I guess it's way past due for me to make a dedicated post about my car since I comment on other's posts. I bought my wagon about 7 years ago from the 2nd owner. He had a large family and at one point was able to get him, his wife and all 5 kids in it. LOL. Perfect car for a family. By the time I got around to purchasing it, he and his teenage son were begining to make "upgrades" to it. There were some defferred maintenance items that really needed attention though. As you read on you'll see how that created a chain reaction of bigger repairs. All fun stuff we all know being owners of old Volvos.
My original goal was to own a T-5R or 850R wagon. After one slipped through my hands I decided that I'll settle on a Tubo version and make the "conversion" as a fun project. The purist may scoff at me for doing it, but I don't care.
The one I ended up with had a good enough history for me to build upon. The original owner leased it from a local CA dealership for 3 years, then the family I bought it from bought it used off the same dealer's lot. They maintained it well enough over the years until they bought a new car and decided it was time to move on.
So here's how it looked when I bought it. It came with 18" Voxx wheels that looked nice but rode terribly on rubberband tires. Also aiding to the rough ride are Bilstein HD shocks & struts and unknown sport springs. It looks nice from a distance, and from the sides. But the paint has completely failed on the roof and hood.
Once I took ownership, I began a list and started chipping away at it to get all the needed repairs done and finally get it to a proper Stage 0. Some of the highlights are:
One item I found out was bad was the heater core. That turned into a bit of a mess because it was causing coolant to flood the footwells. One day I decided to clean up the engine bay and that included touching up the faded plastic of the wiper cowl. Once removed I saw why the heater core was toast...
View attachment 44449
As you can see from the last pic I cleaned it all up and ordered a cabin filter. Still haven't installed it as it wasn't until very recently that I got my climate control working again. I had to replace the blower motor and fuse and found a bunch more leaves inside the dash.
Of course it wouldn't be an 850 repair thread w/o the dreaded permantly locked glovebox. Repaired all those items, recharged the AC and I've got a functioning HVAC again.
More details to follow...
My original goal was to own a T-5R or 850R wagon. After one slipped through my hands I decided that I'll settle on a Tubo version and make the "conversion" as a fun project. The purist may scoff at me for doing it, but I don't care.
So here's how it looked when I bought it. It came with 18" Voxx wheels that looked nice but rode terribly on rubberband tires. Also aiding to the rough ride are Bilstein HD shocks & struts and unknown sport springs. It looks nice from a distance, and from the sides. But the paint has completely failed on the roof and hood.


Once I took ownership, I began a list and started chipping away at it to get all the needed repairs done and finally get it to a proper Stage 0. Some of the highlights are:
- PCV
- Full tune-up
- Both axels
- And a variety of smaller items like vacuum lines and brakes lines
One item I found out was bad was the heater core. That turned into a bit of a mess because it was causing coolant to flood the footwells. One day I decided to clean up the engine bay and that included touching up the faded plastic of the wiper cowl. Once removed I saw why the heater core was toast...


View attachment 44449

As you can see from the last pic I cleaned it all up and ordered a cabin filter. Still haven't installed it as it wasn't until very recently that I got my climate control working again. I had to replace the blower motor and fuse and found a bunch more leaves inside the dash.
More details to follow...