Thanks to all who posted and let me know about life spans of various years of 740 turbos. I did some more checking into the mechanic I took the car to by asking a guy I know who runs a Volvo parts place in the city. Anyway, the parts guy knows the mechanic and vouches for his work, honesty, and knowledge. Apparently these guys really do specialize in Volvos and apparently contrary to what's been said here on the Brickboard, turbos by and large are subject to more wear than N/A engines and this guy has seen more than his share of those turbos that have not been as well cared for as most brickboarder turbos are. I firmly believe that for the most part Volvos can be forgiving of some maintainence lapses but turbos operate on such a razor thin threshold that you really can't afford to treat them like crap and not expect problems sometime in the future. Unfortunately I may be paying for the mistakes of the owner before last. Fortunately the last owner (guy I bought it from) was a knowledgable Volvo enthusiast albeit a classic 1800, 122, 544 guy but he still took good care of the car while he had it. It was likely the speed-racer who owned it before him that did the abusing. Anyway, I'm going to get with the mechanic on Monday to nail down a formal estimate of labor, parts, etc, and possibly consider the prospect of putting in a used engine with lower mileage. I'll be sure to keep everyone updated on this saga. At least I feel a little better about the mechanic now, having gotten a good reputable second opinion on this guys work quality. Basically the guy quoted me a lower price initially based on using a head he already had on hand. When those checked out bad he had to start searching with his usual suppliers for a usuable head which of course was going to cost him more than just using the cheaper alternative of what he had available. So, I'll see where it goes from here.

Matt Campbell
inoperable '89 740 Turbo wagon