36 replies to this topic

[Dan A]

MadracingAlley, on 13 December 2011 - 12:28 AM, said:

As for The Nivo's in the rear, They are self adjusting Shock absorbers. And you can replace them with FWD shocks as long as you have the "correct" home made adaptors. I have a 2000 XC and I'm looking into some 600 lb/in Afco Springs, and a homemade adjuster like the ones made by KW or Kalphinke (sp.) along with Koni adjustables in the rear also.

I have never heard that the rear will sag without Nivo's but, I may be wrong about that.

I tried this unsuccessfully. Maybe you can get it to work. I tried springs from 250 up to about 450# range paired with adapted koni yellows and nothing worked well. It really didn't feel like the Koni's were up to the job. 600# seems way too stiff. But I hope you give it a go and post your results.

The rear will sag without Nivo's and the ride will suck. The Nivo's help support the load of the rear.

I think Hussein said over on V70R.com that there was a rare Nivo-less option and FCP seems to show a non-Nivo rear shock with the proper mount, but I don't have any idea what spring would pair with it. I couldn't find any information on it, so I'm not really convinced yet it exists.

[JRL]

From the picture of all the oil up in the galley, you need to do it pretty soon!

As for FCP those are for non AWD cars w/Nivomats

[Keaton85]

Come on, you know just like everyone else, that just because there is oil on top of the head doesn't mean the PCV system needs to be done. It's probably just a rock solid oil cap seal.

But it's easy enough to check the PCV system.

[stan_t]

Dan A, on 13 December 2011 - 08:53 PM, said:

I tried this unsuccessfully. Maybe you can get it to work. I tried springs from 250 up to about 450# range paired with adapted koni yellows and nothing worked well. It really didn't feel like the Koni's were up to the job. 600# seems way too stiff. But I hope you give it a go and post your results.

Not sure how the Volvo Konis are valved, but with other Koni yellows I've ran I don't think they are capable of controlling 600lb springs. 450, maybe. Those rates would be brutal for the street though, unless you drive on roads paved with glass. Koni's beauty is rebound damping and it's adjustable to boot; however, compression damping is static, so you pretty much have to match spring rates to the damper (been there, done that). Unless you want to re-valve them for a custom application, $$$ and at that point something like KWs make alot more sense price-wise.

Bought 5 quarts of Valvoline MaxLife ATF, it seems to be compatible and I've had good results running MaxLife products. I'm new to maintaining automatic transmissions though.

Stan

For oil under the cover -- it looks like some oil is possibly being splashed up by the cam and leaking out from under the "710" cap.

Stan

[Dan A]

JRL, on 13 December 2011 - 09:10 PM, said:

As for FCP those are for non AWD cars w/Nivomats

It's AWD per VADIS. Look up the part number.

[Dan A]

stan_t, on 13 December 2011 - 09:45 PM, said:

Not sure how the Volvo Konis are valved, but with other Koni yellows I've ran I don't think they are capable of controlling 600lb springs. 450, maybe. Those rates would be brutal for the street though, unless you drive on roads paved with glass.

450 was very stiff. No body roll though LOL. But it felt like I was riding on springs without shocks. I contacted Koni and they thought 450# was controllable but they weren't. I don't know enough about how make it work, but I thought I'd just do some trial and error. I'm riding with TME AWD springs with Koni's up front and the stock Nivo's in back. Rides OK, but not ideal.

[stan_t]

^^Good info. I also learn by trial-end-error, problem with that is it gets expensive. Highest rates I've tried -- I ran 295 front / 275 rear springs over Koni Yellows on my 3,300lb Subaru (struts front and rear), and it was brutal, but like you say, no body roll. I ran 350 front / 250 rear on the Miata over Konis, and it was alright, but that car was light and had double-wishbone front and rear which really helps. I've come to a conclusion that "no body roll" skate-board setups are bad for street cars and longer suspension travel with some roll actually works worlds better at keeping your tire on the ground on rough transitions. We don't live on a track, roads here are crap.

My plan for now (one everything settles) is to use Konis with stock springs in the front and leave the rear as is. If that works okay, I could fine-tweak with sway bars -- are the TME bars adjustible?

Yay for trying to make bricks handle lol



Stan

[Dan A]

TME bars? The only sway bars for 98-00 awd that I know of are IPD.  I have the rear bar installed and the front is still sitting in the garage.  The front has two mounting points to adjust for stiffness. But Im told the front bar reduces body roll but increases understeer.  IPD wouldn't sell me just the rear so I bought both.  They told me it might cause too much oversteer having just the IPD back and the stock front.  I havent had any problem.  In fact the difference is fairly mild. I think the stock sways are smaller diameter on the XC though.  Im debating whether to install the front.  If I do, I'll be updating end links too and using the softer setting.

[stan_t]

Do the front, you will be amazed what a larger front bar will do on a strut setup. I know the mantra of "it will cause understeer", those people never tried it. It will increase grip as it will preserve negative camber which in a strut setup is lost when turning. Having a large rear bar will promote lift off oversteer which is horrible on a street car.

Setting up street cars is very different from track cars, so conventional knowledge goes out the window.

Stan

[stan_t]

You can actually see what I mean in my pic above, that was before I upgraded the front bar. For the record, I don't have much track time, but do drive twisties a lot.

[AdirondackVolvo]

Well I'm going to have to wait, on The setup, But I would like to try some different setups. I know that I'm going to go with an ipd drop springs and Koni's in the front, But I'd like to have the rear adjustable for weather I'm going to tow (Small Camper or Sailboat), or go to the track for a bit. I must say It handles well for a factory setup, but I would like a bit more stiffness. I also like to have a little weight transfer in the rear around corners.

(HiJacked!) Question from me... What Diameter and spring rate are the factory springs? May just end up keeping the Nivo's and Just applying a larger spring rate,

[Dan A]

I think I estimated them at about 200#, but not sure if anyone knows for sure.  That was using a basic measurement of diameter and # coils.  This is on my R.

BTW, I just f'ed up my alignment by hitting a curb pretty hard (not to mention blowing out the tire and possibly needing a new wheel). So I may be getting some upgraded end links and installing the front bar since I need a new alignment done anyway.

[AdirondackVolvo]

Ouch. Thats a crappy day. By Chance, do you know what the spring diameter is also?

[Dan A]

Sorry, I don't remember. If I can think of it, I'll see if I can find the springs in the garage and measure.

[Dan A]

My calipers suck pretty bad, as they only read to the nearest 1/32 inch. But the fronts are approx 17/32" and the rears are approx 1/2" inch. Unless you are talking about the coil diameter, which is 3" ID on the rear.

[AdirondackVolvo]

3"... The ones from Afco are 2.5..... I'll have to look into it more...

[Dan A]

The ones I used were Eibachs, made for coilovers.