a rear main seal & gasket. Come to find that one of the 6 m6 bolts was missing...the rest, looser than finger tight.

I did find the 6th bolt...well I had found it days ago upon separating engine and transmission. It had fallen out, all chewed up. I wonder what kind of noises that's caused the previous owners. New bolt coming, thanks to some helpful Turbobrickers who understand that I won't put just "any" bolt in there.


Work continues on cleaning/degreasing the undercarriage. Today I got the engine bay & subframe to a acceptable state.




I will focus my efforts further underneath, working from the transmission tunnel, outwards. It's nice to see the white Volvo writing on the power steering hose.




Parts arrive daily, which is encouraging. I try to stay a step ahead of the deliveries, having what I need clean & prepped to accept the incoming piece. Some days that works better than others. With two seals necessary to reseal the oil cooler thermostat & extension housing, two Genuine Volvo seals arrived, unfortunatly, what I thought was the extension housing seal was actually a Penta part for something else. Back to cleaning I will continue.

Nice job with all the cleaning.

Genuine Volvo goodness


Then its on to other things



Oil pump tube o-rings were pretty baked


Engine & transmission reunited


90+ manifold needed some help.


It ain't pretty, but hopefully it'll do,


Some light porting


Manifold, turbo & downpipe back on


Transmission tunnel clean enough...for now

seems like more than just an adoption

philski o'flood said:

seems like more than just an adoption

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and bringing it up to standard

Off day today, as the workspace needs tidying and parts need arriving. Instead, I took a trip to the junkyard for hose clamps.

I harvested enough stainless-steel Mercedes-Benz hose clamps for my complete do88 silicone cooling system kit. I riddled around the Audi's today to find some very cool intercooler pipe clamps, which are also stainless-steel & 7mm hex head. I got everything to do the intake plumbing as well.

Everything got a bath in kerosene, and shined right up, before test fitting


Nothing beats Turbobricks community. I was missing a bolt, and damaged another. Folks here understand that just any old bolt won't do. It had to be the correct ESKA matching bolt. Without a junkyard of RWD Volvos, or a hoard from parts cars, fellow members mailed in support...


Now, it' back to my regularly scheduled cleaning. I've got the fuel pump tray out, cleaned it and replaced filter. Now I am cleaning that part of the body, and will replace the fuel hose in that section.

Such nice attention to (cleanliness) detail

Documenting the correct location - I have to do that for critical installs, or I'll forget & question myself later as to whether I did in fact do it (whatever it may be) correctly.



Very cool that you have access to a JY where you can find quality clamps, etc. I trust used OE install parts over most new aftermarket

lookforjoe said:

Such nice attention to (cleanliness) detail
...
Very cool that you have access to a JY where you can find quality clamps, etc. I trust used OE install parts over most new aftermarket

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Thank you. The cleanup now will save me a lot of frustration in the future.

Frankly, our JYs here aren't good for very much. I'm grateful they had exactly what I was looking for yesterday. I had to pick every MBZ and Audi to get it done.

There's been a good balance of cleaning and working today. As I continue to scrub underneath the wagon, here's what's also been knocked off the list...

Not without it's share of riddles, I dove into the transmission tailshaft seal replacement, prepared for either version seal. Mine's the larger/later style for the AW71


A thin layer of Toyota FIPG around the outer surface, and in it goes



That NAPA ignition barely got me home, so I'm putting in what's right for the vehicle. BOSCH cap & rotor, and a new distributor outer o-ring



Something's not right about that intermediate shaft seal...


Never had one stay on the cam before


Clean/Prep surface for gasket that isn't even here yet


But at least I can prepare this stuff, in anticipation of gasket


Brand new Genuine Volvo vacuum hose throughout


Mercedes Benz fuel-injection clamp to further seal PCV hoses



This was a small nightmare, but I had to work down the lower retaining lip on this intake sensor. The do88 boot is very tight (as was the Volvo piece) and this was the only way I could successfully install it.

I believe the service replacement bleed screws have a different size hex.

redblockpowered said:

I believe the service replacement bleed screws have a different size hex.

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With regards to the BRAKE bleed screws? Interesting. That will need to be corrected soon.

I think so. I just did a pair of rear bleed screws on my car and remember it being like that.

