Not really been on here lately - What have I been up to?

**AndysR** · Sunday 3rd October 2010, 18:00

Haven't been on here that much in the last wee while but I thought I would update those who don't go on the VOC with the cars progress.

Copied from the VOC.. originally posted Aug 2010

Hi all, very minor update at the mo.

After seeing the LED number plate lights and front side lights fitted to the Peril, RT Mechanics demo car, I decided I wanted a set for mine. So I decided to take some pre and post shots of the car to show the differences although in fairness the one thing my camera can't do is take a good picture at night...

I can't believe how much more light is provided by the LED's the light is a lot more white and as a result adds a slight amount of modern appearance to the rear...if that's even possible on a 13 year old Volvo. A good result and done with a very small cost.

I have also done another not so cheap thing to the car this weekend also. After discovering this

whilst cleaning the car last weekend I thought enough is enough. In the three years of having the car I have had to replace two Pirelli tyres due to bulging side walls and I wasn't prepared to waste anymore money on them. Granted the current road situation isn't helping but the first tyre I had to have replaced was not as a result of hitting anything and when I spoke to my local tyre dealer they did say it wasn't unheard of. So after taking advice from Kerry T-5R I decided to purchase a full set of Yokohama Parada Spec 2's with the reinforced sidewalls. I haven't really driven the car very far since replacing them but the grip level is certainly enhanced. Whether that is a result of the increase in tyre size, 205 up to 215, or the make up and tread pattern of the Yokohama I don't know but certainly money well spent. I also had a full alignment check done and just as well I did because the front and the rear alignment was out. Not sure if it's in my head but the car feels like it is driving better now

Here are a couple of pic's if nothing else they certainly look better than the P Zero's

So thanks to Russ @ RT's for sorting the LED's, Kerry T-5R and Barry for the tyre advice

That's all for now

**AndysR** · Sunday 3rd October 2010, 18:03

22nd August 2010

Right quite a few little bits to detail so I will seperate the posts for the seperate items I have done,

To start with a very boring update I have had a new Volvo windscreen fitted as the old original one looked little like it had been through the wars and I picked up a nasty chip not long ago meaning the demise of the original.

At the same time I had new roof trims and end caps because the paint was just starting to crack and it seemed rude not to..

**AndysR** · Sunday 3rd October 2010, 18:05

4th September 2010

Then a modification to the car I have been meaning to do ever since I noticed BobbyCH annouced he did it.

An aerial down switch so the aerial can be kept down when listening to CD's, I wanted a proper loom and switch to just plug and play so I contacted my local dealer and they were helpful enough but all I could get was the actual switch from a later 960/90 car, so would match the 850 switches, but nothing else. I purchased this and away I went to rethink. It then occured to me that Rufe did a mail order online request service so I thought an email expressing my wants would do no harm and as expected he came up top trumps. Apparently the C70 had the option of fitting an aerial down switch and as a result a complete kit was originally available to fit. Unfortunately Volvo have since discontinued the kit but again Rufe came up top trumps and was able to supply me with the loom, which is still available, and this is a direct fit into the 850. So now I have a fully working Volvo original aerial down switch.

The switch, looking right at home

The loom

As mainy of you know I am planning a trip to Scotland in the car and felt that the 6 disc CD changer wouldn't be enough for the total trip so I decided to have a BobbyCH modified Volvo SC-801 so I can use my MP3 player in the car for the trip again a nice subtle modification helping to keep the overall look inside the car original. :thumbs_up:

So big thanks to Rufe and BobbyCH for the supply of these items both very pleasant and efficient to deal with,

**AndysR** · Sunday 3rd October 2010, 18:06

Over the course of the last year I have suffered with loss of gas from the air conditioning system, the car had developed a leak inside necessitating the removal of the dash board to access. Now being a bit of a creature comforts lover I had to get it working again even if the better part of the summer has already passed! I guess there is always next year :thumbs_up:
Anyway as you can see below all of the dash and major components have to be removed to gain access

Once the dash was removed it was clear to see why the air conditioning was loosing gas...

