My Volvo 850 R Saloon

[Stedman]

I like the work the polishing has done. Those dark badges look very nice

How much was the seat cover Andy?

Edit-can't believe you went for another set of PZeros though. I found them appauling on my R.

GSD3s however...WOW

Edited by Stedman on Sunday 29th August 02:29

[macp]

Stunning looking car its made me really miss my old T5.

[Evo]

Hi Andy,

Do you have any advice on how you painted your calipers ie did you do them in situe? What paint colour did you use as i'd like to do the Golfs in the same colour.

Cheers,

Jeremy.

[v8will]

Hi Andy

So, that's a few people from VOC on here now....

All the best, Will (Ovlov25)

[y2blade]

very nice indeed

good to see you have not CHAVED the front grill like many do

[Stoatman]

Lovely car , and as you are obviously a man who seeks perfection . Have you a dent on your nearside rear passenger door ? I cant see any , anywhere else. Can you get it pulled out , just for me ?? :-)

[Andysr]

Stoatman said:

Lovely car , and as you are obviously a man who seeks perfection . Have you a dent on your nearside rear passenger door ? I cant see any , anywhere else. Can you get it pulled out , just for me ?? :-)

You have a keen eye too then... Don't worry the dent has already been removed since that picture was taken

Thanks for the comments

[Andysr]

Stedman said:

I like the work the polishing has done. Those dark badges look very nice

How much was the seat cover Andy?

Edit-can't believe you went for another set of PZeros though. I found them appauling on my R.

GSD3s however...WOW

Edited by Stedman on Sunday 29th August 02:29

Seat cover was something in the region of £300.00 from memory....

P Zero's seemed to be the best option at the time as they were standard fit for Volvo and the G3D3's, which I had on the Orion, aren't available in the same size as the P Zero's. However since fitting the P Zero's I learn't that alot of people opted for the next size up so keep your eyes peeled for that update

[Andysr]

Evo said:

Hi Andy,

Do you have any advice on how you painted your calipers ie did you do them in situe? What paint colour did you use as i'd like to do the Golfs in the same colour.

Cheers,

Jeremy.

I wire brushed the calipers and sanded the centre of the brake discs, I then cleaned the dust off with a rag and alot of brake cleaner then I painted them with hammerite smooth and the finish hasn't blemished at all in the 2 years they have been like that, and they have had the occassional work out in those 2 years too

[Andysr]

v8will said:

Hi Andy

So, that's a few people from VOC on here now....

All the best, Will (Ovlov25)

I Will, Certainly seems that way, hope all is good with you.

[Andysr]

y2blade said:

very nice indeed

good to see you have not CHAVED the front grill like many do

Well I did source a 2nd hand grill which I painted black but I hated it so it stayed for a very short space of time.

[Andysr]

21st August 2008..

Well thought now the forum is back up to strength again it would be a good time to do a mini update...

I had the car down at RT's who sorted the running/boosting issue's out.
Essentially the O2 sensor had failed which came to light after conducting an exhaust emission's test which showed co percentage at 10 percent when the engine was idling, which btw is well above the correct reading. So I had the sensor replaced. The fuel pressure regulator also wasn't quite up to spec when the throttle was initially depressed the fuel pressure dipped slightly more than it should so that was also replaced. The wastegate actuator I had fitted wasn't a brilliant one so I had that replaced and Russ reset the boost pressures to the correct level for the Rica and the car is now better than ever. I also had the Ferrita catback system fitted and am currently waiting on the larger downpipe which Russ is sorting and should hopefully be fitted at some stage within the coming month or two.
The front brakes have been replaced with the 302 mm discs and Ferrodo pads, it was found that the o/s/r and n/s/f brake calipers were shot and had to be replaced after having the calipers replaced and the larger discs fitted a vast improvement in braking performance was noted and for a budget brake upgrade I would definately advise anyone considering it to go ahead and get it done! :thumbs_up:

To say the car is different now is an understatement, it feel's like a completely different car seeing a vast improvement in both performance and fuel consumption as a result of the work done.

I have also just had the fuel injectors cleaned which Russ arranged through a forum user on here. Again even after just having the injectors cleaned the engine feels smooth and a small noticeable improvement has been achieved on the fuel consumption front with the car comfortably making 33-34 mpg on a motorway run with the air con on and dropping to 28-29 when not on the motorway which isn't bad for a Rica'd automatic R, well I didn't think so anyway.

I also had the o/s/f door check strap replaced recently as it started to squeak when opening the door on warm days, no amount of grease stopped it either, and it must have been really stiff as I have noticed a difference in how much easier the door opens. It's no wonder the door frame cracks on the 850 if they get that stiff because apart from the noise I was none the wiser about how stiff the check strap was so the pressure on the frame must have been considerably more than it should be couple that with the use of the door gets and its easy to see why they might crack.

One last few things to mention is that I decided the alloy wheel finish wasn't dark enough so I went a few shades darker and have to say I think the wheel colour works perfectly with the colour of the car. I also decided to go with the flow and managed to source a half decent 2nd hand radiator grille and painted it black to see how it would look, again I love the way the car looks with the dark grille and have already been talking to a local bodyshop about getting my original grille repainted black for a more lasting finish.

Anyway thats enough typing here are a few recent shots of the car sporting the new exhaust, wheel colour and grille finish.









