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JaredR's 1997 850R Estate

151K views 1K replies 77 participants last post by  JaredR 
#1 · (Edited)
Before I got the T-5R, I got this 850R. Before I got this 850R, I got a red/tan 850R estate from just north of Albany, NY, but, while it was sitting in a huge snowdrift in our yard last February, it got picked up by a front end loader that was supposed to be clearing the street, but ended up doing some off-roading in our front yard instead. This meant I needed another caR, so I bought this one off of the Atlanta Craigslist in April, 2015 with a blown engine and had it shipped up here. I was looking for another red/tan to replace the other one, but, given its cosmetic condition, what the guy was asking, and the fact that it was probably going to get parted out if I didn't buy it, this was simply too good a deal to pass up.

What's the history of this car?

  • 1996-08-01: OSD order placed. Original owner was a one star general in the Ohio Air National Guard.
  • 1996-09-17: Temporary Swedish registration issued.
  • 1996-09-23: Departed Sweden on M/S ATLANTIC CONCERT.
  • 1996-10-15: Arrived in Baltimore with 16 miles on the odometer.
  • 1996-10-22: Registered in Canal Winchester, OH.
  • 2010-07-30: SOLD to second owner in Atlanta, GA, at 253k miles. The original owner took incredibly good care of it.
  • 2014-05-29: "Sold" to 3rd owner at 262k miles. I say "sold" because this guy never actually transferred it to his name. I believe he had blown the engine by November, 2014.
  • 2015-04-06: I agreed to buy it at 269k miles. This got complicated because the guy never transferred it into his name.
  • 2016-01-27: Finally got a bill of sale from the 3rd "owner." Yay for VT's lax title laws. Luckily I have a copy of the title signed over to him and bill of sale from when he got it, so I can document the full chain of custody and that it wasn't stolen if I ever need to.

It's an odd history since the original owner sold it. I have to wonder what the story is with that second guy who owned it for 4 years and only did 9k miles in it.

What have I done so far?

  • Vacuumed and washed it. This thing was a mess. The guy left tons of junk in there and the car was covered in pine pollen. It was bad...and there is still pine pollen coming out of the panel gaps.
  • Somebody thought it would be a good idea to put in some really crappy Kenwood speakers in the front doors and take the tweeters out of the dash. Did a speaker swap from the wrecked R. Sounds good now.
  • Aired it out. Still airing it out, actually. 3rd "owner" was a smoker.
  • Bought some 850R floor mats on ebay. Pretty clear that there were some OEM Volvo mats in there until recently before I got it, but who knows where they went.
  • Started process of engine removal. Got everything ready to pull the engine, but then we discovered the engine was seized when we tried to turn it over to pull the torque converter bolts. Bolted a steel bar on to the end of the crankshaft where the serpentine belt pulley attaches and broke out one of the bolts trying to get it moving. Going to pull the head and try to get it going from inside, and, if that fails, then I guess we'll pull the engine and transmission together and put the M66D in the this one now and do the T-5R later.