Over the course of the last 14 years the evapourator has collected a lovely amount of dust and seeds, this accompanied with the condensation that collects on the evapourator when the air conditioning is in use helped to corrode the evapourator and allow the gas in the system to escape. This was helped by the fact that the car has never had a pollen filter fitted, so now it has

Prior to stripping the dashboard out it was suggested that the matrix was renewed at the same time....

Just as well it was renewed as there wasn't much life left in this...

Then the dash was refitted and work to the air conditioning continued under the bonnet.

Unfortunately as a result of constant rapid cycling, due to an almost worn out clutch, the compressor had also seen better days so was removed and renewed along with the clutch. At the same time it is always advised the receiver drier, the air condition systems filter, is replaced so that was also renewed. So now the system is working at it’s optimal and hopefully for many more years to come.
Thanks to Russ and team at RT's for the work to the air conditioning it's lovely to have it working properly again and with the new compressor fitted you can barely notice the compressor cycling when compared to the original unit. :thumbs_up:

**AndysR** · Sunday 3rd October 2010, 18:06

For a while now during warm up I have noticed a slight whining noise from the power steering pump, at first I could get within 200-300 yards of the house and the noise would go. The said noise then not returning until the car was subject to another cold start after a period of a day or longer. However more recently this noise has become louder and more apparent often lasting for half a mile or so before relinquishing so with my impending Scotland road trip due the time came to renew the pump and a replacement new Volvo item was fitted

Thanks again Russ and team for this one, nice and quiet again :thumbs_up:

**AndysR** · Sunday 3rd October 2010, 18:08

Right this last one is me completely up to date now, it's a bit of a read but if your interested please do read on there are some pictures to look at as well....

Now the interesting part, my favourite part, and indeed the part that I know a few people have been wait to hear about,

For sometime now I have been suffering with a very intermittent boosting issue where the cars power delivery, between 3,200 and 4,100 rpm, becomes flat and uninteresting caused by an overboost fault. It has been a suspicion of mine, based on my experience of cars equipped with Mitsubishi turbo chargers, that the turbo itself was to blame but because it was so intermittent the fault was difficult to diagnose at the start of the fault to say the least. However just recently the overboost fault has become more apparent and indeed frustrating detracting from the enjoyment of the car so I it felt time to explore my theory. Especially when the car had started to develop a slight exhaust blow from the manifold area necessitating it’s and the turbo removal to aid inspection.

So off came the manifold and turbo….

It was clear when the manifold was free from the engine that the blow was caused purely by the breakdown of the manifold gasket specifically around the no.1 exhaust port. In the picture below you can see what I mean when I say breakdown….

At this time the turbo was checked to see if my suspicion was correct, indeed it was. Play had developed in the wastegate pivot bushing, the copper bushing which is pressed into the turbocharger exhaust housing had worn through use. As a direct result of the wear the actuator isn’t fully capable of maintaining a consistent boost level due to the wastegate sticking. This is very common on some other Mitsubishi turbo powered cars although not something I have read about or am aware of with the 15g’s and other Mitsubishi turbo equipped Volvo’s before now. It seemed a shame that the turbo had suffered with the excess wear because even at 100,000 miles the turbo internals still appear to be in good shape with no excess play in the shaft or oil consumption/blow by. Never the less I couldn’t have this turbo refitted in it’s current condition as the fault certainly wouldn’t self rectify.

Whilst the turbo was off Russ informed me that the exhaust manifolds can be prone to cracking and guess what mine had done…Yep here a few shots of the manifold outlet area where the turbo mounts.

As you can see the manifold has some minor cracks. If continued use was to occur no doubt some small parts of the manifold could have come away and embedded themselves into my turbo, potentially causing some severe damage to the workings of the turbo. So this left me with a dilemma what direction do I go in? Do I get the wastegate pivot bush replaced along with a seals and bearings rebuild, not necessary but when in Rome, do I source a good second-hand one and wing it, not really my style tbh or do I just fit a bigger turbo. At this point Kerry bought to my attention that TurboTechnics do fettle turbos for some Volvo cars. As luck would have it I have many dealings with TurboTechnics and after a call to a friend there it was all explained. By using the basic 15g Mitsubishi turbo they then machine the turbo to enable the fitting of a compressor wheel from a Garrett T28, along with their own in house uprated actuator and fitting a 360 degree screwed thrust bearing. This means the turbo is then suitable for applications requiring efficient boost levels between 14 and 22 psi and being as the turbo is still essentially a 15g it is a straight fit application.

