Project runabout... 765 GLE

[AndysR]

The new project...


Volvo 765 GLE V6 Automatic

This will be a lot smaller project thread but this is essentially my runabout until such a time that Damien is done. It's an itch I've needed to scratch for a number of years and with the 850 off the road for the foreseeable future I had the opportunity to get this and sort the itch. For those who haven't heard me mention it before my parents had one as I grew up and the first car I manoeuvred and drove on the road was a 760 so it's definitely a heart over head thing.

So it's a 2849cc 12v V6, probably the most hated engine in Volvo circles but potentially the most famous as well, it's older brother the B28E was in the DMC 12..
This being a B280E it's the later and much improved version of the original B28E. Benefiting from Bosch Jetronic electronic injection power and raised compression amongst other things allowed the output to be increased from 156 to 170 bhp. A noticeable change and it's better on fuel too....allegedly.. Unfortunately these changes were a little too late as the engines older variant had already created a bad name for the unit and it was soon superseded to the white block when the 960 was launched in 1991/2.

Anyway it's 27 years old and not without its faults but it's quite straight and the paints in good condition, apart from the usual electrolytic corrosion on the alloy tailgate..

I spent a good while cleaning it up today and here are some shots of how it now looks. I think it's fair to say that the previous owner before the guy I bought it from cared for it very much. The most recent literally bought it to help move and renouvate his cottage and let me tell you it was in desperate need of a very good clean, Gav (Merc85) will agree with me on that as he drove me down to pick it up, well it was supposed to be a viewing but I'd already convinced myself to buy it before I viewed it.. Lol















Personally despite the dislike of this unit I actually quite like it, being a 12v it's quite torquey, not fast but smooth and makes progress when you need to, plus it sounds awesome when purring and working hard, although I'm waiting for the service to give it a little bit of beans, that said it's not designed to be fast it's never going to handle or stop like an 850 without some mods and I'm loving it as a standard car.






Plans are to sort the niggles and keep it tidy and "maybe" keep it.. We shall see.. I have to say cleaning it today has reminded me just how backwards later Volvo's are in terms of build quality, even my 850 hasn't got the quality feel that this has and I've always liked how well built the 850 is.

It's in on Monday for a new steering rack as its leaking quite a bit and I'm going to have it fully serviced at the same time, it's clear it's been serviced but I'm not sure when as a lot of the paperwork was misplaced between owner 2 and owner 3. It also needs a thermostat as it takes a while to warm up, actually most of the time it can't fully warm up.

I've got to sort out the sunroof and the motor seems to have packed up, the roof opens fine manually.

I'm going to have a new headlining put in it as per all 700 series cars it's hanging down, or was until I crudely refitted it temporarily...

It's also got a dodgy speedo and fuel gauge, again a common problem and the abs light is intermittently on..

It's also got a few dash bulbs out and one of the rear clusters is fading as they do, I'm thinking about fitting the later 940 front and rear lights which are clear but I actually quite like the period ambers...

Oh and I want that dreadful towbar removed! I hate towbars lol