Hi guys, this is gonna be a project thread for a 96 854R I just got my hands on. It needs a lot of work but hopefully I can bring it back to its former glory. The story is that it came from NY, spent some time in MD and was driven to N.C. about 3 years ago and sat. I happened upon this car when A guy I work with mentioned taking his neighbors old Volvo to the scrap yard, I asked about it and he showed me a picture of a neglected 850 but I noticed the Volans and offered $400, the next day he brought it to my work on a trailer. I plan to slowly restore this car in my free time.
Gonna start with a full stage zero and clean it really well. It has a coolant leak and the bumper and paint are toast. Interior Is very good for its age and the wheels all look nice
Ordered a bunch of parts for stage zero. Timing belt is #1 since I don’t know when it was done last and the serpentine belt is cracking so I imagine the t belt is similar.
Need brakes all around. I figure I’ll try to find a decent set of calipers at the junk yard and would like to do the 302 upgrade but seems the bracket is discontinued. Any other brake upgrades?
Got a bunch of parts in from FCP today. The belt kit with all the pulleys and water pump cost more than the entire car. Got all the filters, coolant, thermostat wiper blades, motor mounts and a few other various seals. I'm gonna try to start on it this weekend if I have time
Timing belt with pulleys and tensioner done, water pump, thermostat,and coolant triple flush done, serpentine belt done, coolant reservoir, upper motor mount, fuel filter, wiper blades. Car runs and drives fine but the brakes and suspension are trash. Gonna do coil overs eventually.
It's hard to tell from the pictures just how poor of shape this bumper was in and since i don't have the funds for a new/used good condition one I figured I'll repair this to the best of my abilities. I'm no body man that's for sure but I enjoy the challenge. Fiberglass for the major damage and cracks then a coat of bondo to fill in the gaps. Currently sanding the bondo before a skim coat and the eventually primer, paint, and finally clear. It won't be great but I'll be happy with it I'm sure.
Found a decent 96 base wagon at the junk yard and pulled a bunch of parts off of it. I'd like to find a manual that is somewhat local to me in NC.
The car is still at my work while I wait for the title which is taking forever due to the "virus"
Major parts needed are a radiator, power steering bracket due to a broken off bolt in the tensioner, struts or coilovers, rear brake pads and rotors, front control arms, and there is a lifter tick that I've gotta look into but I'd rather do that when the car is in my garage. Also gotta figure out where the AC is leaking but not too worried about that for now.
Primer, paint, clear, and final assembly.
The upper part turned out much darker and glossier than I was looking for. Will redo that in the near future but for now I'm tired of "body work" and it's on the back burner. I'm happy with the results for having no experience doing something like this. It's nowhere near perfect but a hell of a lot better than before.
Okay thanks, so ordering new pads and rotors I should go with 302 pads? Also I'm gonna get new/reman calipers all around, is there any direct bolt on calipers that are an improvement or should I just get 302 brackets?
Question for people that have put a manual in their 850... from what I’ve read auto and manual CV shafts are interchangeable, that being said it looks like the axles I got with my manual swap are from a later model P80 based on the rifling and bigger diameter and knuckle. Is there a year that these won’t become interchangeable? I ordered CV boots for a 97 850 manual and the boots are far smaller than the axles I got with the kit
I think you may be right because from my little bit of research the 98s had bigger diameter and rifling on the trans input side. As you can see the axle boots that I had ordered for a 97 are a fair bit smaller than the shafts and knuckle
I’ve got a pretty serious parasitic draw, fully charged battery to flat out won’t stay running without jump box in about 5 days. I’ve tried 2 new battery’s(because i have access). The radio is acting funky so I pulled that while I charge the battery. Hopefully that fixes the issue so I don’t have to chase fuses. I can’t find any odd wiring but who knows. Are than any “known” 850 draw issues?
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