Author Archives: Chris

Motor Maintenance done and Assembly Installed

I finished all the maintenance on the motor. Timing belt, PCV, front cam seals, spark plugs, and iPD spark plugs wires are installed. I also swapped out the throttle cable and silicone brake booster line. The transmission is mated to the motor.

I was able to get the motor and transmission fitted to the subframe and installed in the car. The hardest part was getting the motor and transmission dropped and connected to the subframe by myself with a cherry picker.

I also got the axles in place. I still need to finish wiring up and connecting hoses to the motor and transmission. Struts, and brakes need to go in. The hardest part is finishing which I’m excited about.

Subframe Cleaned and ready for the motor and transmission

The subframe is ready to go back in the car once I get the motor and transmission installed. I was able to get the subframe cleaned really good. I installed the iPD sway bar, FWD steering rack, and Delrin bushings.

I cleaned the motor and started on the maintenance work, new timing belt kit, cam seals, and PCV.

Some of the parts pulled off the silver car:

A little bit of RX-7 work

On Friday the 12th, I had the downpipe adjusted so I no longer have an exhaust leak at the manifold. I still need to replace the gasket between the downpipe and the midpipe. When I was leaving the exhaust shop the starter decided to start to die. The starter got to the point that I had to climb under the car and tap on the starter to get it to start the car. I was able to get the starter replaced last week once it came in.

AWD subframe Pulled

I was able to get a good start on the motor on Friday. I pulled the front off the car and pulled the wiring harness off the motor.

I set up a table to put all my upgrade parts on to keep them safe. I still need to move all my new parts to the table.

I pulled the subframe assembly out of the all wheel drive car on Saturday. I took a shortcut and cut the front brace so I wouldn’t have to raise it as high. I still need to install the FWD subframe into this car so I’ll be able to roll it onto a trailer for scrapping.

I was able to get this subframe pulled quite a bit faster than the first one due to the learning curve the first time around. I had intended to get quite a bit further along on Saturday but I ended up helping work on a 1996 Nissan Maxima instead and that took 12 hours.

Pulling the FWD subframe apart

Made some good progress today before the rain killed my momentum. I pulled the motor, transmission, and steering rack off the subframe.

I spent quite a bit of time cleaning the transmission to prep it for the install. The front wheel drive transmission will be ready to install as soon as I replace the axle seals.

I cleaned the steering rack as well one I pulled it off the subframe.

I purchased new front and rear motor mounts, once I pulled the subframe, I was able to see that they had both collapsed.

FWD Subframe pulled

I finally got the motor out of my black Volvo V70. Now to get the motor and transmission separated, and pulled from the subframe. After that I need to pull the motor from the silver car. And after that put the black car back together.

Boost/Wideband Oxygen Gauge

I finally have my transmission jack so I can start on the motor swap this weekend. I also got myself a toy. Innovate Motorsports 3892 PSB-1 Boost/Wideband Oxygen Gauge Kit. I don’t know of anyone else who has used this kit on the P80 Volvo so I will be a bit of a test dummy.

More removal if Parts

I’ve really started to get parts pulled over the last couple of weeks. I’m still waiting on the transmission jacks so I haven’t been able to drop the subframe assembly on either car. I was able to pull the full interior out of the T5.

I cleaned the headliner us the technique in the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mra6ysxkTLc

I pulled the driver’s side front door to weld the the catch location where someone had torn it out.

My first welding job.

I also made progress on the engine bay.

I pulled the radiator support, radiator, and intercooler. When I pulled the lower intercooler hose, a quart and a half of oil drained out of it. I guess the previous owner wasn’t kidding when he said he was driving the car for almost a year with a dead turbo.

More Parts

More parts are here. Plugs, filters, camshaft seals, transmission output seals, and brakes (rotors, pads, shoes, rear SS lines and fluid). My new transmission jacks will be here tomorrow hopefully. I can’t wait to start pulling the cars apart to do the motor swap.

First on the list is to finish pulling the interior out of the black car so I can install the charcoal R interior our of the silver car. I’m hoping to get that done this weekend.