The Swedish Sleeper Down Under - My 1999 Volvo S80 T6
Discussion
Hello all!
So, after 2yrs of deliberation, procrastination, saving, indecisiveness and working, I finally have a car to call my own. It's a 1999 Volvo S80 T6, with a full service history and only 148,000km on the clock, two previous elderly owners, and with a roadworthy cert (essentially like an MOT cert) and 6 months of registration. Picked it up for a steal at $3500, and it's in pretty decent condition. It does have a bit of paint damage on the plastic boot garnish, and the interior has some wear and tear, but nothing some TLC and a weekend won't fix. Fairly grunty for a barge too, sits at 272bhp (although it's only something like 220bhp at the wheels courtesy of the 4spd GM-built slushbox). Won't set the world on fire but it's enough to give unsuspecting people a good scare. Will eventually get a trans rebuild (since it's about as strong as rice paper from the factory) and some stock R34 GT-R turbos or something to replace the tiny little TD03-08G stock turbos, should be decently responsive on the 2.8L I6 and be able to net me my eventual 400-450fwhp target. For now, exhaust, wheels, tyres, dampers and chassis bracing should make it more enjoyable to drive in the near future.
And now, for pics, because we all know the golden rule, "pics or it didn't happen"...
When I brought it home last week:
Beige interior, full grandpa spec:
Original plush factory floor mats with "S80" sewn into them:
Rear seat looks like it's never been sat in:
The less-nice parts:
Went down to the local Department of Transport and Main Roads the day after I got it, so I could submit my application for a moderately-powered vehicle exemption, because most states in Australia (such as mine) ban drivers with provisional licences (intermediate step between having your Learner's Permit and a full licence) from driving cars with more than x power, forced induction and/or more than 8cyl. Since my state has a clause that allows for P platers to get an exemption to these laws for "moderately-powered vehicles", aka turbo vehicles built before 2010 and under 125kW/t (post-2010 cars get a blanket pass for any engine type if they're under 130kW/t), I had to fill out a silly form and submit that so I can drive the car legally. Still waiting for the results to come back but with any luck I should be able to drive it by the end of the week.
Also did a short video of the wimpy stock exhaust, can't wait to uncork that delicious straight-six.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0s8MifzdesE
More to come soon!
So, after 2yrs of deliberation, procrastination, saving, indecisiveness and working, I finally have a car to call my own. It's a 1999 Volvo S80 T6, with a full service history and only 148,000km on the clock, two previous elderly owners, and with a roadworthy cert (essentially like an MOT cert) and 6 months of registration. Picked it up for a steal at $3500, and it's in pretty decent condition. It does have a bit of paint damage on the plastic boot garnish, and the interior has some wear and tear, but nothing some TLC and a weekend won't fix. Fairly grunty for a barge too, sits at 272bhp (although it's only something like 220bhp at the wheels courtesy of the 4spd GM-built slushbox). Won't set the world on fire but it's enough to give unsuspecting people a good scare. Will eventually get a trans rebuild (since it's about as strong as rice paper from the factory) and some stock R34 GT-R turbos or something to replace the tiny little TD03-08G stock turbos, should be decently responsive on the 2.8L I6 and be able to net me my eventual 400-450fwhp target. For now, exhaust, wheels, tyres, dampers and chassis bracing should make it more enjoyable to drive in the near future.
And now, for pics, because we all know the golden rule, "pics or it didn't happen"...
When I brought it home last week:
Beige interior, full grandpa spec:
Original plush factory floor mats with "S80" sewn into them:
Rear seat looks like it's never been sat in:
The less-nice parts:
Went down to the local Department of Transport and Main Roads the day after I got it, so I could submit my application for a moderately-powered vehicle exemption, because most states in Australia (such as mine) ban drivers with provisional licences (intermediate step between having your Learner's Permit and a full licence) from driving cars with more than x power, forced induction and/or more than 8cyl. Since my state has a clause that allows for P platers to get an exemption to these laws for "moderately-powered vehicles", aka turbo vehicles built before 2010 and under 125kW/t (post-2010 cars get a blanket pass for any engine type if they're under 130kW/t), I had to fill out a silly form and submit that so I can drive the car legally. Still waiting for the results to come back but with any luck I should be able to drive it by the end of the week.
