tuner4life Posted August 12, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 12, 2017 It has begun.. Day 1: jacked up as high as my stands will go, wheels removed, rear section of exhaust removed, fender liners and mud flaps removed. I'm taking lots of detailed pictures, but I'm not going to post too many yet as I'm working on a new extortion-proof picture hosting situation. Once I get that sorted I'll dump a bunch of pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Will Posted August 14, 2017 Report Share Posted August 14, 2017 Best of luck! Where have you located the jacks out of curiosity? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuner4life Posted August 14, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 14, 2017 Thanks! The jacks are just in front of the "longitudinal stay brackets" as Volvo calls them. with some wood cushioning between the stands and the car. From what I've read this is a solid enough area to support the weight. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyb5 Posted August 14, 2017 Report Share Posted August 14, 2017 I left the jackstands on the pinch weld where the factory jacks attach. There's an arrow embossed into the chassis that indicates the correct position. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuner4life Posted August 15, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 15, 2017 (edited) I saw that and thought about using it, but I want to pull the sideskirts to clean behind them while I'm doing this and it looked like it would be an issue to remove it with the jack stands there. The metal right inboard of that spot is also very thick and sturdy. I don't think it will be an issue. Last night I got a little more done. I removed the rest of the old homemade exhaust up to the downpipe. It's held up well but there were definitely a couple of pinholes in my crappy welds and the cheap flexpipe I used is coming apart. The whole thing will be getting redone. Also got the driveshaft out. Can't tell if it has ever been replaced before but it looks like an original 1998 Driveshaft. Either way, I'll be replacing it with one from Colorado Driveshaft. I do want to check if they will send me a 1999-2000 shaft in place of my 1998 or if they will only send the same as original. Also, had a question about the bolts at each end of the driveshaft. From what I have read, Volvo used different length bolts as weight to help balance the driveshaft assembly. I was hoping that I would avoid that mess, but I did find that one bolt on the front flange was about 7 mm longer than the rest. Will I need to worry about somehow getting that bolt back in the right spot with the new Colorado Driveshaft? I'd happily replace it with a standard length bolt if it won't cause any issues, but reading about the balancing thing has me a little worried. I marked it's location just in case, but am looking for advice. Edited September 8, 2017 by tuner4life Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commander Riker Posted August 15, 2017 Report Share Posted August 15, 2017 I could be wrong, but I thought the bolt lengths would be specific to model years, not so much for balancing. Different bolt lengths on the CV just didn't make any logical sense to me. At least, we wouldn't have the ability to even know how that affected balancing of the rotating assembly, right? The lengths are an issue. I'm waiting to call Colorado back because my replacement driveshaft from them has failed in less than 10 months... and I drive the car barely part time. Maybe have 5K on this driveshaft? Worried the length is incorrect. H had a thread somewhere where he went into excellent detail on the differences between the components. Can't seem to locate it ATM. Will search later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuner4life Posted August 15, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 15, 2017 I saw the big thread on SS about the differences and just read through it again. I believe you may be right about the shaft length being different in 1998 from the newer ones despite that thread saying that they will interchange. I'll probably stick with a 1998 shaft just to be safe. Here is the place that I saw the info about the bolts being used for balancing: https://www.dropbox.com/s/y5dt8gtxneqp3n1/AWD%20Fuel%20Tank%20Removal.pdf?dl=0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyb5 Posted August 15, 2017 Report Share Posted August 15, 2017 Check which style 98 driveshaft you have. The early 98 models use a different style CV that will not interchange with the late 98/99/00 style CVs. The early 98 cars use a different VC too, pics are in Hussein's thread on SS. You can download a free plugin for Chrome browser that will still display embedded photobucket images. The late 98/99 driveshafts are the same. The 00 driveshaft has a different (larger) carrier bearing. Officially, this means you can't interchange them. It's very easy to do in practice though. I have pics in my 99 R thread on the different mounting bolt locations for the 99/00 carrier bearing. The late 98/99 and 00 driveshafts are the same length, so they can be swapped freely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuner4life Posted August 15, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 15, 2017 (edited) I've been all over that thread several times now. It's beyond me why they would make so many changes to a car that was made for 3 years! I am pretty certain that this car is all the "early style". I know for sure that they VC is, and if that is then the driveshaft would also have to be the early style right? Edited August 15, 2017 by tuner4life Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commander Riker Posted August 15, 2017 Report Share Posted August 15, 2017 So yeah... I see that it's listed as a thing to note. Thing is... those color markings determining the length of the bolts... um... they're gone by the time you actually need to remove the prop shaft. There has to be so little balancing done by bolt length. