Nb's 850 R-esurrection thread

[nobananas]

Well, yesterday I went and looked at Nervys 850 R. As per my siggy I have been looking for a black 850 R manual for a fair while now but they have either been too far away, way too expensive or quickly swiped and broken by the vultures ! Nervys motor looked fairly sorry for itself, it's head in the boot, it's bonnet bearing the scars of an automotive equivalent of a face palm and the interior showing all of it's 170,000 miles !. We've all been there, your head screaming 'walk away, nooooo !', but your hearts going 'buy it, buy it, buy it !' , well my head lost so buy it I did !. It isn't here yet, just waiting to hear from my local 'bloke with beaver-tail van' to see when he's going to collect it. If it's okay with you guys I will update this thread as I start getting it back in shape, it will not only help keep me motivated but also allow Nervy to follow it's progress as I think he's going to miss it !

[nobananas]

Well the R arrived this morning on a low loader and is tucked up into my yard, (my old T5 is eyeing it up very suspiciously !). I will have a good snout about the engine this weekend and clean and grease the bores a little as they are starting to rust. I'm hopeful that I can save and use the existing engine as the bores looked pretty good wear wise so should just be a case of stripping down the head and getting it re-faced (and I will likely get the valves and seats re-cut) then I will compile a bit of a shopping/begging list that hopefully some of you guys can help with to get the body and interior into shape. I realise that this will probably turn into a project thread so mods please feel free to move this into the correct area.

[nervy]

I'm really looking forward to hearing more on this!

[nobananas]

I'm really looking forward to hearing more on this!
Don't worry Nervy, it's coming along, the heads stripped down and will be heading off to the machine shop later this week for a reface and valve and seat recut then I've just got to play 'beat the weather' to get it back together !

[T5frankie]

its all about photos

[nobananas]

its all about photos

You're absolutely right Frankie, been meaning to take some for the last few days but it keeps going all dark by the time I remember !. Will get some up this week though, I promise !

[nobananas]

Well I beat the moon and got a few pics this evening.

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/850%20R/850r.jpg

As delivered, haven't even got around to taking the stickers off yet !

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/850%20R/bonnetouch.jpg

One side of the bonnet 'face palm' anyone got a good one in black ?

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/850%20R/wornseat.jpg

Interior has certainly seen it's fair share of posteriors !

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/850%20R/engine.jpg

Creepy, it's headless ! The bores seem pretty unworn so hopefully I can save the engine rather then just swap it.

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/850%20R/intheboot.jpg

It's all in there, somewhere !

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/850%20R/lucky.jpg

Nervy was lucky that the boost pipes stayed on !

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/850%20R/headstripped.jpg

Head in the shed, stripped and ready to go. When I was younger I would have re-ground all the valves by hand, I'm old now so nuts to it I'll pay someone else !

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/850%20R/oldandnew.jpg

Old but working T5 turns it's back in disgust at new not-working R (do you think it knows it's days are numbered !)

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/850%20R/renault4.jpg

errm....yeah.....I'll get on to that one later !

[nervy]

This thread makes me happy. Thanks NB.

[nobananas]

Just thought I'd post an update as over a month seems to have gone by without me noticing. The heads been away and had a reface and all 20 valves and seats have been re-cut and cleaned up.

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/850%20R/Headback1.jpg

Then I spent several evenings grinding the inlet ports to match the inlet manifold gasket....

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/850%20R/Portsmatched.jpg

...and then the inlet manifold has then been matched to that

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/850%20R/Inletportsmatched.jpg

Then the throttle body end has been taken out to match the 3'' throttle body (thanks for the TB claymore !)

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/850%20R/Throttlebodyinletduring.jpg

...and with the throttle body mounted with the butterfly removed (throttle body yet to be cleaned up !)

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/850%20R/Throttlebodyon.jpg

None of this is ground breaking or particularly difficult but it doesn't half take a while. I'm deciding now whether to to the same job on the exhaust side, it would seem daft not to as it's probably of more benefit then doing the inlet but I'm also worried how long I'm taking 'faffing' with things (as the missus would say !). I also found out today that the house I've just moved into will probably need re-roofing which is a kick in the happy sacks I could have done without !

