Frankenstein is for sale. This is Beth's white 760. The engine is a B23E/FT clone built by Matt. Essentially it's a B23E with forged FT pistons and a 405 head that's been modified to run EFI.

It's a complete running car. Beth has been driving it for a couple of years now. It's never let her down. It's not pretty but it seems to be reliable. The tranny is starting to shift a little hard so it'll need a flush and refresh. I think the boost control is a little wonky because the last time I drove it I hit overboost without much trouble and Beth has commented about it lurching when she merges on to Deerfoot.

This is a quick car. Ask Athal. Granted, he had a couple of ladies in his car but I could see his headlights in my mirror...

Matt can fill in the blanks as to what's been done. I've really done nothing to it but change the oil.

I'm hoping to get $600 for it as is...

We pick up the new car tomorrow and this will be available once we get all the crap cleaned out.

Do tell...

Andy told us of a '92 960 wagon at Valentine that had been sitting there for nearly 6 months before they realized they owned it. Turns out it needs brakes all around and a coolant temp sensor. The owner didn't want to spend the sort of money Valentine wanted to put it all right so he traded the car in. They promptly forgot about it.

Bottom line is it's a white 960 wagon with a black leather interior in very nice shape with just over 200,000 on the clock. I've already got the brakes and CTS for it and they'll go on as soon as I drive it off the lot and to Matt's garage...

Beth's happy because it's got no rust...

Just make sure there is no funky coolant issues like some of the early porous whiteblocks had. I read alot of scary things!

Among what Dale's told, it's got a 3.73:1 locker and 940 Turbo "jumbo" front brakes, and the 940 steering rack (for whatever that's worth). Custom red and black leather interior, too, and a sedan rear sway. Nivomats removed and replaced with overload wagon rear springs & shocks. Your basic runabout.

Edited

nice price! wish i had the cash

I thought long and hard about that 960, there was many days when I was thinking about just buying it and flipping it but my conscience won.

Drove it to Matt's place today. Nothing wrong with the brakes other than they are a bit rusty. Regardless I changed all the pads and rotors because I already had them. Tomorrow we'll do the timing and serpentine belts and change the oil and swap the coolant temp sensor. It'll need an exhaust sometime in the future but it's fine for now. I gotta say, that inline 6 is one lovely quiet engine...

It looks to be an original Calgary car, sold by Centaur when they were still a Volvo dealer. Andy, I'll get you to pull a service history on it sometime soon, just to see what's been done.

It appears to have been a rural car most of its life. It's got lots of sand and mud in the wheel wells and underneath and even in the engine bay. It's also got a serious lack of door dings; something else that makes me suspect it hasn't spent a lot of time in the city, also meaning lots of highways miles. The interior is as close to perfect as you can expect from a 16 year-old car. As an added bonus the CD changer still had 6 discs in it. Great news if you like Simon & Garfunkel, Rita MacNeil or some jazz stuff...

At this point I'm certainly not disappointed for what I paid for it...

Sounds awesome Dale
I love the inline 6, so smooth and torque
Sounds like a nice ride for Beth ... and no rust is a real bonus

do it...drive a volvo again

huh?

sorry that was me leaving a thread up and not refreshing before I posted something - it was directed to Andy...when he was saying he was considering buying the 760

Sweet! I forget what updating the timing belt on an early one entails (not much IIRC), but IIRC, there are 3 sizes through the 960 range and it took them a while to get it right. IIRC, there is 22mm, 25, and 28? Something woefully small is on the 92 and has to be changed like every 20-30K on the dot, so do change it just because. The odd 960 that hits the JY is often there from a t-belt if it isn't smashed.

92 is good in that electrically speaking, it is the least scary, least emissions laden, and has the fun cams for 200hp. Change the coil packs if it has plenty of miles and hasn't been done and service the crank breather and it should run beautifully. Not city driven is a really really good thing on a whiteblock in my experience. Bad oil (the dealer here uses penzoil....blech), city running, and timing belts seem to kill off the earlier whiteblocks regularly. If the block and head are fine, it should make a great driver. Just put good oil in it and drive the hell out of it.

The coolant tank on the early ones also likes to crack once in a while. You can get the updated one and hoses for about $30 with a nifty little sensor in it that turns on a dash light if the car loses coolant in the expansion tank (I like that feature....nice if you have a 7/9 with the useless temp gauge). I also put the black cap on them and a different brand thermostat. I am not a fan of the high pressure green cap. I also just delete the heater valve on the firewall on 7/9s.

Enjoy the new car. That B23 powered 760 would be a cool driver/winter beater for someone.

oh god, thread clusterf*ck

Well...we replaced one coolant temp sensor but it apparently wasn't the right now. VADIS came up with a part number for the other one so I'll call Valentine in the morning. Looks like it's not too tough to replace...it's at the back of the head on the exhaust side. Much more accessible than the intake side.

Drove it a bit today. It's got way more bottom end grunt than I anticipated and it pulls hard right to 6000. It's got giddy-up, for sure. Had 4 adults in it tonight along with the back full of luggage and it still jumped off the line...

The sensor issue seems to be more prevalent during warm-up than any other time. When it's up to operating temperature, it's silky smooth although once in a while at a light it'll stumble and the idle control will kick up the idle. If you don't have your foot on the brake very hard, it'll move forward.

There were markings on the cam gears that indicated they had been off. Makes me wonder if it's had a cylinder head rebuild at some point. Hopefully the service history will show something...

Many will say I told you so, but even in the short time I've driven it I can't believe how much more civilized it is than the 242...