So I ordered one….

Then I decided that I should really get a replacement manifold to prevent any possible damage to my newly purchased turbo as a result of the earlier mentioned cracking. So would you believe my shock when I found out that the, allegedly, more efficient flowing late V70R and S60R manifold is less to buy new than my original 850 manifold? No? Neither could I.
So I tested the water on a couple of forums for a good 2nd hand item but by the time I had factored in the cost of replacement gaskets etc it worked out more feasible for a new replacement from Volvo. Thanks for the help with that Simon @ FRF spot on job, he managed to get an excellent deal for the cost of the required manifold and gaskets very efficient service there.

So that was the turbo and manifold sorted. But what about the exhaust? I currently have the Ferrita catback system which I have been very pleased with but the Volvo front pipe and cat are inherently quite restrictive as standard and what a perfect compliment a sports cat and 3” downpipe would make to the new turbo and manifold. Now this was the worst and most delaying part of the whole thing, trying to find one. I waited for a while to see if I could source a decatted downpipe but unfortunately as time drew on I decided I didn’t really want to wait too much longer to get the car back. I tried to get either a decat or sport cat variant of the Ferrita downpipe but couldn’t source one anywhere and with Ferrita entering a holiday period I would have to wait for it to be made. I didn’t really know of any other good exhaust suppliers to help me. Russ suggested I looked to JT of Sweden as they do a variety of 3” exhaust downpipes from decatted to 100,200 and 300 cell sports high flow cats. I must confess I was reluctant to consider at first as I had always wanted to get the Ferrita but after doing a few video searches on Youtube and being able to hear Frobes T-5R, as he had recently fitted a JT complete system, at Modified Madness I was sold. Also thanks to Frobes for getting me in touch with JT’s owner whom was able to apply a little gesture of goodwill to the order. On advice from Russ and Mark Shead I decided to go for the JT 3” downpipe with a 200 cell high flow cat not wanting to complicate compatibility of the Ferrita system and JT downpipe I also opted for the complete JT 3” system. This was directly dispatched to Russ for him to heat wrap and fit on arrival, which was very speedy so thanks to JT for the great service. Before and during fitting Russ was able to take a few shots of how the system looked and indeed I was surprised at its size

although to start with I wasn’t too sure of the tailpipe….lol

**AndysR** · Sunday 3rd October 2010, 18:08

Obviously as before I had the whole system from the turbo back wrapped, except the cat section

Due to the increase in exhaust bore this has meant I have lost my square tailpipe trim. Although to be honest I think the circular trim is growing on me and I like the way it fits the bumper recess and if all else fails I am sure I can always source a suitable trim if I decide I prefer the square look overall.

By this time I had got the bug to do a bit more to the car. Russ suggested a change of injector to go with the improved turbo and manifold setup to make sure the fuelling was sorted. Russ was able to source on my behalf a set of Bosch green injectors as fitted to an S60R, these injectors were as new and were surplus to the owners requirements so I had them for a very reasonable price. :thumbs_up:

This then left a problem. My car has a Rica which is an off the shelf unmappable item, an excellent upgrade up until now with the standard spec of the car but I wouldn’t be getting the best from my new upgrades unless I could tailor the map to suit. I could get an upgrade for this from Rica but what if I decided to do some more to the car in the future or wanted the very best from what I was doing. The idea of something more flexible was appealing. MTE obviously can be mapped but I understand the only guy who can do this doesn’t live in the UK and therefore isn’t available to do mapping at the drop of a hat. So Russ suggested I take a look at a TurboTuner ECU, for those unfamiliar basically it’s an original Volvo/Bosch ECU that has been modified to allow mapping by anyone with a PC or Laptop via USB. When you purchase the TurboTuner you are supplied with the required software to enable your PC/Laptop to interact with the TurboTuner.

