Was having a debate last night of the hp figure of the original flat top ‘10 turbo six’ model from 78. Always thought it was originally 253hp until it was upped with aid of the intercooler model. Opinions?
Andy 
All F10’s were intercooled and 298BHP from 1977.
Was sure the original model had less power than that…maybe im wrong then…
The first F10,s were 278bhp the engine was down rated from the F88 290 because of reliability problems and also you could get the new F12,s in RHD.The 299 bhp F10,s didn,t come intil 83/84. 
Big Bear your dead on with 278 mate, but we also had some down rated to 230 or 240 can’t remember exactly.
Yeah, definately 278BHP, my first motor was a flat top F10. BRS 127T.
I’m just sat reading a copy of ,TRUCK magazine from september 1977, with an exclusive test of Volvo’s incredible " new " F series trucks, it reads’
There are now three basic engines instead of two. The user can choose outputs of a nominal 250, 300, and 350bhp. The two lower figures are both produced by the 10 litre TD100.
The 300 horse engine is broadly similar to the TD100B- the famous 290 from 1974, but with important fuel, blower differences, the power setting has been reduced by 10 bhp compared to the 100B, Most important is that it develops its 280 nett bhp at lower revs reducing wear and tear.
The baby of the trio is, in effect, a de-rated version of the 280, 300horse engine, with 250bhp (gross) about 235 nett, depending on the particular chassis.
It is expected that a good proportion of UK sales will use this engine, which gives 7.34bhp per ton at 32 tons as this is currently one of the most popular engine/power brackets.
engines TD100a TD100b TD120c
gross bhp 250 300 350
Nett bhp 233 280 330
at 2200rpm
hope this helps
regards
Jerry
Thanks for that Jerry, looks like i was partially right then with the 250 option…
Cheers- Andy
Gazzer was wrong Gerry correct.
We had a couple of the 250`s at GE Armstongs mate of mine drove one of then took him yrs to get over me passing him up Shap with my Little Choo Choo F7 both with the same load of steel on 
Hello lads, i believe that Birdseye Frozen Foods ran some early S & T reg F10s which were rated at 240bhp, i think it was an early special option, sure read that in an old Commercial Motor a while back. STEVENS fun fair still run an ex-Birdseye 240 F10, now a 6x4, T reg, and a cab which looks like its now made totaly out of filler!!!
The flat-top F10s were 240s & 290s - at least all the ones I remember from S-reg up to around X or Y-reg were. As with all the manufacturers figures, there is often a large difference between the bench & installed outputs.
After some diggin about in old truck mags, i can say that the 240 was an option and it was known as the TD100A. non-intercooled. Volvo refered to this as ‘250 net bhp’. Terberg also offered this engine in some of their Volvo-based trucks. The 290 had an ‘instaled 278bhp’. Did anybody out there have a non-intercooled 305bhp F12■■ What a pile of ■■■■■ they were, would’nt pull ya pants down 
STRAIGHT EIGHT:
After some diggin about in old truck mags, i can say that the 240 was an option and it was known as the TD100A. non-intercooled. Volvo refered to this as ‘250 net bhp’. Terberg also offered this engine in some of their Volvo-based trucks. The 290 had an ‘instaled 278bhp’. Did anybody out there have a non-intercooled 305bhp F12■■ What a pile of [zb] they were, would’nt pull ya pants down
My first artic as an owner driver was a 78 T reg 240 F10 that had belonged to Holmans (from Goole or thereabouts) and was a fantastic truck, super reliable and very smooth & quiet, it was recognisable from the 278 as it didn’t have (or need) a pre-heat cold start element in the inlet manifold.
I followed this up a few years later with a 330 F12 81 X reg, this had the TD120a (could’ve been C) engine, the 305 was the TD120Ga, I drove a new one of these in the last job I had before ‘jacking’ to have a go on my own. It was an August 83 A reg and your right, it wouldn’t pull very well for a 300+hp engine, the 385 was another story!!!
Ross.
Yep full scale apologies on that misinformation. I didnt think the lower power option (sub 250) was actually offered in the end. I will have to dig out my original VOLVO spec sheets…if I can find 'em!
A rare version was a the Split screen F10/12’s that were assembled in Portugal. I doubt anyone has a foto of one of them!
bigr250:
STRAIGHT EIGHT:
After some diggin about in old truck mags, i can say that the 240 was an option and it was known as the TD100A. non-intercooled. Volvo refered to this as ‘250 net bhp’. Terberg also offered this engine in some of their Volvo-based trucks. The 290 had an ‘instaled 278bhp’. Did anybody out there have a non-intercooled 305bhp F12■■ What a pile of [zb] they were, would’nt pull ya pants downMy first artic as an owner driver was a 78 T reg 240 F10 that had belonged to Holmans (from Goole or thereabouts) and was a fantastic truck, super reliable and very smooth & quiet, it was recognisable from the 278 as it didn’t have (or need) a pre-heat cold start element in the inlet manifold.
I followed this up a few years later with a 330 F12 81 X reg, this had the TD120a (could’ve been C) engine, the 305 was the TD120Ga, I drove a new one of these in the last job I had before ‘jacking’ to have a go on my own. It was an August 83 A reg and your right, it wouldn’t pull very well for a 300+hp engine, the 385 was another story!!!
Ross.
Yeah, agree with you about the 385, very good lump, used to pull very well. We had a few of these on Heavyhaul and they were largely reliable motors, one was an X reg 150ton F1233, and done 16 years trouble-free (albeit with a couple of engine and cab rebuilds) running at 80tons. The cab rot ruined what was otherwise a good motor, but i did think the early cabs were more solidly built than the high-line version, the doors were more solid and the trim seemed to be better fitted.
Chris.