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My 1990 780 Bertone

John_Smith

New member
Joined
Oct 10, 2010
Good Evening friends,
It's been a little while since I've kept track of everyone on TB, but I wanted to show you all something I found on CL last week. 1990 780 Bertone. It is easily the cleanest Volvo I've ever acquired.

It was for sale as needing a new fuel pump. The PO said that it left him sitting at the grocery store a couple times and he was scared to drive it. It had a $1000 price tag, and I paid it eagerly. I didn't get to hear it run but due to the fact that it was so clean and had 104k on the odometer, I was sold on it.

The PO paid for the tow to my house, and I immediately checked the obvious. I turned the key on with my hand on the Fuel pump relay and it did not click. $49 dollars later, and the car is running again. Running.... very poorly. It does not seem to be hitting on all cylinders at the moment. I will have to do more trouble shooting later.

I have lot's of work to do checking into the new car. I have never owned a 7 series before so this will be a learning experience. You can see from the pictures all the bells and whistles this thing has.

I will not post all of the pictures so it doesn't take forever to load. But you can click the link below to see the album.




There is no rust on this car. The paint is 5x as nice as my 240's.

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I do not know if the odometer works or not. but I believe that this mileage is actual.
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Missing the headliner and cover to the sunroof motor. I have no idea what this piece looks like. Maybe someone can help. The PO said that the sunroof leaked in and that's why he removed the headliner. He also put caulk in one corner of the sunroof. I am hoping I can just clean the drains and remove the caulk and be good to go.
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The tan leather is in great shape!
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Cracks in the dash and wood grain. Nothing too major.
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Melted fuse in the fuse panel. I think this will interchange with a JY 740.
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7" wide multi-x wheels will do just fine.
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Not a good photo, but this BOV is different than my old B230FT engine had. I know I have much to learn about this car.
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I will post more as I troubleshoot and update this car.
The only negative thing about this situation, is that my wife will not like 2 Volvos living outside forever. I will eventually have to make a decision.
 
Looks amazing! Part 48 is what you need, and it looks like yours is still available. If you have the cash I'd get it while you still can! Volvo Parts Lisle is pretty good for the price and great service. http://volvopartslisle.com/assembly/32140391/Roof-Hatch

Can't wait to see what all you get done! The 780 is truly a beautiful machine, and dang, if you haven't found a clean one!

If the wiring harness is still there for the original radio and EQ, could you break out a voltmeter and test a couple wires for me? Not many folks have a 780 that can answer this question I have >w< modifying that EQ for my 960 and need to know what a couple wires do. Let me know! You can PM if you like.

I also have some better/newer eject tabs for that EQ if you want to keep it. Those recessed white tabs are a pain >w<
 
I would have no problem hitting those wires for you. I will check on my next day off that the wiring is in there.

Thank you for the part number. I am going to order it tonight.

The headliner/sunroof drains will probably be the first thing I attack after I figure out what is making him run so poorly.
 
Awesome, thank you so much ^^ just need to know status of black, green, red, and gray wires when car is off/accessory/ignition modes. Black should be ground - red should get power when radio is on, it's the other two I'm not sure of.

Thanks muchly! Best of luck getting it running smoothly! Looks like a real keeper :)
 
nice score!

I sent an email right after it was listed and the guy wrote me back two days later that it was sold...
 
Oh, I have no doubt he had multiple potential buyers. I am very lucky he waited for me to buy it. The day I looked at it he could not find the title, and I did want to give him any money that day with no title. I ended up giving him half up front and the rest when he delivered the title.

I did get the title yesterday and the car is in fact a 1989. Not 1990.

I will take some pictures of the turbo on Friday. I will also check into those EQ wires for fox.

Hopefully Friday I can get tags for and get it running smooth enough to drive it around.


/smith
 
Check the Vin#. It could have been built in 89 but be a 90 MY.

I've been out of the 780 game for a while. But I thought they introduced the newer (better) seat handles (for bringing the front seat forward for passengers getting in the back) in 1990.

I could be mis-remembering though.
 
If it is an 89 you'll need a different cover for the sunroof motor - which Volvo Parts Lisle says is NLA. Shoot them an email if it's the one you need as they have been able to order NLA parts for me before. You might also be able to modify a 1990 cover to fit, but I wouldn't know for sure.
 
I did run the VIN and it is in fact an 89. I will email that company and see if they have one of those covers. Thanks again for looking it up.


Fox, I will get to those EQ wires this weekend for sure, I did not end up having time today.


I waited at the DMV for over 2 hours just to transfer the title and get tags. That slowed my whole morning down.

I then went to the JY to pick up a couple of things from a 740 there. They had a 740 but it was n/a I couldn't get everything.