[M-R-P]

Keep it up mate, A nice, fresh project to follow :D

[Tomcat]

You finaly got one!!!!....took you long enough lol... Look forward to reading this with interest, I'm going to try my damdest to get another T5-R, I miss my black one sooo much.

[nobananas]

Right, thought I would just update my thread as it has been soooo long !. I meant to get tons done over the Christmas holiday period but I wasn't well so very little got done. Since then I have done a little port matching on the exhaust ports and manifold and spent ages cleaning up the head and removing the swarf. The heads back together now and bagged up ready to fit and I have been spending some time cleaning and attempting to polish the cam cover (I am a bit of a clean freak when it comes to engines !). I have now turned my attention to the 16t turbo and have stripped it today and started cleaning up the core ready to rebuild with a new kit. I will also now be getting side tracked again as I have decided to do some porting on the turbo housings before it gets reassembled (I really should stop looking for things to do and get it done and running !). My missus goes in for a fairly major operation on March 4th and I have had to take two weeks off work to look after her (she will be off work for best part of 3 months !) so hopefully I may get time to get the head back on whilst I'm off !

[woody]

Keep plugging away mate. Well done so far.

[nobananas]

Time for a quick update. The turbo's rebuilt and with the better weather arriving I've managed to get outside a bit to clean up the block that's still in the car. I've also completely removed all of the air-con system including the pipework and was going to remove the condenser but someone had beat me too it ! (that explains why the rubber hoses had been cut !). What it doesn't explain however is why the radiator and intercooler weren't attached to anything but left hanging off the pipework. I removed both and the mounting bolts and rubbers for the radiator are also missing and the fan was only held into the shroud by the odd screw. It took me a while to make up some new bushes and get the intercooler held securely to the rad before putting it all back in. I'm starting to uncover more bodges and missing bolts etc the more I work on this motor and it's all making me a little nervous as to what on earth has been going on with it in the past !

[Tomcat]

Nothing worse than trying to figure out someone elses bodges, glad youre managing to make progress though, look forward to MORE PICS and updates mate.

[nobananas]

Well got a few things done today so thought it time for an update. Rebuilt the turbo a few weeks ago and did a little light porting on it, first the hot side

Before

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/DSCF3219_zpsa5f4f5e1.jpg (http://s106.photobucket.com/user/nobananas000/media/DSCF3219_zpsa5f4f5e1.jpg.html)

After (and believe me those sheared studs were a nightmare to drill out !)

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/DSCF3220_zps16f9ae11.jpg (http://s106.photobucket.com/user/nobananas000/media/DSCF3220_zps16f9ae11.jpg.html)

Now the compressor housing
Intake port (with unmolested 15g housing shown for comparison.)

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/DSCF3214_zps6e490050.jpg (http://s106.photobucket.com/user/nobananas000/media/DSCF3214_zps6e490050.jpg.html)

Outlet port

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/DSCF3213_zps59afe024.jpg (http://s106.photobucket.com/user/nobananas000/media/DSCF3213_zps59afe024.jpg.html)
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/DSCF3223_zps014901c7.jpg (http://s106.photobucket.com/user/nobananas000/media/DSCF3223_zps014901c7.jpg.html)

Then today I thought it about time I stop mucking about and actually get the head back on !
I washed the engine down the best I could and I have had the Rad and intercooler out and flushed the oil and crude out of the intercooler then had to join them back together (the brackets down the side had de attached)

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/DSCF3280_zps29138c21.jpg (http://s106.photobucket.com/user/nobananas000/media/DSCF3280_zps29138c21.jpg.html)

I've managed to tidy up the extremely dodgy brake pipes that were just looped from the ABS unit to under the car and were rubbing on the ARB and gear cables(still don't know why they were replaced as they are copper/nickel as standard on 850's)
Before as found.

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/DSCF3159_zps40201c89.jpg (http://s106.photobucket.com/user/nobananas000/media/DSCF3159_zps40201c89.jpg.html)

..and after a little re-routing

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/DSCF3281_zpsf30cbc1e.jpg (http://s106.photobucket.com/user/nobananas000/media/DSCF3281_zpsf30cbc1e.jpg.html)

This is one of the problems with putting an engine back together that you didn't take apart, I always keep the fittings for each component with that component but on this one all I've got is this !

