940 turbo saloon wentworth
 

Hi guys im pondering on whether to buy a 940 turbo wentworth its a 1994 2.0 manual turbo and done 103 thou.

Been reading on here alot the last couple of days and noticed some people saying to stay away from the 960 3.0 but just wanted to check what your opinions are on this model.

Many thanks

Hi,

Lots opinions on both cars depending on the reasons you are buying them.

The 940, in some circles are favoured for tuning up as the engine (the redblock) is highly resiliant. Should be, it is a cast iron job, weighs a ton!!
I have read somewhere that the2.0 may be better to get is considering some real tuning as the block is stronger then the 2.4 or 2.3 (thicker cylinder walls). I may be wrong on that.

The 3.0 from the 960's and V90's (the whiteblock) has also some followers, is an aluminium block, so lighter.
Earlier versions of the 3.0 had some issues with oil seep through cylinder walls into water channels and to the outside. This was largely resolved in later editions (1992 onwards I think - someone can correct me) and most certainly in the late 1995 960's and V90's.
Can be tuned up, but greater care needs to be exercised - don't tune to the extreme!!
Look for good service records, check bodywork.

If not into tuning the concensus was the 940 2.3 and 2.3 turbo was the pinnacle of the range. Good power, reasonable fuel economy (for a near 2 ton car) and great load lugger. Estates command more than saloons due to load luggging, but the saloons boot is surprisingly big! You'll get a whole family of dead bodies in there, no trouble!!!
Most opinion is to avoid the 2.0 as being underpowered for the car, and I would agree on that. The 2.0 turbo? Not so sure as the turbo will boost power.

High milage for volvos is not uncommon - they are great workhorses and last.
So finding a car with 150k miles should not put you off.
Watch for regular servicing and signs of the car being looked after and you can't go far wrong.
Make sure the body is in goood condition - after that most things can be repaired fairly easily and none too expensively either..

Ohhh yes.. Welcome to the forums too, enjoy your stay..

Des. . . ;)

I wouldnt mind doing a little tuning to it so maybe the 2.0 will be the one to go for.

2 tons :wuerg019: didnt realise they were that heavy i had read the 740 was about 1400kg and i wouldnt have thought the 940 wouldn't have been that much heavier are you sure this is correct.

Excuse me if im getting my weights mixed up but i though one ton is roughly equivilant to 1000 kg.

Hi, Is 2 tons including payload? 945T Estate is approx 1.5 tons unladen.

ivor940

Hi,

And there was me thinking that they were near 1700Kg.
Ton = an olde english Tonne or Tun
Linky....
Then if 1700Kg it would be near 2 tons.
Ummmm.....

Ok.. Ok... You win.. A near one and a half tonne car.. :)

A Metric ton IS 1000Kg but have a read of the Wiki explaination.

Des. . . ;)

More power Scottie!
 

Yep, you can easily tune up the 2.0 turbo (B200FT) or 2.3 turbo (B230FT or B230FK). The only diffeence between the 2.0 and 2.3 is the bore - nearly all other components are the same (except for the turbo wastegate actuator which is different on the B230FK LPT engine - it opens at about 4.5psi, rather than 9 psi on the other engines).

Camshafts, valves, cylinderheads, etc are all the same. The 2.0 turbo put out 155bhp and is a decent engine - the turbo cuts out a lot of the coarseness of the non turbo 2.0, economy is pretty good, and whatever you want to do to a 2.3 turbo you can do to a 2.0 turbo. Some say that the 2.0 engine is tougher as the cylinder walls are slightly thicker than the 2.3 due to the smaller bore. However, all redblock engines are massively over engineered and are capable of big HP - 800bhp is not unknown on some seriously modified engines in Sweden. Obviously, more hp = lots more ££££ !

To give you an idea of what you can expect from simple bolt-on parts, putting an A camshaft (or better still a VX camshaft), plus a 531 cylinderhead (from a late 1980s 740 turbo - better inlet tract), manual boost controller running at 13 psi, performance exhaust, bigger intercooler, and chips should give you around 220bhp. Swap the turbo for a T5 one (a mitsubishi td04hl15g) and you should get 240bhp. Up the boost to 15psi and you'll be looking at 250+ bhp - and 0-60mph in around 6 seconds... just make sure you upgrade your suspension and brakes to cope :) The 2.0 turbo engine will make less power, but as a vague guestimate, only 5-10% less. More power than this will require engineering mods - eg bigger exhaust valves, gas flowed head...

The standard autobox will cope with up to 240bhp but will need fully synthetic fluid to cope with the temperature - a separate transmission oil cooler is recommended if you inted to make use of this power regularly. The manual gerabox is similarly strong. If you want much more than 240bhp then you need to look at a T5 gearbox - the sort fitted to Sierra Cosworth 2wd and Ford Mustangs :) Supra gearboxes have also been used successfully in the US.

BTW The saloon handles much better than the estate due to the lower weight and the stiffer body - the rear seat back does not drop down/fold - there is a solid steel bulkhead there. Saloons are also much cheaper than estates so if you don't need the space, get a newer or better spec 940 saloon.

