FrankenMoose

I had a hard time finding the carrier bearing for the car. Almost every site selling them said that it's a balanced shaft and that the entire driveline has to be replaced. Well, that sounded like bullshit to me, so I did more digging and found one on eBay. I ordered and received it, and tried to install it this week. Turns out they were right, the entire driveline will need to be replaced, but not because of anything Volvo did. One of the previous owners must of had an issue with the driveline and had to have it repaired in a hurry. They had the yolk welded to the rear line, which is where the bearing is mounted, and the u-joint was welded into the yolk! You can see where they attempted to balance the line once it was welded together. So, even if I was able to get these thing apart, I'd have to re-balance it , which I don't have the tools to do. Normally, the u-joint is held in with retaining clips. If this were the case, then the bearing could have been accessed and replaced. But this... this is shit. I found a guy locally selling a "refurbished" one (for all I could tell he installed a new bearing and cleaned it) for half the price the dealer wants for a new one. It was the right thing to do, replace the line with a like new one, so I bought it. I'll get it installed this week and get this project back on track.

I can buy HushMat products at cost, so it's all HushMat stuff

Two steps forward... Got the Turbo set, plumbed with oil and coolant lines. Slammed the rebuilt Bevel gear in, pass. axle, pass. side suspension back on, new brake lines for the Big Brakes. Then, when I started to connect the drive line I noticed that it was sloppy AF. So, looked down the line to the carrier bearing and... Blam! The thing is shot to shit, well at least the rubber part is. Dropped the plate and to get a better look. I was going to install the downpipe, but it would be in the way of the drive line repair. Well, so, drivetrain is not complete. But the Intake mani is in, as well as the ECU; Power Steering complete, Overflow tank in; Rear hatch is now sound deadened like the roof and cargo area. Seats are in, as well as the shifter. Need to start the install for the Meth pump, SNABB intake pipe, Turbo setup, coolant lines, throttle body, Intercooler, radiator, oil cooler, AC Lines, Oil pressure sensor, Strut bar... man, lots to do.

Boil over is probably the wrong term. Dumped oil out the vent is more accurate. Last time I drove the Silver VR to IPD with this trans in it, every time I would go over 70mph, the gear oil would spill out of the top vent. Made for a long trip home driving at 65mph. Most likely an over fill situation. but I still want to flush and fill just in case I did something stupid like put the wrong gear oil in or something.

