Turbo brick, Volvo 850 T-5 **UPDATED 18/11/09**

[massivewangers]

I know not everyone will be into this, but if you're not, oh well, don't read it  

Anyway, after a whole army of Fords (mostly Escorts I might add), I decided I needed something that would be a bit more at home on the motorway, as that's where I seem to spend most of my time driving. The Orion was a stunning car, but just not at all suited to the sort of driving I do. I soon realised that although I loved it, it was tiring to drive any great distance, and I was quickly going to ruin it if I carried on. I did consider a few Fords, but due to budget, the ones I liked were out of my price range. For the money I had to spend, nothing in the Ford line up really came close to offering such great value for money, and offering such a well equiped, comfortable, spacious car, that also has power to back it all up.

I knew this car through the Orion Register, and when it's owner decided he wanted to get back behind the wheel of an Orion again, a deal was done againt my 1600E, and I happily drove off in this! Obviously it's a world apart from the Orion, and a totally different driving experience, but by no means a bad one. It just eats motorway miles beautifully, is comfortable, quiet, refined, has loads of kit on it, and underneath the boxy shape, is actually quite potent!

This particular car is a 1996 model, T-5 (meaning turbo, five cylinder, pretty simple!), and is in CD trim, which was the top spec T-5 available. Standard features include climate control, an electric driver's seat with memory settings, cruise control, all round electric windows, electric mirrors, heated seats trimmed in black leather, heated mirrors, CD/cassette tuner, which is quite simply one of the best factory stereos I've ever heard and various other little bits; including a booster seat built into the rear armrest, which I think is just an awesome piece of design! It's covered 111k since new, and has plenty of history with it, and the MOT lasts until Sept 2010. The mileage is pretty low for one of these, with many now being the other side of 150k, and some even higher still. Though I know of plenty of examples with over 150k that are still going strong and still used in anger regularly, which says a lot for their build quality.

Mechanically, it features a turbocharged, 2.3 litre, five cylinder 20v engine, which is what the current engine in the Focus ST/RS is loosely based on. It produces 225bhp and 221lbs/ft (that's 300NM if you want to be modern). This one uses a four speed auto box, which has economy/sport modes, as well as a 'winter' feature, which alloys you to pull away very slowly in poor conditions. This equates to a 0-60 time of 7.6 seconds and a top speed of 146mph (the manual models cover the 0-60 sprint in 7.2 seconds). I would have preferred a manual if I'm honest, but an awful lot of these cars were specified with the auto box in, so tend to be more common, and it is pretty good for an automatic really, the kick down is pretty quick when you're in sports mode, and it will take off and still light up the tyres with ease.

On the body work front, your average T-5 looks like any regular 850, but mine has had a few changes. It's been fitted with the optional tailgate spoiler that a lot don't have, and also been fitted with the lower front spoiler from a T-5R model (the R meaning Racing). Other changes to my particular car are a set of V70 rear light clusters, some lowered springs, a rather large tailpipe extension and a set of 16" 'Persus' wheels from a, later, C70 model.

Anyway, here's a few pictures of the car that were taken on my way home from collecting it;





Interior;





Engine bay shot, showing the rather large cone filter that has been fitted instead of the standard air box. These are also fitted with a recirculating dump valve from the factory. This has been blocked off on my car which, coupled with the cone filter, means you get quite a bit of chatter! It also has has a poly top engine mount bush too, which is highly recommended on these cars. It makes it a bit stiffer and helps transmit some of that lovely five pot engine note into the cabin.



My plans for the car aren't particularly extreme, as I bought it to (hopefully) be a reliable car to get me between home and uni and provide a bit of fun along the way. I want to give it a proper clean, but I'm not sure how well that's going to go with it now being very wintery. I shall endeavour though, and hopefully get somewhere. I don't really have any plans to change the exterior any great amount. There are a couple of areas of the body work that I'm unhappy with so I want those dealt with, and I'd like to change the grill for a standard item. I'm also going to try and get the side repeators from a later S/V70, as these are smoked, so would tie in better than the current amber items.