What does it still need/what am I planning on doing? (in no particular order)
  • Needs a working engine!!
  • MANUAL SWAP! Obviously...this will eventually happen even if it doesn't happen at the same time as the engine swap. Going to use a M66D. Going to to turn the sport/econ button into a boost controller as part of the swap.
  • Need to buff out the paint. It is pretty badly oxidized from living outside in Atlanta, and I haven't been keeping up with the wax, either, since it was already bad when I got it.
  • Needs a new headliner. The fabric was falling, so the previous owner tried to use some thumbtacks. That didn't work, so he just ripped it off and the fabric was in a big ball in the back when I got it. Oh, yeah, I got a lifetime supply of thumbtacks out of this deal, too.
  • E-code lights.
  • Needs a rear spoiler. Thinking about adding roof rails, too.
  • Driver's door was damaged and replaced at some point. It was clearcoated when it was repainted, so I need to either find an original 609 door from a R that's getting parted, or have it repainted again in single stage. The clear that is on there is starting to show signs of failure.
  • Might put in a SC-901 at some point.
  • Maybe get another dash pad from somewhere and try to mod a dolby center speaker into it (anyone done this in an 850 yet?).
  • Needs a new glovebox door because some clown tried to pry it open at some point.
  • Needs to spend a day with a PDR guy. Surprisingly, there aren't any door dings, but there is a pretty good dent in the port A pillar, a small dent in the roof, and a crease that is only noticeable from certain angles in the starboard fender.
  • Front bumper has a couple cracks. Hopefully I can address those without a full bumper respray but I think it probably will need a respray.
  • Probably going to put in some heated rear seats and maybe some other goodies for the people in the back, like maybe an aux jack for the music management system I have planned, a P2 style armrest with the little storage bin, and some floor lights like the front seat gets. Maybe some P2 style B pillar air vents if I really go nuts.
  • Going to add a music management system that has enough space for all of my music. Can't fit it all on a phone so this is going to have to be something clever....and I'm going to use a stock HU because I want to keep that '90s feel. Hoping I can do something where I can hook it up to my wi-fi network and sync music directly from my computer.
  • Need to call up the original owner and see if he still has the OSD plates. Managed to track him down, but he's moved to AZ since he sold the car, so I'm not feeling optimistic. Failing that, maybe I can get some repro OSD plates. I have the temporary registration form with the reg number and expiration date on it.

Pictures!

This is what it looked like right after I vacuumed and washed it.

IMG_6903 by Jared R 945, on Flickr

IMG_6904 by Jared R 945, on Flickr

IMG_6909 by Jared R 945, on Flickr

The odometer works. Gear was replaced by the original owner at the dealer. Dealer pulled the mileage from the computer when they did this.
IMG_6911 by Jared R 945, on Flickr

IMG_6938 by Jared R 945, on Flickr

IMG_6939 by Jared R 945, on Flickr

IMG_6941 by Jared R 945, on Flickr

IMG_6947 by Jared R 945, on Flickr

IMG_6951 by Jared R 945, on Flickr
 
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9
#483 ·
Attempted to do my CBV with the IPD CBV kit a couple days ago.



It a shocking twist, that didn't really work out. It turns out that the IPD CBV kit is not legit lol. I figured the blue spring would probably be the one I'd want but then I was feeling them and thought the blue spring felt softer than the "stock" spring. So I thew them on the postal scale and felt how much force it took to compress them.



And the blue spring does indeed make your car slower! Then I decided that wasn't scientific enough, so I threw it on the drill press with the scale so I could have a consistent point every time to press to.



Obviously the numbers were different than previously but the relationships between the springs were the same, so I felt like that validated my data set. So I put that project on hold and I'll probably try to find out what spring Steve thinks would be best.

The hard wire loom doesn't fit over the M66 at all, so I had to ditch that and put regular wire loom on.



Needed to add an additional power source for....oh, lovely, I forgot to take a picture . More to come on this.



And there's our install of this connector.



Uh oh. That's not clearing.



Time for some mods.



Yes that is a flathead wood screw lol. Hey it works. Had to file down the other side too.



Here's where we're at. I lost count of how many times the center console has been in and out and it'll probably be in and out at least a few more times.

 
#484 ·
Attempted to do my CBV with the IPD CBV kit a couple days ago....It a shocking twist, that didn't really work out. It turns out that the IPD CBV kit is not legit lol.
Shocking! Didn't you tell me about the "quality" of Ipd branded parts when I joined the forums?

Just busting your b*lls. lol.

Is there room for a shim to pre-load the CBV factory spring? Or maybe an aftermarket bypass valve that recirculates?
 
#485 ·
Huh... I'm running the blue spring in my car. You sayin I should use the red? My boost peaks at 19-20 but runs at 16 normally.
 
#486 ·
When I did my CBV I noticed a signifiant improvement in performance. Then again my last one was toast, but I think my spring was fine. Maybe you received a bad spring?
 
#488 ·
I may swap to the red one. I'll have to compare that blue spring to the stock one.
 
