So I may be bringing home a $300 Volvo 960 wagon soon

I found this 95 or 96 960 sitting in front of one of the auto shops that I currently deliver to (back in March probably) and asked the shop owner about it. He said that it belonged to a customer and the motor was toast. I expressed interest in it and he said he would ask the owner. Nothing until today. The car HAS to leave because the parking lot is getting repaved next week. He told me they were bringing in the title and I could take it away for scrap money. So now I am left with the decision to fix to stock (boring) or find a better motor to slap in there. I am leaning towards an LS motor since I can buy motor mounts to drop it in and that will possibly be my cheapest/equally cheap option for a swap. The car is an auto and will probably stay that way for a while. No pictures yet of the potential car but here is a hot link to show its beige glory. It looks JUST like this. Wheels and all.

I dunno, depending on what's wrong with the 960 motor it may be worth building up with an S80 twin turbo setup. There is a lot of potential there.

Besides, weren't you trying to start a business or something?

I dont think an LS is inherently way better than the volvo I-6 unless you're talking n/a torque.. I think of that motor as the closest thing Sweden has to a 2jz.

the Volvo I6 is a beastly engine. Smooth, torguey, and able to lift her skirts and sing at the high(er) end

Apparently, the twin-turbo version from the S80, can be dropped in an 960. I remember someone did just that in Sweden, but I can find the site right now. And around here, those engines can be had for peanuts. No one wants an S80, but the engine's really nice. Since you don't want to convert to a manual transmission, that would be an "easier" swap, and probably worth more in the end because the Volvo purists would love it.

I just sold my 1995 960. Very difficult car to sell, and mine was nearly perfect. I got rid of it before I began to act on my day dreams for it. In Europe, you could get that car with a 2.5L 5cyl VW TDi engine. I couldn't get the idea of that motor swap out of my head, so I sold the car before it cost me any money

agreed. The Big Volvos are the cars nobody wants. My old 850 was near perfect and with the rare 5 speed. I wanted 1200 for it.. highest bid was 1000. Kid got himself quite a car with all the maintance up to date and 4 brand new tyres.

Is that version front wheel drive?

In reply to stan_d:

In a word, no.

Older Volvos wagon have no street value, despite being just about the most useful vehicle you can own. A dryer fits in the back. Not an apartment-sized dryer, a DRYER.

I've had two 940 turbo wagons. I only got rid of the first one because the second one appeared and was 5% awesomer. I have 16" wheels, sways, and the chassis brace on the car, plus Bilsteins.

The 960 motor is pretty universally reviled. The cheap and effective trick is to drop a turbo four in there and forget it.

The timing belt probably let go and it has 24 bent valves and munched guides. If you can get a turbo six motor grab the whole thing as there are some small differences in the short block.

I had a 96 and the trans controller was part of the PCM, but the auto trans is the same one used in jeep cherokees IIRC and one of their trans controllers can be used. I still want to build a monster volvo turbo wagon, but the LSX is probably cheaper.

I have a great running 1996 960 sedan that I cannot sell. I might be willing to part it out if you are interested.

Around here, old RWD Volvo's are worth about double the price of a similar FWD platform. You can get a complete running S80 T6 for 850$. Take the engine, take the wheels, the seats maybe? Sell the rest of that hunk of junk for scrap for 200$. You're still under a 1000$ with a great car.

Does it show that I want someone to do this?

In reply to SlickDizzy:

Yes, and I sold my MR2 so I have enough spare change to grab a $300 project.

In reply to pilotbraden:

You're a little far away but I might take you up on that.

In reply to Vigo:

I think that it is the old no replacement for displacement argument. I can make 300 EASY hp with the LS and I can't imagine that is too easy with the Volvo.

The s80 T6 is an interesting idea.

singleslammer wrote: In reply to SlickDizzy: Yes, and I sold my MR2 so I have enough spare change to grab a $300 project.

Well right but another $500 Volvo S80 T6 motor (268HP stock, with a tune 400 is easy) will drop right in vs sourcing an LSX and doing all the conversion work...sounds like you could accidentally have a $4000 investment with a $2000 resale value pretty easily with the LS. If you are honestly hoping to give it a go with your own business any kind of major swap project is a distraction...just saying.

I would way rather have the t6 motor in that car than an LS.

I have been researching the T6 and am coming up short with all that goes into that swap. If you can reuse all of the stock hardware (ECU and such), then that is a very viable option.

With the way my projects go, this will not have much love for a while. I bought it will the intention of making a kiddie hauler (kids are at least 1 year away) so no rush. I hope to have the starlet together first.

Well, it looks like the going salvage yard rate for a turbo volvo 6 is about 3x that of an LS and a stock engine is nearly double. Considering you can buy the mounts and its known to fit well already, I'd go LS.

Kenny_McCormic wrote: Well, it looks like the going salvage yard rate for a turbo volvo 6 is about 3x that of an LS and a stock engine is nearly double. Considering you can buy the mounts and its known to fit well already, I'd go LS.

Yah, but you can find running S80 T6's on CL for next to nothing since nobody wants to fix the auto trans. Google "Volvo T6 whiteblock swap" or "S80 T6 960 swap" and you can find all the info, also the Turbobricks forum has quite a few guys who have done it...admittedly I don't get how the LSX is more viable because "you can buy the mounts and its known to fit well," since the T6 whiteblock BOLTS IN with one modified mount. If you have access to a S80 parts car you need nothing else for the swap, AFAIK. Just swap motors and harnesses and plumb the exhaust and blammo.

The AWD trans that went into the S80 T6's breaks a lot and wouldn't be used anyway in a RWD build, I'd see if you can find one with a roasted trans and part it out as someone above mentioned.

The motor mounts require a bit of welding as the turbo itself will interfere with the RWD brackets. I may have started a thread here on GRM when I was planning mine and found some good resources.

From my understanding, the 9-series is just a slightly updated 7-series

this... 1) http://www.jagsthatrun.com/Pages/Volvo_700_V-8.html plus 2) http://www.v8volvos.com/ equals this??? http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=158835

Although, I do like the easy-button route of going w/ the s80 engine too.

I was looking at a cheap t6 s80 on CL just yesterday, but if i bought a functional s80 t6 i would KEEP it because i like them way more than anything volvo made in the 90s except maybe a t5r wagon.

I remember in 93 when the 850 was introduced. We were at the test facility in Arizona, and someone had a turbo 960 they were trying to interest the factory into offering, or approving for the aftermarket. It was a heck of a nice install, and went like heck. I have no pictures, or even an idea how they did it, but I still remember the car after 20 years. It was like owning a V8 Volvo, but with all the factory stuff still in it. They also had a 740 body they had stuffed an 850 into and used that for road testing in disguise. Fun place.