I'm taking a walk though the "List O'Things" from the first post. This is mostly for me to reevaluate and track things. So... you know... go look at the NSFW section for a bit. A List of things I plan to do and have done: 1 - Change the "black with dark grey inserts" seat and trim with the 'black and light grey inserts" from the old car so that the center console, shifter boot and steering wheel will match. - DONE 2 - Also change out the upper trim to grey, since the black upper trim makes the car feel small IMO - DONE 3 - Install the larger fuel pump that I bought for the old car so that this one will not suffer from low fuel pressure above 4K RPM - Pushing this out until after the car is up and running. Trying to focus on things to get it going and dividing things to GET IT GOING and AFTER IT'S GOING 4 - Install the Big Brake kit with the 330mm High Carbon disks in the front (which have quite the coating of rust on them from sitting), a new set of R rears calipers for the rear, and steel braided lines all around. - DONE 5 - Repair the one rear Ohlins shock that was damaged when removing them from the old car; install the set, along with the strut brace. - First need to find a good repair shop, then install them while doing the fuel pump 6 - New hood liner to evict the rodents and their damage - AFTER 7 - Deep clean the interior - DONE 8 - Install the Cat back system from the old car and get a new down pipe, since I sold the old one - AFTER 9 - Polish up the headlights, or find a set of Jewels. not doing the AMBs again. Sold the old set - AFTER 10 - Get the paint tended to, and do some... selective vinyl wrapping. Gotta make it mine, you know... - AFTER 11 - Find and stop the oil leak on the new block. Not sure where it was coming from, but It just can't happen again - Found it. The turbo return pipe was not seated to the block correctly, and by that I mean missing the seal of the back side; and the front leak was at the oil pressure plug. I had installed a 3-way extension to add int he oil pressure gauge. Messed it all up, lots of unneeded inserts. I'll do it the correct way this time 12 - Figure out the issue with the VVT. Used to get errors under hard acceleration from the VVT. Would like that to stop - AFTER 13 - Confident that the M66C leak from the pass side was fixed by adding in a o-ring that was forgotten by the re-builders during assembly. The Trans did, however, boil over during the last trip to IPD. I'm hoping that was due to over filling, but I might flush and refill just to make sure - Looking of a good tranny flush. Something I can run though a few times and get it clean. Then fill it with the horrible smelling oil 14 - Since it will not be a work car, Some subs in the back and a full update tot the audio system - AFTER 15 - Install the old alarm to add security and remote start; not sure if I'll install the window modules, but I really like one touch up and down windows... - AFTER 16 - The old Ronal R39 Ferris 18x8 are still hanging around. They will probably get refreshed and installed - DONE 17 - New fog lights. Old are cracked. Also install the STI lip, 'cause the front end looks naked without it - AFTER 18 - No wing on the car, so my Silver one will do. If I have to repaint the bumpers (they are pretty jacked up), I'll have the wing color matched as well - DONE 19 - Oil pressure gauge with Boost installed in custom pod below ashtray - NEXT WEEK 20 - Meth Injection installed as well, with guage in pod - In Process 21 - New engine and trans with rebuilt bevel gear and correct passenger side axle installed - Ummm 22 - Decide whether to refine the ARD Platinum Tune for better performance, or get a new tune - In talks with Hilton for Stage 3 Tune 23 - Replace the windshield - AFTER ADD: 24 - Door cards are shit. Need to re-laminate the inserts back in and repair the mounts. Also going to get some deadening in there while it's open and some good speakers

Some work recently. Been sick for about a week, but I was starting to get cabin fever. Tore the upper dash pad off to run the GPS antenna for the new head unit ( which is the Silver's old Pioneer AppRadio 4) and found a shit ton of cracks. Did the mod and made notes to come back with filler and abs glue to help seal up and prevent more. Also going to flock the forward most section where the air vents are, cause it looked damn good on the Silver. Not sure at this point if I want to add a back view camera. I had it on the Silver and liked to set the AppRadio to that view as the default. Anyway... Front seats are in, old steering wheel is off new one will go on soon, ECM rewired, TCM gone for ever, All this is make work that has to be done, but I'd rather be completing the engine install. Still waiting on parts for the PVC System, downpipe, right axle and other stuff. IPD was holding up an order due to an item being backordered. I called them and straightened them out. Should be here by Friday. Just leaves the dowpipe...

And just like that two becomes three... Wrapped up a lot of small things, like:replaced the driver's side seat belt with my old modified one (has a passenger lockable buckle and belt wound onto a driver side case), completed pedal box swap to add the clutch pedal, clutch master and piping, shifter in, carpet back in, headliner back in, some trim pieces in, main wiring harness in place but needs to be modified to remove TCM, finished heater core, heater lines, turbo coolant and oil feed lines, Not major things, but they needed done. Waiting for the downpipe to complete the exhaust, three weeks out.

Big Steps! Engine and Transmission are in ...finally. I had disassembles all the accessories and parts to sell them off before we decided to rebuild in another chassis. So, I had to reinstall the Kalmar-Union/AP Racing Clutch and Flywheel pack before I could mate the trans back tot he engine. Problem was, I couldn't find the bolts needed to do just that. I ordered replacements, turned out to be the wrong ones. Finally got the right bolts on Friday, and installed it today. With the clutch back in, I grabbed Phil and we got the trans mounted. Took about 45 minutes to get the lump in the chassis. I used a balance bar to get it shifted in, the M66 is a big boi, then realized I couldn't get the back on the trans onto the rear mount with the mount installed to the subframe. There just wan't room. Then I remembered having to install the mount on the trans, then shove it in. Ah the things you forget... Updating the garage entry with all the specs.