Moving inside, I don't really have any plans here, other than clean it up. I like the interior, it's very comfortable, and very well equiped, so I don't really feel it needs to be messed with. The stereo is fantastic to be honest, so I may even leave that alone too. The only thing I'm not 100% on is the dash inserts in that lovely faux-walnut colour. That may well be changed for something slightly less offensive. I was thinking of perhaps a very very high gloss black, as it would match the body work and keep it subtle. I could go carbon, but that might look a bit much in this sort of car.

Chassis wise, again, I'm pretty happy. It does ride fairly well considering it's lowered, but I think it would benefit from some proper shocks, but I'll see how I get on. It handles surprisingly well for such a large car, so I can't complain too much. Volvo also produced a strut brace for these cars, so I may look into the cost of those, as it might tighten things up a little, and is also a nice visual edition to the engine bay. Poly bushes are something to consider, but I think I'd only go down that route if the standard items were to wear out. I do plan a wheel change (more on that later) and I am considering a brake upgrade. S/V70 models (which replaced the 850) were fitted with 302mm disks, instead of the current 282mm ones, so I may well invest in some of those when these wear out. They fit straight on so long as you use the caliper carriers and hoses from the later car too. Some upgraded calipers would be nice of course, but would add a fair bit onto the cost, so we'll see. It may be possible to utilise the good old Brembo calipers that are fitted to so many cars these days, so if a set came up cheaply, I may consider buying them to see if they could be fitted.

Under the bonnet....well, it goes ok to be honest. I am pretty much used to it already, but that's no great surprise. There is no doubt that it is a quick car, so it certainly doesn't need too much in that area. It does need a good clean however, so that's pretty high up the list. Outside that, I may make some modifications to the air filter arrangement, as I would think that heat soak could be something of an issue there. Silicone hoses and things would be nice, but I've not looked into the cost of that yet, but I'm not really too fussed about that kind of thing. Other ideas include a few carbon fibre details here and there, so I may look into replacing a few bits with the woven stuff but, again, we'll see how that goes.

I did make this video recently (chavvy I know!) which demonstrate the noise the car makes currently. Some motion video would be nice, but filming whilst driving isn't exactly advisable, so we shall make do with this for now:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0gU1UJM_bg

Also, if you still think Volvos are dull, you may want to watch these couple of videos, which perhaps highlight just what can be achieved.

A demonstration of just how much they can dislike front tyres:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ew6YwIN2IQc

Volvo 850 Vs modified Toyota Supra:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ReaHyJ0m9E

A quite respectable lap of the Nurburgring:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UPqjAN3-C8

I think that's about it for a start off anyway. I'm sure more will be coming though   I know it's not a Ford, but what Ford can you buy for less than a grand that's really got anything on this? I will undoubtedly have another blue oval, cos I love 'em, but I'd be very loathed to sell this for a Ford any time soon  

[massivewangers]

I told you there'd be more 

Right, first off, here's a picture of the front grill, which is bugging me hugely at the moment.

It's been painted black, which is fine, but the badge and 'strikethrough' has been removed which makes it looks rather unsightly I feel:



Looking for a standard one currently, as I think it will make it look considerably better. I may get a couple and mess around a little with having parts of it painted, but we'll see. I do quite like the standard ones to be honest.

Anyway, more importantly than that, is the subject of wheels. My only major dislike with the whole 'look' of the car is the current 'Persus' wheels. 16" wheels do look a bit lost on a car of this size, and the hugely chunky tyres are hardly attractive. The idea of aftermarket wheels really wasn't proving attractive to me, as I do like my cars to look pretty standard these days, and I think that is even more true of a car like this. I think it would be very tricky to find an aftermarket wheel that suited this car as well as the factory options do.

The T-5R and later 850R models came with 17" wheels from the factory, finished in quite dark gunmetal colour. I've included a couple of pictures below.

Firstly, the 850 T5-R, fitted with 'Titan' wheels:



And later, the 850R, fitted with 'Volan' wheels:



I like both of these designs, and I think they make a huge difference to the look of the car, especially coupled with the deep front spoiler fitted to the R models. Even before I picked the car up, I'd been searching ebay for a set of these wheels, just to see how much they were going for. I saw a set of Volans sell on ebay for £155 with tyres. I didn't bid because I didn't even have the car at that point, but I soon regretted it, as I then saw a set of the very same wheels go on a Volvo forum for £250, despite having punctures in all but one of the tyres!

