tuner4life

Didn't get to work on the car at all over the weekend, but I did spend a couple days taking advantage of LKQ junk yards that were having half off sales. I got the following for $120.00. Pretty good if you ask me. -Complete power sunroof assembly in perfect condition -Passenger headlight -Both front corner lights -XC Grille -Complete V70 Roof rack/roof trim (With cross bars!!!) -Front pass door lock actuator -Tailgate interior panel and handle trim -2x pairs of side markers with harness portion -Various trim pieces from the interior -All new mint condition roof grab handles -Various switches, knobs, interior plastic parts to replace broken/missing/painted hardware on mine. That should keep me busy on the cosmetic stuff for a while.. Waiting on the last box of IPD parts to come in this week.

Didn't get nearly as much done on the R over the weekend as I would have liked, ended up working on the house instead and going to a family reunion. I am waiting on a fairly large batch of stuff to come from IPD, but there are a few parts holding up the shipment I guess.. In the meantime, I'm getting as much done as I can without those parts. I got the turbo oil drain pipe resealed and reinstalled. It really wasn't bad at all with the downpipe and exhaust out already. Glad I decided to do it now. The I started on the Interior. Got the upholstery and plastics on the hatch off, no pics, not too exciting. Making a list of junk yard parts I need. Next up is removing the headliner to recover and replacing the sunroof assembly if I can fine a good one at the junk yard. I also found a set of climate control knobs that I had taken out of the coupe because the rubber coating had gotten nasty. I remember seeing that the coating can be removed so I started to experiment. What worked for me is soaking them in a knock off of "pine sol" cleaner, then using a plastic wire brush (plastic bristles), and a green scotch brite (very gently). I let the knobs soak until the coating got soft, then using the brush, the scotch pad, and my findernails, slowly and gently wipe the coating off. wasn't hard at all and only took about 20 min. So easy, I'm probably going to do it to the coupe soon too. As well as the window switches. So here is a picture of the previous owner's painted knobs, and my "like new" bare plastic knobs:

While changing the firewall mount, I realized that the poly bushing on the top of the engine was actually loose in the bracket.. It looked good from a distance. Oh well, I'll add it to my open IPD order.. Honestly, I'll probably take the poly bushing out of the C70 and put it in the wagon (It's discolored a bit over time and I care much more about the looks of the bay in the coupe) and put the new bushing in the C70. Does anyone have any idea what bushing this is? I've never seen one like this for a P80 before. The bushing is actually square and only contacts the bore on the corners. Also the bolt through hole is offset quite a bit. Weird..

Despite a few interruptions, I managed to get the oil pan reinstalled last night.. I always worry about that "Volvo Pink" sealant considering how thin it goes on, but I've never had one leak so I guess it will probably be fine.. And that rectangular o-ring on the oil cooler thermostat is a huge pita, but after using some "hi-tack" sealant on it, it held in place long enough to get it bolted back on. Then I worked on the engine mounts, I found some of the mounts to have already been changed, or in very good condition. The rear mount is just a rubber bumper which is fine, the transmission end mount looks great, and the lower torque mount, while older, is firmer and in better shape than the OE one I replaced in the C70 just 2 years ago. Also the upper engine torque strut bushing was already poly when I got the car. The bad ones however were the front hydraulic mount, the right engine to subframe mount, and the firewall mount. I didn't get to the firewall mount yet, but here is the condition of the front and right end mount.. I think it's safe to say it was time for new ones. Replaced with Volvo OE, or Hutchinson where available.

Thanks, I checked that last night when I got the pan out, I stuck a screwdriver in the hole and tried to knock anything loose, then sprayed it out with brake cleaner. It was very clean already, so that's a good sign.

Definitely! I would hate to have to recreate the bends in that section! I got the oil pan off last night to change the pick up seals. Everything looks pretty good, so surprises. Going to clean it all up and put it back together tonight with fresh seals and Volvo OE pink sealant. Engine mounts are supposed to be here tonight too. Yippee!

