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A fresh start... 97 850R Estate

27K views 301 replies 27 participants last post by  Rally Man 
#1 ·
My 97 855R was recently destroyed. Long story short, a 40 ton tanker rear ended it and pushed it into a Toyota. It really ruined my day, that car having been in my family since 1998. At only about 175,000 miles, it was well maintained and should've lasted me a really long time...



My insurance company proceeded to settle with me to the tune of about $3000, minus a $500 deductible that may be refunded when all is said and done, and $450 for the salvage. There was simply too much left on the bones to let it go to the salvage yard....

After searching low and high, I posted here and forum member ZZZZZZZ remembered seeing an 850R for sale locally to him that was an exact duplicate of my old car. After a brief exchange with the owner of that car, I sent a cashiers check and a transport company to Germantown, MD.

And yesterday, the car was delivered to me. Total time between the accident and the replacement car arriving was 5 weeks, 6 days.

I'll chronicle its journey here, as it goes from a cast off to a daily driver.















 
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#3 ·
Glad it worked out! Looks like you've got a journey ahead of you, but hey - it's summer soon.
What's up with the s60?
 
#8 ·
Sorry about the accident but super glad to see you back in a 850 again.

Are you thinking about buying your old car back to swap some parts & etc. It appears that you found a nice one.

I am about to start my T-5R journal after being absent from the 850 scene for many years!
I bought it back for $450. Lots of stuff I'll need for this car and my other 850R, if not now, someday.
 
#10 ·
Wow, a great condition car to start from. Get yourself a spoiler, the R badge, and some nice wheels and you have a really solid car! Can't wait to see your progress.
 
#13 ·
Did a little work this weekend, and an initial evaluation today now that I finally have some time.



One of the first things... I need AC. I know it's got an evap leak, but every 850 does.... so I'll give it a charge and see how long it lasts!



While the hood was open, I checked charging voltage. Need to figure out whether I need to replace cables, battery, alternator or all of the above.

Next I decided to put a set of Volans on, and give the suspension, steering and brakes a once over





Front brakes are DONE!



Front suspension has a fair amount of surface rust but the ball joints, tie rod ends, control arm bushings are actually pretty tight. Not that any of this will matter, I have all new front suspension from FCP waiting on me.... Koni STR.T and Vogtland Sport springs...



And the passenger CV boot is done.... thankfully I just put new axles on the other car before it was totaled, so more free parts :)



Drivers tie rod end and cv axle boot also torn.

I figure I'll order 2 new front hubs and install all new front everything. At least it'll be done for awhile. Depending on budget, maybe I'll add in some IPD sways too!



One nivo has a torn boot.. getting replaced anyways...



Rear brakes are almost as ugly as the fronts...



The wheels really make the car!
 
#14 ·
Looks like the typical list of things to address when picking up someone else's "used" car.

At least it will all be mechanically sorted when you get done.
 
#15 ·


Took one of the front wheels and a replacement Volan over to Tire Barn today to have new tires put on them.

I had ordered 2 new Sumitomo HTR A/S P02 tires for the old car prior to the wreck, as I was just about to put the summer wheels on. The old front tires had worn strangely on that car and I discovered I needed new outer tie rods. I replaced all 4 tie rods and got an alignment a week before the car was totaled. Thankfully the replacement windshield was scheduled for the week *after* the accident, so it didn't go to waste!

I go with 215 45 17 instead of 205s on these. They are more cost effective and they seem to ride just a smidge better.

I think brakes will be next. Something inexpensive to buy me a little time - I have some ideas that I'm not ready to share yet. These brakes will be an interim step, and I don't expect them to be on the car more than 6 months.
 
#16 ·
215/45 is the right size. Volvo changed it.
 
#17 ·


Was looking for a cheap set of brakes to buy me a little time and stumbled upon these on a shelf for right about $100 for all 4 rotors and both sets of pads. They will hold me over til I get my slotted/drilled rotors and 302s off my donor car.

And now it'll stop!
 