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/DSCF3279_zps8a49b0c7.jpg (http://s106.photobucket.com/user/nobananas000/media/DSCF3279_zps8a49b0c7.jpg.html)

With a bit of a yelp of pain (my back and hip are a bit knackered !) I managed to heave the head on and got it torqued down.

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/DSCF3282_zps46af9b31.jpg (http://s106.photobucket.com/user/nobananas000/media/DSCF3282_zps46af9b31.jpg.html)

I decided to refit the exhaust manifold and turbo before dropping in the cams and fitting the cam cover simply because there may have been a little more room down the back with them off (debatable !) So first to go one was my freshly painted (well freshly painted about 2 months ago !) manifold.

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/DSCF3283_zps7348b980.jpg (http://s106.photobucket.com/user/nobananas000/media/DSCF3283_zps7348b980.jpg.html)

...and then just remained to squeeze the turbo down the back and bolt it up (apologies you will have to turn your head a bit for some reason photobucket won't link a rotated piccy !)

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/DSCF3284_zps95d225c2.jpg (http://s106.photobucket.com/user/nobananas000/media/DSCF3284_zps95d225c2.jpg.html)

I haven't connected up the oil and coolant lines yet because my back was screeeeaming (jeez I need to get that sorted !) but hopefully that will get done tomorrow along with the fitting of the cams etc.
I originally was supposed to have this on the road by the beginning of May as that's when the MOT ran out on my T5, this has obviously been and gone but luckily the old T5 passed her test so the pressure is off (a bit !)

[AndysR]

Nice work! Well done for going at it even though your back was giving you grief!

[no1tosh]

awwwww you lucky §§§§§§, a black R wagen my fav.

looks like it coming on nicley

[WOODY T5]

That R should look and go very well keep up the good work mate

[nobananas]

Got a bit more done today. Hooking up the oil and coolant lines up to the turbo was SO much easier on my old T5 with the engine out on the bench as was re-fitting the turbo heat shield (who the hell designed that thing !) took me till lunchtime just to get that done ! Then finally got the cams back in and the cover sealed down (don't have the correct tool so had to pull all the 10mm bolts down a tad at a time !)

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/DSCF3286_zps80d21bb2.jpg (http://s106.photobucket.com/user/nobananas000/media/DSCF3286_zps80d21bb2.jpg.html)

Then used my very home made cam timing tool to time up the cams and fitted the belt.

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/DSCF3285_zps6c8b85ab.jpg (http://s106.photobucket.com/user/nobananas000/media/DSCF3285_zps6c8b85ab.jpg.html)

I fished the cambelt upper cover from amongst the rest of the shrapnel in the boot but was a little concerned at what I found

These are the mounting holes in the upper cover

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/DSCF3289_zps09b3d25a.jpg (http://s106.photobucket.com/user/nobananas000/media/DSCF3289_zps09b3d25a.jpg.html)
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/DSCF3288_zpsd8522c22.jpg (http://s106.photobucket.com/user/nobananas000/media/DSCF3288_zpsd8522c22.jpg.html)

The cover has basically melted where it contacts the cam-cover, this is not good as it means that the engine has been b@stard hot !. This is starting to give me 'the fear', the previous owner said that prior to selling the car the temperature had got hotter than normal and he had keyed it off to prevent it from overheating and that this was caused by the poor fitment of the radiator by the local garage (it was hanging off admittedly). He then had the head pulled but couldn't afford to have it replaced. Now I didn't find any evidence of head gasket failure but I'm starting to worry about the condition of the bottom end.(the severely rusty oil filter also doesn't suggest it was particularly well cared for !) The car was also MOT'd a month or so before I got it but just removing the front wheel to pull the crank pulley I have seen that the outer C/V boot it torn open, the rack gaiter is split and the track rod end boot is also split, all would be failure points (hmmmm !). Won't know the state of the engine or box till I turn the key, fingers crossed I'm just being paranoid !

