1991 Volvo 940SE turbo

1991 Volvo 940 Description

4-cylinder Turbocharged engine (B230FT)

233,000 miles

Grey exterior, grey leather interior.

The 1991 940SE was the top-of-the-line Volvo for 1991, and was the ONLY year the 960 chassis was available with a four-cylinder turbo engine.

I’ve owned this car for over ten years, and in that time, I’ve done the following repairs/upgrades:

OEM Volvo euro-spec headlights.These have glass lenses and provide MUCH better lighting than the US-spec headlights.I was able to obtain the correct Volvo connectors, so they are hooked up to the car using a custom adapter harness that plugs into the original headlight connectors.

IPD sway bars front and rear.This car has the Independent Rear Suspension, and the IPD sway bar set for IRS is extremely rare.It was only sold for a few years in the late 1980’s, and IPD didn’t sell very many of them.Front struts are Boge turbo gas, with Sachs Nivomat shocks in the rear.

IPD strut tower brace and lower chassis brace.

I overhauled the engine 35,000 miles ago, which included new front and rear crankshaft/camshaft seals, new head gasket, new exhaust and intake gaskets and new valve springs.The head was cleaned and machined to ensure a tight seal against the block.Block was sandblasted and repainted.I installed an IPD turbo performance camshaft and the original IPD adjustable timing gear (that can be adjusted without removing the timing belt and is no longer available from IPD)Engine works very well, although it does have some very slight piston slap that is only apparent in low temperatures (below 40F).I’ve been using synthetic oil in this engine ever since and changing the oil religiously, so it is in excellent condition.

3-speed/overdrive automatic transmission shifts well and has had the fluid changed every few years.

All power windows and power mirrors work smoothly, as well as the power sunroof.Power mirrors have been retrofitted to 1992+ motors and switches, which are a LOT easier to find.

Brakes are in excellent condition and the car stops well without vibration or pulling, although the rear brakes only have about 30% of the pad remaining.

Air conditioning works.It has been converted to R134a, but like every other converted A/C system I have dealt with, it has to be recharged yearly.I just recharged it this spring.Cabin blower motor is quiet and works well.

It has a Clifford Alarm/remote start system with a long-range two-way LCD remote.Remote start feature is not currently working.

Stereo is a Sony Mobile ES CDX-C90 CD/AM/FM head unit that is feeding an A/D/S 40w amplifier.Currently, only the front door speakers are installed, but the car has been wired for speakers in all four doors with amplifiers in the trunk, with a 100amp power feed into the trunk to power it all.It also has a Dension Ice-Link iPod interface which works with most iPod models, although it will only charge iPods that can accept 12v/firewire charging.

The interior is in excellent shape – leather is in excellent condition with some scuffing on the driver’s seat, but no tears or cracks.Carpet is clean and in good condition. Floor mats are in good shape, and include both Volvo grey carpet mats and a set of Volvo grey plastic mats for the winter.

Interior plastics are good – I’ve replaced the pieces that have broken over the years.The speaker grilles on the front doors don’t match – I couldn’t get a perfect match for the driver’s door grille when it broke.

To help monitor the overhauled engine, I installed aftermarket oil temperature and oil pressure gauges, and a calibrated boost gauge in the center console.

While the extra power it adds to the engine is nice, the IPD Turbo cam does result in a somewhat coarse idle.This has mostly manifested itself as a tendency for the exhaust the rattle at idle, and some extra overall vibration at idle.

Tires are 205/55R16 Sumitomo HTR A/S P01 all-season tires mounted on 16-inch factory Volvo wheels.These tires have about 3,000 miles on them and are in excellent condition.I am also including a set of Toyo snow tires mounted on 15” steel wheels that should have one more winter left in them, but have already been driven for two full winters.