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Hello VS, it has been a while.

I might be able to help you out, currently just doing PAP-smears out the back of the wagon in a Walmart parking lot but I’m looking to expand into mobile alignment as well.

Drove it 20+ hours round trip. Ran 5 30 minute sessions. Even slept in it. Not the most comfortable car to drive long distances. The car doesn't have AC, PS, ABS, radio, carpet, sound deadening etc. 😂 IEM's + Spotify FTW. The RT615K+'s are a year old. They have a few DE's, and a few autocrosses on them. Plus a few thousand street miles. Very satisfied with them. They last but aren't the stickiest "200TW." I rode shotgun in one Elliott's track cars. Slicks > 200TW. Slicks on another set of wheels might be my next move for the 944. #doitfordale My friend Elliott's Euro RHD S2 won peoples choice award.

Alright. We're 2 weeks out from the Overcrest Rally and a couple weeks ago I had an issue with the e30 dying. It started with the water temp gauge on the cluster becoming very erratic - needle jumping back and forth. Then the temp gauge I had installed started doing the same thing. *Note both these gauges are wired separately from each other with their own sensors* The next day it died on me while I was at lunch. It would start up, idle rough, I could get going but any load would cause it to stumble and die. I had a co-worker pick me up, get a new battery, and it ran great. Everything was steady, no issues. Drove it home. Drove it to work the next day. At lunch it died again. It appeared that the fuel pump wasn't getting any power. Fiddled with it for a bit and then it fired up. Drove it back to work and home like nothing was wrong. After the 850 was done, I tried driving it into the garage and it wouldn't start. Confirmed the fuel pump wasn't getting any power. I backtracked fuses and relays to where the main power comes into the engine bay from the battery in the trunk. I was getting 12v at the main lead and only 2 volts at the secondary power supply - which is the power source for the main relay and subsequently the fuel pump relay/fuel pump. The power lines had a good amount of corrosion on them. The battery terminal in the trunk was done haphazardly by the PO with a cheap clamp style terminal and the power lead for the main relay was connected to the clamp via a cheap ring terminal through one of the terminal bolts. All new power wire, new fusible link for the secondary power wire, new solder loaded terminal clamps, and power distribution blocks. I will also make all new ground wires with the leftover wire. Also replaced the AC condenser with what I should have put in from the beginning to accommodate the r134 update. The black one is more for r12 apparently. And yes, it's super wonky. LOVE working on the car in here.

And an hour later the test drive confirms I fixed the issue.

remember when we would flood TB and create all kinds of shit lol and Vice Versa.

Didn’t even think to look for that while it was on there before. Thanks! Although it will have to wait to check the rack and do the inner tie rods since the e30 is now on the lift, the 850 got all new suspension and a new stock exhaust. It’s so quiet now which is perfect since it’s the main DD. My initial reaction on the Koni strt and IPD springs: the ride is pretty good. It’s not too harsh, I like how it sits BUT I have one complaint. And that is the Konis don’t seem to be able to keep with the IPD springs. I guess the verbiage would be that they are under-dampened? Most of the time it’s totally fine, but it’s on the bumps with a dip when I feel like the shocks are having a hard time controlling the bounce of the car. My daughters are prone to car sickness, and to be honest I think they would get car sick pretty quick in it. It doesn’t bother me much, and if they didn’t do this, I would love the setup. Im glad I tried it, but I’ll probably get some HR springs soon.