#489 ·
I have the iPd CBv in my 19T and that thing holds boost really well. I think the red spring is in it. Also have a turbosmart dual port actuator. That was a good upgrade, very tight and accurate. Same one that comes on the EFRs.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#492 ·
Tons of people had problems with the IPD diaphragm tearing prematurely. A quick search of VS will show that it's not worth installing.
Why am I not surprised lol
 
#493 ·
Got as much of the engine bay wiring that's plug and play wired up today. TPS sensor wiring needs to be extended significantly. Need to figure out where the IAC is even going before I can worry about that wiring. The ECT sensor is a problem still. Since I am using RN PCV, I have to use a RN thermostat housing. However, the RN ECT sensor screws in using a different thread. So, either I need to make an adapter sleeve of some sort or look into whether the RN ECT sensor puts out the same signal as the N sensor.

Mmmmmmm that looks fast



Hooking the AC lines up. Fresh o-rings



I wonder what happened to this wiring. Most of it in the car is mint. Oh well guess I am getting a new washer pump.





And that's where we'll leave it for tonight. Yeah I know the front bumper looks like absolute ass. Not really a priority at this point.....need something to put on there and this is the best option I have. I'm going to repaint it and do something else with the trim when the weather and scheduling are both cooperating.

 
#494 ·
That engine bay looks super clean in the pics!

Almost every P80 washer pump wiring looks like that... no idea why. Maybe that wiring was transferred over from a pre 1987 740/760 harness... lol
 
#495 ·
I've been toying with the idea of making brackets to lower my A/C condenser to allow as much inter-cooler exposed as I can. Seeing as how yours is all taken apart...want to try it and report back with results? lol.
 
#496 ·
Already put it together lol. That said, I don't think moving it down is going to get you a lot.s before you start hitting other stuff. You might be more successful putting the condenser in the middle of the stack.
 
#498 ·
Driver's seat cleaned up. Sort of. Not happy with the bottom yet but it'll work for now.



Got the auto down relays sorted out well enough to fit everything in. Had to add length to a couple of the wires.





Much added functionality



Oh look, an interior. This car hasn't had a real driver's seat since 2016 or 2017.

 
#499 ·
#500 ·
Is that a Euro 850R steering wheel? Looking good!
 
#501 ·
Thanks! Yeah that wheel came from Spain a few years back.
 
#502 · (Edited)
Time for an update. There has been some progress in the last month.

Oh look, it almost looks like a car again. ECE glass and corners installed. Long term I need to find better headlight housings or maybe go in a different direction entirely but for now it puts something together and means all the parts are where they should be and won't get lost lol.



D5 oil cooler



Had to modify the water pipe slightly.



Building another 850 Dolby dash. Trying out a smaller hole than last time.



And doing a better job of shaping and fitting everything that last time.





With the new throttle body setup, I'm missing a couple vacuum ports and a IAC port. Pulled the vac ports out of a 960 throttle body that I'm going to try to throw in the throttle body adapter plate.

Had to come up with something custom for the IAC port. Conveniently, there was some acce

Definitely fits better than the one I did for the T-5R. May revisit that one and improve it at some point.



Fiberglassed and glued up all the cracks in the dash pad.



Managed to get the sunroof in. Here's a tip: never put power to the sunroof motor out of the car. It gets super confused. My sunroof is super confused right now from me doing that to facilitate the headliner replacement (can't remember my logic there now so don't do what I did to replace your sunroof shade lol)



Had to get up on the roof and patch a hole in the legally temporary building. I cut that branch off the tree while I was up there too.



How long have I had this car and I'm still finding pine pollen in it? Here's another tip: Don't leave your car parked under a pine tree in Georgia for any reason ever.



Getting started on the paint. pre and post-clay bar.



Then rubbed the whole car down with Meguiar's #7 (left below) and then polished it out with Meguiar's 105 (right).



After Meguiar's 205, another application of #7, and wax to seal it all in. We're looking at the hood in all of these pictures so chips to be expected. The rest of the car should look better. I could wetsand it and make it look way better, but ultimately this is going to be a GT car not a garage queen so I'd rather have the paint thickness. Maybe I paint another hood for it at some point, maybe not. The lighting in my legally temporary building is extremely unforgiving on paint and it looks way better in natural light.



Or when you're not taking photos at angles trying to make it look bad lol.



With the new throttle body setup, I'm missing a couple vacuum ports. Pulled the vac ports out of a 960 throttle body and I'll try to throw those into the throttle body adapter plate to fix that issue.



