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Project daily driver: Hopefully the budget is back under control.

14K views 96 replies 26 participants last post by  madmattd 
#1 ·
I just had a really bad experience with an R. Needless to say I lost my shirt and I never got the car where I wanted it. The budget spiraled out of control and I just couldn't justify putting even more money in to it. So I got out. Sold it yesterday, and replaced it with this:









It's the most minty V70 I've seen in a long time, only 86k miles. 2.5T automatic, Ice White with Oak/Arena interior. One owner, obviously garaged and beautifully maintained. The owner's health degraded and he was forced to stop driving, so he put it up for sale. I just gave it the first wash, and while I need to get in and really detail it, so far it's looking great. Here's a preview with a door panel and jamb detailed:





This is the only major paint defect outside of the front bumper, on the roof strip near the tailgate:



Front bumper could use a scuff and spray but is excellent for the most part. I'll be shopping the junkyards for a new grille too, the chrome is peeling at the bottom of the vertical bars.



Only 3-4 tiny paint chips like this around the car, I already bought a factory touch up bottle:



The roof strip rubber is flawless:



The car had a bit of a stale smell inside, looking at the smeary glass it's obvious he had a dog in here at one point:



And it's amazing when a car has been garaged how easily it details. It was obviously parked outside and under a tree for a while, here's the engine bay when I got it:



And after 5 minutes of cleaning:



Interior detailing starts with the cupholder.



The plan is to stage 0 and then just drive it. The timing belt has never been done, so I just bought that along with all filters and tune up parts. I also bought lowering springs so it will look awesome with my Triton wheels, and mud flaps because even though it's this nice, it is still going to be my winter car. I think it needs shocks as well, I'll work on deciding what to do there. Looks like Koni discontinued the FSD shocks for this car, so I'm looking for something sporty but not harsh. Probably look at Bilsteins.

I'm also going to tint it and put fairly nice speakers and a subwoofer in it, and I'm shopping for a rear wing. I want to do all of this right away so that I don't have to think about any of it again, and can focus on my 122 project.

Man, it's nice to have a clean car that makes me happy to look at it and get in. I plan to have this one for the next 10-15 years if I can maintain it like my last V70.

Also I want to try to make it into my perfect dream wagon, but only after my 122 is done. I want to add:

Charcoal or Nordkap interior conversion with sport seats
Manual swap with an LSD
Turbo upgrade and tune.
And if I get that far I'll put R bumpers on it.

The best part is that even with all the stage 0 stuff I'm into it for less than I sold the R for.
 
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#2 ·
Nice! Should be a fun build. You’ve played the p2 wagon game before but maybe worth taking a swing through my T5M build thread cause there’s a lot of good and newer improvements documented.




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#3 · (Edited)
Great find ...I have a thing for white v70's ... ;)
You could do a lot! For example:
 

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#4 ·
For speakers grab an OEM premium audio setup from a junkyard car! You'll need sport door cards for the front but the Kevlar speakers sound killer.

This is a gorgeous find by the way
 
#5 ·
Looks great! Don't see too many V70s with under 100k miles much anymore. Get it to Stage 0 and enjoy.

I second going to the premium speakers and 300W amp.
 
#6 ·
I like aftermarket setups for stereos. I ran Polk audio components in my last V70 and they were amazing. Also easy install.

I went back out and did some detailing, here's that window after a cleaning with Stoner's invisible glass. I love this stuff.



And I gave the seats and console a once-over with a magic eraser. I also love this stuff.



I ran out before I could finish the driver's seat, I just did the front panel, can you see the difference?



If not here's a better example. These things are the bomb for stained up dirty interior plastic and leather.



Also it has a dog mat. I don't need it so I'll be putting it up for sale, if anyone wants dibs in here let me know. Volvo factory mat p/n 9193984 / 9468882.

 
#7 ·
I've used magic erasers pretty much every where except the car - nice job and congrats on the new to you V. It looks really clean!
 
#8 ·
The magic eraser does clean things up nicely. Just be careful on the leather, it can remove the color layer if used too aggressively or excessively.

I'd keep that cargo mat since it helps protect the carpet when you use the wagon for wagon things.
 
#9 ·
You're supposed to pull the lower rear seats up before folding the top part down so the floor sits flat. ;)

Where did you get the replacement rubber piece for the cup holder?


R cars aren't worth the trouble these days. Too old and maintenance costs too much. It was too much when they were new'ish.
 
#10 ·
I know how to fold up a seat, hehe. I was just cleaning the seat backs, the owner's dog had slobbered all over the plastic. Although I almost never flip the seat up because it puts the driver's seat too far forward. I'm not super tall but too tall for that.

I didn't get replacement rubber, that's the original. And yeah, the only reason to own an R is for one of the cool colors. They aren't even particularly fast these days, so if you want to impress anyone you have to mod the crap out of them. Or just drive like a maniac.
 
#11 ·
I wanted a fast Volvo though so unless I wanna spend 30k....R

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#15 · (Edited)
I just called it that because the PO had a dog. hehe.