No pictures unfortunately, but over the weekend, I managed to finally get the axle out of the hub.. New axle, and new hub assembly on that side. Not taking any chances considering what I put it through getting the axle out. I also got the rest of the front suspension done. Replaced the LCAs, inner/outer tie rods and boots, IPD HD links, etc.. The struts are in remarkably good shape, so they will stay for now. I then started working on getting the turbo drain pipe out. I am so glad I decided to do this while the downpipe was already out! Made it so much easier! Only took about 20 minutes. Now I'm just waiting on the last shipment of parts to come from IPD and I'll button up the mechanicals! I'm debating about dropping the pan and replacing all those seals while it's apart. I have the parts, so I probably will. I still need to build the exhaust.. I'm not looking forward to that at all. And I need to get to the junk yard to pick up a bunch of piddly parts.. I'm definitely on track to get this done before winter though.

A very generous Commander Riker gave me a pair of stock tail lights which I installed yesterday to replace the ricey spray tinted lights from the PO. Cant thank him enough for the hook up! Here's what I started with: Here is the difference between the old ones and the new ones: Much better now! I then spent the rest of the evening screwing with the suspension. It all needs to be replaced including the pass side c/v axle. I have never had this hard of a time getting an axle out of the hub. The driver's side looks to have been replaced, but the pass side one is definitely original and the boots are torn. First I couldn't get the nut off. Tried impact, tried jumping up and down on a 4 ft breaker bar.. Then tried some heat and PB blaster to "shock" it loose. Finally after doing that several times and more impacting and jumping, the nut came off. Then I tried to get the axle to slide out of the hub... No such luck. Started with light taps, then medium taps.. Then said screw it and got out the sledge hammer. Still nothing.. Tried using heat and PB blaster more hammer, nothing! I ended up pulling the whole knuckle/hub/axle assembly off the car. Tomorrow I'm going to cut the old axle shorter and take it to a friend's house that has a press and see if that helps. I am concerned that I have cooked the grease in the wheel bearing, so I may end up replacing that too. Here are my thoughts on the matter before going to bed last night:

Got some stuff done over the weekend.. Timing belt, water pump, crankshaft and camshaft seals, OEM radiator, Mishimito hoses, new to me intercooler, ignition tune up parts, part of the PCV system, silicone vacuum hoses, and the subframe bushing inserts. Also gave the camshaft cover a refresh as it was looking pretty shabby: I'm still playing with ideas for the exhaust, but luckily it looks like the section above the rear AWD is original and intact, so I'm going to reuse that and build a basic system in 2.5" for now.. Might go with 3" later on, but for now, I just need to get it on the road. I got some cheap ebay mufflers for $30 each.. We'll see how they hold up over time, but they look great and the tips are perfect for the rear bumper.. Also going to do some modifications to the stock downpipe to make removal easier... It was a pain to get it off the way it snakes around everything. Plus there is a little bracket that is broken off.. Trying to determine if I really need to add that back in or not...

That interior looks great!!! Wow!

Haven't had time to work on this this week because we are super busy at work, but I am stock piling parts. I still have a few boxes I'm waiting for..

Here's how the C70 sat this morning... Had bacon for breakfast. I freaking hate traffic cops. Radar detector coming asap.. Should have had one already.

I checked these things last night per your recommendation. The pinion flange off the angle gear has virtually no play at all, there is a little bit of movement in the carrier bearing when I yank on the driveshaft, but not very much, and it's more like rubber deflection than something loose. The rear axles have a little bit of play, and a couple of the boots are torn.. I'm planning on dropping the rear subframe probably next year sometime and replacing all of the stuff back there. But for now, I'm encouraged by the condition of the AWD system so I'm going to change the fluids and leave it functional.

Thanks for that info! I'll check into it, They work fine, so I'd love to be able to save them.