Okay, now it's actually time for the subframe installation and repairs to the damage caused by the control arm coming out. I drove to my buddy's house to do the work in his driveway. On Saturday morning, I got my car up on jack stands, then got the HF engine bar in place, and started disassembly to remove the subframe, the control arms, the steering rack + tie rods, and the motor/transmission mounts. The front swaybar (stock 20mm with Energy Suspension poly bushings) would come out and get transferred over to the new subframe. By Saturday evening, I had the old parts removed and the new subframe assembly nearly ready to install. To get the AWD-style front engine mount to bolt onto the FWD subframe, there is a small nub on the bottom that contacts the control arm bushing bracket. It quickly gets trimmed off, and problem solved: Starting again on Sunday morning, the new subframe had everything installed, and ready to get installed. Here's the list of new parts for anyone who is interested: Custom powder-coated FWD subframe w/ AWD transmission mount bracket and BNE Dynamics Delrin subframe bushings, OEM engine mounts, OEM 99 AWD transmission mount, TRW remanufactured FWD steering rack with inner tie rods, TRW outer tie rods, Lemforder end links, 93 850 aluminum control arms, new Meyle HD ball joints, new OEM ball joint bolts, and new hardware for everything else. Here is where things started to go sideways... With the subframe lined up and close to installed, I realized the rear engine mount on the FWD steering rack was hitting the downpipe and preventing the rack from moving upwards into position: Knowing that I would have to remove the whole assembly, that was enough to stop my progress for the weekend. Here's how it sat for a week until I could get back to work on it Now, in the process of removing the power steering feed line from the rack a 2nd time in the weekend, the o-ring that seals the line into the the rack was damaged. So I looked up the part number, called the local dealership and ordered a couple of o-rings. I got the o-rings picked up and the next weekend, I started work on my car again. Once the rack/subframe assembly was out of the car, I cut the rear engine mount bracket off the steering rack: Shot it with some black paint to make the cut blend in and soothe my OCD after hacking up a brand new steering rack: When I went to install the new o-ring on the power steering feed line, it was too small and didn't fit. Turns out, I gave them the wrong part number . I had to re-order the right o-rings, so that stopped my progress on re-assembling the subframe for the weekend. When the control arm came out and the wheel got ripped backwards, the fender was yanked outwards as well. I posted some photos of the cosmetic damage in my earlier post. What also happened was that the lower fender bolt bracket got yanked out of the chassis and the captive nut was broken. You can see that at the bottom of the fender here: I was able to find a "license plate nut" at Advance Auto Parts that fit properly and allowed me to bolt the fender back in place. The fender still needs to be replaced, but this kept the lower portion from flapping around as badly as it did before. I also took the opportunity to drain my ~2 year old OEM transmission fluid and replace with Redline Lightweight Shockproof. This calibrated syringe from FCP makes providing the proper 2.1 L of fluid incredibly easy and was a great purchase. I had also noticed that the top mount of the passenger side coilover had gotten a small bend in the accident. Given that my CX Racing coils had been installed for a while and were starting to get rusty, so I decided to replace both front coilovers to be safe. As an unplanned purchase, I couldn't justify JRZs, or even BCs, so I decided to give the Maxspeedingrods non-dampening adjustable coilovers a chance. At $270 shipped, it was worth the gamble. The shipped super quickly, which really was a pleasant surprise for free shipping. They looked alright so I got them installed on the car - I'll share some more detailed thoughts if anyone is interested. I HATE the way the orange powdercoating looks on the car compared to the black CX coils, but it's not that big a deal in the grand scheme of things. Then, on the THIRD weekend of this project, I had the correct PS o-ring and was able to get everything reassembled. Safe to say, it made a tremendous improvement to how the car rides and handles. Between the delrin subframe bushings, fresh control arms, new steering rack / tie rods, the front end feel of the car is totally transformed for the better. My dash mounts are pretty destroyed, and this nearly eliminated all the squeaking over rough roads. Next post I'll talk about alignment / new tires / unexpected issues portion of the subframe install saga...

2" lift, buying 32" tires and some wheels for it. Didn't want to mess with cutting up pinch welds and body mounts to fit 33" Funny that people mention car lifts, originally this work was to be done at a buddies house with lift but he got busy. This weekend I plan to use his lift for the p/s rack and ball joints.

Rankings and badges. I have earned 6 badges in the last 24 hours. Still says I am a newbie. Now I want to see a list of badges.

Turned 150k on my road trip to NC this weekend. First time in 5 years this car has been more than 20 miles from home.

Sadly, this place is too dead for a chat option.

i forget exactly where on the rack but now with that lift its easy... get under the car and look for the brand on the rack i remember my blue v70t5m had a replaced rack and i found it on the rack itself. just dont remember where lol

Swapped out an old Kenwood double DIN for a mint HU-803 I found in the junkyard. Surprisingly everything works on it and the CD player doesn't click! Also installed a new shifter bushing and took pictures of my recent wide band and Snow meth injection install.

