A Volvo Story - Talon Dahmen's Turbo Volvo 760

2019-12-03 - Megan Russell

Today our Volvo Story comes from a loyal yet new customer to IPD Volvo. Talon Dahmen tagged us in a picture of his 1984 Turbo Volvo 760 on Instagram and we fell in love with this very custom Volvo build. When he mentioned that he had bought a lot of IPD Volvo products for this build, we knew we had to give him a feature!

Here is his Volvo Story:

My name is Talon Dahmen and this is the story of my Swedish Drift Missile.

It all started 2 years ago when I drove home for spring break in my Audi B5 S4. The B5 S4 being notorious for being unreliable, it is not surprising that I barely made it back due to boost issues. Not wanting to drive back through the 9 mountain passes in between me and my home in Bozeman Montana, I decided I needed something different. My good friend Connor, who came with me on spring break, who was and still is an avid Volvo lover, recently had been trying to convert me from German Autobahn cars like my Audi S4 to turbo Swedish bricks. Being sick of having an unreliable car and watching some “trying to kill a Volvo” YouTube videos, where they drain all the oil of a B230ET and drive it at redline for +30mins- I was sold on the idea of getting a Volvo.

10 minutes after deciding to get into a Volvo, I found a 1984 760 Turbo, 4 speed manual with 250,000 miles on Craigslist for $1400. With some minimal convincing the seller agreed to $740 cash in hand if I picked it up that day. Despite it being 7:30 pm and the car being just under 4 hours south from where I was in Washington, Connor and I began the rather questionable road trip to a small town in Oregon, which we just passed the IPD headquarters coincidentally enough.

Upon arriving around midnight to the sellers house, we learned in complete disgust that the intake charge pipes and brake calipers were painted bright green. But what was even more concerning, was that it had a Chucky doll head for a shift knob with a Home Depot wall switch screwed to the left eye of the doll head that was wired up to engage overdrive in the transmission. As I sign the title of this Volvo nightmare in the sellers house, I notice it has no furniture and roughly 300 5 gallon paint buckets stacked up against every wall. I come to the conclusion that I’m buying this 1980’s chucky adorned brownish orange and bright green accent Volvo turbo brick off of a legitimate crackhead.

After inspecting the Volvo the next morning and determining the muffler along with much of the trunk liner had been completely destroyed, in the name of performance, we cut off the exhaust just after the downpipe and fabricated a crude but effective side exit exhaust in an Autozone parking lot. The next day I decided the ride height was not to my liking as well, so I cut the stock Volvo springs for the DIY body roll reduction. This was not a permanent solution by any means. Not long after, I upgraded the rear suspension with BC Racing lowering springs and Bilstein Sport Touring Shocks. The front suspension is now lowered with the Kaplhenke Racing Coilovers, which are fitted with high spring rate Eibach Racing Springs and Kaplhenke Racing adjustable camber plates, which allows me to go low with perfect fitment.

After deciding the Volvo desperately needed a trunk spoiler, I found a 1984 Ford Foxbody SVO Mustang coupe wing on Craigslist. On my way to pick up this mustang wing from a firefighter on his night duty, I crossed a railroad at an unfavorable angle and speed making quick work of my then Autozone sponsored side pipe. This event foreshadowed my decision to run a hood exit in the future.

Having now owned my Volvo 760 for over a year, I am officially hooked on Volvo’s. I cannot stop planning what I’m going to do to it next. With the help of IPD Volvo, I accumulated a mountain of parts to allow me to build the Volvo reliably to its current state in the span of a week. With a self compensating Bosch ECU, Green Top injectors and an undeniable crave for boost, I consistently ran 15psi through a turbo twice the size as the stock Volvo Turbo, enough to cement my faith and loyalty to the turbobrick gods. I haven’t looked back since having just bought another Volvo 760 not too long ago.

Build Specs

Engine B230FT 2.3L Turbo inline 4 (Redblock)
T04E .50 A/R 57-Trim Turbocharger (78mm compressor wheel)
Custom Top Mount Exhaust Manifold
Relocated coolant reservoir
Shaved engine bay
OBX Performance 3” Hood Exit
Toyoko Front Mount Intercooler (3” innercooler off of a duramax Isuzu truck)
AEM Dry-flow Intake filter
XS Power BOV
Temple Horse Oil Return Line
Temple Horse Oil Feed line
Yoshifab Block Return line adaptor
Kinugawa Oil Feed line adaptor
Autobaun88 BOV Boot
Mishimoto external Oil cooler
AZ CNC 2.5” to 3” V-Band Adapter
16” 1500CFM Electric Radiator Fan
IPD Volvo magnetic oil drain plug

Driveline

M46 4-Speed Gearbox

Suspension/ Brakes

Kaplhenke Racing Front Coil Overs
Kaplhenke Racing Adjustable Camber Plates
Rear BC Racing Springs
Bilstein Sport Touring Shocks

Wheels/ Tires

17x8.5 ESR SR01 Wheels
IPD Volvo H&R 25mm Spacers

Exterior

Oem Volvo Rear Window Louvers (imported from Latvia)
1984 Ford FoxBody SVO Mustang wing
Rolled Fenders
Sunroof Tilt risers
4 x 14” 2000 lumen LED light-bars

Interior

Weight Reduction of 350lbs
Stripped interior
Boost Gauge
Oil pressure gauge
Custom made shift knob

Thank you Talon, we appreciate the support and love from our loyal customers! We look forward to see what you do to your next Volvo 760.

And for you, our reader, if you are interested in being a feature in our "Volvo Story" blog series, please tag us in your pictures on Instagram www.instagram.com/ipdusa or shoot us an email at marketing@ipdusa.com