While this car has a thread from a long time ago, my visions for the project changed pretty drastically, and I ended up going a whole new direction. I think it would be best to keep that as it is for historical purposes.
Welcome to my XC70 M66 "R" project! Something I'm proud to write about, and it was a blast to build.
Back in May of 2019 I found this 2004 XC70 listed for $600 on Craigslist. The owner at the time cited possible transmission issues, which were typical AW55 shift flares. We settled on a much lower price and I took it home! The car needed typical work, PCV, timing belt, and some suspension stuff. I originally planned to fix these things and use the car as a beater. After about 3-4 months of driving the XC70 I quickly realized I love my wagons and I wanted to find a V70R. I had no luck with the search... so I figured I would turn this car into the R that never was. Originally this started out as wheels, Nordkap interior swap, and lowering. I was happy with how it looked, but the performance of the old 2.5T did not do the car's new look justice, it needed more ponies!! Fast forward to November of '19 and I had to bite the bullet and put a transmission in the car just to keep it on the road. I took it to work and swapped in another AW55 out of the same car my Nordkap interior came from, this wasn't too bad and I drove the car for another 6 months. Now comes March of 2020, Covid-19 panic is rampant, and work at the dealership has slowed down... I'm still making money, but everything is closed and there is nothing to do. I saw where pull-a-part had gotten in a 2007 S60 T5, I knew I HAD to get the 4T5 out of that car. We went to get it, and once it's on the engine stand I realize that the 07 T5 has had a replacement engine from LKQ... and it's the wrong one. Oh well, it's still got a K24 and the B5254T2 is still a very capable motor with the right mods. I pulled it apart and gave it the R shim treatment along with a low mileage turbo from Erie Vovo. Once the motor was ready to drop in... I got to thinking, "Do I really want to put this much more HP through another tired Aw55?" Hell no I don't, we're gonna M66 swap it. I had a S60R parts car I had planned on restoring but it was too far gone and had the perfect donor transmission. I took the S60R to my buddy's house and we tore it down in a couple of days. I installed a SPEC SMF to the new motor and bolted up the M66 on a table at work. In July, I dropped the engine/transaxle out of the XC70 and did a full power train swap. I had everything swapped in and running on it's own power within about 8 hours. The worst part of this whole endeavor HAS to be the pedals for the manual swap. The mechanical pieces and even the wiring was beautifully simple. I contacted a couple of tuners, most of which ended up becoming unresponsive. I finally reached out to Rob Hilton, who was the pricier option but very well regarded here. He had the car ready to flash within 2 days... I was ecstatic! We worked on a couple of issues and had the car boosting at 20PSI with proper fueling in about 2 weeks. Super happy with how that turned out. It's been a little over a month since the power train swap was completed... and I must say I LOVE IT. It's not a V70R, which is still a dream car for me, but it is fully mine, and while anyone can build this, you could never buy it with these options and I think that makes it special.
So what's next for the car? I really want to improve handling. I've already got older Elevate (I think) sways from the parts car installed. I've also got BC coilovers going in shortly. What's nice is that I already have lowered this car on stock V70r control arms and axles, so BCs will be a true drop in. I will likely install IPD camber bushings in the rear, and do some powerflex at the same time. Eventually I will be getting a 3" Downpipe, and I might look into doing a Hybrid turbo too.
Here's some pictures, I also post a lot on my new instagram @boostedxc
And here's a breakdown of all of the mods:
July 2019
April 2020
July 2020
Yes yes I know this project was expensive, and some would say I could've found a rough V70R to restore for what the cost of this was, but my labor is free to myself and I don't think it would've put as much of a smile on my face.
Welcome to my XC70 M66 "R" project! Something I'm proud to write about, and it was a blast to build.
