andyb5

Interfooler love it! I'm hoping the route I have drawn up will work. If it does, I think a lot of ME7 guys will be going to FMICs. I just need to find time to cut/mark up all the pipes, and send em off to get welded up. Thanks, appreciate the link. It takes ~2 minutes to pull it off, but I've been being lazy. Need to really finish that up sometime soon. Thanks Neu! Yeah, it needs to be much lower, but I'm still undecided if I want to just throw a pair of springs on for a while or go straight to coilovers up front in the spring. I'm hoping that the lower/stiffer front setup will be enough that I don't need my front IPD bar, because I really like the way the car rotates right now, it feels very neutral for such a front-heavy car. A 25mm bar would be nice though! Rears will get drop bolts regardless of what I do.

Guess its time for an update, since it's only been like 5 months since my last one...so I guess this is going to be a long post..... Alright, lets see. In May I auto-crossed once here at school, its pretty informal and kinda unlike any course I've seen anywhere else. But its fun local, and cheap, so its a winner. It was cool to see a few other Volvos came out. My buddy Matt used to own the black 850 NA and he had just picked up the C30 T5M-RD. Steve's C30 T5-M (next to my car) has a 17 PSI Autotech tune, Evolve intake plenum, upgraded IC, 3" catless turboback, etc. He also has IPD sways, Koni yellows, H&R springs and a set of 18x8.5 Forgestar F14s. My R did alright, but the combo of the auto transmission constantly upshifting and my inability to remember the proper course layout (it had been over 48 hours since I'd slept....) conspired to keep me from doing too well. Regardless, it was a ton of fun, and I can't wait to run them again this fall. Hopefully I'll be a bit more competitive! In this picture, you can see the gnarly LS3-swapped widebody RX7 that came out for the day. It has put down over 400 whp, and even with 335 rears, it still has trouble going straight Also, in the background is my car cooling off after I forgot to fully tighten the coolant expansion tank cap and shot coolant all over my engine bay mid-run. When I got back to RI for the summer, I got caught up on some more "stage 0" type stuff, and finally started on a few small mods here and there. I replaced my upper engine mount and firewall bushings with Powerflex poly from Viva. Overall I'm very happy with them, a bit of vibration at idle, but not too bad, and everything feels much better after having installed them. In case anyone is wondering about the durometer ratings, the purple mount is 80A and yellow is 70A. I also did a crappy job polishing both mounts and all the hardware. I redid all the wire loom on the COP+VVT and injector+TCV harnesses, since they were essentially bare wires. Radiator endtank split wide open while I was idling in the driveway, so no real harm done thankfully. The crack formed just under the upper hose outlet, and emptied the system pretty quickly. A quick order from FCP (never had a bad one, for what its worth) got me a new Nissens radiator, OEM hoses+thermostat. New thermostat. The old one only had about 30k on it, but I'd rather be sure than deal with it down the road To continue the theme of almost-polished pieces in my engine bay, I cleaned up the T-stat housing quickly. Got my projectors finished up again and re-installed with ABM corners. Also got my 480 sidemarkers installed, but this is the best picture I have to show them on the car Bought a used IPD 22mm rear sway bar. Got it installed without problems, and it makes a huge difference in daily driving! Less body roll, better front end response, and the car feels much more neutral when cornering. I also finished up installing a 12" Kicker Solobaric L7 subwoofer, powered by a Polk Audio PA1100.5 5-channel amp. I also hard-wired in a DC to AC inverter for power in the trunk. I got the carpet from Automotive Interiors and Accessories. I bought 7701 (Graphite) cut pile carpet, which is a near-perfect match for the OE carpet Got some interior bits and pieces installed Homelink visor AEM digital boost gauge, QBM trim rings, green cluster LEDs, and silver IPD door lock pins (not pictured) Aspherical mirrors Got my FMIC mounted. At the moment, since its not hooked up yet, I refer to it as FFMIC--fake front mount intercooler Drove out to Swedish Car Day, and had a great time there. It was cool to finally meet so many of the NEC crew, and see all their cars in person. Parked in between Hussein's XR and 1R2NV's 850 R, there was no way I was opening my hood to show off how grimy my engine bay was! Drove back with my friends Matt and Steve, who have the C30s from auto-x. We stopped for lunch on the Mass Pike, and ran into Steve (1R2NV) at the rest stop. Left to right is C30 Steve, Matt, and 850R Steve. Steve's 850 R is hidden behind my wagon And I'll close this post with these expensive aluminum paperweights I have sitting on my desk

P2 R spare tire, since it clears Brembos.

Pretty sure Terry at VMS still owes a few members here their clips...... :lol:

This has to be a troll: http://forums.swedespeed.com/showthread.php?179916-Looking-to-buy-s70&p=1969842#post1969842 No way is someone being serious.........

So much win.

Yup, Survolvo nailed it. Pikes Peak, posted this morning by Larry Chen over at Speedhunters.com Here's the link, some pretty awesome pictures--http://www.speedhunters.com/2012/08/pikes-peak-part-1/

Wow H, you've been busy the past couple days! Can't wait to hear your impressions on Ben's full coil setup

750+ hp Audi A4 with a 2.5L turbo 5 doing huge smokey AWD drifts. yes please Speedhunters feature on the car: http://www.speedhunters.com/2012/07/you-know-that-one-audi/

The 2.slow VAG engine has a horrible stock PCV system, which can cause sludge buildup even on stock engines. It'd be the first mod I did to an A4, god forbid I ever got conned into owning one :lol:

:lol: :lol: My first thought after watching was:

Currently watching the X games moto-x "step up" competition. Dudes are jumping dirtbikes over a 45+' high bar. Holy fucking insanity

Thinking about a stud conversion. Pretty sure I need conical seat lug nuts for my stock wheels--can anyone confirm what kind of lug nuts would I need?

SO MUCH WANT

^ Fucking loved that video

Holy balls the XR is getting to be very fast!!! Nice work H!

Atom's tagged 245 made the front page of AutoBlog today: http://www.autoblog.com/2012/06/11/rattlecan-volvo-245-is-art-in-a-box/

"What is this, a school for ants?!? It'll need to be at least 3 times bigger!"

I can't stop laughing: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2154283/Cats-away-Artist-turns-dead-pet-flying-helicopter-killed-car.html?ITO=1490

Amazing. Can't wait for a full front shot of the new bumper!