Anyway, I kept hunting, with ebay offering no more results, and I contacted a couple of breakers with little luck (apart from a set of three Titans), even considering a set of replica wheels from a much later car, but then finally provailed with a set of Volans today! I had heard they may be for sale, as the owner contacted me through a wanted thread on a Volvo forum, but said he wasn't sure if a friend wanted them first. Luckily, he contacted me yesterday and said his friend didn't want them, so I could have them, so we arranged to meet halfway, near Derby, and I purchased them. They came with two part worn tyres, but I'm thinking I'll probably fit four new ones anyway, and they should hopefully be refurbed before being fitted. I'm really glad I found a set so quickly, as the car could really do with tyres to be honest, and the idea of fitting four 16" tyres was really unappealing when I wanted to change the wheels anyway!

So here we go, my very own set of Volans from an 850R:









As I say, a refurb is on the cards ASAP, and I really want them on within a couple of weeks, as the tyres on the car at the moment are mismatched and really not very good!

I've also managed to get myself a little data logging unit that plugs into the cars OBD port and can record any fault codes and also record data from the vehicle ECU over the period it's plugged into the car. The data can then be downloaded to a computer via USB cable and you can check through things and see if anything is amiss, or see if the car is registering any faults. I should be picking that up Monday so will get that plugged in and make sure all is well

The chap who supplied me with the wheels was a lovely fella. We had a good chat about my car and his car and various different things. Here's a couple of snaps of his car that I stole from a Volvo forum:







You can see in the engine bay picture the strut brace I mentioned previously, which is something I'm certainly interested in. I think it makes it all look a bit more purposeful.

Briefly, it's a 1995 T-5, manual model, fitted with anthracite Wolfrace Voodoos, Laguna splitter, later, 'reverse' style intercooler, carbon enclosed induction kit, Collins dump valve, reciric. blanking plate, 16T turbocharger, 3" turbo back exhaust and a Rica ECU upgrade.

He was kind enough to give me a brief ride in it, and it's just totally different to my car. The noise is incredible. It sounds very much like the car featured in the Nurburgring video in my original post, and the power is very impressive to be honest. All this in car that's covered 170k, and it still feels very healthy and goes like stink.

It did put a few ideas in my head I must say  I may look into a stainless exhaust of some kind, just to unleash the growl from the five cylinder lump. I want to be careful though, as I don't want the car to become 'boomy' on motorways. I'll have a look into it anyway, see what turns up!

I'm going to be giving the brake calipers and things a bit of a spruce up before the wheels go on, just to try and make it look a bit neater. I'm going to be a bit controvercial and give gold a try. I've seen an 850R with gold calipers, and it looked very nice, but was a metallic grey one, so it might not translate across to my black car, but I'll see how it goes. If it doesn't work, they'll go black or silver anyway, so it's no biggy. I also want to try and get some life back into the bumper cappings and door mouldings, as I think they're spoiling the exterior at the moment, so going to try a couple of things on them, and if they don't come up, going to look into having them painted in a dark grey colour so they look standard, but don't need constant attention!

Anyway, that's it for now. Well chuffed to have the wheels so quickly, looking forward to getting them fitted!

[cozmeister]

Nowt wrong with a T5 mate, and it looks like you do get a skinful of toys for not a lot of cash, which is always a bonus!

[Daz-cos]

i absolutly LOVE T5`s. really want to own one. mate at work has one in blue which has done 200K+ and he gives it absolute death eveywhere it goes. keep the updates and pics coming as you transform it. 

[massivewangers]

It's a great car to be honest, I don't regret it one bit. I'd have loved another Ford, but the only thing I could think that comes close is the ST200, and I wouldn't have got one anywhere near as good as this is without spending a lot more money. This does what I need it to perfectly, so it's just fine 

Bit of a Ford-based project on the side would be nice, but we'll see how things go, want to spend some on this first!