Needed something custom for the IAC attachment. Conveniently, there was some acceptable raw material in the scrap bin.



so I made this. Would have liked to put a bigger thread on that so I could have a bigger hole closer to the stock size but I am limited by the thickness of the throttle body adapter plate. I don't know why that thing isn't thicker. It really should be. But anyway it isn't so here we are. The stock fitting will have over 50% more cross sectional area than I am able to put in here so hopefully this will work. Not excited about my alternatives if this doesn't work.

 
#503 ·
Coming along nicely! The paint is looking awesome! It's incredible how badly oxidized that red gets over time thanks to the lack of clear coat.
 
#504 ·
Thanks! Yeah it's going to be nice and shiny. Should look fantastic in real world conditions and that's good enough for this car.

The single stage on these cars is definitely polarizing. Having owned 5 single stage 850s, I'm a huge fan; sure, the downside is worse when you don't take care of the paint, but the lack of clear coat is what makes it possible to fix problems so easily. Just have to keep them waxed - think of the wax as a disposable clear coat. My T-5R has lived outside at least half the time since Mark polished out the paint when he got it (that's probably around 6 years ago now?), and I don't think there has been any noticeable oxdizing in that time. I've gone over it with Meguiar's #7 two or three times since I've had it which does a fantastic job of keeping single stage "moisturized." I don't fully understand the chemistry behind that but it's how I've heard it described by people who know more about paint than I do.

The other issue at play is UV damage, which is where clear coat becomes a major problem. Even if it's not peeling, the paint is fading under it, and now there's nothing you can do about it. On my T-5R, which I believe has been an outdoor car for 80-90% of its life, the paint on the clearcoated parts is significantly faded from UV. My dad's 97 Frost T5 has the same problem. That car we may repaint at some point. There just isn't anything we can do about it with the original paint. The bumpers are visibly darker since we repainted them but thankfully the vertical surfaces aren't nearly as faded especially towards the bottom of the car so it's not super noticeable. My friend Yannick in the Netherlands had some rust problems around the windshield of his 97 Frost T5 and had to have the roof repainted, and the color difference is stark.

Yannick's Frost T5



My T-5R. The wing and trim above the tailgate handle are clearcoated. Note the color difference. The bumper is, too, but was repainted about 15 years ago.

 
#509 ·
Great progress Jared. It took me forever to find E-Codes for my 850 but would not mind a spare if you know a good source.

I am planning on ceramic coating my car next summer and be done with it. I polished out all the imperfections last summer and she is ready for some ceramic coating which is something I highly recommend.
Thanks Ted! I know where to get ECE lights; will let you know next time we have an order with extra space in it.

The ceramic coatings look interesting. What would your thoughts on that be on a car like my 850R where polishing out all the imperfections just isn't realistic?
 
#506 ·
The single stage is definitely easier to clean up! My black V70 was starting to fade pretty badly on the roof in front of the sunroof before I sold it, and of course it was under the clear coat so I couldn’t do anything about it.
 
#507 ·
Jared I think you've bought to many Volvo over the past few years your loosing track of time. You picked the car up January 6 2016 from the date on the picture. Here you are leaving Wild and Wonderful.



Here are a few picture when I got the T-5R looking like it should.





If you want all the pictures I have I can send them to you.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#508 ·
Jared I think you've bought to many Volvo over the past few years your loosing track of time. You picked the car up January 6 2016 from the date on the picture. Here you are leaving Wild and Wonderful.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Still looking just about that good, too! But then you knew that; you've seen it a few times since :)

Ha yeah I've definitely bought and sold too many Volvos....it turned out ok though; got what I wanted and then some out of it and got the car buying/selling bug out of my system. Having a great time just perfecting and enjoying the cars I have now and not shopping for anything else for myself for a while, unless the need arises for a winter beater. Anyway I remembered we worked out the deal in December 2015 and I came and got it that January. You had it, what, two or three years? so wouldn't it have been about 6 years ago you polished it up?

I think I have a lot of those pictures that you sent me before I bought it but never saw the one leaving the driveway. I'll send you the link to the ones I have; would love to see the rest if I'm missing anything interesting.
 
