850R - Junkyard Pulls for Performance & New Rear Lights

As the weather in North Carolina has started its harsh descent into winter, progress has gotten slower on the 850R. Many of the projects still left on the car are either too time consuming, or require a professionals touch (like the interior headliner). We have started working on acquiring parts for a performance upgrade that should give the 850R a bit more power. This process involves using an intake manifold from a naturally aspirated 850, and the throttle body off of a 960. As luck would have it, our local LKQ had both of these cars in (well actually we already knew that from when we had to get the new caliper). Removing the parts was easy, and while Steve and Andrew set about on removing the intake from the 850 wagon, I began the process of removing the tail lights to replace the old, beaten, faded tail lights currently installed on our 850R.

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The rear of the 855 after removing the tail lights.

Removing the intake from the 850 was a standard affair, and while I did not take part in the removal, the process only took about 20-30 minutes. The use of an extremely lengthened wrench was needed to remove some trick bolts, however with the tool kits we brought along we had no issue getting each bolt out.

The naturally aspirated 850 features a larger, higher bore, intake manifold allowing for better airflow over the stock turbo intake manifold.

Working on removing the pieces around the intake manifold for removal.

Our haul of parts from the 850. We are also able to take the ECUs from the engine bay.

With all the parts collected, we moved on to the Volvo 960 that was also in the yard. Thankfully for us the car was only 1 row over, and was almost completely untouched. On this car the only part that we needed was the throttle body. The throttle body from the 960s 6cyl engine has a larger diameter inlet, and will allow us to increase airflow. This increase in air flow from both the new throttle body and intake manifold will create a good starting point for a performance tune on our 850Rs engine. The one down side of this modification will be the need to have the car dyno tuned to properly match the air/fuel ratio. If we can not achieve this, expect to see these parts in the Volvo Parts section of the website!

Steve and Andrew working on removing the throttle body from the 960. 

With the warm patch of weather we should be able to install the new tail lights and interior trim pieces. Stay tuned as we continue to build and work on this amazing project!

S60R - Scheduled maintenance.....yawn.

So I had planned on doing a write up on Friday detailing the process of removing my spacers as well as getting a resonator delete, however plans fell through at the exhaust shop. However, yesterday I did bring my S60 R Design in for its scheduled 75,000 mile service. While the car is at 78,000 miles now, I figured better late than never. I am slightly annoyed that my home shop (in New Jersey) failed to take note that the car needed this service 2 months ago when I went in for an oil change. For the service it got a standard oil change, new spark plugs, a balance and alignment. The one issue that they found during their inspection was oil leaking from one of the vacuum lines. While I am not worried now, especially since it was covered under CPO, I think that this issue should be monitored by other P3 T6 owners as their cars get into higher mileage. The the credit of the car, I have put close to 20,000 miles on in the past year, and this is the first time I have had any mechanical issue pop up. While I do not know who currently has the record for highest mileage on a P3 T6, I am excited to slowly make my way towards 100k and beyond.

850R - Stage 0 Dreams Pt. 1

After a lot of swearing, cursing, and collective problem solving the 850R went back on the road today. The progress towards fully stock, aka Stage 0, has made many leaps and bounds in the past few days. On both sides of the car we have installed brand new sway bar end links, control arms, tie rods, stainless steel brake lines, rotors, and pads. The final piece that we competed was flushing all the brake fluid, which was something that should have been done a long time ago. The brake fluid in the lines was so full of particulate that the initial pumps sent out a jelly like substance before any sort of fluid. We also discovered a flaw in the 850s stock brake lines (a common issue as mentioned on the forums), they had built up so much pressure, and were caked with so much road grime that they were fully fused to the brake hard-line. Luckily, like the bolts on the passenger side, we were also to use the Dremel to cut the lines and remove them for the new steel brake lines. It is also worth mentioning the CV axle was re-installed as well, as has worked great.

A shot of the new Brembo discs, along with the stainless steel hard-lines and new hadware installed.

What wheel cleaning fluid and steel wool can do to remove road grime and splattered axle grease. Unfortunately the Pegasus wheels we have still need major repairs for the curb rash that they have developed over time.

A shot of the installed CV axle with the new boots. You can also see the new tie rods and sway bar end links.

With as much as we have completed so far, there is a lot to go. A falling headliner, and a mysterious oil leak still need to be remedied. A fluid flush of the cooling system may be in order, along with new oil. In the more short term, we need an alignment, and plan on getting many more bits and pieces from some donor cars to fix pieces on the interior and exterior.