I doubt this post will be seen but I just wanted to start a thread in here and commend the people that have responded to various threads with such amazing and detailed posts with regards to owner issues or questions. I come from a rather successful VW Forum (that I have moderated for 8 years now) and this place just oozes class compared to the VW side. Kudos lads.

Anyways, mini story about myself: I have been a Volvo fan since I was a kid (loved watching the touring car championships and seeing the beauty 850 wagon race cars tear around the track). My dad and grandpa still have Volvos (a 1998 S70 and a XC60).

I also worked at our local Volvo dealership in Sales and then in Parts for 2 years. So I have a long history with the cars. Never have I owned one though...

THat is until today! Last week I got into a huge car accident when a guy ran through a red light and T-Boned me while I was driving through a green light. 100% his fault but my car was written off (2001 Audi A4).

I decided I wanted to get into the Volvo game once and for all and after some looking around I stumbled upon one of the cleanest examples of an 850 I have ever seen.

It is a 1997 Volvo 850 Turbo Wagon, Black exterior Beige interior. Now the good part, here are some details:

- 2nd owner car (who is a 20 year Volvo technician and also owns an 850R wagon)
- Has 100,000kms on it (60,000 miles)
- Never been in so much as a fender bender (have full paperwork vinchecks to prove it)
- Everything has been fixed on this car in the last 6 months... I am OCD when it comes to cleaning and maintaining my cars but this guy was a maniac.
- Brand new turbo and all associated hardware (because he felt like it and had one laying around from a cancelled customer order)
- Timing belt and water pump changed
- ABS module fixed/replaced
- every interior light bulb changed (including in the dash)
- tiny gears in the dash that normally break causing odometer reading issues...replaced
- all suspension components replaced other than the shocks and springs
- has 20 pages of tiny parts that he purchased and fixed such as door clicps, etc etc
- seat heaters have been replaced and adjusted to run at a lower temperature
- new fuel pressure relay
- all the usual tune ups stuff: cap, rotor, wires, spark plugs, oil change, oil filter, fuel filter, cabin filter
- interior is immaculately clean, dash and console (radio, etc) all taken apart and cleaned of grease and dust...
- Exterior is pretty amazingly clean too but shows usual wear of a 16 year old car. One scuff on the rear bumper and paint swirls (which I will take care of in the summer)

So after going through the car and doing a prepurchase inspection such as the ones that have been recommended in the above stickied threads. I decided to jump on it. I paid more than normal for the car but it is 100% worth it. With good maintenance, i could be driving this car forever.

I went to a semi-local Volvo Enthusiast website (ipd.com) and ordered a whole bunch of cool new parts for my baby:

- IPD sport lowering spring kit (1.5-2" lowering)
- Bilstein sport shocks front and rear
- 15mm spacers for the rear (10x longer bolts too)
- 18" Volvo Pegasus wheels in hypersilver
- 215/40/18 summer tires (car has a set of OEM wheels and snow tires)
- Volvo R front grill (after market unit from IPD)

The list and project will grow as time allows. I plan to do small cosmetic updates that I do to all my cars:

- Debadge the rear
- remove rear wiper and apply custom wiper delete
- European Yellow Fogs and Yellow Fog lenses
- re-dye the faded grey bumper tops to a dark matt black
- cut polish
- sport rear tail lights
- eventually swap over to a black/anthracite interior color as I am not a fan of the beige interior that is in it now...

So thats it for now, sorry for the super long initial post. I am just very excited and cannot wait to contribute to this forum. I dont see to many interesting build threads in here so this is what this will also become. I am very OCD and extensive when it comes to taking pictures and details. So hopefully that does not bother anyone!

Cheers,

Nick (Klaas is my name in Dutch)

PS: here are 2 pictures to get things started:

 

Awesome plans. Keep us up to date.

 

Klaas; congrats on your find!

But I have two questions for you:

1. I didn't see anti-swaybars on your list? Definitely want to do those when you do the shocks/struts.
2. Why can't I find cars like this?

Good luck!

 

Jealous of your find!
I thought I did good finding a '94 NA with just 130k on it.
a mere 60k is amazing!
Black wagon=sexy!

Pics please!!!

 

Sounds like it will be a fun ride... Petty much what I was wanting to do with my wagon until I found out it now needs a head job.... Post up some pics would love to see it!

 

Hey guys, thanks for the comments! I will get pictures posted up tomorrow if I can. That way you can at least see where it is starting from!

Cheers,

Nick

 

Hi Nick, welcome to the forum. Glad to read that someone that will appreciate the car got it.

 

AMAZING....I was looking for one of those all last summer......couldn't find one ....so settled on the 02 V70 T5

 

thanks guys,

@rspi: I love your youtube channel man, I subscribed and have been watching all of the volvo related videos, fantastic stuff!

I am going to give this a shot...

Lets see if I can make this work from my phone:







Can you guys see these?

 

Looks great.

If you need anything let me know, in the area of a video. I have a little time (as most of you guys can see) that I can take and make video's to post.

I'm not much on mod's and upgrades because of my situation and I don't want to jack up my only means of transportation but on the basic stuff, I should be able to help.

 

replacing Shocks with new OEM parts would be a cool video, or even changing out the springs (i guess that is that same thing).

I wish i could find a full black interior and swap that into my car, an interior removal video would be awesome too! (although useless for you to do I am sure.

 

I have pulled the shock assemblies on our S70 as a unit. I likely have the photos to put together a slide show video like the 850 console one. I have never pulled a strut out of a spring and have not talked myself into doing it yet, with all the "spring got away and bounced over the house" stories.

The interior tear out is easier except for getting the rear seat backs out of the wagon. They come out of the sedan easy but not the wagons. I have to learn that trick someday.

Not having a private driveway or garage has set me back since I moved into this appartment. Maybe I'll get back into a house one day and have my own little shop back. LOL By then there will only be 6 of us driving 850's.

 

if that many! haha. great stuff as usual, i look forward to all your videos anyways. My parts arrived at my shipping depot! time to go pick them up tomorrow morning.

Will get my tires installed tomorrow evening along with the spacers and wheels onto the car. Might have to wait until the weekend to get the suspension installed.

 

Can someone hide those animal t-shirt ads? I despise those things.

 

Nothing special yet cuz it is still 4x4 status but...

 

what tire size do you have on right now?

 

get some d2 coilovers if you can afford. you would love them. l have them installed right now and l love them. would not trade them for anything. l have my bilsteins touring uninstalled together with the springs. l am looking to selling them. has a few miles on them.

 

your warning me way too late slim....

215/40/18 with 15mm spacers in rear, rubs a bit

 

The rears rub a bit where, inside, outside, top, all three ??
How about the fronts ???

 

Extremecontact DWS.. running them on my 97 855R in 215/45/17.. great tire!