1. Fuse Block- to get rid of the melted part of mine. Got one.
2. Battery cable- since it was not a turbo, the battery cable snaked all the way to the passenger side, so I didn't get one.

Here is what the PO managed to make when his terminal split in half. I know that a bad connection can make a car run rough, so I wanted to replace this before I started throwing parts at the car to try to make it run better. Here's a photo of that terminal.

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While I was taking this photo, I just happened to look to my right, and this is what I noticed.

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I recognize these! These are the resistors for the high Z injectors that the B230ft has. I learned all about these when I swapped a B230ft into my 240.

I took the resistor pack out and I managed to make some wire connectors work for me so I could test this out. They ended up fitting pretty snugly and should hold on until I can order another resistor pack.

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It was random chance that I even looked at the resistor pack. Who knows what I would have thrown at the car trying to figure this out.

I turned the key and started him up and he purrrrrred. I slapped the plates on drove the car to pick my wife up from work. It did smoke initially, pretty badly. I was assuming that the turbo was leaking by, but the smoke did eventually subside. I checked the oil when I got some gas and it was filled past the full mark. Will over filling a b230ft engine cause the turbo to leak? I'm hoping that if I drain some out the leaks will stop.

That's All I managed to get done today. I drove about 15 miles on the car and it ran great! I am going to get a new resistor pack and some interior parts ordered up so I can get on my way.
 
Ugh this is such a great deal.

Looking forward to seeing this build thread. Glad you saved this one from going to a bad home
 
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Hey fox, I got an early start this morning. Here are the voltages you requested I will edit the post with pictures when I am done.

I took them at the connector closest to the eq module. The two black and orange wires aren't going to anything; do you know what they go to? Also, the main 8 pin connector is not connected to anything, so I think the eq is just for looks now.
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Ignition postion:
Red= 10.95
Black= 0.28
Gray= 0.67
Green = 10.76

Accessory position:
Red = 10.67
Black = 0.36
Gray = 0.58
Green = 10.81

Off position:
Red = 0.00
Black = 0.00
Gray = 0.00
Green = 11.59

These were all grounded at the cig light. I did start the car and red and green have 12.5ish v. Gray and black are the same around .5v.
 
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I was able to attack the fuse panel today. I was originally going to replace the entire box, but after I opened it up and saw how hard it would be to transfer each wire individually, I decided to just change the cover. I got a little too serious cleaning the new one and rubbed off three of the fuse numbers. You can probably guess which ones.

Here is a before and after, and A couple pictures of the car after a bath.
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Also, can anyone tell me what this blue connector is for? It's coming out of the spare fuse holder.

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I ordered a couple trim pieces today, they should come in sometime next week. My immediate to do list is.
1. The sunroof will not open or shut. The motor turns but it seems to be getting bound up somewhere. I plan to get it moving and make sure everything is lubricated, clean out the sunroof drain lines, redo the headliner, and find a sunroof motor cover.
2. the drivers seat motor switch is has been snapped (new one in the mail). The back of the drivers seat is leaning over, I don't know what this could be. I have not investigated it.


/smith
 
I think 780s had the turbo plus but not sure. They seem faster than regular turbos and I know the ones in Sweden had it.
 
Holy crap those resistor packs...Mine are barely hanging on my 89 780. Time to fix those.

Those seats are making me jealous. Well, the cleanliness of the entire car is making me jealous actually haha.

I have the same blue connector hanging on mine. Last time I had the radio console out I know there was an extra connector labelled sunroof ice melter by the PO but I have no clue if that's the one.
 
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Crazy 240,
I am still learning about the car, but I think the turbo + had a boost controller in it somewhere. I've yet to find one.

I did take a few photos of the turbo, but without taking the hoses off the pictures aren't worth a darn.

It seems to be just like my previous 740 b230ft engine, but it has an actual BOV. Where'as the 740 b230ft only had the recirculation (I think that's it) valve.


Banana,
I do plan on buying a bentley if I can find one. I am sure I will be able to find something in there about that blue connector.

Until I get a real manual, I will just have to rely on the good nature of all the Tb'ers.
 
Here's the wiring diagrams for you car - but be careful! It told me black was power for the EQ >~>
http://www.volvobertone.com/pagemn78088e.html I'm not sure what year this is for but it should largely all the same.

Thanks so much for getting those readings for me! Now I can get it fully set up =3 Green, black, red are all what I thought they were it grey still baffles me. If it doesn't get power I guess it's a ground wire?? Anyway thank you so much again!

The main 8-pin is what goes to the stock radio - so you're right in that the EQ is just for looks unless you put in the stock radio. The orange and black connector - I'm not sure! It almost looks like a power plug for the wire that would go back for a CD changer, but the 780 wasn't designed to have one... Hopefully someone else can shed light on that.

Thanks again! Can't wait to see more =3
 
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