The 960 3.0 puts out 204bhp as standard, is a fine, smooth engine, but spares are more costly, and the servicing slightly more involved. Insurance is also higher. Tuning is possible, but is less straightforward and usually involves turbo conversions. Beware of oil seepage in early cars as previously mentioned - this occurs under the manifold and is very hard to see from above.

Hope this helps :)

WOW just about everything i wanted to know in one post cheers guys.

Only thing now is to buy one.

Wheres best place to get parts from ie suspension and engine bolt on goddies?

Parts sources...ok, this is where I got my bits n bobs from and the price I paid (roughly - from memory)

chips - on the www.turbobricks.com forum there is a correspondent called Fredrick. He's a swedish guy who is highly commended by forum members and sells his chips for very little money - the fuel & injections chips cost about £130 for the pair. He's highly knowledgeable, and the chips have better maps - resulting in a more responsive as well as more powerful engine.

anti roll bars - I bought these iPD 'anti sway bars' from the VOC forum group buy last year. I can't remember how much they were - not cheap, but perhaps CTC can remember?

turbo - an ebay special costing £60 IIRC, plus £400 to recondition it. Sounds daft, but the supplement to pay if you don't have an exchange unit is much more than £60!

manual boost controller - about £20 from eBay (new).

exhaust - I bought my custom made 2.5 inch diameter stainless exhaust from Powerflow, together with a competition spec 100 cell catalytic converter. It was very expensive at nigh on £700, but I swapped it from my earlier 940 estate onto the saloon without any mods being neccessary, and the lifetime warranty is still valid. Its still like new and polishes up nicely. If you want big HP (over 250bhp), then you should fit a 3 inch system, including a new downpipe.

stainless braided brake pipes/hoses - I couldn't find these anywhere in the UK, so I bought them from iPD when I bought the anti-roll bars. They were about £30ish IIRC.

intercooler - I haven't fitted a larger intercooler (yet) but a VOC member has fitted a truck intercooler successfully with few metalwork changes required. He bought it from eBay. Best bet is to browse www.turbobricks.com as they do lots of serious tuning and intercoolers are discussed regularly.

injectors - I bought mine from the US eBay. They're Bosch 35lb/hr 'browntops' from a Ford SVO, fully reconditioned. I paid about £50 for 4 including shipping. (I forgot to mention these in my last post - if you increase the boost you're pushing more air into the engine, which requires more fuel. If you get near the limit of the standard fitment injectors, the engine can run lean - ie hot. very hot. So hot that the pistons melt. These bigger injectors allow more fuel, so the normal burn temperature is maintained. The replacement chips ensure that the fuel ratio is maintained as they have bigger maps (the maps in the standard chips would not have data for this greater fuel flow).

camshaft - there are quite a few camshafts fitted to Volvos. Focussing on the turbos, these nearly always had the 'T' pattern camshaft which gives nice smooth power and clean emissions. Back in the 1980s, the 740 2.3 turbo was fitted with the A pattern camshaft - this has a fatter torque curve but is slightly dirtier. Other cars in the 80s (I can't recall which offhand) were fitted with the VX camshaft. This is a revvy little number, with high lift and a notable power step - you feel the engine 'coming on cam' but it lacks low down torque - no good for autos really. iPD sell a reproduction VX camshaft, but its expensive. I paid £40 for my A cam - from a turbobricks.com member.

531 cylinderhead - this came from a 1980s 740 turbo. It is virtually identical to the standard fit 530 head, but has more balanced, smoother, inlet tracts. I bought this from the same turbobricks.com member for £80, including the A camshaft fitted to it as standard, all the valves, cam cover, injector rail etc. I paid about £250 to have it reconditioned with new valve seats, valve guides, valve seals, camshaft seal etc. You can have this spare A camshaft for £40 plus postage if you want it (but I'll have to find it first!).

I also fitted a K&N panel air filter which cost about £40.

Finally, I fitted a set of new NCT5 tyres (www.mytyres.co.uk), Ferodo brake pads, AMSOIL fully synthetic auto transmission fluid (www.opieoils.co.uk), ATE Super Racing Blue brake fluid, and Mobil 1 synthetic engine oil.

All in all, I've spent at least as much on the car as I originally paid for it - but in return, I have a totally reliable, fast, safe, capable, unassuming car that nobody wants to pinch, and the Police ignore. Which is more that I can say about BMWs and Saabs :)

Hi,
Or there abouts if I remember. Includes the braided hoses too...

Bargain for the tightening up of the car... :)

Des. . . ;)

injectors - I bought mine from the US eBay. They're Bosch 35lb/hr 'browntops' from a Ford SVO, fully reconditioned. I paid about £50 for 4 including shipping. (I forgot to mention these in my last post - if you increase the boost you're pushing more air into the engine, which requires more fuel. If you get near the limit of the standard fitment injectors, the engine can run lean - ie hot. very hot. So hot that the pistons melt. These bigger injectors allow more fuel, so the normal burn temperature is maintained. The replacement chips ensure that the fuel ratio is maintained as they have bigger maps (the maps in the standard chips would not have data for this greater fuel flow).

would like new injectors for mine can you fit uprated ones to a 440 turbo do you have to have volvo inj or do other makes fit sorry to but in but im just starting out in the volvo world cheers