Its the new year, and progress has finally been made in the drive-ability of the 960. Over the past few months I have been slowly accumulating parts to fix all the small issues with the car. I was finally able to take a whole day and get the car up on a lift. I want to make a special thank you to Haileys Import Service in Greensboro, NC, who I have been going to for a while with my Volvos. They let me have access to their shop, tools, and a lift to get everything done on the 960 sand saved me likely days of work. They also helped me procure a new 960 seat from an S90 which fits perfectly in the car (well its the wrong color, but hey its not ripped, and actually moves!)
Let start off with the seat, this was a whole process, but surprisingly cheap to do. I saw my local LKQ had a nice Volvo S90 in the yard, and I was able to get to it very quickly to aquire a new seat. The removal process was fairly standard, and only takes 4 bolts and a few electrical connectors to remove. I found the hardest part was lining the “plugs” up to take the seat out of the rails. The seat uses a similar system to what you would see on an old hotel door lock chain, where it slides into a hole then down the rail where it is locked into place. Getting the seat in the right place to get it out of these holes is a painful experience and requires a lot of pushing and pulling on the seat.
For an LKQ car I was genuinely surprised at the quality of the interior. Usually these cars are absolutely wrecked, then again this one did have a pretty serious water leak beginning to develop unfortunately. Once I was able to get it back to the shop, installation was very easy, and I am disapointed I didnt get a picture of my old drivers seat since it was in quite the state.
A rogue golf tee, some candy wrappers, and a quarter. My “bounty” found under the seat.
After removing the seat, it made more sense to me why mold had begun to grow on the center console. I was able to take care of the mold with a bleached cloth, as well as a slew of degreasers and cleaners. An ozone generator is going to be used in the car for good measure.
The next steps were mostly mechanical fixes. For a long time, the car has been leaking power steering fluid. I was able to track this back to a leaking return line (non pressurized). You will see in the picture that the hose I removed was original and even had the late 1996 printing date on it. Volvo sells OEM replacement hose, and other than the mess that the fluid made coming out, the replacement process is as easy as undoing 2 hose clamps and taking off the hold hose. I found removing the bottom first was easier due to being able to pull up on it, but removing the hose from the reservoir require some special tools that could pry the hose away from the flange.
The ends of the old hose were super tight from 23 years of being installed.
Keep in mind the hose is cut to fit, so some trimming will be needed. Some new ATF was poured into the system, and the bubbles burped out by giving the rack a few back and forth movements with the steering wheel.
The last handful of fixes were around the front suspension area. New Lemforder end links were installed with ease, and helped the handling of the car significantly. The old end links had insane amounts of play, and I do not doubt that they were original 1997 equipment. They were work enough that they had almost 0 resistance and could be freely moved around in their joints. Additionally, new brake rotors were installed, and the old pads were sanded down to give them a fresh face.