Ordered a bunch of parts yesterday.. Took more stuff apart last night: Got the intake manifold off, I'm honestly impressed that the car ran as well as it did. The PCV system (which shows no signs of ever being changed) was clogged and doing absolutely nothing, the plastic hard lines were broken in multiple spots and creating vacuum leaks. So I got all of that removed and cleaned the drain hole from the oil trap so it flows better now. Also had to drill out the thermostat housing bolts because someone stripped out the torx bolt heads.. Also got the intake tube and the PTC cleaned up (it was clogged with carbon, go figure). This thing should run amazing once it's brought back up to ground zero! Also got the wheels off and checked the suspension over, the struts and nivos actually are in very good shape and worked well on the drive back home, although the nivos will probably need replaced kind of soon because the boots are torn.. The tie rods are loose, links are broken, and the ball joints... Lets just say, I'm glad I made it home.. All of that stuff is now on order. Using Lemforder for the tie rod stuff, Meyle HD for the control arms, and IPD HD for the links. Also picked up a set of the subframe bushing inserts, I've used them on all my other P80s and they really do make a difference. The brakes will also need to be replaced, rear pads are almost gone and the whole thing needs gone through I'm sure.. Plus the E-brake cables are corroded off the backing plates.. I'll deal with that after the car runs good though. Maybe I'll even repaint the calipers something besides orange lol. Before calling it a night: I am also looking for an exhaust to replace the janky one on this car. Either stock 1998 exhaust with 2000 dual rear, or something aftermarket it I can find one that doesn't cost more than the car did.. I've built exhaust from scratch before, but it doesn't look fun on this car at all!

Haha, yeah, I kind of broke all my criteria for buying one of these.... Didn't want Awd - got AWD Didn't want high miles - Got high miles Wanted a car that was well maintained - well.... yeah.... Kampman, your car was very nice! We did seriously consider it for quite a while, but eventually we figured that since we were having such a hard time finding a T5 like we wanted, we would just hold out for the holy grail and try to find a saffron.. It needs some work, but in the end, I'll know that it's all done right.

Did some more work on the R tonight, trying to put a list of parts together so I can get them ordered. I was able to get a good look at the back of the engine from underneath and, while I can't confirm that it's the only leak, I can confirm that the turbo drain seals are bad and need to be replaced. The other smoking gun back there is the passenger CV axle seal. Got all the intake stuff out and some other stuff around the drivers side of the engine bay. Good news, besides being all greasy due to ptc and pcv issues, the turbo still seems to be in good shape. There is very little side to side shaft play, and virtually zero in/out shaft play. Spins very free by hand. Not sure if it's the original turbo or not, but it certainly doesn't show any signs of ever being changed. This is very encouraging considering the car has 214k miles. Besides a handful of terrible repair decisions, it seems like it was in general well taken care of for a large portion of its life. The exhaust however is the most haggard together thing I've ever seen up to and including a rear 02 sensor delete... Yep, that would definitely explain why there is a CEL for the rear o2.. It's just gone, and they wire nutted the ends of the wires to cap them off.. Freakin retards. I found this tucked up underneath the airbox.. Does anyone make an exhaust system for the AWD that isn't a million dollars? I've used the OBX on FWD cars before and it does great for the price.. But no such luck for AWD cars. I like the idea of using a 2000 VR setup to get duals, but can't seem to find anything else that's cheap.. I might end up welding something up temporarily, but the section over the rear subframe does not look fun at all! Anyways, I'll just keep chipping away until it's all fixed. Here is a shot as I'm getting ready to call it a night, I do love this car:

Thanks for the info, I believe you are right about the location of the leak. It is above the pan, but stops part way up. I'll take a closer look tonight.

