Bonelorry's 854 T5-R, Manual, Creme "Gul" Yellow project...

Well here is where it starts, As some of you I have been on the hunt for an 850R or 850 T5-R saloon with Manual gearbox on and off for quite a few years now and sadly I have never been successful. Having owned a four previous Volvo's between 2007 and 2010 in the order of V70 T5, 854 T5, S70R and 855R it would be now 2013 when I finally got to own the car I have always lusted after!

Ofcourse I have seen examples pop up from time to time but I have very high standards and sadly as we all know there are not many cherished examples out there in the Volvo world, After selling my Golf Edition 30 in May I decided to have another hunt and began looking in the usual places. I actually spotted this car on the Autotrader website and although it was very heavily priced it was local to me so thought I would have a chat with the seller and pop over for a look.

I did not expect too much but upon arrival I was blown away with the cars condition, The car looked amazing and even after inspecting it with a fine tooth comb I struggled to find any faults with the car. After a test drive and a look through the massive file full of invoices in which there even was the original press release paperwork and brochure for the T5-R and service history, I made an offer which he accepted and the rest is history.

The seller is a proper Volvo nut and although he does not go on any of the owners forums certainly knows his stuff! He bought the car in 2008 from London and said the car was enthusiast owned by the previous owner also. The car has covered a mere 9k miles in his ownership, He only ever used the car during the summer months for local shows and occasionally went to Germany in the car.

In his ownership he has only run the car on V-Power, The car has had a full suspension overhaul, Dampers, Top mounts, Wishbones, Droplinks etc. The standard 15G turbo has been rebuilt by A.R turbo's, The car has had new front Discs & Pads and new rear pads in the last 200 Miles, He has changed the oil and other service items annually regardless of mileage, The timing belt was replaced in 2010 less than 6K miles ago and equally as importantly to me has kept the exterior and interior of the car in what I can only describe as mint condition also.

So as you can imagine the car drives very well and certainly does not feel like an 18 year old car to drive, A very rare find these days and I just had to buy it as IMO it was a once in a lifetime chance and something I am very proud to own! As you know the car will want for nothing in my ownership.

Heres the current spec of the car...

Spec:

Dec 1994 Volvo 850 T5-R, Standard M56 Manual Gearbox, Standard B5234T5 engine with rebuilt 15G turbo, Currently on 104K miles with FSH.

Exterior:

Standard T5-R bodykit, Creme Yellow in colour, Volvo Mudflaps and headlight protectors.

Interior:

Standard T5-R interior, Half leather half alacantara seats, Walnut dash surround with matching gearknob and alacantara gearbag, T5-R floowmats in unmarked condition with genuine Volvo rubber overmats.

Wheels & Tyres:

Standard T5-R 17" x 7j Titans with matching spare, All 5 Refurbished in Anthracite with Pirelli P-Zero Asymmetric Tyres in 205/45R17 88W Fitment allround.

Suspension:

Stock T5-R suspension, Boge shock absorbers, Kalmar Union front strut brace.

In car entrainment:

Kenwood CD head unit with IPOD connection, Factory Volvo alarm and additional CAT 1 alarm/immobiliser.


Future Plans:

Keep the car as O.E and clean as possible, I want to paint all the brake calipers and dics guards/bells black just to freshen them up. The car will be receiving full Stage 0 very soon including a PCV change and new BCS/Vac lines etc.

A few select but subtle modifications are a must IMO just to finish the car off....I will be carrying out the 302mm front brake upgrade, Fitting braided hoses and changing the brake fluid in favour of some decent DOT 5.1 fluid. I have toyed with the idea of replacing the exhaust, The car is on the original exhaust system with a very 1990's looked DTM style tailpipe. Not sure whether to go Cat-Back or Turbo back yet we shall see. Possibly a stage one map MTE or the likes but I am not wanting to going any further with regards to tuning it is not why I bought the car.

We shall see how it goes!

Pictures:

Here a few a pictures from today's 5 hour cleaning session, It was the 1st time I have washed the car so did the car in usual Bonelorry fashion...

