Discussion
So on buying the car in June 2010 it was decided the car was going to be a 'cheap hack', a runabout to keep maintained but run as cheaply as possible. Haha if only that were the case. 
Here is a couple of pictures of the car on the day I got it. It was £775 and even had most of a tank of fuel.
The car drove quite nicely and was very quiet and smooth, however the brakes were pretty rubbish as was the suspension and handling, at least compared to the 850 t5 estate. It also felt a little bit on the slow side compared to the 850 so a manual boost controller was fitted and all was well.
The brakes however did not seem to be too happy with the extra power. After a lack of braking effort I took the wheel off for inspection and they didn't look too healthy so now new brakes were needed and with the cost of them and the extra insurance mods it seemed like a good idea to add err, just a few more things...
The brakes fitted were the 302mm Volvo as I had on the 850 T5 but with braided hoses. They seem great for road usage.
To let the engine breath better a scorpion exhaust and K+N filter fitted. The intake sounded great but the exhaust didn't sound too amazing and the car wasn't really any quicker. A Volvo strut brace was also fitted.
In the meantime the car was used as a general workhorse and helped me move house twice! It even worked well in the snow and made it through some quite deep stuff to go model helicopter flying. The only time the super soft suspension ever came in handy.
Further research revealed the downpipe and air intake was very restrictive and was restricting power massively even at high boost levels. Also around town in the summer and in traffic the car was sluggish and unresponsive. After pulling over and touching the air filter it was hot to touch and drawing in very very hot air.
A plan was formed involving a new intake (simota carbon charger,) 2.75" custom alloy intake pipes. Ferrita exhaust with 3" downpipe and 100 cell cat. The turbo and coolant hoses were also replaced with samco hoses and stronger clips
On the first drive the car couldn't hold boost and I think it might have been spark blowout. To fix this a MSD ignition system from IPD was fitted along with magnecor ignition leads. A forge blanking plate and blow off valve was also fitted for comedy value.
So back on the road again and the car was almost useless. It seems lots of power with very old (and SE spec!) suspension with no lsd means you just wheelspin everywhere and in any gear. Cornering was a very interesting and scary experience. Similar to a giant red wheel spinning wobbly jelly.
My friend went for a drive in the car and was accelerating hard then went over some anti slip tarmac. The car had grip for the first time and err not for very long as it turned out he had turned the gearbox into a 'rally spec' box, at least by the sound of it anway. Reverse and 5th gear worked but that was it.
While the car was off the road it seemed the only safe thing to do was a major suspension upgrade as the car was so floaty and would even wheelspin in 4th at 70mph with 2 people in the back. Oh dear lol
Gaz gold coilovers were chosen as they were highly recommended to me and were combined with poly mount engine bushes and polymount wishbone bushes along with a poly firewall bush and uprated lower engine + gearbox mount. The torque damper was also polybushed. Heavy duty tie rod ends were also fitted.
The gearbox was replaced with an M59 from an 850 R as it comes fitted with viscous coupling with acts as a LSD. The stronger 850 R clutch was fitted along with the flywheel.
Finally now works as a car however. It's quiet, fairly smooth, even quite refined. That is unless you use lots of the loud pedal.
The added viscous coupling makes a huge difference under hard acceleration and the suspension keeps the car level and in contact with the road even with much more aggressive driving than was possible before. I will have to learn how to set up the suspension once it's been on the car a little longer and the weather is warmer.
A track day seems a good idea to learn the new limits of the car. It seems to have lots of grip and is very progressive. With the standard suspension it used to float over the road on corners and dive on braking.
It also makes really good noises with the ferrita exhaust while is very quiet at low revs/speeds it's insanely loud at full boost and full revs. I'll have to get a video soon.
So the cheap hack... Whoops .... Hope you like the writeup though
Here is a couple of pictures of the car on the day I got it. It was £775 and even had most of a tank of fuel.
The car drove quite nicely and was very quiet and smooth, however the brakes were pretty rubbish as was the suspension and handling, at least compared to the 850 t5 estate. It also felt a little bit on the slow side compared to the 850 so a manual boost controller was fitted and all was well.
The brakes however did not seem to be too happy with the extra power. After a lack of braking effort I took the wheel off for inspection and they didn't look too healthy so now new brakes were needed and with the cost of them and the extra insurance mods it seemed like a good idea to add err, just a few more things...
The brakes fitted were the 302mm Volvo as I had on the 850 T5 but with braided hoses. They seem great for road usage.
To let the engine breath better a scorpion exhaust and K+N filter fitted. The intake sounded great but the exhaust didn't sound too amazing and the car wasn't really any quicker. A Volvo strut brace was also fitted.
In the meantime the car was used as a general workhorse and helped me move house twice! It even worked well in the snow and made it through some quite deep stuff to go model helicopter flying. The only time the super soft suspension ever came in handy.
Further research revealed the downpipe and air intake was very restrictive and was restricting power massively even at high boost levels. Also around town in the summer and in traffic the car was sluggish and unresponsive. After pulling over and touching the air filter it was hot to touch and drawing in very very hot air.