I am currently in discussion with a local stainless steel exhaust specialist about having the Ferrita exhaust trim replaced with a square trim to echo the original trim that was fitted to the car by Volvo in 1996 :thumbs_up:

[Andysr]

10th December 2008

Right more of a mini update than major update....

Unfortunately due to ill health not much has been occuring with the car. I have had Samco boost and coolant hoses fitted as well as a BSR induction kit. I also had the standard recirc dump valve removed and a Forge blanking plate fitted in its place and all those who have heard it will testify to how loud the wastegate chatter now is

Here are a couple of shots of how the engine bay currently looks





I also decided to remove the black painted standard grille I recently fitted in favour of the original grille as I think ultimately it looks best

Black Grille



Standard Grille



Looking to the future I, fingers crossed, will be up and able to drive mid January and have already got a few plans for the car including a suspension upgrade so watch this space as it will be progressing again in 2009

[Andysr]

8th February 2009

Well I am up and about again and have dropped the car off to Russ @ RT's for an engine oil and filter change along with a few other little bits....

A new poly bulkhead bush for the torque mount no pictures of the new bush yet as the car is still at RT's and I am going from shots that Russ has sent to me... but as you can see the old one was certainly past it's best. I had thought that the noise transmitted from the engine through the bulkhead had got quieter recently but thought it was because I had got used to it. Looking forward to hearing what the difference in the noise will be with the poly bush fitted in place



A new square stainless exhaust trim for the Ferrita exhaust, this is something I have always wanted to do as I prefer the look of a square trim for the 850 and after sourcing a suitable trim for the job I entrusted Russ's fitting skills



So what do you think? Will paint the exhaust clamp black so you can't see it and also polish up the end of the exhaust rear box when I get the car back

Edited by Andysr on Monday 30th August 20:19

[Andysr]

3rd May 2009

Right well here is the update I promised over a month ago! :err:


Anyway those of you who use RT Mechanics will know my car took up root there due to having a small, which turned to a large, list of issues which required attention. But thanks to the patience and percerverance of Russ and his team they have managed to attend to them all even whilst negotiating a major relocation.

The most major issue was a serious lack of power mid range which resulted in a flat power drop/delivery between 2,800 rpm and 3,800 rpm and after much investigation it was as a result of faulty knock sensors that the engine ecu was seriously retarding the ignition due to what it thought was pinking. However after replacement of the knock sensors she now flies again , that coupled to a blown heater blower motor and no operational air conditioning completed the list of major issues that were resolved

Anyway whilst the car was with RT's I also had a few little bits fitted including the poly bush lower torque mounts and firewall mount to complete the upper torque mount poly bushing. I also as previously mentioned had a square stainless steel exhaust tip fitted to the exhaust system. I have also had the fuel pump renewed in favour of a Walbro unit to sort all fueling needs. To complete the list of extra's I had a front lower splitter, as sourced from TC on here, retro fitted to the front of the car. Despite the fact that getting up the driveway is now a major excercise I love the look it has given the front end, but wonder whether the car's time in the garage is limited as I do still plan to lower the car meaning getting up the driveway will probably be a thing of the past! lol

So thanks to Russ and his team for the dedication as I think I would have lost the will to live well before now if I were diagnosing the fault :thumbs_up:

Anyway what use is an update without pictures...

Yesterday whilst having nothing better to do I decided it was time to start a little freshen up under the car, so I jacked her up, cleaned and painted the fuel tank straps and cleaned up the fuel tank and also the rear brake disc stone defectors which before I started cleaning them I had no idea they were white so got a pleasent surprise





The new exhaust tip, which is now supported with poly exhaust mounts





I also replaced the boot lid bagdes with new ones replacing the previous badges which I had de-chromed, so the car now looks like this from behind



The new front splitter, which is already sporting the odd stone chip but I guess that now blends in with the rest of the front end..... lol







I also decided to give the leather seats a well deserved clean and treat...





Poly firewall mount



Lower poly torque mount



Oh and I also decided to heat wrap both main boost hoses to help prevent heat soak a while back which I then painted black to make them blend in with the rest of the engine bay, yes I know one of them is plastic but it looked odd with just the one hose wrapped....



The car now performs very well and the sound of the engine as a result of the poly mounts is phenomenal! I am seriously in love with this car again!

So tomorrow I notice the weather is forecast as sunny so might treat the outside to a polish and wax, I also need to give the carpets a well deserved clean as they are looking grubby then I can crack out the carpet mats in favour of the rubber mats I fitted over the winter period

Sorry for the delay on the update will try and stay more regular in the future, thanks for looking

[Stedman]

Andy, I know i'm showing my lack of mechanically knowledge right here but...surely fitting a blanking plate without a dump valve increases the chances of damaging your turbo? Would there not be more chance of the turbo stalling more often because of this?

Where did you get your wheels done (sure i've asked you this many many times before) and where is your local exhaust place?

Photos do look cracking and you're right, it does look much better with the silver grille. Shame you changed the rear badges

[carter711]

I've just had a look through your post, unusual but nice choice and it looks really good.

[Waugh-terfall]

Was this in at RTs for a couple of days about a week and a half ago? If so, looked great on the forecourt, any sound clips with that exhaust?

[kerryt5r]

Looking good Andy - Forgot how much this car changed since you bought it!

[ilovevolvo]

kerryt5r said:

Looking good Andy - Forgot how much this car changed since you bought it!

It goes as well as it looks too now a superb car

Edited by ilovevolvo on Wednesday 1st September 06:12