Three weeks ago I purchased a 850 AWD GLT estate, without any real background knowledge of the 850 series. Poking around this site, I found several threads that suggested the only way to get (more) power out of this particular trim is to sell the car and purchase one with a turbo. Fine, I thought, I can deal with the disappointing acceleration. Then, the other day, while poking around under the hood I mysteriously found a turbine tucked away against the fire wall. Surely, I thought to myself, turbobrick elves can't actually exist, how on earth did that snail shell get into my exhaust system? After a little reading, wikipedia answered that question, but now I have another; if this car is already wired for a turbo, would it be a simpler task to plumb in an intercooler, larger turbo and a tuned wastegate? Or should I put these crazy thoughts out of my head like the other GLT owners out there.

 

either its not AWD or its had its not a volvo.. All Volvo AWD's are turbo... ALL. The 850 GLT's FWD in 1997 were also all turbo..(inless your in europe or something, you have no info then i dont know)
https://volvoforums.com/forum/volvo-...edition-40602/

read that carefully, if you have q's post back, but with pics this time so we can tell you right away by looking at your engine bay what your car has..

Also if it really is an 850 AWD, post pictures anyway, id love to see it.

 

Already has a huge intercooler between the radiator and A/C condensor. Wastegate can be adjusted go onto IPD's site they have a video about adjusting! There should also be a needle on your cluster that says turbo. Should be the dead giveaway it's a turbo. Wouldn't be there unless is was or if someone changed the cluster!.

 

97 GLT's/AWD's dont have that guage.. Probably either the wastegate was disconnected for whatever reason, or the pin that holds the wastegate on rusted and broke off like what happened to mine ( if hes in canada, this is possible)

 

The lack of turbo guage threw me off as well, I'll have to get an A pillar cluster

 

wow, its clean, and its definatly an 850 AWD, 2.4T and super clean!.. all the intercooler piping looks intact. im sure that the intercooler is also there.. just have to check if the wastegate lines and the actuator bar is still connected to the wastegate. It boosts 6psi stock!


you'll have to remove the heatsheild above the turbo before you can have access to that stuff..

 

Matt, thanks so much for writing the very detailed thread on this car, thats of enormous help to me. I put in an order to iPd yesterday for the the parts to do the stage 0 maintenance, as well as some other worn parts that need to be replaced. I'll be sure to check back once all that is done for a guru's opinion on what order the gofast bits should be done in.

One thing that is currently of concern to me, the dash appears to be falling off. Not just one side either, but the whole thing. How many bolts hold it on? From reading forums I'm aware of one on either side for sure, but are there a couple in the center as well? It certainly didn't seem this loose before I took it in to have the windshield replaced....*******.

 

thats outside of my area of expertise.. someone else will have to chime in..

your welcome

 

feel free to sell to me hehe nice wagon definitly a turbo, one look at the engine bay is a dead giveaway.

 

On this site it shows how to remove the dash cover and gauge cluster to do an odometer repair, so that should help (with pictures!).

http://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/odo...ix-how-to.html

 

Just a thoulgt the 97 GLT's were 13g's correct?
Its a member of the tdo4 series of turbos so he should be able to swap out either the cartridge for something like a 16T and get his ECU re-mapped for the set up.... right?

That would be a nice power gain.

 

oooooo, I like the sound of that swap, looks like we might have a winner! What vehicle is this 16T found in?

For completeness sake, I found the answer to my dash problem on a competing forum, hope there isn't a problem with posting it here.
Dash Removal For Mounting Tab Repair. - Volvo Forum : Volvo Forums
Looks like it will be a solid days work to repair the mounting tabs, so its a wobbly dash for me for a while longer!

 

yes, it says in my thread that that the 16T will bolt right in place of the 13g as they are both straight flange. While your at it you might as well swap to white injectors and yes a tune would be necessary.