[adamdrives]

Hey guys, I'm going to document all the work I do on my S60R, hopefully some of it will be interesting to watch, and it will help me keep track of everything 😝

I bought the car from the original owner (with the window sticker!) in July of 2020 with 161k. It had been sitting in our lot for a few weeks, and when I asked my boss about it he said it needed about 4k worth of work (PCV, 4C, shifter cables) and he was waiting to hear back from the owner. I had a feeling he wouldn't go for it, and my boss would probably make him an offer. He already has 2 S60Rs, so I teased him that he needed to let me get this one. A few days later my boss said the owner wanted more for the car than he was willing to spend, and he introduced us. We talked, and I ended up making an offer of 2k on the spot which he said he'd think about. A month or so later I gave him a call and he said he would sell it to me since it had just been sitting and he wanted someone to take care of it. I was pretty excited to get my first R!

I had test driven the car when it came in and knew it needed some suspension work and the PCV taken care of. It had a code for air leakage and a few other small issues that wouldn't allow the car to pass smog, which was a big reason for the low price. The PCV wasn't really clogged, just not pulling full vacuum. I smoke tested it and found the intercooler hose to the etm had small cracks at the intercooler side. $40 later she had no air leaks and a week later passed smog!

Now that I could drive her I focused on fixing the banging suspension. It ended up just being struts mounts and a leaky shock which were all easy and cheap to take care of. The shifter cables were a bit of a pain, but a very satisfying fix after driving it with the bad cables for almost 6 months. Luckily my boss had just taken the ipd catback off his car, and was willing to trade me for my stock system. Deal! This car was seriously fun to drive through the Santa Cruz mountains, even with blown out control arms and wearing tires.

Sometime in November I saw scottishbrick had a 3" snaab downpipe for sale. Well, I couldn't resist the deal. Now that I was seriously tempted to drive irresponsibly on a daily basis (aren't mustangs annoying?), I figured I'd better take care of the PCV system before I blew a seal. Turns out it was just the hose between the oil separator and manifold had become soggy and wasn't sealing, and the fittings were caked with oil. I cleaned everything up and replaced that and the elbow and lower coupler on the separator and she pulled a little past 0.5 kpa. Works for me!

Next up is to install the refreshed control arms I rebushed (with rubber for now, poly later) and put in a do88 intercooler (long awaited!) and ipd boost gauge. After that it will be tires (Michelin PS4s), and talk to Contrast about a tune. My coworkers 20t 850r just barely pulls away from me, so we can't have that. She occasionally has a stumble on a cold start, but I believe its just injectors as the misfire followed the injector when I moved it from cylinder to cylinder. Other than that I've just replaced the plugs and fuel filter, and all the fluids. The coils all look newish so I wont worry about that. Annoyingly, it looks like the passenger side axle is leaking. I'll get around to that eventually, and maybe reseal the bevel gear too.

Thats enough for now. I'll get into the cosmetic issues and future plans in more detail later.

 

[adamdrives]

Put in my rebushed control arms and rear ipd sway with HD endlinks

Less than an hour for rear sway install. I had to unbolt one shock from the LCA, lower exhaust and e-brake lines to finagle the bar out. I have to wait on the new tires before I can feel the car out, I found this in my tire when I replaced the pads and cleaned the wheels.

I've done a fair amount of high speed driving in the car, so this was scary to find. I was planning on going all out on the Michelins, but at less than half the price I'll definitely try out the Z-lines on the advice of scottishbrick and others. If I like them, I'll also get a set of 17s for my 240 so I can ditch the Hydras.

 

[adamdrives]

Just got my do88, and saw this. Worth contacting them about it? I know it’s probably nothing, but I waited almost 3 months and spent $$$ on it. Just bend the fins back and send it?

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[Hoenig]

Yeah mine came the same way 5ish years ago. Just installed it anyway and no problems. Wasnt worth the hassle IMO.

 

[asbury]

Same here. I installed in 2020. I would not worry too much about it.


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[adamdrives]

I sent them these pics and they gave me a little store credit for the hassle. It's not really a problem, but its not a nice feeling when your thousand dollar intercooler shows up with an imperfection.

Next up is boost gauge install so I can monitor any changes with the cooler in. Once its in and I'm satisfied the car is running well its time to tune.

Drove the car up to Sonoma County over the weekend to meet some volvo guys for a "cruise" through the country. Probably the hardest I've pushed this car. Observations:

Hard to heel-toe/rev match. Not sure if its the hydro pedal or that the car is just too quiet, I kept expecting a smooth downshift but half the time found myself jerking it into clutch. In my 240 I almost always get it right, but that's all brass shifter bushings and fewer gear changes. Also, doesn't want to be jammed into third. Theres a damper on the end of the front/back cable that I think I need to tighten. My personal opinion, 6 gears is too many for this car. Theres enough power for 5. Adding a gear just leads to unnecessary shifting. And cruising at 80 it's pretty wound up.