She's off to a new location... Moving to a new house for completion. These wheels look amazing in person. Very good match with the blue and yellow color scheme. Took pics of the interior roof and the sound deadening, but they didn't come out; too dark. I'll try again before the interior goes back in. New heater core is in, Master Clutch is in, Manual Shifter cables are in. Nothing keeping the engine out but rebuilding the bevel gear and finding and fixing the oil leak that plagued the old car ( I think it's was coming from the PVC System not being installed properly). The engine might go in without the bevel gear, and I'll have to install it later, but no big whoop, done it before.

The choice to replace the heater core was a good one. Today I started pulling the pedal box, and heater core to get ready for the new stuff. As soon as I pulled up the driver's side carpet I could smell the coolant. Sure enough, the core and the feed lines are both leaking. The core has a crack, and the seals on the tubes are shot. Stuffed a shit tone of rags down under the underlayment and on top to absorb as much coolant as possible. Also dropped the sunroof to get some sound dampening up in there. If your going to do it, do it right. Pulled to old auto cables out and was going to put the manual cables back, but realized that it would be easier to wait until the heater core is finished. Loosened the brake booster and pedal box to get the clutch in, and setup for three pedals, but that too was set on hold due to all the coolant in the driver's side footwell. A little forward, and a little back. If all goes well, the engine and trans should be ready to go back in next weekend. In the mean time, the wheels are back from powder coating. And they look AMAZING! This color is going to go so perfectly with the Laser Blue and Banana Yellow of the calipers. This grey has both silver and blue flakes in it, so in the sun it look grey and reflects blue. The camera just cannot do it justice.

Lots of cleaning today. The engine bay had all 230k miles of dirt and oil stuck up in every cranny. Made a list of all the parts needed to complete the changeover to manual before the engine can go in. I'll order them up tomorrow. Decided to change out the heater core while I'm at it. Since the engine has Evan's waterless in it before; I'm planning on flushing it and to use the Evan's again. If the old heater core were to stay, it would have to be removed and flushed out and preped for the waterless anyway. Might as well put a new one in there to avoid the blowout. The Ronal R-39 18" wheels are being powder coated this week. One was curbed a bit ago, so once the wheels were stripped, I took the one curbed to a repair shop. They filled and filed it so perfectly, that I had a hard time finding the curbed area. Having them done in "Anthracite" since I think the hyper silver whey were originally really does not go with the laser blue. Once the bay was clean, I installed the IPD front sway bar. I cannot seem to find the HD Sway Bar Ends, but I think that is because the the passenger side kept loosening and breaking. I think I threw them out out of frustration. Might have to buy new ones... Almost clean... when the wheels get back, I'll roll the car out and pressure wash the rest of the grime off

Boy, if you don't post to a topic in 6 months... Anyway, Some updates: Pulled the engine and trans recently. It was dirty, like damn I need three pairs of rubber gloves just to touch it dirty. 240K on the clock leaves a lot of sludge behind. Plan to power wash the bay before doing anything else. Once I get it clean, the IPD sway will go in. Installed the Ohlins up front with the TME springs, as well as the High Carbon 330mm Brembo discs and Big Red Calipers. This color combo will work, oh yes, it will work very well. The brakes are now to big for the 17" wheels to go back on. The wheels do actually clear the calipers by about 1/16", but the spokes do not clear the bottom of the calipers. It could with spacers... but why bother, I have to get the 18" Ronal R39's ready anyway... Now, what color to have them powder coated... Quite a difference in disc size Also Started the interior change over. The rear seats are completely changed over to the light grey inserts. The front seats will come out soon to replace the heater core and so some electrical work, as well as change out the pedal box, shifter cables and shifter Nothing to check off the list yet, but a lot of it is in the works.

Volvo V70R

Finally! 27"x3 Curved Samsung Monitors!

Yup, It's the 1000ca version not the 800cca; so I paid $150 out the door. I haven't purchased a OEM battery in like 20 years. But, due to all the computers and electrical needs of this car, its the really the best battery on the market. This, or the Interstate Battery version, which costs more currently.