Also did a short video of the wimpy stock exhaust, can't wait to uncork that delicious straight-six.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0s8MifzdesE
More to come soon!
Edited by BodenM on Tuesday 10th March 23:59
Looks epic, where in Brisbane are you based? I lived in Wynnum for 6 months, really miss it, the drives down to the gold coast, and up to the sunshine coast.. got to go back at some point.
As for the Volvo, it certainly makes for an alternative to the usual Falcons, Commodores and Camrys you see bumbling around Brisbane!
As for the Volvo, it certainly makes for an alternative to the usual Falcons, Commodores and Camrys you see bumbling around Brisbane!
95Aero said:
Looks epic, where in Brisbane are you based? I lived in Wynnum for 6 months, really miss it, the drives down to the gold coast, and up to the sunshine coast.. got to go back at some point.
As for the Volvo, it certainly makes for an alternative to the usual Falcons, Commodores and Camrys you see bumbling around Brisbane!
I'm in Yeerongpilly, around the Yeronga/Fairfield/Moorooka area. And indeed it does. Makes a nice change from the typical P plater-spec Skylines and S-chassis too haha.As for the Volvo, it certainly makes for an alternative to the usual Falcons, Commodores and Camrys you see bumbling around Brisbane!
Basil Hume said:
My parents had a T6 on loan from Volvo on a test weekend, back in 1998 or so. I remember it being very rapid once on the move.
They eventually replaced the 960 with the 2.4 170PS 5-cylinder S80, which was a really lovely car.
Yeah the fat mid-range and low-end makes overtaking a breeze (I may or may not have driven the car home instead of getting mum or dad to do it :P). Not quite as quick off the mark but I suspect that's not helped due to having to wait for the torque converter to wind up. A proper brake boost launch with grippier tyres (and STC turned off :P) would be much faster, I suspect.They eventually replaced the 960 with the 2.4 170PS 5-cylinder S80, which was a really lovely car.
Got the car phone working yesterday, all it needed was a SIM card 
Surprisingly it worked first go, was semi-expecting to need to go to Telstra (SIM's carrier) to replace the prepaid SIM I picked up with an older 32 or 64K version, but nope, slotted in (the full card too, not the part you pop out to put in a phone), fired up the phone in the dash and once the SIM activated, it worked flawlessly. Reception is great and the call quality is too, not bad for something out of the late-90s.
Surprisingly it worked first go, was semi-expecting to need to go to Telstra (SIM's carrier) to replace the prepaid SIM I picked up with an older 32 or 64K version, but nope, slotted in (the full card too, not the part you pop out to put in a phone), fired up the phone in the dash and once the SIM activated, it worked flawlessly. Reception is great and the call quality is too, not bad for something out of the late-90s.
So some things happened over the past few days....
1. My exemption was approved and arrived in the mail!
2. Drove it to uni for the first time.
3. On that same day, came back after classes to discover that it had decided to puke a rather large amount of Volvo coolant all over the ground of the carpark. Welp. Called RACQ (Auto club roadside assistance, took out cover literally 2 days prior), got the car towed home, where it sat for a few days. Diagnosis was the fittings to connect to the heater core on the engine side of the firewall were leaking.
4. Today, I bypassed the heater on the car until I can get a fresh set of hoses and fittings from Volvo. Now I can drive it again
1. My exemption was approved and arrived in the mail!
2. Drove it to uni for the first time.
3. On that same day, came back after classes to discover that it had decided to puke a rather large amount of Volvo coolant all over the ground of the carpark. Welp. Called RACQ (Auto club roadside assistance, took out cover literally 2 days prior), got the car towed home, where it sat for a few days. Diagnosis was the fittings to connect to the heater core on the engine side of the firewall were leaking.
4. Today, I bypassed the heater on the car until I can get a fresh set of hoses and fittings from Volvo. Now I can drive it again
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