[AndysR]

Got a bit more done today. Hooking up the oil and coolant lines up to the turbo was SO much easier on my old T5 with the engine out on the bench as was re-fitting the turbo heat shield (who the hell designed that thing !) took me till lunchtime just to get that done ! Then finally got the cams back in and the cover sealed down (don't have the correct tool so had to pull all the 10mm bolts down a tad at a time !)

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/DSCF3286_zps80d21bb2.jpg (http://s106.photobucket.com/user/nobananas000/media/DSCF3286_zps80d21bb2.jpg.html)

Then used my very home made cam timing tool to time up the cams and fitted the belt.

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/DSCF3285_zps6c8b85ab.jpg (http://s106.photobucket.com/user/nobananas000/media/DSCF3285_zps6c8b85ab.jpg.html)

I fished the cambelt upper cover from amongst the rest of the shrapnel in the boot but was a little concerned at what I found

These are the mounting holes in the upper cover

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/DSCF3289_zps09b3d25a.jpg (http://s106.photobucket.com/user/nobananas000/media/DSCF3289_zps09b3d25a.jpg.html)
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/DSCF3288_zpsd8522c22.jpg (http://s106.photobucket.com/user/nobananas000/media/DSCF3288_zpsd8522c22.jpg.html)

The cover has basically melted where it contacts the cam-cover, this is not good as it means that the engine has been b@stard hot !. This is starting to give me 'the fear', the previous owner said that prior to selling the car the temperature had got hotter than normal and he had keyed it off to prevent it from overheating and that this was caused by the poor fitment of the radiator by the local garage (it was hanging off admittedly). He then had the head pulled but couldn't afford to have it replaced. Now I didn't find any evidence of head gasket failure but I'm starting to worry about the condition of the bottom end.(the severely rusty oil filter also doesn't suggest it was particularly well cared for !) The car was also MOT'd a month or so before I got it but just removing the front wheel to pull the crank pulley I have seen that the outer C/V boot it torn open, the rack gaiter is split and the track rod end boot is also split, all would be failure points (hmmmm !). Won't know the state of the engine or box till I turn the key, fingers crossed I'm just being paranoid !

Did the oil in the engine smell burnt at all? When I worked at Rover we had a few of the K series engines that had got hot enough to melt the inlet manifold and dipsticks some of them were ok some were not... Fingers crossed your's is ok after all Volvo engines aren't made out of Chocolate, well except the rods maybe... lol

[nobananas]

Never smelt the oil, (dipstick and tube still in the boot lol !). The old Laguna I used to have I bought with a blown head gasket and that had been so hot it had boiled the oil in the sump. !. I risked it because I only needed it for 6 months or so, but I ended up running it for 9 years without problems, hopefully the R will be the same .

[AndysR]

Fingers crossed then :)

[leet5r]

good work on the rebuild bud , turbo looks well with the porting , what tools did you use for it , might have a go at the spare 1 av got in the bat shed

[nobananas]

good work on the rebuild bud , turbo looks well with the porting , what tools did you use for it , might have a go at the spare 1 av got in the bat shed
Used carbide burrs for the main material removal
(these sort of things, come in various profiles)
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CARBIDE-BURRS-GARRYSON-GT4700D-BALL-NOSE-CONE-/271186112058?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3f23f3ae3a

M-R-P did me a good deal on a couple and I also bought a couple more from ebay then smoothed and polished the machining marks out with a combination of drum sanders and flap wheels in a drill.

[nobananas]

Got a little bit done today (and a little done last weekend that I didn't mention !)

Last weekend managed to get the inlet manifold on in between other jobs.

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/e98d6f21-7b71-48df-8aeb-0d740541b95b_zpsba63587c.jpg (http://s106.photobucket.com/user/nobananas000/media/e98d6f21-7b71-48df-8aeb-0d740541b95b_zpsba63587c.jpg.html)

And today did a few little jobs that seemed to take longer than they should !.

The bulkhead mount had definitely seen better days !

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/DSCF3297_zps4b8aafa0.jpg (http://s106.photobucket.com/user/nobananas000/media/DSCF3297_zps4b8aafa0.jpg.html)

So this was replaced with the one I bought of Blackbeast that is practically as new (thanks Steve !)