Part of a bolt welded on to the mount and cleaned up. Test fitting the shock. And then all done. Needed a couple washers to clear the weld. But, beats what I’ve read on most forums that says the only fox is to replace the entire delta link.

It was hard to tell exactly what my slab thickness was. I didn't go through into loose stone, I know that much. But those at MaxJax have said that if you use the epoxy anchors and you drill through your slab, to stuff something at the bottom of the hole to hold the epoxy as it cures. My drill holes were all solid at the bottom. Used this epoxy: It has a pretty high load rating, especially considering each post has 5 anchors: And tested it out last night. I have quite a bit more room to go up and it's already so much higher than it would be if it was on jack stands.

Finally getting down to business.

He had a thread on my X1/9 forum for that build - very nicely done all over. $43K is a nice price for an X1/9 K/swap. They'll have to bury me in mine, I'm never selling it....

Installed my newly purchased Michelin PS4S 235/40/18

DOPE!

Make sure both of your axles are firmly seated. One of them might have come out.

Adjusted the ride height bit on the SR. Put the adjustable burly boy rear sway bar in it. Not sure of the brand but was several mm thicker than OEM. Wide angle makes the rear wheels look all tilty boi.

If you join the facebook group TSOR - Toyota Sequoia Off Road, theres a member by the name of 'JoeJoe' who sells OEM parts at a steep discount. He only accepts Friends and Family paypal 😬but so far, so good, and no sales tax saves me a bunch. I pay with credit card through paypal for some protection.

Yeah, I wouldn't sell the townhouse, it would be a rental if I bought something else.

Had a consistent cylinder 2 misfire above 3kRPM noticed the intake runner was dirty around the injector, pulled the injector and found it caked with crap, looks like the o-ring at the rail failed and was leaking onto the lower one allowing all kinds of crap to start sticking to it and degrading the lower o-ring, cleaned everything up replaced the 2 o-rings and so far good as new. Tomorrow I gotta do the engine and snub mounts before the 1.8t falls out lol, was hoping to just do them when I put the 2.7 in but they’re in dire need of replacement now.

NICE! I sold my whole set a couple years back since I never got around to installing them lol.

Thank you! We finally got the driveway in and everything around the house is finally grass again. Just an area by the driveway towards the garage to fill in with dirt and seed yet. I think it might have a tune on it. That's what the PO said, but as I started working on the car, I don't really believe anything he says since he spoke much more highly of the car than what it actually was. Things like "the turbo was just replaced!" but yet it's coated in oil and clearly has not left the car in a VERY long time. Also, he did the 302 conversion on the front, but didn't touch things like the control arms that had cracked and separated bushings. Whatever. I don't really have any performance plans for it. At least not for a while until the e30 is 100% sorted it out and I've gotten the R to complete stage zero. But with the suspension all sorted out I finally pushed it a little bit and I really forgot how smooth the power is on these cars. And it's quicker than I remember them being. And with every P80 I've had I've never "finished" them. Always sold them before I felt they were done. So I'd like to make this one completely right before I do anything with it.

We miss you too bb ❤️

Hi! it's been ages since I've posted and needed to post on VS again! I miss you.

the Saffron is officially gone. Exchanged money the other day. Also spent last week golfing in Pinehurst. I am not good enough for a trip like that lol.

Thank you! That was always the vision. A place to do what I enjoy and space for my girls to hang out in there too. They love watching their shows in there. Working on this is giving me flashbacks from my first 850. The suspension was so crusty and the Konis were almost unrecognizable. So far I’ve ran into the PO cross threading the caliper sliders into the bracket, snapping off the end of the shock mount stud, and breaking loose one of the welded nuts on the driver side shock mount. So much PB Blaster and so much propane. The plan is to weld a portion of a bolt onto the end of the shock mount since all of the structural part is still there and all the nut does is keep it in place. Going to try and chase the threads in the bracket and use a die to clean up the threads on the sliders. And a nut and bolt for the shock mount.

That's incredibly cool, nice score Gabe! And in case I haven't said it before, your garage looks like a perfect setup - plenty of space to work, storage to keep your tools organized, and a place to hang out too.

Yep, feel the same about my 855T! They ain't making any more of them..

