1990 740GLE 16 Valve “Eve”

Major Ledfoot

The timing belt on 16V engines is an item which must not be ignored.

Every 80K km, it must be replaced to avoid great expense with mashed valves.

A very useful resource for 7/9 owners is this the online publication below, which covers most things that go awry with these cars.

https://www.volvoclub.org.uk/faq/FAQSummary1.html

Yep, the timing belt would have been a must, but it was done by ColVol at Campbeltown the month before I bought it.

ramrod

As above,

I would also pay special attention to the balance shaft belt (I cut it off on my B234 cars as it isn't needed and can derail the cam belt if it breaks), the oil pump pulley (replace it with the updated thicker item), and the oil pump pulley bolt (I bought a 12.9 grade bolt and washer and torqued it to 55Nm with loctite)

They are a very reliable engine provided you prevent the bad things happening.

Proper Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance

We are going to look at these detail items at the next routine service. The idea of today’s inspection was mainly to identify things that aren’t usually checked at routine services. Although my mechanic knows to check all those things for me because I’m pedantic about keeping on top of them.

Update on the morning of departure for the nationals.

I ordered new Brembo brakes front and back, Sachs shocks, ball joints etc etc, the brakes arrived quickly but nearly two months later I’m still waiting for everything else. I booked the car in with my mechanic last week to get the brakes sorted before the trip to nationals.

The rears fitted perfectly, but the fronts didn’t. A 1990 16V 740 should have 280mm x 26mm front rotors so I assumed it was a no brainer. The Brembo rotors bolted on without a problem, but the callipers wouldn’t fit over them. At closer inspection we discovered that my car was fitted with 287mm x 22mm rotors from a Turbo 740.

After three days of annoying messages to and from the supplier because nobody wants to use a telephone anymore, they could replace the Brembo’s with 287mm Protex rotors. But not until April.

So I prepared the car for nationals with my shitty old brakes reinstalled.

Then yesterday afternoon the supplier messaged me to say the new rotors were ready for collection. For **** sake!

I rushed down to Smithfield and swapped them over. Because my mechanic is such an awesome bloke and knows how frustrating parts for older cars can be, he is going to install them this morning before I head up the coast.

So at least I’ll have nice new brakes for the trip even if I still have 32 year old floaty suspension.

BLOODY AWSOME, SAWTELL HERE I COME !

I love it when new bits arrive.

My FCP Euro order arrived today and only took 9 days from ordering to the front door including the Easter weekend.

The Sachs suspension parts I ordered through Sparesbox (Big mistake) took 2 months. They finally arrived the day after the FCP order was dispatched, only to discover that the front struts were now on back order with no available eta.

NOT HAPPY JAN !!!

I would have added them to the FCP order if Sparesbox were honest with me , but the bastards told me they were on the way to me. So I told them to shove it and got a refund and ordered KYB’s from someone else.

Ive got some stuff comeing from the UK too, and then when the plastic fantastic card recovers I need to start getting the cooling system hoses and parts to go with my new radiator.

It’s like Christmas again!

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jamesinc

I usually source struts from FCP or RockAuto, both are pretty hard to beat for price + shipping.

Also great car! Been meaning to say that since seeing it at Nationals. I used to drive a 740 Turbo wagon, 7s and 9s are criminally under-rated!

Yeah, I ordered the struts and shocks etc in February, well before I started thinking about putting an order together from FCP. The idea was to get the suspension sorted before the road trip to Sawtell hahaha. Well that didn’t happen.

Now that I’ve dealt with FCP, I won’t bother with the donkeys at Sparesbox again.

As far as 740’s being underrated, that’s okay, I like the underdog.

New tail lights fitted and looking smart.

However the bulb holder panel that came with the aftermarket lights were SHIT HOUSE.

They flashed in time with the best 70’s disco tunes.

Luckily my original Volvo holders are all good so I put new bulbs in them and installed them in the new lights. SWEET !

But I’ll let FCP know what I think of the problem, but I don’t think I can be bothered shipping the lights back to the US.

Ex850R

https://ozvolvo.org/discussion/comment/205021#Comment_205021

They will send new ones for free.

Or give your money back.

Best company out there!

I’ve sent them an email to let them know. I predominantly just wanted the outer lenses anyway, but it would nice to have spare bulb panels in case the originals ever start playing up.

Ill see what FCP suggest.

FAIR DINKUM IM HAVING A STRING OF BAD LUCK WITH PARTS.

Ive ordered parts from 5 different suppliers in 3 different countries in the last 2 months and there has been a problem of some sort with every order.

Can you spot the latest problem?

jamesinc

Professional Parts Sweden is the problem, wrong item in box is just a symptom!

……the LH box has the look that it may have been reboxed by Brookhouse for some reason.

I just hope they have a left to replace it with.