I recently found a 90 740 sedan with 155k, auto tranny, crank sunroof, and a blown engine. The guy was on the interstate when it catastrophically lost all of its oil and he continued to drive to the nearest exit. The engine is seized solid. Other than that the car seems to be in good shape.

The parts I immediately want from this car (in order of priority) are the instrument cluster, sunroof, and tranny. I'd like help from yall to tell me if the parts will be compatible. (And any wisdom about what I say).

My cars are an '86 745 gle and '89 744 (16 valve). I tried to do an odometer repair on the '86, and I think I bent the speedo needle's axle and now the speedo and odometer work intermittently, and also sometimes if I flick the clear plastic in front of the gauges the speedo arm will bounce and if I flick hard enough it sometimes will work for a few minutes. Anyway, The '90 speedo looks identical my '86, will it plug and play? Luckily while breaking the speedo, I did figure out how to roll the mileage forward :)

My '86 sunroof also broke open while I was shutting it on the highway, at least having a working one would help me see what is wrong, as well as a supply of parts. Both of them were originally crank (I put a sunroof motor into mine.)


My sister's '89 has an auto tranny that seems to be deteriorating. It leaks transmission fluid, and from what I hear, sometimes refuses to shift into the higher gear/s (my guess- my sister lets the fluid get low). Would the parts tranny plug straight in? I have experience from doing the job on my '86 car, replacing the M46 tranny myself.

So this guy doesn't have too much history on the car, or the volvo owner sentiment, it was only a temp beater while he fixed his other car. He is asking $400 obo. I think even at $400 it'd be a steal. A cluster would run me $100 from the pick and pull, and tranny $300 or so. I could also use the wiring harness to replace just bits at a time on my '86 (biodegradable harness on it, though it hasn't troubled me seriously yet).

Honestly, I'm having thoughts of taking my '86 engine and throwing it into that '90. The '90 is a lower model GL vs. my GLE (I think) with fewer factory options (no fogs,...) which is why I'm not so seriously considering it. And an engine swap might be more than I want to do. I could end up with 2 cars that don't run!

Should I rent a u-haul and go pick this car up?

Thanks,
Nathan