Man do the DSTC and brakes do their job. Even over uneven surfaces and elevations at considerable speed, when you want it to the car just pulls to a stop with no drama or pulling. Very impressed.

One of my tires is pretty worn. Still had no issues with traction, at all. Impressed. All were going to be replaced on Saturday but plans fell through, and I wasn't gonna miss this drive.

My glovebox started to rattle halfway through. I think the strut that holds it on the passenger side popped off.

post drive Inspection:

Bevel gear is still weeping. the 4c shock I replaced is wet. Trans mount has a bunch of play. 850 style looks like it has meatier bushings on the gearbox side, going to use that for now until I get some poly bushings. Everything else is dry. Still need a strut brace and subframe inserts to cover suspension basics.

 

[ScottishBrick]

I sent them these pics and they gave me a little store credit for the hassle. It's not really a problem, but its not a nice feeling when your thousand dollar intercooler shows up with an imperfection.

Next up is boost gauge install so I can monitor any changes with the cooler in. Once its in and I'm satisfied the car is running well its time to tune.

Drove the car up to Sonoma County over the weekend to meet some volvo guys for a "cruise" through the country. Probably the hardest I've pushed this car. Observations:

Hard to heel-toe/rev match. Not sure if its the hydro pedal or that the car is just too quiet, I kept expecting a smooth downshift but half the time found myself jerking it into clutch. In my 240 I almost always get it right, but that's all brass shifter bushings and fewer gear changes. Also, doesn't want to be jammed into third. Theres a damper on the end of the front/back cable that I think I need to tighten. My personal opinion, 6 gears is too many for this car. Theres enough power for 5. Adding a gear just leads to unnecessary shifting. And cruising at 80 it's pretty wound up.

Man do the DSTC and brakes do their job. Even over uneven surfaces and elevations at considerable speed, when you want it to the car just pulls to a stop with no drama or pulling. Very impressed.

One of my tires is pretty worn. Still had no issues with traction, at all. Impressed. All were going to be replaced on Saturday but plans fell through, and I wasn't gonna miss this drive.

My glovebox started to rattle halfway through. I think the strut that holds it on the passenger side popped off.

post drive Inspection:

Bevel gear is still weeping. the 4c shock I replaced is wet. Trans mount has a bunch of play. 850 style looks like it has meatier bushings on the gearbox side, going to use that for now until I get some poly bushings. Everything else is dry. Still need a strut brace and subframe inserts to cover suspension basics.

View attachment 118117

Full delrin bushings. Don’t do inserts it’s a waste of time and $

 

[adamdrives]

I find they make a noticeable difference. Delrin is the ultimate plan but for $30 I'll run inserts for now. Unless you got some cheap used in that stash?

 

[ScottishBrick]

I find they make a noticeable difference. Delrin is the ultimate plan but for $30 I'll run inserts for now. Unless you got some cheap used in that stash?

Once installed they don’t come out. There’s a barb.

I can give you dimensions to make your own but....just get the Kaphlenke ones

 

[adamdrives]

Ran into a little problem today: The upper pipe my do88 kit doesn't line up with any of the couplers provided. When I emailed Viva back before I ordered the kit, they said neither kit was compatible with the 05, but using the iPd v-band adapter should work. Well, looks like it doesn't. Is this is a known issue? Is there any way I can use the upper pipe with the early style k24?

 

[steveinva]

For the bracket you could make one by cutting and drilling out a small metal plate, not ideal but would work to secure the hard pipe, that would give you some play in the turbo coupler to line up the front connections. For the front connection it looks like you could do a coupler, metal pipe, and a 90 degree elbow to the intercooler. I have used HPS for off the shelf couplers HPS High Temperature Reinforced Silicone 90 Degree Elbow Coupler Hoses. I would do couplers first then bracket obviously. Is the turbo connection secure on the bottom picture.

 

[adamdrives]

For the bracket you could make one by cutting and drilling out a small metal plate, not ideal but would work to secure the hard pipe, that would give you some play in the turbo coupler to line up the front connections. For the front connection it looks like you could do a coupler, metal pipe, and a 90 degree elbow to the intercooler. I have used HPS for off the shelf couplers HPS High Temperature Reinforced Silicone 90 Degree Elbow Coupler Hoses. I would do couplers first then bracket obviously. Is the turbo connection secure on the bottom picture.

It may be hard to tell from the pictures, but the biggest issue in the turbo to pipe transition. Even with it as low as possible, I think it would still rub the hood. It would take more time and work than I’m willing to spend, and the truth is I like how the stock pipe looks a lot more, so I’m running that. Thanks for the ideas.


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