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuner4life Posted August 16, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 16, 2017 Got the subframe and fuel tank out last night. Wasn't all that bad really. The 4 big subframe mounting bolts did fight me some and I thought I might break them, but with a bit of working them back and forth and PB blaster they came out just fine. I was pleasantly surprised that there was little to no rust above the subframe. Just a couple of small sport of surface rust that I'll touch up with POR-15. What an over-complicated mess... These fuel lines are terribly rusted.. I'd like to replace them with new. The volvopartswebstore.com site shows them available.. We'll see if that's legit or not. If I can't get them, then I'll have to make my own. so overly complicated. Next project is to take all of the pieces apart now that they are accessible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chilled man Posted August 16, 2017 Report Share Posted August 16, 2017 Id buy a FWD car and swap the FWD rear end in and delete that mess :D How hard was it to remove all that Jazz? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuner4life Posted August 16, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 16, 2017 If only they sold FWD Saffron Rs in the USA like in Europe... It's time consuming and a bit awkward to lower the assembly just using a trans jack and a floor jack, but overall it's really not that hard overall to get to this point.. (I'm sure my opinion will change as I attempt to change all the bushings and what-not back there. Here are the steps to get where I am now: -Jack car up as high as you can get it and take the back wheels and fender liners off (pass side is really the only one that needs to come off) -remove locking ring from fuel fill and push the fill through the body -In the trunk, remove the floor compartment lids. Under the forward lid, remove the access plate that the wiring runs through. Unplug the wiring and push through the floor -Remove the exhaust (easier said then done if it's all original and rusted together) -Remove the plastic cover from the fuel lines on the right side of the floorpan. Let them hang for now. -I decided to break loose the 6 allen bolts holding the VC shaft to the diff input. Didn't remove them yet, just broke them loose now because it might be harder out of the car (not necessary if you don't plan on separating the VC from the diff) -remove the driveshaft from the VC and let it hang (I removed the whole thing with the bearing plate because it's getting replaced. -Unhook and remove the brake line from the 3 way splitter on the left side around the trailing arm mount. Also disconnect the hose from the brake line and remove from bracket on the right side. unmount the lines completely from where they pass through the brackets. There will be too much tension when you unbolt the trailing arm mount if you don't disconnect them. -disconnect e-brake cables from brakes and bracket on control arm. make sure that they are loose after coming out of the floor. I pulled them forward out of the way. -Using a couple of 2x4s and a transmission jack, fashion a bracket that will support the fuel tank on both halves at a similar height as the subframe. (I ended up using a trans jack from the back and a floor jack in the front to fully support everything -Unbolt the mounting bolt for the front of the VC and unbolt the fuel tank straps where they mount to the body at the front of the tank. -Make sure that the jacks have sufficient tension holding everything up. Then unbolt the 6 subframe-to-body bolts. This is tough! Especially rust-belt cars. The bolts will be corroded and very stuck. I had to work them a little at a time to avoid breaking them. -At this point the assembly is loose and can be lowered a little at a time making sure everything stays level. Also make sure that the fuel filler doesn't get hung up and that no lines or hoses are being hooked on the way down -The fuel lines on the right side have seemingly no good place to disconnect so I ended up undoing them up at the front. The pressure regulator and everything got removed with the rear subframe. Just keep moving forward till you see threaded fittings you can remove. (Also note that any gas in the tank will start to run out of that hose as soon as you lower it lower then the level of the tank. I pulled the hose end back to the tank and ziptied it above the tank so it wouldn't spill). -At this point everything is loose and can be slid backwards. Mine wasn't jacked up quite high enough to clear the fuel filler so I slid the whole assembly to the right and got the fuel filler out through the wheel-well before sliding everything backwards. So yeah... I'm about 5 hours in at this point. On an unrelated note. I tried to remove the rear bumper and the 2 bolts broke off with almost no effort.. How screwed am I? Can I grind the 2 adjacent bolts (or whats left of them) on each side and gain access to what I need that way? I want to take care of any rust behind the rear bumper while I'm here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyb5 Posted August 16, 2017 Report Share Posted August 16, 2017 Replace the fuel lines with 5/16" nylon. I did this on my 99 and was able to reuse the stock fittings. It's easy, takes maybe an hour, and costs about $40. I have pictures I can share for a step by step guide, I just can't access them from my phone at the moment. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuner4life Posted August 16, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 16, 2017 45 minutes ago, andyb5 said: Replace the fuel lines with 5/16" nylon. I did this on my 99 and was able to reuse the stock fittings. It's easy, takes maybe an hour, and costs about $40. I have pictures I can share for a step by step guide, I just can't access them from my phone at the moment. I am definitely interested in these pictures! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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