Just picked up a 96 850 turbo wagon for $900. Body and interior are pretty nice. Needed a water pump and of course a timing belt, as well as upper strut mounts. Speaking of which, anyone done those? Let me know if you have any tips or if it is pretty straightforward. The guy I bought it from was one of those who thinks they know everything about cars... lol. I'll upload some pics and update once it's all fixed.

 

All of those things are pretty straight foward and not all that hard to replace.

Have you messed with struts before?

 

Nice buy, indeed.

I would replace the following parts as well, when you do the struts:

FRONT SUSPENSION:
1. Upper mount (bearing) with new nuts x 3 each side (total of 6 nuts).
2. Upper springseat (notorious for wearing out & causing clunking noise).
3. Bump stop for strut
4. Special washer for strut
5. Top cap for strut
6. New bolts & nuts for strut lower attachment.
7. Ball joint/control arm with new nuts & bolts (Newer models cannot replace ball joint alone).
8. Sway bar (stabilizer) link rods (new parts should come with new lock nuts).
9. Struts (only if the car rolls too much or the car keeps bouncing after hitting bumps). Either OEM Sachs or Bilstein Touring is good. Bilstein Heavy Duty seems to be a bit too firm. Koni Adjustable seems to have good reputation too, as you can adjust the damper.

REAR SUSPENSION:
1. Shocks (Sachs, Bilstein Touring or Koni Adjustable)
2. Upper shock mounts
3. New lock nuts

The most dangerous part in replacing struts/shocks is when you compress the coil spring. If you have not performed it before have it done at a shop, or do it with someone who had done it before. When you compress the coil springs with spring compressor,they areunder enormous force, strong enough to kill you.

I wish you safety first,


JPN

 

Timing belt is easy if you take your time. I would suggest that in addition to the belt and water pump, that you replace the timing belt idler pulleys (rollers) and the tensioner. Additionally, as long as you are in there I would repalce the serpentine belt, serpentine belt rollers, serpentine belt tensioner, thermostat, and upper and lower radiator hoses. It will cost you about $400 for parts, but you will not have to worry about for quite some time.

As usual, just my .02

Glenn

 

cool guys, thanks for all the info!!!!!!!! It'll help me get this baby in good shape, i'm hoping to get another 100k out of her. yah, i've done struts before on fwd cars, i already own the spring compressors, so i was looking in the haynes manual and it seems quite straightforward. I actually paid for the car but have yet to pick it up because i've been working too much... i'll post pics and update as soon as i got more!
-Vince