Now I don’t have enough knowledge to entertain mapping a car to it’s full potential and being as Russ had I left it for him to decide how best to map the car. It was at this point that Mark Shead of M.A. Developments got directly involved, for those that don’t know Mark he is responsible for tuning the Sierra Cosworth that can crack over 200 mph. I had occasion a short while back to talk in depth with Mark about tuning and his knowledge blew me away so I thought it rude not to put his knowledge to good use, and he also mapped the Peril so seemed a sensible choice to do my lowly 850.

Well that's all done, I collected the car yesterday and I am absolutely over the moon with it. The exhaust sounds awesome the power delivery is incredible and the drive ability of the car is even better than it was before. So what about fuel consumption? Well here is a shot of the trip computer after 170 miles of keeping up with M25 traffic on a Sunday afternoon..

Obviously not D5 fuel economy but alot better than my PB of 32.1 when it was Rica'd.
Very many thanks to Russ and the RT team, Mark Shead, Kerry T-5R, Frobes and Simon @ FRF motors for all your involvement in this latest work I really can't express to you how happy I am with the car right now :thumbs_up:

I can't wait for my trip to Scotland to really see what she can do fuel consumption wise on a run. :thumbs_up:

So that's me up to date with the project, hopefully the next updates won't be so packed together.

Comments very welcome

**AndysR** · Sunday 3rd October 2010, 18:09

Well I am now back after having my holiday in Scotland.

I did a total of 1,771 miles and the car absorbed everyone of those miles in true comfort in the only way a Volvo can. I was very very impressed with how easily it coped with the hills outside of my home surroundings. The trip to Inverness was as near as makes no difference 600 miles I completed the trip in 11 hours with 2 fuel stops and 4 passenger stops. I didn't really have to stop for fuel as often but decided to refuel every 300 or so miles that I found a Shell garage so I could maintain 100 percent V Power fuel as that is what the car was mapped to run on.
It would seem that the onboard computer was slightly optimistic with it's reading of 39.9 mpg showing a full tank range of 615 miles, but I did still manage a trip average of 34 mpg which being as it was quite well weighted I was more than impressed with being as I was hoping to achieve between 28 and 30 average on the trip.
The Scottish roads were pheonoenal, unfortunately it did rain most of the time I was in Inverness but I did manage to make the most of one dry spell and get out and enjoy them and the scenery.
On the way home we did a weekend stop over in Edinburgh which included a night on the town and I have to say the places I went to were very welcoming and certainly much much more relaxed than I have ever been used to when out of an evening, as a result I will be going back for another long weekend and undoubtedly more after that as well. :thumbs_up:

Now when I say quite well weighted this is how the car sat with all luggage loaded and all bar me inside the car, as you can see it is sitting rather low but gives me an idea of how the car will look when lowered :thumbs_up:

Luckly even as a saloon the 850 has a fair sized boot so managed to swallow all the luggage....just

During our stay we went along to walk around the remains of Urguhart Castle along Loch Ness so had to grab a few shots..

From which the view is phenomenal

Then a couple more shots of the car just outside Inverness on the A862 along side the Beauly Fifth..

and had a little fiddle with the camera to take a couple of shots in the same place but in black and white, I think they work well..

Once home again the following day my brother and I shot across to RT's to collect his car and you can see by now the car is looking rather filthy after it's trip so now I have a mammoth task of cleaning it up again, still it was well worth it :thumbs_up:

I would like to say special thanks to BobbyCH for the radio mod, it worked perfectly. I was going to refit the original unit on the return but I don't think I can live without the MP3 player in the car now. Also special thanks to Russ and Mark for the work they did on the car prior to the trip having now had a chance to drive the car a total of 2,400 since I do really love the way the car drives and it made the trip hassle free :thumbs_up:

**Alan M** · Sunday 3rd October 2010, 18:44

Nice pics Andy. I do like the Jt exhaust very nice.

**Volvostorm** · Sunday 3rd October 2010, 18:49

How are you finding the Turbo Tuner? I'm thinking about getting one soon, would like your thoughts on it.

**JelT5** · Sunday 3rd October 2010, 19:01

Great write up Andy. Thanks very much.
Really interesting regards the turbo/ manifold/ map etc.
I have a JT on my T-5R- lovely sounding, well made system

What are the advantages of heat wrapping under the floor pan?