[RST-Steve]

VERY interesting read Jon, i can see a plan is definatly forming already

As said above, keep the pictures coming! I personally think those wheels you've bought look absolutely spot on in both colour and style and will defo improve the look of the car no end. As you say, the grille badly needs changing, a subtle exhaust would also be nice and for me, the interior needs absolutely nothing although i'd probably keep the plastic wood (even as i type that, i'm thinking gloss black would look pretty cool tho pmsl!!)

You know i love my toys in a car, so that spec is simply excellent for the money. The ST200, although also well specced, can't match that and would cost a lot more to buy, insure and run on motoway miles. Was surprised when you bought this (as you know lol) BUT i'm really liking it now............. i'm off to go look at them on pistonheads

[cozmeister]

Swap the plastic wood for carbon fibre, or carbon fibre effect plastic.   The nuts

[RST-Steve]

The wood would look pretty cool tho if the car had come with the optional 'flat cap'

[massivewangers]

If I was to carbon inside, it would all be wrapped properly, in proper carbon, not carbon effect. Gotta do it proper! But, I'm not sure carbon would really suit it, so I may just go black. We'll see anyway, it isn't massively high up the priority list at the moment.

I have made a start today on sanding the wheels back ready to go in for paint, which is proving mighty hard work, but I've got one pretty much done anyway, and hopefully I'll make a good start on the other tomorow as I don't have uni til the afternoon. I'll grab some pictures while I'm about it too, as it had gotten a bit dark by the time I stopped today.

Further to that, I'm still debating tyre choice, as these do have a bit of a reputation for being hard on tyres, so that's making it tricky to choose the right brand. I'm a big fan of Toyos, but I'm concerned they might be a bit soft and wear out very quickly. I might try them anyway though. Something to be considered before the wheels are back from paint.

I've also now sourced a standard grill, so hopefully should have that within the next few days, so will get some pictures when that's fitted 

[Churchy]

The old owner said you left these behind when you picked your new motor up mate.................

[RST-Steve]

pmsl!!!!! 



.... as for tyres mate, i would personally stear clear of Toyo's due to the soft compound, and if the car eats through tyres anyway, they may be a bit costly! My boss has just had 4 new Toyo's put on his Civic Type-R and he expects them to last about a year on that, that is all ......fook that for the cost of them!!

[Fireball]

pmsl!!!!! 



.... as for tyres mate, i would personally stear clear of Toyo's due to the soft compound, and if the car eats through tyres anyway, they may be a bit costly! My boss has just had 4 new Toyo's put on his Civic Type-R and he expects them to last about a year on that, that is all ......fook that for the cost of them!!

Ha Toyo's on my old car - grippy, but it chewed them up in 14 months.

[massivewangers]

LMAO Churchy, looks more your colour

Tyres are a definate issue. I can get Toyo's pretty cheap, but I'm waiting on a few prices. A few people have suggest Vredenstein and Continentals, but I can't say I really have any experience of either, so I'm not sure. It's a shame, cos I do love Toyos, but I do worry this thing might just eat them!

[cozmeister]

My Toyo T1Rs are still good except for the normal wear and tear - inner edge on the rears, and scrubbing on the outer edge of the nearside front (which you will always find in this country thanks to roundabouts).  Had them on for over a year now.

They grip well in the dry, and they're great in the rain too - you can plough through a downpour like it's not there!  The price/performance compromise is just right.  

For the tightarses amongst you, there's always the fantastic Nankang DitchFinders.    They cost 50p each, and are great for, you guessed it, finding ditches!  

Personally I think a set of tyres should last about a year with average driving, and if you're going to be doing your WRC or BTCC impressions you shouldn't really expect much more, tbh.  

Bear in mind that if you're a paid up member of the RSOC you have access to a 25% discount on Yokohama S-Drive and Parada tyres (size dependant)  if you want to treat yourself.

Also, you're driving a big heavy Volvo with the turbo'd engine mounted the wrong way around, so fronts are going to disappear pretty quickly, IMO.  Bear that in mind.

