21 replies to this topic

[rodrigo]

Saturday was a good day. Left home around 3:45 am to head down to Maryland to pick up some OEM V70RAWD suspension stuff from his previous Blue. Greg was kind enough to install the stuff, while I pretty much watched and asked stupid questions wanting to help (sorry if it was too annoying, Greg!). This was a swap from the factory XC suspension to the V70RAWD suspension: shocks, struts, springs...I still need to install the sway bars, but the handling is really pretty good right now, I just have to watch the bumps a little more.
Here are some pics:
Rear springs


rear shocks


Front springs


the Master at work


His superhuman speed on projects like this is amazing!!!


Murphy was there to make sure everything went according to plan.


...And in the end, there was happyness...


Here's what ot looked like before the V70R suspension install:


Greg did a great job on the install while I did the meaningless stuff to try and help him.
Mmetz also showed up at around noon or so and kept the morale of the situation up. There was food, there was beer, and Murphy found his way home again..all in all a good day.

Big thanks to Greg for the patience and install. Got home with no problems whatsoever...as expected. Its nice to be closer to the ground.

Thank you, Thank you!!

Edited by vclvc, 30 January 2006 - 12:53 AM.

[cicatriz]

Wow, looks really good.

[gdizzle]

One other note about the swap, the spring perches on the xc70 are a full inch higher on the shock then on the R struts. Every thing is a direct swap as well. I had fun doing the swap Rod, I think I need a bench grinder though...

[rodrigo]

forgot to mention that about the perches...was that only in the front, or all around?

Bench Grinder....really?...what happened to the old one?

Edited by vclvc, 30 January 2006 - 01:11 AM.

[leurven]

Looks good man.

[850Brian]

Looks great, from the short time I talked with greg in person the other day he seems like a great guy. Looks like he helped you out alot and saved you some money.

[beachnut]

Looks much better

Greg sure must've been in a hurry based upon how blurry he looks in the pics

[gdizzle]

Looks great, from the short time I talked with greg in person the other day he seems like a great guy. Looks like he helped you out alot and saved you some money.

Rod had left a few hours before you showed up yesterday. Nice meeting you as well.

[Adam Franke]

Greg is the man....he's almost achieved idol status.....

[RvolvoR]

Greg is the man....he's almost achieved idol status.....

almost being the key word there

[Sharma]

It looks the same to me.

[Volvoson]

It looks the same to me.

Ya, it basically went from XC height to unlowered R which is equally as high at first glance

[rodrigo]

The front end had the biggest improvement...that came down about 3" or so. The drop in the rear was not as much...maybe 2-2 1/2, but the front was higher to brgin with. I am dying to get the Pegasuson there!!!!

Looks great, from the short time I talked with greg in person the other day he seems like a great guy. Looks like he helped you out alot and saved you some money.

Indeed he did.

It looks the same to me.

The difference is not too much, but in person it looks a lot better. Its not really low, just lower than before, and the handling is a couple notches higher. It may go lower in the future, but for now it is really nice.

[Sinbad]

I have a daft question...
Isn't the point of an XC the extra ground clearance? Why not just buy an AWD wagon otherwise?

[rodrigo]

I have a daft question...
Isn't the point of an XC the extra ground clearance? Why not just buy an AWD wagon otherwise?

Probably is daft, but I could not find a clean wagon in the time I had to get another car when my old car got smacked up. I looked around for a month and did not find anyting I liked: good shape, low miles, and clean inside and out. Looked at a couple of dissappointing V70R's too...all had issues.
When I swaw this one, I looked at it as a high wagon, not as an XC...it is basically a nicely equiped GLT with taller springs and shocks/struts. I also like the XC front bumper and the grilles matching the grille on the hood.
You are not entirely incorrect, I just look at it differently...there is no place to offroad it here anyway, so it will never see a lot of mud.

[fastboy]

much better! now throw the pegs back on and take some pics!

[gdizzle]

The difference was quite evident in person, the stock xc70 suspension almost achieves monster truck status.

[the underlørd]

were beer and sandwiches on hand?

[gdizzle]

were beer and sandwiches on hand?

you betcha

[the underlørd]

you betcha

excellent.. looks like everything went well..