Andy's 1999 V70 R

[ConorV70R]

can attest to what a downpipe does on these P80R's. It was like a whole new world after putting one on my 00VR even with just a stage1 hilton tune, and those gooseneck ones just scream massive choke point 

[mattsk8]

I"ll 3rd that Andy. Make that your next upgrade. I used a Magnaflow cat from Summit for like $130. Not sure what made the difference between the cat and the 3" mandrel down pipe, but it was a big difference.

[RBoy8]

^ 4th that. Got mine with the IPD turboback and the car just feels like it breathes so much better.

[gmsgltr]

Andy knows this though guys haha... he's been in this Volvo game for a little bit

[Timbo Slice]

Hey Andy get a bigger downpipe. it translates to more flow which equals more noise which equals more power. Just a friendly tip.

[RBoy8]

6 minutes ago, Timbo Slice said:

Just a friendly tip.

And we know Timo knows a thing or two about tips.

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.

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:3

[Timbo Slice]

As do you. You were staring at it the entire way home from Ithaca because you couldn't get past me. Silly Mikey.

[RBoy8]

... well, shit.

[Commander Riker]

On 11/16/2016 at 0:58 PM, Timbo Slice said:

Hey Andy get a bigger downpipe. it translates to more flow which equals more noise which equals more power. Just a friendly tip.

.......... just the tip

[andyb5]

So, does anyone know if a 3" downpipe will make a noticeable upgrade?    

 

All joking aside, here's a little product review that will hopefully prove useful to some other members on here.  My wagon is daily driven, and sees rain, dirt, mud, salt, and snow routinely.  So, given that the CX Racing coilovers reside squarely on the low end of the price/quality spectrum, I wanted to ensure they'd hold up to the elements and not wear out prematurely or bind up due to rust/corrosion/dirt.  

 

After spending a ton of time researching different strategies for protecting coilovers, I decided to use Boeshield T9.  The website describes Boeshield T9 as an aerosol compound developed by Boeing to treat aircraft landing gear. It claims to be waterproof, and dries without leaving any residue that could attract dirt/debris.  It seemed like a legitimate product backed up by tons of positive reviews so I gave it a shot. I decided to use my coilovers to document the actual results of Boeshield as a surface protectant.  So, before I installed them, I disassembled each coilover and sprayed everything with two coats of Boeshield T9, then reassembled and installed.

Here's when they first got on the car: 

Here is how they looked after 19 months, and ~35,000 miles with no cleaning, no maintenance, just whatever the roads could throw at them.  

There was some minor rust where the spring coils contact itself under compression travel, but nothing alarming at this point.

I was able to loosen and adjust all 3 collars on each coilover, and adjust the knuckle mount all without any real effort or cleaning required.  One collar required a hammer tap on the spanner wrench, the rest I was able to adjust with the spanner wrenches alone.  No heat, no hammer, no breaker bars, no penetrating spray, just nice and easy adjustment by hand.  This is in stark contrast with some of my friend's experiences with their coilovers under similar conditions, some of whom have ended up having to replace the coilovers because everything was siezed up so badly.

While there's no way to 100% prevent any rust/corrosion from forming with just an aerosol-applied spray, my experience thus far shows that Boeshield T9 has done a pretty effective job of keeping everything in good shape.

To help keep everything in good shape over the winter, I installed a pair of Eibach spring bag/dust boots that I purchased from Kaplhenke Racing.  Apparently these are popular with rally/offroad racing to help keep dirt and debris away from the coil spring/shock shaft area.  So hopefully they'll keep some of the sand/salt/snow away.  The bags have a heavy duty Velcro seam, but I added the zip-ties as backup.  The coilovers have been back on the car for ~1 month, and no strange noises or issues have popped up, so far so good!

All in all, I'm very happy with the CX Racing coilovers - they ride comfortably, the damper adjustments still make tangible changes to how the car responds, no issues with endlinks hitting the chassis, etc.  They're a pretty decent option for the money!

Bought and installed an OMP strut tower brace.  It does need to be repainted a different color, but functionally, it's 100% and made a huge difference in reducing the squeaks/rattles from my dashboard.  I should've done this sooner!!

I also replaced my front O2 sensor (see previous post about dyno issues/P0134).  Here's a fun fact - the factory ME7 cars use a Bosch LSU 4.2 wideband sensor.  I noticed that this sensor was also used in the AEM UEGO wideband (newer kits use an LSU4.9 sensor) that many of us are familiar with.  My plan is to create a plug and play harness that allows an AEM (or similar gauge) to read what the front O2 sensor is reporting to the ECU.  Don't hold your breath for progress on that harness, I've been busy with holiday stuff and am enjoying skiing again after a crappy winter last year, so progress might be slow.

And here's a current photo of how my car sits (yeah I already posted it, oh well)

As always, thanks for reading my posts, and Happy New Year!

[Commander Riker]

Digging everything you've done with your car.  Cool to see the 02 sensors are the same.  

[andyb5]

Thanks Lucas!!

[dougy]

Very nice Andy.

[andyb5]

Thanks!!

[scc]

This is a great read. Having just bought a '98 MY V70R AWD from '97 (silver!) with a bunch of stuff that needs doing, this is quite an inspiration and motivator!

Oh and by the way...

On 10/22/2016 at 5:09 AM, andyb5 said:

I'm only running the Jewels until I rebuild my dual project retrofit, so if anyone wants to call early dibs on a cheap set of OEM Jewels, let me know.

OEM Jewels is one of the things I would love to get done on it. Don't suppose you still have these? Not sure it would make sense to ship them across the atlantic, though :D