A plan was formed involving a new intake (simota carbon charger,) 2.75" custom alloy intake pipes. Ferrita exhaust with 3" downpipe and 100 cell cat. The turbo and coolant hoses were also replaced with samco hoses and stronger clips
On the first drive the car couldn't hold boost and I think it might have been spark blowout. To fix this a MSD ignition system from IPD was fitted along with magnecor ignition leads. A forge blanking plate and blow off valve was also fitted for comedy value.
So back on the road again and the car was almost useless. It seems lots of power with very old (and SE spec!) suspension with no lsd means you just wheelspin everywhere and in any gear. Cornering was a very interesting and scary experience. Similar to a giant red wheel spinning wobbly jelly.
My friend went for a drive in the car and was accelerating hard then went over some anti slip tarmac. The car had grip for the first time and err not for very long as it turned out he had turned the gearbox into a 'rally spec' box, at least by the sound of it anway. Reverse and 5th gear worked but that was it.
While the car was off the road it seemed the only safe thing to do was a major suspension upgrade as the car was so floaty and would even wheelspin in 4th at 70mph with 2 people in the back. Oh dear lol
Gaz gold coilovers were chosen as they were highly recommended to me and were combined with poly mount engine bushes and polymount wishbone bushes along with a poly firewall bush and uprated lower engine + gearbox mount. The torque damper was also polybushed. Heavy duty tie rod ends were also fitted.
The gearbox was replaced with an M59 from an 850 R as it comes fitted with viscous coupling with acts as a LSD. The stronger 850 R clutch was fitted along with the flywheel.
Finally now works as a car however. It's quiet, fairly smooth, even quite refined. That is unless you use lots of the loud pedal.
The added viscous coupling makes a huge difference under hard acceleration and the suspension keeps the car level and in contact with the road even with much more aggressive driving than was possible before. I will have to learn how to set up the suspension once it's been on the car a little longer and the weather is warmer.
A track day seems a good idea to learn the new limits of the car. It seems to have lots of grip and is very progressive. With the standard suspension it used to float over the road on corners and dive on braking.
It also makes really good noises with the ferrita exhaust while is very quiet at low revs/speeds it's insanely loud at full boost and full revs. I'll have to get a video soon.
So the cheap hack... Whoops .... Hope you like the writeup though
Edited by jp7152 on Tuesday 14th February 20:22
Edited by jp7152 on Tuesday 14th February 20:24
This was probably slightly heavier than the 850 which counts for something. It shouldn't have needed a MBC though...? Standard plugs and leads are good, FYI-you may save yourself some money in the future
I bet the ferrita sounds lovely, do you have any drone? I've got gaz golds on my car too, what settings are you running? You shouldn't need an IPD rear anti roll bar, but they are fun!
Glad you're loving the lolvo. As it's a 4.4 and not an ME7 (management system)....you can decat it
I bet the ferrita sounds lovely, do you have any drone? I've got gaz golds on my car too, what settings are you running? You shouldn't need an IPD rear anti roll bar, but they are fun!
Glad you're loving the lolvo. As it's a 4.4 and not an ME7 (management system)....you can decat it
Thanks for the replies
The 850 is slightly heavier I think, (it's an estate). Not sure why that car was so quick but I wondering if being if police and being driven hard all its life loosened it up nicely? heh Maybe the S70 just felt slower because it's smoother and less aggressive (or was lol)
Standard plugs and leads were probably fine but I was finding I was having to gap my plugs very tightly to run higher boost which now doesn't seem to be a problem.
The exhaust sounds amazing. It's the best of both worlds, very quiet or very loud depending on how it's driven.
It did drone lots at about 2200rpmish (and strangely only at those revs) however a bulk pack of dynamat later and the droning is almost gone.
Haven't really set up anything on the suspension yet, I think it's in middle of its 24 clicks
The 850 is slightly heavier I think, (it's an estate). Not sure why that car was so quick but I wondering if being if police and being driven hard all its life loosened it up nicely? heh Maybe the S70 just felt slower because it's smoother and less aggressive (or was lol)
Standard plugs and leads were probably fine but I was finding I was having to gap my plugs very tightly to run higher boost which now doesn't seem to be a problem.
The exhaust sounds amazing. It's the best of both worlds, very quiet or very loud depending on how it's driven.
It did drone lots at about 2200rpmish (and strangely only at those revs) however a bulk pack of dynamat later and the droning is almost gone.
Haven't really set up anything on the suspension yet, I think it's in middle of its 24 clicks
Great looking S70... I ran a S70 2.5 20v for 18 months clocking up 20k miles. Whilst it was never great at one thing in particular, it proved a great daily driver - great stereo, nice 5 cylinder sound, good comfort and mine deemed pretty reliable. I recently replaced it with a V40 T4 which is faster, more economical and handles better but i still prefer the S70. The ideal replacement would've been an S70 T5 but I found it difficult to find one with reasonable mileage (under 150k) for sensible money in SE/CD spec!
(850 estate or V70 Classic P1)
A very short (and not very good) video here:
http://youtu.be/RlMQD3gYXaU
Need to get a camera with better sound but you get the idea. It sounds pretty funny I think.
http://youtu.be/RlMQD3gYXaU
Need to get a camera with better sound but you get the idea. It sounds pretty funny I think.
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