My Volvo 850 T-5R project

[kerryt5r]

Made some excellent progress with the car this weekend:

Saturday

Got started in the afternoon:



Luckily we could remember where most things went as it wasn't that long ago since we removed the old engine



Inlet manifold on and clutch bled. Had to replace the clutch pipe that runs under the battery tray as it was looking very corroded. Volvo have now made this a "classic" part so that they can charge a fortune for it! Worth doing though.



And this is how we left it for the day - certainly looking a bit more recognisable as an 850 engine bay..



Sunday

Sunday ended up being fairly straightforward. Sun was out as well which was a welcome change. Managed to get the front end back on and generally worked from the turbo at the back of the engine forwards



Before long it ended up like this:





Filled it up with mineral oil for its first run:



And after an initial non-start (spade plug for starter motor on wrong connector) it fired into life! Ran for 15 minutes on the mineral oil:



Next we put the car back up on the driveway and dropped the mineral oil out and refilled with semi-synthetic 10W/40 for 500 miles of running in



Here's how the car sits now:



Missing a couple of covers, but will tidy up in the week. So far so good - no leaks etc & MOT is on Saturday. Hopefully be able to start driving it after that.

[cosworth330]

Have you run in the new engine yet?

[kerryt5r]

cosworth330 said:

Have you run in the new engine yet?

Yeah all run in & clean sheet on the MOT - just waiting for the car to come back from having a few tweaks and I will post a proper update

[Snazzyjake]

kerryt5r said:

Yeah all run in & clean sheet on the MOT - just waiting for the car to come back from having a few tweaks and I will post a proper update

Any updates on this? Read this thread from start to finish and wow! Serious love for this and all the mods you've done to it! I plan to take a similar route with my 850r once I saved up some pennies!

Keep up the good work!

[cosworth330]

kerryt5r said:

Yeah all run in & clean sheet on the MOT - just waiting for the car to come back from having a few tweaks and I will post a proper update

Nearly 2 years later, hows it going?

[kerryt5r]

Snazzyjake said:

kerryt5r said:

Yeah all run in & clean sheet on the MOT - just waiting for the car to come back from having a few tweaks and I will post a proper update

Any updates on this? Read this thread from start to finish and wow! Serious love for this and all the mods you've done to it! I plan to take a similar route with my 850r once I saved up some pennies!

Keep up the good work!

cosworth330 said:

kerryt5r said:

Yeah all run in & clean sheet on the MOT - just waiting for the car to come back from having a few tweaks and I will post a proper update

Nearly 2 years later, hows it going?

It's been fantastic - just been enjoying it over the last couple of summers. Lost enthusiasm to keep my project threads updated when photobucket messed around with their payment plans etc... I post the occasional photo to my instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kerry_macreadie/

Basically I took the car to Shemtek up in Nottingham for some power upgrades (rude not to since I had forged the engine internals ) including a 19T Turbo rebuilt with an angled exhaust flange housing and 11 blade billet compressor wheel, Flux Fabrication custom stainless downpipe and middle section, large cone filter, BMW 540i MAF housing along with custom pipework, bosch 550cc injectors, 4.4 ECU and a custom remap. Also had the battery relocated to the boot which has made a surprisingly big improvement to the handling, notably to turn-in. All I can say is that the car is now fantastic and exactly as I always wanted it to be and it is not possible to drive it without a big grin. Haven't felt any need to change anything on it since getting it back and that is very unlike me...

I can't quite put my finger on it, but the old 850's seem to get cooler by the day - I have unbelievably owned mine for 11 years now and it has certainly changed a lot over that time!

[Stedman]

Nice, very nice. How was Shem, still the wrong'un he always was?

[cosworth330]

kerryt5r said:

It's been fantastic - just been enjoying it over the last couple of summers. Lost enthusiasm to keep my project threads updated when photobucket messed around with their payment plans etc... I post the occasional photo to my instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kerry_macreadie/

Basically I took the car to Shemtek up in Nottingham for some power upgrades (rude not to since I had forged the engine internals ) including a 19T Turbo rebuilt with an angled exhaust flange housing and 11 blade billet compressor wheel, Flux Fabrication custom stainless downpipe and middle section, large cone filter, BMW 540i MAF housing along with custom pipework, bosch 550cc injectors, 4.4 ECU and a custom remap. Also had the battery relocated to the boot which has made a surprisingly big improvement to the handling, notably to turn-in. All I can say is that the car is now fantastic and exactly as I always wanted it to be and it is not possible to drive it without a big grin. Haven't felt any need to change anything on it since getting it back and that is very unlike me...

I can't quite put my finger on it, but the old 850's seem to get cooler by the day - I have unbelievably owned mine for 11 years now and it has certainly changed a lot over that time!

I have periodically read your thread through the years and looks like you have built the perfect T-5R!
It was probably a few years ago when I wanted to buy T-5R for a toy ( had an 850R nearly 20 yrs ago ) anyway I decided that my F80 M3 would be too costly to track due to carbon ceramic brake package it’s fitted with and finally found a nice example manual Gul saloon to play with. Bought it this week and loving the old skool retro thing. Shem has worked on it, 4.4 ECU, intercooler, radiator, hard pipe kit, 19T, BSR exhaust cat back, map. Goes pretty well. Eibach springs fitted. Obviously spoilt with running a F80 M3 so the Volvo feels a bit pony in the handling dept.
I need to pick your brains re handling of you don’t mind?

What front subframe bushes have you fitted as mine are knackered.

Thanks

[kerryt5r]

cosworth330 said:

I have periodically read your thread through the years and looks like you have built the perfect T-5R!
It was probably a few years ago when I wanted to buy T-5R for a toy ( had an 850R nearly 20 yrs ago ) anyway I decided that my F80 M3 would be too costly to track due to carbon ceramic brake package it’s fitted with and finally found a nice example manual Gul saloon to play with. Bought it this week and loving the old skool retro thing. Shem has worked on it, 4.4 ECU, intercooler, radiator, hard pipe kit, 19T, BSR exhaust cat back, map. Goes pretty well. Eibach springs fitted. Obviously spoilt with running a F80 M3 so the Volvo feels a bit pony in the handling dept.
I need to pick your brains re handling of you don’t mind?

What front subframe bushes have you fitted as mine are knackered.

Thanks

Thank you for saying so - it certainly is for me and has been damn good fun to own and modify over the years. There is just something about a well sorted 850 that I don't get from a lot of other cars. I have owned many cars in parallel to my 850 - EP3 type R, e46 M3 to name a couple but the 850 is the only one I can't part with. Got a few Mercs now but still enjoy using the 850!

I have genuine volvo bushes in the subframe because everything else on the car is so stiff: IPD bars, GAZ coilovers, poly bushes in the control arms etc but am always tempted to fit the solid bushes. Might give them a go when the current set of bushes are past their best.

Started following your thread - yellow T-5R looks ace! Awesome pair of cars you have there. Look forward to seeing your progress with the fiddy.

[cosworth330]

Link to a new thread as I’m now the custodian of this lovely T-5R.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...