**martybelfastt5** · Sunday 3rd October 2010, 19:07

looking exellent mate have also been following on voc,

**Flatout Phil** · Sunday 3rd October 2010, 20:16

Thanks for that Andy, really good to see a well illustrated big project coming together. I am sure Jerry will feel encouraged by your boost issue discoveries too.
Useful to know about the manifold pricing too as an 18T should be heading my way soon.

Oh and as for the dash-out YIKES!!!!

**AndysR** · Sunday 3rd October 2010, 20:40

Originally Posted by Alan M

Nice pics Andy. I do like the Jt exhaust very nice.

Hi Alan, thanks for you comments.
Tbh the sound was better than I expected, once the system is warmed up after a run it really does burble and on song it sounds phenomenal

Originally Posted by Pault5estate

How are you finding the Turbo Tuner? I'm thinking about getting one soon, would like your thoughts on it.

Hi Paul, I love how the car drives with the TurboTuner it's much smoother, it's much faster and it's noticably better on fuel, Mark and Russ certainly worked their magic with it very well. I believe Mark was quite surprised with what could actually be done with a standard ECU.
The best way I can sum it up is that it is home tuning for anyone with a PC that said not everyone with a PC knows how to tune a car correctly and in the wrong hands it can go wrong and for that reason I would advise a proper tuner to actually do the mapping for you

Originally Posted by JelT5

Great write up Andy. Thanks very much.
Really interesting regards the turbo/ manifold/ map etc.
I have a JT on my T-5R- lovely sounding, well made system

What are the advantages of heat wrapping under the floor pan?

Hi Jel, thanks for you comments. Indeed the JT exhaust does sound lovely and looks very well made especially when you compare it for price against it's competitors.

With regard to the heat wrapping, I couldn't tell you if I have noticed any performance advantages. However with any performance system I have had I heat wrapped it this keeps the heat inside the exhaust, in theory, meaning the gases flow quicker through the system as they don't cool so quickly. This in turn makes the exhaust note deeper and when warm the system really does have a lovely burble to it. The only reason the cat is unwrapped is I wanted to let some heat out to prevent the cat from overheating.

Originally Posted by martybelfastt5

looking exellent mate have also been following on voc,

Cheers, as I have yours.

Originally Posted by Flatout Phil

Thanks for that Andy, really good to see a well illustrated big project coming together. I am sure Jerry will feel encouraged by your boost issue discoveries too.
Useful to know about the manifold pricing too as an 18T should be heading my way soon.

Oh and as for the dash-out YIKES!!!!

Thanks Phil, Simon really did undercut any other Volvo dealer I approached so shows how good his prices really are and as anyone who knows who has used FRF the service is very good.

Dash out... tell me about it im just glad it all went together and hasn't gathered any rattles or creaks. Russ did a good job

Thanks for reading and taking the time to comment everyone, nice to have the write up appreciated

**stephenevans99** · Sunday 3rd October 2010, 20:44

Originally Posted by AndysR

whilst cleaning the car last weekend I thought enough is enough. In the three years of having the car I have had to replace two Pirelli tyres due to bulging side walls and I wasn't prepared to waste anymore money on them. Granted the current road situation isn't helping but the first tyre I had to have replaced was not as a result of hitting anything and when I spoke to my local tyre dealer they did say it wasn't unheard of. So after taking advice from Kerry T-5R I decided to purchase a full set of Yokohama Parada Spec 2's with the reinforced sidewalls. I haven't really driven the car very far since replacing them but the grip level is certainly enhanced. Whether that is a result of the increase in tyre size, 205 up to 215, or the make up and tread pattern of the Yokohama I don't know but certainly money well spent. I also had a full alignment check done and just as well I did because the front and the rear alignment was out. Not sure if it's in my head but the car feels like it is driving better now

Here are a couple of pic's if nothing else they certainly look better than the P Zero's

So thanks to Russ @ RT's for sorting the LED's, Kerry T-5R and Barry for the tyre advice

That's all for now

It's nice to see that the tyres were fitted correctly with accordance to the 'painted dots'. It's amazing how many tyre fitters are unaware of tyre manufacture highspots and the positioning of the tyre with respect to the valve.