Hope this works fine: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ul288xcbcmqpzqr/0261204609_1037359880_1.bin?dl=0 // Turboforslund

Headlight restoration

For a long time I've wanted to swap in a FWD subframe to use 2-bolt control arms. The drivers side 4-bolt arm is really challenging to access because of the M66 case. Several years ago I parted out a 99 V70 NA, and kept the subframe for this project. I was finally able to get started on the project this winter. Using a FWD subframe on an AWD car requires welding the AWD transmission mount bracket onto the subframe. I made a template to locate the bracket on the FWD subframe, then cut the bracket off from an AWD subframe taken from a XC my friend parted out: Once I had the bracket in place, I had to notch the bracket to fit around the control arm bracket, then drilled the holes in the subframe to allow for full engagement of the transmission mount bolts: Then once everything was properly prepped and ready for welding, the bracket and subframe around the bracket were ground clean to remove the factory protective coating and 20 years of road grime. Then I had a friend weld the bracket in place. I think he did a fantastic job given the questionable cleanliness of the material he was working with: I cut off some of the extraneous brackets and cleaned everything up to make it easier to work in/around. Then I had a friend powdercoat the subframe to keep everything protected and looking good for years to come. They blasted the subframe clean, then applied a zinc primer, the color powder, and gloss clear powder. Everything came out looking fantastic. I picked a grey powder with some metallic flake to it: After being powdercoated, it was time to install a set of BNE Dynamics (Kaplhenke Racing) delrin subframe bushings. I made a tool to install the bushings - one 3/4" bolt, a 3/4" nut, a three 3/4" fender washers, a 4" metal octagonal junction box, and two j-box covers. Punch the knockouts out of the j-box and cover plates, then place the j-box above the bushing with one fender washer, drop the threaded bolt through the bushing, then two fender washers and j-box covers, and the nut. Tighten the nut to drive the bushing into the subframe. I used my M12 stubby impact and it made life nice and easy. The cardboard is used to protect the powdercoat. And the results - the bushings were seated perfectly, and no marks were left in the powder coat: And with all four bushings installed, the custom subframe is ready for install: Then I prepped a set of 93 850 aluminum control arms for install. I picked up 4 or 6 sets a few years back, sold most of them, and kept a pair for myself. I got a set of new ball joints, then torqued the bolts to spec (13 ft. lbs, then 120 degrees) and safety mark the orientation to ensure nothing comes loose: The bushings were in decent shape, so I left them for now. They'll get replaced with a set of Powerflex polyurethane bushings in the future. I’ll talk about installing the subframe and some other work in my next post

Watch out you'll double the mileage in two months at this pace. Custom stealth door pod for the WB. Paint is custom matched to the factory mirror cap.

dual piston calipers for the xc90! big difference in the stoppin!

S4 brakes

I've spent entirely too long thinking about Volvos...