#20 ·
I'd get some blank rotors for your 302 setup. Slotted/drilled gets you less pad area and potentially serious stress concentration problems. The rotors sometimes crack at the holes.
 
#21 ·
I've been running the stop tech rotors with akebono euro pads on the parts car for probably 50k and the rotors barely show any wear, no cracks etc. I think I paid like $100 a rotor for those or something close. I'd like to get them turned but local places won't touch them. So I'm undecided.

Sucks when your parts car is in storage pending time to strip it - it's been raining here almost the entire spring and I haven't had but 1 or 2 dry days when I wasn't working!
 
#23 ·
Was preparing for a brake job and brake fluid swap today. Discovered pretty much all 4 calipers are shot. Ripped dust boots, pitted up pistons etc.

I’m probably gonna make a salvage yard run. My go to yard has 10 p80s and I would guess I can probably grab a decent set of 4. One of the things I want to do is take the calipers off my old car and have them powder coated and rebuild them. And as corroded as the hardware is.. I wouldn’t mind having a spare set of caliper mounting bolts etc.
 
#24 ·
Was preparing for a brake job and brake fluid swap today. Discovered pretty much all 4 calipers are shot. Ripped dust boots, pitted up pistons etc.

I'm probably gonna make a salvage yard run. My go to yard has 10 p80s and I would guess I can probably grab a decent set of 4. One of the things I want to do is take the calipers off my old car and have them powder coated and rebuild them. And as corroded as the hardware is.. I wouldn't mind having a spare set of caliper mounting bolts etc.
That's one of the projects on my list too, rebuild and coat the calipers.

Sucks to try and do an "easy" job, only to find wasted parts.
 
#25 ·
So, not much of an update, seems like it's rained most of my days off!

Decided on 4 remanufactured calipers from Rock Auto versus trying to source new pistons. Got 4 used calipers first, but decided my time was worth more than all the hours it was going to take to clean up the old ones. Also got a can of red caliper paint from O'Reilly and some stainless hoses from FCP.







Next, stole my youngest's android tablet to check out the Volvo 850 OBDII app from the google play store.. along with a Bluetooth dongle.



98,116?



216,544 km... or...



So, 134,554 miles. Not bad. Kinda low mileage for a 20+ year old car!

New odometer gear was in the FCP box with the stainless hoses too :) I'll fix that and correct the odometer.
 
#27 ·
I considered it. I have 302s on my parts car and a nice set of slotted and drilled power stop rotors. But I don't have a spot for the parts car right now so it remains in storage... so in the meantime I'm going back in with 280s up front.

An unplanned divorce filing has complicated things a bit... and I need the car roadworthy 1st, upgrades later.
 
#36 ·
Actually went with 4 remanufactured calipers. The paint is pretty dang fragile and I'm not super happy with that. Will do a touch up once all 4 are installed and bled.

The pads came with my EBC rotors. They are basic pads, not any of their fancy performance blends. This is to hold me over until I part out the old car and grab the 302s off it. It has stoptech slotted / drilled rotors with akebono euro pads. I liked that combination pretty well.
 
#39 ·
They'll feel fine in normal driving. You don't realize how bad they are until you have a car with great brakes and make an effort to compare them.
 
#40 ·
Got a little bit done on the wagon today.



Robert came by and we installed NA cams from a 93 850 and timed them.

Also replaced the original water pump, put on new timing belt and idlers/tensioner, and replaced the serpentine belt.

Slowly but surely, it's taking shape!



1 million+ miles of Volvos!
405k - Panther - Robert's 95 T-5R manual wagon
353k - My black 97 850R
253k - my nephews 99 S70 GLT
 
#44 ·
Its kind of ironic, the last time Robert stopped by, I mentioned that we had hung out several times before but we had never worked on a car or gone to the salvage yard together.

He's a good guy on all counts. I don't think I've met any Volvo people I didn't like!
 
#43 ·
That’s the start of a nice group of Volvos. We need to do a Midwest get together at some point. I think between the members in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan, we’d have a decent group. Plus, a nice mix of P80, P2, and SPA members.
 
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