**AndysR** · Sunday 3rd October 2010, 20:45

Sorry guy's missed this update out and it sort of fits in before any of the above..

8th November 2009

Well I have just started my 3rd year of Volvo ownership so I guess it's time for another update to kick it off with a couple of little updates for the project thread.

As I recently posted I have started getting involved with the PistonHeads meets and I thought it would be rude not to put a couple of little tasteful PistonHeads stickers on the car to help show my enthusiasm towards the site

Now I am not a major fan of stickers as such and prefer to keep it as subtle as possible so I fitted the classic symbol on the cold air feed behind the radiator grille which means unless your really looking for it you can't actually see it

and then a sticker on the strut brace also again not in your face

Then this happened

I had only covered just over 6,000 miles but it was a year since the last service so it was time for a trip to RT's for an annual service and another little modification.

Now firstly I would like to say thank you to Kerry T-5R and Russ for my following modification as without their helpful inputs I would probably have still been a non believer.

They both claimed that you would not believe how much of a difference the IPD antiroll bars would make to the cars handling. Now me thinking what can a slight difference in antiroll bars make to the cars handling, how wrong could I have been, was very skeptical of this modification. However having now had these fitted I can only recommend them to anyone thinking about doing such a modification.

Being as there are no quoted figures on the IPD website I thought I would measure the standard bars that came from my car to compare the difference between the factory bars and IPD bars.

Front roll bar - (Factory) 21mm - (IPD) 25 mm

Rear roll bar - (Factory) 22mm - (IPD) 22 mm

So the kit

I also opted for the larger IPD drop links, the standard links being 10 mm and the IPD links being 12 mm, I had been in conversation via pm with St5ve on here and it was something he asked during the discussion and after talking to Russ @ RT, who had already ordered them just in case knowing what I am like, it became clear to get the best from the bars that it would be silly to leave the standard Volvo drop links in place.

You can see the difference in size between the two in this picture

The standard front bar vs. the IPD bar I think you will agree there is a noticable difference between the two...

Then the rear bar which despite the fact that both the Volvo version and IPD's version appear to be the same size that is where the similarities end. You can clearly see that IPD have rid their bar of the little kinks producing a completely straight bar therefore allowing for less flex.

So with these bars now fitted how does the car feel on the road? I kid you not after collecting the car and getting within 300 yards of RT's I had already noticed the difference. Just driving along in a straight line on our fantastically straight and smooth UK roads, spot the sarcasm, the car was notably stiffer and then when cornering during normal driving a big percentage of the usual body roll has been deleted. I would now describe the car as being very sure footed on the road making it even more a pleasure to drive than before.
It's fair to say that I now rank the IPD roll bars alongside the Rica as the best two modifications I have done to the car to date. :thumbs_up:

Thanks to RT Mechanics for the usual high level of service and advice on this visit.

Next up coil overs...but not for a while yet.

**AndysR** · Sunday 3rd October 2010, 20:49

Also I don't think I ever added this to the forum although it does border on the sad side a little, for me, it was good to see the differences...

13th October 2009

Hi,

Just a little picture update more than anything.

No changes to the car but as I was at the PistonHeads Sunday service meet at Rolls Royce at the weekend and I decided, after Russ took a shot of the Peril there, to pop round the corner and take a shot of the car outside the main gate at Goodwood race circuit.

Then on the way home I took a detour and took a few shots of the car in the same spot it was in when I purchased it 2 years ago...apart from the weather conditions and the fact I only took the shots on a camera phone this time I think the car definately looks better(almost looks a different colour in the last shot!), not bad considering it's covered in road dirt due to wet weather!

Then (Nov 2007)

Now (Oct 2009)

Then (Nov 2007)

Now (Oct 2009)

I was also impressed at how closely the boot badges line up considering I replaced them with new ones in as close as I can remember the same place as before

**AndysR** · Sunday 3rd October 2010, 20:49

Originally Posted by stephenevans99

It's nice to see that the tyres were fitted correctly with accordance to the 'painted dots'. It's amazing how many tyre fitters are unaware of tyre manufacture highspots and the positioning of the tyre with respect to the valve.

Too true!