Story time.. We had 2 Volvos, the Saffron C70 that sees summer weather only, and the 1997 base model 850 sedan which has been my wife's daily for 3 years now with basically no issues. We recently had a child, and space was just too tight in the 850 for 2 adults, a car seat, 2 dogs and anything else we would want to take if the whole family went somewhere. The logical choice was to replace the 850 with a wagon. My only requirements were that it had to at least be a T5 model. After several months of looking for a nice, good condition 1998 V70T5, We started joking that it might be easier to find a Saffron V70R, than it had been trying to find a basic T5... So we changed our search. We had a couple possible leads out in California, but the costs were a bit more than we really wanted to spend once we had to pay to get it here.. Plus I hate buying a car sight-unseen. Last week, a 1998 Saffron V70R popped up for sale just a few hours away from me. The miles were high, and it was a little riced from what I could tell by the pictures. (black plastidip, smoked tails, etc..), but the price was quite a bit lower than any other I had found, so I decided to go take a look. From what I can tell, it was basically stock except for a cobbled together exhaust, and the random parts that the previous owner decided to paint. It needs a bit of work (detailed below), but it did drive decent, A/C worked, and was complete. It will make a great daily once I put in some work, It's cool enough that I don't mind a station wagon, but it's not in such good condition that I will feel bad about it being driven all year in Indiana. So I decided to bring it home. Here are a few pics on the way back home: Once I got it home, I obviously the first thing I had to do was get some pictures of the matching pair together. Now I am getting really excited about this project! Now that it's home I was able to give a more thorough looking over. It's going to need a lot of work, I mean a complete stage zero, plus front suspension. and several other things. Got it in the shop. Here's the list of good things: -Body is very good for the age/miles. Some dents and dings, but virtually no rust. Just very slight along the bottom of the pinch welds. should clean up easily. -Driveshaft is still there. Can't really tell condition, but it's there, and there isn't much of a vibration other than junk tires. -Interior condition is pretty good, leather and suede will clean up nicely, and I can replace the ricey painted parts easily from the junk yard -While it needs a lot of maintenance, the engine is in good shape, checked compression and they were 165-170 on my old harbor freight gauge that normally reads low. the cam lobes under the oil cap look great -It's a freakin Saffron V70R.. Here's what it needs... - Stage zero, I mean everything! -Timing belt/water pump/thermostat/front seals/drivebelt - PCV system - Complete ignition tune up (found autolite plugs and autozone wires, ugh) - All rubber hoses - Bottom of intercooler is cracked where someone put some sort of rigged up drain plug. Need to replace and might as well do the radiator while I'm at it. - It's got an oil leak on the back of the engine that I still need to diagnose Assuming something going to/from the turbo, or turbo itself. Someone put that stupid angle gear in the way and I can't see crap. - I think axle seals are bad too. - I'll throw the oil pan o-rings in it too for good measure - ABS module needs the soldier joints retouched. - CEL for rear O2, Air pump system (will delete that junk), and the P0107 for the stupid baro sensor. - New Exhaust - All front suspension (tie rods, control arms, CV axles, links, IPD subframe bushing inserts, etc..) Strut assemblies seem surprisingly ok for now - Brakes all around - E-brake cables broken - Front right door lock actuator - Have 2 remotes, even with new batteries, they don't work.. - Sunroof assy works sketchy and has caulk on it. I'll find another at the junkyard. - Various cosmetic doo-dads that I can get from the junk yard It needs more, but that list should get it on the road and reliable anyways. The goal is to have it up and going by winter because my in-laws want to buy the silver 850 before then. I've never had an AWD car before, especially a P80, so thanks in advance for help with all of the dumb questions, and expect a lot of them regarding the AWD system. Here are the rest of the pictures I've taken so far: The half-arse drain thingy on the intercooler that cracked it: Here's the oil leak area: Needs brakes, the wheels are just plastidip, but I'm scared what they look like underneath.. The underside is in relatively decent shape for being a midwestern car: Here's how it sits for now, for a while probably:

So this happened over the weekend... I'll start a thread for the wagon shortly.

The only major issue that you could have with clearance like that is if a wheel bearing goes, it's going to take out a bunch of parts in the process...

Gave it a little facelift this past week. Loving the XC grille! Also fixed this for hopefully the last time.. I have the silicone line down by the turbo, but had accidentally cut the upper one, so I had replaced it with regular heater hose for a temporary fix.. Then forgot about it until it started to crack and leak this week.. Hopefully I shouldn't have to mess with it again... Also got a shot of the 2 Volvos all cleaned up over the weekend.

Those wheels fit better than I ever imagined they would! The seats look great too!

Well.. The manual swap fell through, the junk yard wanted way too much... In other news, After sitting over the winter and half of this summer, I finally got around to replacing the radiator which had broken internally. I also replaced the expansion tank, cap, and got Mishimoto silicone hoses. The coolant loss seems to be fixed now, and I am doing a series of coolant flushes to get any leftover oil out of the system. I also changed the trans fluid and the oil. I drove it to work this morning with no issues. Next things on the list are: exhaust, XC grille, Jewels, And roll the fenders better. If I get all of that done this summer, I'll be surprised..

How did it do pulling the other car on a dolly? I've considered using our 850 as an occasional tow vehicle, but curious how it would handle it.