This is a bit of a long read as it’s culminating about 12 months of work, but here goes: So last September, my S70 T5 SE developed a tick the morning that I had to move 150km away for a co-op job that started the next day. That tick turned into a knock, and after an unsuccessful visit to a mechanic with hundreds of dollars down the drain, I limped then towed the S70 home over Thanksgiving long weekend. That weekend, I picked up this red 850R sedan after looking at a few other (likely more reliable…) cars, but it was still the one that felt just right. I had seen a mint red 850R sedan a few years prior and the image of it was so stuck in my head that I could turn this R into one just like it. I was smitten. I also had snow tires and a roof rack with bike attachments from the S70, and a whole lot of transferable knowledge from working on the S70 which helped. I brought the 850 home the day after test driving it, cleaned up the interior and exterior, and drove it 150km back to my job. It had 227,742km when I bought it. The more I drove it, the more things I noticed were quite wrong with it. The steering wheel pulled abruptly left when braking, the brakes shuddered, it was misfiring at high load, the PCV was clogged, timing belt was 10 years old, sway bar links were clunky, trunk struts were blown, it wasn’t making full boost, MAF to turbo intake hose was falling apart, gas cap didn’t always unlock, antenna got stuck halfway raised, it needed an alignment, passenger side door check was completely cracked, etc… The poorly repainted front bumper and projector headlights didn’t help it aesthetically, either. What the hell did I get myself into? I got myself into a project daily driver, that's what Since then, I’ve been tackling these issues one-by-one, along with a few upgrades. Here’s the day I got the car Sadly, the Volans had to come off the day that I got it since I knew snow wasn’t too far away. Cleaned up the filthy engine bay Then, one of the HID bulbs burnt out so I switched to the stock headlights (the swap was inevitable…) A few weeks into ownership I replaced the PCV system, as I knew it was likely original and would wreak havoc if left unaddressed… Yep, that’s a bit overdue. Discovered the intake pipe was a goner Much better. Replaced pine needles with an actual cabin air filter, and a Midwest ABS module Had a big scare when I discovered I was losing coolant rapidly and had a milky residue all over the dipstick… I thought the head gasket was a goner, but it turned out to just be a leak from the coolant expansion tank hose connection to the thermostat, coupled with a big decrease in ambient temperature causing condensation on the dipstick. Did a combustion gas test in the coolant tank which showed no combustion gases, and haven’t had any similar symptoms since then. Then I went for some adventures in the snow Next up was the timing belt, water pump, idler and tensioner pulleys, and tensioner. This turned into a bit of an ordeal since I didn’t have all the proper tools to make it go smoothly, but in the end it worked out thanks to a lot of help via text from Mark (BlackT5). Finished it just in time to catch the ferry over to school for class the next day… Also sourced a used intake pipe from a 1998 S70 T5 so it’s not 100% correct, but did the trick Discovered the dizzy cap was a little overdue… And replaced the sway bar links with Lemforder ones Picked up a really nice hood from Mark and knew I wasn’t alone in this crazy little Volvo world hahaha Got it aligned, which actually unveiled some bigger issues - tie rods were totally shot, and even though the car then drove straight, it tramlined really badly after the alignment! Finally had time to detail it Then the day after, the antenna got stuck halfway up, and the gas tank leaked after a fill-up. Great! Discovered the true meaning of understeer at my first autocross Check out that body roll and mid-corner understeer, how yummy Dat squat on accel Weighed in at the track scale at a spritely 3190lbs with no spare tire and 1/2 tank of gas. Then finished the semester and moved back home for an 8 month co-op. Finally, I had time to work on this thing! Swapped out the awful 850R steering for my S70 T5 SE wheel Drove it 1100km without a hitch. Hit 234k at this point Blacked-out the grille, then got to the brakes! 302mm zimmerman rotors, StopTech Sport pads, and stainless hoses 2 new front calipers, and a new driver’s side rear caliper, which had a seized piston causing the pad to wear massively. The brake hard line was also seized to the caliper which required cutting it and reflaring for the new one. Next up, I pulled the lowering springs and 25mm rear sway bar off my S70 and installed those, along with new control arms, inner & outer tie rods, transmission torque mount, fuel return hose, vacuum tree seal, new-style red handle dipstick and dipstick tube. Then got pulled the bumper off and got to work on that, along with another alignment where I saw another 850R for the first time since that mint one a few years ago… Rear sway bar in… Alignment with a twin The damage to the bumper from previous owners was worse than anticipated… 3M Plastic bumper repair Lots of filler primer later… Paint! The look is finally complete! It’s finally looking just like that 850R that I had seen a few years ago! Then replaced the spark plugs and wires with the relatively new ones from my S70. Finally got rid of my high load misfire, gaps were about 0.048"… Hit up the local Cars & Coffee This EVO II stole the show Vancouver has pretty good taste in cars Went to another autocross Finally got a Thule fairing after looking for a good used one for years! And unveiled the shiny finish from beneath the rust of the exhaust tip Fresh oil pan and oil cooler line seals Picked up a T5-R shift knob to replace the S70 knob I had been using Then a factory SC-815 radio to finally replace the useless touchscreen And now it’s at 242k on my snow tires with perfos :D It’s been quite the adventure so far, and I still have lots to do, but it’s mostly the little things at this point. The antenna is still stuck, the fuel door solenoid has been disconnected so I don't have to manually pull it open, and I haven't yet replaced the fuel vent hose to prevent the leak. I also need to make a tow hook bracket for the license plate so I don't get a ticket for the current placement. There's probably more that I can't think of right now... That's alright, I'm still enjoying the car!