Back in May of 2019 I found this 2004 XC70 listed for $600 on Craigslist. The owner at the time cited possible transmission issues, which were typical AW55 shift flares. We settled on a much lower price and I took it home! The car needed typical work, PCV, timing belt, and some suspension stuff. I originally planned to fix these things and use the car as a beater. After about 3-4 months of driving the XC70 I quickly realized I love my wagons and I wanted to find a V70R. I had no luck with the search... so I figured I would turn this car into the R that never was. Originally this started out as wheels, Nordkap interior swap, and lowering. I was happy with how it looked, but the performance of the old 2.5T did not do the car's new look justice, it needed more ponies!! Fast forward to November of '19 and I had to bite the bullet and put a transmission in the car just to keep it on the road. I took it to work and swapped in another AW55 out of the same car my Nordkap interior came from, this wasn't too bad and I drove the car for another 6 months. Now comes March of 2020, Covid-19 panic is rampant, and work at the dealership has slowed down... I'm still making money, but everything is closed and there is nothing to do. I saw where pull-a-part had gotten in a 2007 S60 T5, I knew I HAD to get the 4T5 out of that car. We went to get it, and once it's on the engine stand I realize that the 07 T5 has had a replacement engine from LKQ... and it's the wrong one. Oh well, it's still got a K24 and the B5254T2 is still a very capable motor with the right mods. I pulled it apart and gave it the R shim treatment along with a low mileage turbo from Erie Vovo. Once the motor was ready to drop in... I got to thinking, "Do I really want to put this much more HP through another tired Aw55?" Hell no I don't, we're gonna M66 swap it. I had a S60R parts car I had planned on restoring but it was too far gone and had the perfect donor transmission. I took the S60R to my buddy's house and we tore it down in a couple of days. I installed a SPEC SMF to the new motor and bolted up the M66 on a table at work. In July, I dropped the engine/transaxle out of the XC70 and did a full power train swap. I had everything swapped in and running on it's own power within about 8 hours. The worst part of this whole endeavor HAS to be the pedals for the manual swap. The mechanical pieces and even the wiring was beautifully simple. I contacted a couple of tuners, most of which ended up becoming unresponsive. I finally reached out to Rob Hilton, who was the pricier option but very well regarded here. He had the car ready to flash within 2 days... I was ecstatic! We worked on a couple of issues and had the car boosting at 20PSI with proper fueling in about 2 weeks. Super happy with how that turned out. It's been a little over a month since the power train swap was completed... and I must say I LOVE IT. It's not a V70R, which is still a dream car for me, but it is fully mine, and while anyone can build this, you could never buy it with these options and I think that makes it special.
So what's next for the car? I really want to improve handling. I've already got older Elevate (I think) sways from the parts car installed. I've also got BC coilovers going in shortly. What's nice is that I already have lowered this car on stock V70r control arms and axles, so BCs will be a true drop in. I will likely install IPD camber bushings in the rear, and do some powerflex at the same time. Eventually I will be getting a 3" Downpipe, and I might look into doing a Hybrid turbo too.
Here's some pictures, I also post a lot on my new instagram @boostedxc
And here's a breakdown of all of the mods:
July 2019
- Lowered on AWD Springs
- Volvo OEM Pegaus 17" Wheels wrapped in larger 235/55/17 tires
April 2020
- IPD Catback Exhaust purchased and installed. Fitment on wagons SUCK, will be extended an inch or two and welded at some point.
- New wing from @ScottishBrick painted and installed
- Euro Xenon headlights retrofitted
July 2020
- Low mileage B5254T2 shimmed with new belts, seals, and head gasket installed
- Erie K24 Turbo installed to new engine
- M66 transmission sourced from donor car installed
- SPEC single mass flywheel
- New LuK/Sachs clutch and slave kit
- Green Injectors
- Older black Elevate or IPD sways installed
- Brembo "R" Calipers painted yellow installed with stainless lines
- Hilton Stage 3 + Manual ECM Conversion
- 05+ Center stack conversion with brushed alum trim around the radio and CCM
Yes yes I know this project was expensive, and some would say I could've found a rough V70R to restore for what the cost of this was, but my labor is free to myself and I don't think it would've put as much of a smile on my face.