[RST-Steve]

Did someone say Continentals?? I've got these on the Mondeo Jon, they are VERY good imo and grip really well too under 'spirited' driving and will last a lot more than a year

My own personal taste for tyres is Good Year Eagle F1's tho, which is what i have on the Escort BUT as Mr. Ford couldn't get a set at the time for the Mondeo, i chose the Continentals instead which is how i come to have them. (They were on the car when it was brand new tho of course )

[Churchy]

My own personal taste for tyres is Good Year Eagle F1's tho,

Steve is wearing the gimp suit of correctness

Mine have lasted over 15k so far, and still have plenty on them!

[massivewangers]

I hadn't really considered Eagles, though I'm sure I saw a good offer on a set online somewhere. Might look into that.

Still not heard back from my tyre contact, I'll have to poke him!

Oh, and I forgot to take a picture of the wheels in their current state today, sorry!

[RST-Steve]

slacker!! LOL, just kidding mate, get a pic tomorrow

[Fireball]

My own personal taste for tyres is Good Year Eagle F1's tho,

Steve is wearing the gimp suit of correctness

Mine have lasted over 15k so far, and still have plenty on them!

My buddy puts em on his Scooby - says it feels like it's on rails when they're fresh, but they are NOT cheap!

[RST-Steve]

This is true! I'm lucky tho in the sence that a set of Good Year Eagle F1's for bog standard 15" wheels is quite reasonable compared to low profile 17's

[massivewangers]

Little of an update on progress, though not too much.

Made a start on the wheels. It's pretty slow going, as the paint on them is flakey so getting it back is taking time, and I'm doing them by hand, but progress is being made slowly. They still need smoothing properly, as I've been using quite a harsh paper so far to get out some kerb marks and things, but will start getting finer soon. Only two done so far, just doing bits here and there, but these are both pretty much ready for some finer sanding to get them a bit closer to paint. The one on the right isn't quite done, but as near as damnit. One of the others still has a tyre on it, so will pop down to my friend's dad's tyre place tomorrow if I get a minute, get that popped off so that can be done. All being well, they should be ready to go to the paintshop by the end of the week, where my friend will do the final prep, including sorting the rims out properly, and then paint them for me, in the original gun metal grey. So hopefully they should be on pretty soon.

Anyway, pictures. Not great quality, it's getting dark!







Also picked this up today, a bit later than planned;



A funky little OBD fault code reader/data logger. Not tried it yet, but will give it a go, see if there's any fault codes registering, get my mate to knock them off and then try it again to see if they come back. Also has the ability to log data live when the car is running. You can download this to a computer and it will give you a log of data from that running period, basically logging all the information the ECU reads, throttle position, speed, air inlet temps etc etc etc. Looking forward to giving that a go anyway, seeing what's what and sorting any faults. Handy little thing to have anyway.

No grill yet though 

More tomorrow or Friday hopefully 

[RST-Steve]

Keep up the good work Jon, glad to hear your sticking with the standard grey colour for the wheels

[Daz-cos]

excellant progress mate gonna look awesome when you get the rims on. keep it coming 

[massivewangers]

Today's update. Not ever so exciting I'm afraid! Rain has cut things short, and now it's rapidly getting dark, so it will have to wait til tomorrow. I did get the odd tyre popped off today, so all the wheels are now free and all have had valves and things removed.

I was talking to the guy who is painting my wheels, and he said it would be better if the wheels were back to bare metal, so step in our good friend:



First wheel, first coating;









Then a bit more;







Started another wheel too;







Then it rained, so I had to stop sadly. Bloody horrible job, but should lead to a better finish hopefully, so can only be a good thing. Hopefully the weather will be better tomorrow so I can get them all done. Incidentally, don't ever get that stuff on your skin, it isn't pleasant. I'd avoided it, but in the rush to pack up when it started raining, I got myself, and it's quite irritating!

Haynes manual turned up too. Not my favourite read, but useful to have. Still no grill though!

[RST-Steve]

That Nitromors stuff looks pretty hardcore, or corrosive for want of a better word! Its really eaten into the paint on those wheels.......... i see what you mean about not wanting to get that on your skin!!