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/DSCF3296_zps0b4f1662.jpg (http://s106.photobucket.com/user/nobananas000/media/DSCF3296_zps0b4f1662.jpg.html)

Then I cleaned and refitted the end plate complete with polybush then there followed an hour or so of poking around under my running T5's bonnet to try and work out where things like the wiring loom should be routed as well as about a dozen other things that I was struggling to place properly ! (the joys of trying to piece together something you didn't take apart !)

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/DSCF3298_zps81e42473.jpg (http://s106.photobucket.com/user/nobananas000/media/DSCF3298_zps81e42473.jpg.html)

I even managed to dig out another top cambelt cover that I didn't realise I had to replace the melted one !

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/DSCF3299_zpsae0bc852.jpg (http://s106.photobucket.com/user/nobananas000/media/DSCF3299_zpsae0bc852.jpg.html)

I'm not too far off hearing the big ends knocking (eternal optimist !), I still have to get hold off a better crank pulley and decide whether to put together an RIP kit for it or just get it running on the pipework I've got and sort out the RIP later.

[leet5r]

coming along nicely bud

[martybelfastt5]

fingers crossed mate!!

[Jamest5r]

It will all be fine dont worry, how long till D Day :)

[Tomcat]

looking really nice mate, I'm sure it'll be ok, wanna come and do my R?...lol..

[nobananas]

It will all be fine dont worry, how long till D Day :)

Maybe the bank holiday weekend.....maybe !

[nobananas]

looking really nice mate, I'm sure it'll be ok, wanna come and do my R?...lol..

I think I'd rather have yours anyday Tc !

[Tomcat]

No, you wouldn't bud, it's a bloody wreck at the minute,lol.

[nobananas]

No, you wouldn't bud, it's a bloody wreck at the minute,lol.

Yeah but it runs Lol ! You'll get the running issues sorted mate, going to be something cheap and simple I'm sure.

[Tomcat]

Christ I hope so, cant be doing with a money pit,lol.

[nobananas]

Time for an update ! Did a few small jobs last weekend. Had to refit the old crank pulley as I didn't get around to replacing it and used the same locking tool that I used to remove it.

Here is my dodgy home made crank locking tool.

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/DSCF3300_zps65e57536.jpg (http://s106.photobucket.com/user/nobananas000/media/DSCF3300_zps65e57536.jpg.html)

(basically it's an old BMX stunt peg I found in the shed filed down to fit !)

It fits in the crank sensor hole and locks against the sensor teeth. I wasn't particularly happy using the crank sensor housing as it's just a bit of cast alloy but when I was removing the pulley I had a breaker bar with a 12 foot scaffold pole attached to undo the nut so I think the housing is man enough !.

Here is the 'tool' in place.

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/DSCF3301_zps31590839.jpg (http://s106.photobucket.com/user/nobananas000/media/DSCF3301_zps31590839.jpg.html)

I then spent a few hours draining out the oil and changing the filter then collecting together all the dodgy bits of silicone hose and joining pipes and tried to cobble together the boost pipes as they had been. This is all temporary at the moment, I just need to hear it run !

The last thing to do before initially starting it was to refit the injectors but some of the seals had been lost so I ordered some last week and luckily they turned up today so got the injectors fitted.

I fitted a cone filter that I had lying around just as a temporary measure and fitted a battery. Then with the injectors in place but not electrically connected I turned her over to get some oil pressure (which thankfully I got !) then refitted the injector plugs and tried to start it. I wasn't actually expecting it to start, I certainly wasn't expecting it to start straight away but it did ! Very tappety, very fast idle but no misfiring and very little exhaust smoke and running !. After a few minutes the lifters quietened down but the idle was still very high but I found a degraded hose going to the charcoal canister causing an airleak and with this replaced she now idles sweetly. Less good was the large water leak from the corner of the radiator but that's easily fixed and at least I only put plain water in it to flush it through so haven't wasted antifreeze.

So here she is running, not too pretty at the moment under the hood with a lot of the pipework being temporary but I'll sort that out.

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/DSCF3305_zps871567c8.jpg (http://s106.photobucket.com/user/nobananas000/media/DSCF3305_zps871567c8.jpg.html)

I'll breath a lot easier after I've driven it and know for definite how healthy the engine and box really is.