If you don't know, you can look at the rods by taking off the oil pan or taking off the fuel pump block plate and looking at the top of rod #1 in the latter case. While these will handle 300whp, the car needs to be tuned correctly. Something like too little fuel and you will start melting things. If you're worried or want more power (let me know if you did it for less than $4k! I will be posting a short article calling my readers to submit their budget build [the car's focus doesn't have to be speed]) there's another advantage to this car.
You blow the engine? Get a powertrain for $250 from the junkyard and put it in yourself over the weekend. I really believe that this Volvo along with some others like the 240 and 760 is the cheapest car for speed. There's other cars that come close but I would like to hear of a better way to get such good power for 3-4k or less. Remember though, the car is pretty light because it didn't require all the crazy things cars need to have these days and also I'm biased.
Shout out to www.turbobricks.com! I was a lurker when I owned my '97 850 and '01 S40 (nice looking, kinda quick car but quality was horrible because they had just been purchased by GM and trying to switch how they produce cars).
The 740 has a solid read axle like Mustangs do and yes, it is rear-wheel-drive. There's an inspirational video somewhere on YouTube if you search for '740 turbo - guy is drifting and later hauling a** down the street shooting fire out of the exhaust. It's a black car and it drag races another car in the beginning of the video. The reason I mention this is because that video made me want a 740.
Apparently you can use a Saab boost controller not only to control the boost but cut the boost if it senses knock. That's the danger at 300whp and above. The top safe amount of boost is 22-24 PSI. This is agreed on by most 740 enthusiasts but it doesn't mean every engine will. It definitely will, however, as long as it's tuned right. You also have to consider the old solid rear axle.
I will get one of these one day. I love my Lexus LS400 right now and always will but when I'm ready for a project car, I'll be getting a turbobrick myself. It was a toss-up between that and an SC300 or SC400 and while I would prefer the latter if I didn't have a Lexus already or simply wanted the best (in my opinion) deal, I've always wanted a turbo Volvo. I passed up '97 Volvo 850 turbo (T5?) wagon and I should've got it when I bought my Saab (Volvo people just X-ed out).
For some anecdotal information, there is a guy saying he has no problems at 27-30 PSI running methanol. At the same time, there's a group out there who have a 600hp 740 on stock internals but remember, the tune has to be dead-on. Not to mention these people are outliers. It's still pretty amazing.
To end, I just want to say that the car makes a great daily driver even after you modify it. It's pretty well known these cars can easily hit 400k on the odometer so it's no surprise there are people out there running 20+ boost with 300k miles on their car. Reliability is extremely important to me and it should be to you aswell. You don't want to have to keep fixing it every six months because it's old. And that's what you would be doing if you started with the wrong car.
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