#510 ·
Got this put together last night. Large port for IAC, small port for vac lines. Didn't have space for another vac port so I'll just T off of this one as needed. Not sure I will even need as many vac lines since I'll be updating to the ME7 fuel system. Maybe someone knows how that works. I am only aware of one car that had a RN swap done that properly updated the fuel lines to match and the pictures in that thread have been dead for a few years and, at the time, I didn't fully understand what I was looking at.

 
#511 ·
Center speaker wire built, upper torque mount bracket and pre-recall OTE pipe prepped for paint

 
#514 ·
Finished polishing out the paint today. Looks decent; nice and shiny with no swirls that I could identify in any of the available lighting conditions so far. It could be better if I wetsanded it but I don't want to take off that much paint. In real world conditions, the imperfections I'm seeing in my building won't really be noticeable, aside from the large chips, especially in the hood, which I'll have to fill and sand out. That probably won't happen until next summer, though. Too cold to do any paintwork now.





 
#515 ·
Paint looks amazing Jared. Just keep those bucket loaders away from your temporary, conforming outbuilding!
 
#516 ·
Really well done. I hope I can find time in the spring to hit mine with a buffer in the spring for a light polish.
 
#517 ·
Wow, that looks great! I really need to give mine a good detail. My paint is riddled with swirls. I also need to fill a spot on the hood where I chipped it with a razor blade removing that nasty clear bra that was so badly baked on.
Then a bumper repaint, paint the spoiler, and paint the rear left door trim that I need to replace. But first I need to sort out the mechanical stuff!
 
#518 ·
Thanks guys. It's fun getting to walk out there and see it looking this good. Making me excited to drive it! Only problem is I think it needs to be a full time indoor car now. May end up keeping an off-site indoor spot year round and swap between having it and my T-5R there.

Ian do you have a DA polisher? With the way your paint looks I'd try to just clean it up real good, clay bar etc., and then hit it with some Meguiar's #7 on a finish polishing pad on a DA polisher. Might be good enough. That stuff is amazing for dealing with light imperfections without removing a meaningful amount of paint. Just gotta wax over it. Or maybe go to Mark's and do it in the garage where you have nice lighting and proper tools. I didn't use any #7 on my S60 and I think that was a mistake. It looks pretty good now but I'm going to clean it up and go over it with 205 again and then 7 and see if that gets me a truly swirl free finish.

Luckily my legally temporary building is set back about 15ft from the street....they'll have to come through the S60 and the NA to get to it. Also I think it will be taller than any snowdrift that could possibly come our way. My dad and I were talking about it after they came through last time and decided, if have we have another similar weather event before we move, we're going to get some stakes and put up some big banners in the yard that say things like "cars here," "tree here," etc. LOL. Maybe we should get a super soaker or a sling shot or something too in case we need to get someone's attention.
 
#520 · (Edited)
Scored a mint dash pad at the JY yesterday so I did the Dolby mod this morning and swapped that in for the smashed up one I've been working on. And a mint glovebox door because the original one looked like someone had tried to break into the glovebox at some point when it was locked.



Threw a self drilling screw in the front of the speaker this time. Hopefully that kills the rattle I get occasionally in the T-5R from the area of the center speaker. I'll have to revisit that install at some point as this one has some radical improvements. This speaker is much more solidly attached. Yes I am as surprised as you probably are that I used a self-drilling screw in this project; I may be developing an unhealthy relationship with them at work....



Faceplate on this car's original CCM wasn't looking so hot so I swapped it out for a better one I had in stock



Just need a black face 901 and come up with something for a shift knob and the interior will be mostly done.



Apparently I touched the sunroof trim at some point, probably when I was installing the sunroof glass.



putting my $4 100-pack of magic erasers to work again



Crisis averted :thumbup:

 
#521 ·
Is there such a thing as a black faceplate 901? I've never seen one.

Magic erasers are pretty much --- magic!
 
#522 ·
Is there such a thing as a black faceplate 901? I've never seen one.
I was considering painstakingly masking the lettering on one and then painting it black. But maybe it was a europe only thing?
 
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