We've reached breakthrough progress, cleaning underneath the belly of the wagon. Long soaks of Gunk HD, scrapes with a plastic paint scraper, then vigorous brushing with kerosene, then wipe clean with Purple Dinosaur Power, then a soak of Gunk HD before a pressure wash, before a soak with Purple Dinosaur Power and a blast of pressure wash.

This was by far the most enduring part of any recent build. I'm satisfied with the results, for the time being. With that said, the fuel pump tray goes back in. Though a feed hose has proven a bit of a challenge.


I thought nearly any auto parts store would have the bulk fuel injection hose I needed, but apparently not. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the fuel pump feed needs 1/2" and the return line from the rail should be 5/16"

Thus far, three auto parts stores haven't had a clue.

OE plug wires proved difficult to track down, so I went overkill on the Magnecor competition 8.5mm wires


Until more puzzle pieces arrive, this is about as far as we're going to get. I'm so darn riddled by these fuel injection hoses.

If you order from BelMetric you can get proper metric size injection rated hose. 12 and 10 mm maybe?

redblockpowered said:

If you order from BelMetric you can get proper metric size injection rated hose. 12 and 10 mm maybe?

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that's what another advised. I ordered that jazzy looking braided stuff. Thanks!

Mylesofsmyles said:

that's what another advised. I ordered that jazzy looking braided stuff. Thanks!

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No. Factory lines are 6mm ID (!) 1/2" is way too large for factory system. It's a nitrile tube with rubber sheath.

I upped mine to 10mm ID


EDIT - I see you actually meant the feed line to the pump, not feed to the rail. Apologies.

The return is 7.5mm (1266500 original #) 9179420 replacement. 1312257 is the Volvo feed hose, also sold by the meter

lookforjoe said:

No. Factory lines are 6mm ID (!) 1/2" is way too large for factory system. It's a nitrile tube with rubber sheath.

I upped mine to 10mm ID


EDIT - I see you actually meant the feed line to the pump, not feed to the rail. Apologies.

The return is 7.5mm (1266500 original #) 9179420 replacement. 1312257 is the Volvo feed hose, also sold by the meter

Click to expand...

The thought crossed my mind to call the dealer, but they've been rather unhelpful with any of my Redblock related inquiries.

Well, next time I'll go that route. BelMetric order has already shipped.

The cadence of parts arrivals has been perfectly aligned with my available time. While things may be moving slower than I anticipated, it is ensuring that each task be complete to an above average level standard. Recently, the focus of my attention has been hose clamps.


While the junkyard cars proved to be a reliable source for most cooling system and intake hoses, my small vacuum & fuel related clamps were in short supply. I opted for HPS stainless steel clamps, which for all intents and purposes is the same as the Norma clamps I find in the yards.

My new braided fuel injection hose is sealed up nicely, with stainless fuel injection clamps. Also, I have every vacuum hose clamped for good measure.


The factory exhaust heat shields for spark plug wires are a necessary evil. They're unsightly, in the way, and cut your hands up pretty good. On the other hand, they keep your plug wire boots less melty. I decided to ditch them in favor of a more motorsport style solution.


Heater valve installed, and lower hose padded from potential vibration


Work continues on de-greasing underneath. Here's the soak with the Gunk Heavy-Duty Gel Engine Degreaser


No foreshadowing, but more performance oriented maintenance and upkeep is incoming...


Interior is mostly complete, with less than a handful of trim pieces to either paint or replace. Seats will eventually be replaced, though the gray leather compliments the black interior well enough for now.


Not so overnight parts from Norway assisted in the installation of my favorite double-din radio. I have a bit of fitting to do, before it's complete, but this'll give a decent idea of the end result.


Why not...


It turns out 1992 is among the strangest year's to own a 740, from an air conditioning perspective. Most things "new" though for a R12 system. Then a R134a system the next year, and better fittings throughout the system. Started with the bracket, though at this point, all the other AC bits have been removed, in anticipation of a later style system. Can't half ass an AC system in the middle of the Mojave Desert.


Engine front cover is loaded up with new Genuine Volvo crank and intermediate shaft seals. The only things halting resealing the rest of motor, and transmission are the arrival of front cover gasket & kickdown cable.

More puzzle pieces arrived, though not enough to get me turning wrenches again.


Simple, effective setup. Bilstein B6's, IPD wagon lowering springs & panhard bar. Will go together once my Genuine Volvo strut mounts arrive.

Tore down the rear suspension. There's more access to clean, with the old stuff out of the way.


Rear shocks were blown. No surprise.