: Rinsed the car and wheel arches thoroughly
: Washed the car using 2 bucket method with a Lambswool mitt and Meguires ultimate shampoo, One panel at a time working from top down
: Washed the wheels, Tyres and wheel arches using a Meguires Microfibre Mitt, Soft wheel brush and bottle container with foaming head containing Megs APC to a high concentrate
: Rinsed the car again
: Dryed the whole car with an Elite XL drying towel, Dryed the wheels, Door shuts and engine bay with a Microfibre cloth
: Removed any tar specs using Autoglym Intensive Tar remover
: Dressed the tyres, Bump strips and other plastics/textured parts with Meguires Endurance Tyre Gel
: Cleaned the glass inside and out using Autoglym Fast Glass
: Polished the glass inside and out using Autoglym Glass polish

Skipped the polishing and waxing stage as the previous owner has done a fine job in the dept and there is plenty of protection on the paint at the moment I was getting lots of beading today and there is plenty of depth to the paint, At some stage I will be stripping the wax off and applying a few layers of Collinites No:845 wax.

Here goes...

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j2...ps39ee352e.jpg

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Absolutely stunning, and that's where I want to be after a lot of money and tlc has been put into mine.

A lovely looking car, not sure what you paid and tbh not interested as the car was clearly worth it's asking price :)

very nice example

Cracking example mate

You really can see why you paid top dollar for that. It's stunning.
Worth every penny!

A very very nice car, well done on the find/purchase.

Absolutely beautiful, best R on the forum in my opinion. Very jealous. Glad to here your not going the usual mod it route.

niice :D

that looks great!! one thing for me tho badges on the rear need replaced and that t5r put back in its original place small details yes but this car needs it lol

A few have mentioned the badges and I might well replace them and put in their original locations but it is certainly not on my list of priority's...It really does not detract from the cars condition.

If originality was the key I would be binning the Kenwood head unit, front strut brace, Tailpipes and would keep the 280mm front brakes in a bid to keep the car completely original....How far do you go with a car?

Thing is the car is my daily driver and although I am not going to go silly with regards to upgrades I still want to do subtle things to the car to make it that little bit better to drive but not ruin it! Tasteful, Purposeful and sensible upgrades, Less is more IMO and the car will not be getting ruined that is for sure.

Cheers

Beautiful!!!!!!

Stunning truly stunning getting a rare sight these days I wounder how many manuals are left

Thanks for all the kind words chaps, Appreciate it!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by t5 pete

Stunning truly stunning getting a rare sight these days I wounder how many manuals are left

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I am not that far away so our paths might cross, I got the car from a chap at Mapplewell in Barnsley. Think he showed it at the Locke park classic car show.

Cheers.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bonelorry

Thanks for all the kind words chaps, Appreciate it!



I am not that far away so our paths might cross, I got the car from a chap at Mapplewell in Barnsley. Think he showed it at the Locke park classic car show.

Cheers.

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Yeah i'm sure we will meet or see each other at some point, I did wounder where the car came from there is a saloon at Hoyland aswell I was talking to a friend yesterday who said they saw a lovely yello Volvo at Locke park.
Looks like there is quite a few Guls around our area.

a beauty ...hope mines looks like that when its finished !

RE the tailpipes .. Volvo offered these as an option for their standard system back in the day, mines had twin upswpts on it too when i got , it might be a little bit of 90s originality :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by The Flying Banana

a beauty ...hope mines looks like that when its finished !

RE the tailpipes .. Volvo offered these as an option for their standard system back in the day, mines had twin upswpts on it too when i got , it might be a little bit of 90s originality :)

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Cheers for the info, I did not know that about the tailpipes!

Hope you are well, Its been a while since 2008 when I sold you the White 850 back!

Well 250 miles in and nearly 2 weeks ownership and so far so good, I am currently making a list of To-Do's on the car which the majority is for my own benefit for piece of mind and others are select upgrades which I plan to do. I got hold of some 302mm front carriers with thanks to Shem so I will be fitting those soon.

I have however had to carry out my first mechanical job on the old girl but only in the form on an OSF outer C.V Boot. When I washed the car last week I noticed a small amount of C.V grease on the inside OSF alloy wheel so I got the car on the ramp the next day and sure enough the outer C.V was badly perished and had split in the middle, Luckily it was only a minor tear and not much grease was lost so I managed to do a temp repair on the boot with some heavy duty duct tape so I could use the car that day and then replaced the boot after work the day after.