L-D, you did see the M56LK swap kit I posted this week . . . ?
I did now. I'm not ready for the manual swap just yet. One of the reasons I even considered an automatic is that I haven't taught my daughter to drive stick yet, so this can be a backup car for her if I need to do maintenance on her car. So I want to keep it auto for a while. Mostly I want to focus on my 122.

In other news, I did the timing belt on Sunday. Got a chance to break in my new Milwaukee 1/4" impact and 1/4" power ratchet. Both are awesome tools. Made the water pump a breeze. I also tried the method of pulling the timing belt around the harmonic balancer, worked fine. Took some maneuvering but nothing more than finger pressure to twist it around the obstacles. Probably saved 20-30 minutes of hassles, plus I have a history of cracking the outer flange of harmonic balancers with my 2 jaw puller.

Advice: Do any of you have success in getting all the coolant out of these cars? I'm not sure where the last bit of it is hanging, probably the heater core? I can only drain about 1-1/4 gallons, and when I put plain water in, it's obvious that there was nearly a gallon still in there. Now, normally I'd just do the drain and fill 3-4 times to make it 97% water and then add a gallon of concentrate, but all the stores around me have stopped selling concentrate! It's all 50/50 premix so now if I want 50/50 in the car I have to get it all out. Any advice? I'm thinking take a heater hose off and blow it out with air.
 
#16 ·
I drained and filled the coolant 4 times with distilled water. Then, topped off with coolant concentrate and distilled water to get to 50/50 based on capacity.
 
#18 · (Edited)
Did some research, OEM Volvo coolant from FCP is still concentrated, so I may as well switch to that. If I do the 5 quarts per flush that I'm getting right now, it'll be 1% coolant after 4 flushes. Then I can switch to Zerex G48 50/50 for top offs so I'm not dependent on mail order if I spring a leak.

I'm also going to try to blow out the heater core somehow for that last 3 quarts.

Forgot to mention, the reason I'm asking about coolant is because while doing the water pump I discovered the radiator has a failed tank seal on the passenger side and is leaking. Of course. So that's the next crucial task.
 
#20 ·
I'm definitely curious to see where you'll take this car, specially after everything on your c70. I've very much contemplated picking up an 05+ v70 2.5t FWD myself for a commuter since they're better on gas and definitely lighter in the pocket book to maintain, and to keep the miles off my VR
 
#21 ·
Sadly I'm not going to take it anywhere really. I'm looking at a rerun of my last FWD V70, which was an awesome car. 01 T5M, had it 8 years and 109k miles, and the only mods I did were exactly what I'm looking at doing on this car. Lowered with Koni shocks, tint, stereo, and a wing. There were entire years with that car where all I did was change oil, and I want the same experience out of this car.

The big differences are that this car is way better cosmetically, and my commute is significantly shorter so the miles won't rack up as fast. I just realized now all 3 of my cars are clean title. That's the first time that's happened since 1994. Also this is my 22nd Volvo, 17th if you don't count parts cars.
 
#22 ·
Hey Lloyd! Glad to see you back in the "regular old V70" crowd again. :D So sorry your R was such a money pit…but glad to see you happy with what's new! Your T5M was one of the main inspirations for why I sold my R and found a T5M back in 2013.
 
#23 ·
Very nice! Looking forward to seeing how this progresses
 
#25 ·
Oh my dear lord! We have sibling cars!

I picked up my one-owner (he had an 80 mile r/t commute, all freeway) with 107K on the odo. It had the Eurus 16" wheels, like yours. I also have the convenience package, geartronic and HomeLink, but sadly not the cold-weather package.

I tinted the windows (3M), put the Canistos (and I also have a set of Volans) on it. I ended up getting the Bilsteins all around. At 120K, the PCV was clean (swapped it since I had it out), timing belt, water pump, all that was done. I added the 12v in the rear, made a boost gauge in the center speaker grille and swapped to the "Classic" gauges and added the brushed aluminum vent covers.

We'll have to do a photo shoot next time I'm up there with it. I haven't seen any of your Denver Volvo guys for a looong time (I think I met you at some event/Volvo shop/museum thing Brett Borders had arranged, and quite possibly another one or two events - I would have had my white '93 945 or possibly my white '96 965 back then).

View attachment 59009
 
#26 ·
I remember your cars but I'm bad with names and faces. But yeah I'm sure we've met, I go to pretty much all the meets. Sadly they've dropped off in the last 3 years, Brett has been too busy to organize and I'm too lazy.

Totally down for a photo shoot if you find yourself in the metro area.
 
#28 ·
Ohhhh nice :D
 
#30 ·
When you say magic eraser....you you mean the scrub pad you use in the bathroom or another chemical/cleaner?

I've never heard of anyone using one of the pads in a car before.
My progression threads are basically ads for magic erasers at this point lol
 
#32 ·
Chris, I was thinking about your famous '01 v70 T5 thread as I've been stripping the '04 S60. I couldn't believe you got rid of that thing. That '01 V70 T5 I have is our best car. I can't afford an R and all the upkeep that goes with it. I just hope not too many people jump on the T5 bandwagon as that means less for me!
 
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