The NSF boot had already been replaced so I left that alone, I went for a quality GSF supplied GKN after market boot kit as we have used these for various applications at work in the past with no issues.

On the plus side I am very happy to report that the underside of the car is in exceptional condition for its age, It has been under-sealed in the past at some point also. It was also a pleasure to work on a car that none of the bolts are seized of cross-threaded and everything has anti seizure compound applied so it shows the car has been very well maintained!

Here's a few pics of the work and a bit of a write up, Although not the most exciting job in the world I like to keep a journal of any work carried out...

Straight forward enough job, Leave the keys in the ignition so the steering lock is disabled, Jack the car up and remove the OSF wheel, Move the ABS wiring out of the way, Unbolt the brake caliper/carrier and hang out of the way on the strut with a metal wire or the likes just don't let it hang on the flexible brake hose, I opted to unbolt the strut bottom to allow the hub enough movement for the shaft to come out opposed to splitting the bottom ball joint, Undid the hubnut and pulled the hub off the shaft, Cut the steel clips off the old C.V boot, Give the C.V joint throughout wipe to remove the old grease and remove the circlip which retains the C.V joint on the driveshaft...

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j2...ps3601c92f.jpg

Old C.V boot...

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j2...ps8919fa4f.jpg

Repacked with new grease and fitted the new C.V boot and new steel clips, Rebuilt everything pretty much in reverse.
The finished article..

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j2...psbcbb5a56.jpg

Thanks for looking

The car is officially in my ownership as of yesterday, The private reg number is now off the car and its back on M251 TFC which I actually prefer as the cherished plate meant nothing to me.

On another note today has been an expensive one, I did question the fact that I must be mad throwing just shy of £1000 at an 18 year old car on various service/Stage 0 items and few sneaky uprated items but I wont cut corners and want to make sure everything is spot on so here goes.

The car has been very well looked after by its previous owner and over serviced but I wanted to go that extra mile and carry out full stage 0 plus carry out a few extra subtle upgrades at the same time, The Engine oil, Air filter, Gearbox oil and a Bosch Lambda sensor where replaced within the last 1000 miles so I will be leaving them alone but on the way from Parts For Volvo's and FRF Swansea with thanks to Rufe are the following items...

Genuine Mitsubishi TD04 Recirc rebuild kit, Inc New Diaphragm and spring from Japan
Genuine Distributor cap
Genuine Rotor Arm
New Bougicord HT Leads which are the same as the Genuine Volvo items
Genuine Spark Plugs
Genuine Thermostat with seal
Genuine Coolant Temp Sensor
Genuine Boost Control Solenoid, Later square style item fitted to the pre ME7 S70/V70 models
New Vacuum pipes/hoses and hose clips for the BCS, BCS to Turbo/Recirc etc
Genuine PCV Kit
Genuine Fuel Filter
Genuine Expansion Header Tank
Genuine Green Expansion Tank Cap
DO88 Black Silicone 2 x piece Hose Kit for Expansion Tank
DO88 Black Silicone 2 x piece Hose Kit for Radiator upper and lower
DO88 Black Silicon 5 piece Turbo Hose Kit
New Stainless Hose clips for radiator and turbo boost hoses
Goodridge Braided hoses for 302mm set up
Powerflex Lower Engine Tie bar Large and small bushes
Powerflex Upper Engine Mounting bush

Should keep me busy for a little while, Will be fitting the Goodridge hoses when I carry out the 302mm conversion on the front and also replacing the rear discs and pads as the discs are a bit corroded. Currently undecided on what Brand/combo of discs and pads to go for, I have though about going for Pagid but for not much more I could get Genuine items so at the moment I am opting more towards the Genuine Volvo 302mm discs with police spec pads but we shall see. The calipers and disc guards etc will be getting painted black at this time also along with some decent DOT 5.1 fluid.

Other than that, Re-underseal the car and it should not want for anything. Have to say I am tempted to fit a Cat-Back Ferrita and Stage one MTE map but we shall see. Even though the TD04 was rebuilt not that long ago I would like to double check the base boost with a Mityvac before any ECU upgrades commence as a matter of course.

All good fun, I will keep the thread updated as and when I start fitting the parts.

Cheers Simon

A fair few parts you have ordered there, car will be all the better for them though, I'd go for the Volvo brake discs and pads, changed mine recently and they are spot on.