Meet the new non 300 Daily. Updates 17/08/13 LOTS OF PICS!!

[340GLT]

Well as per my other build thread for the 350R i have indeed built a new daily driver. Its from what i can tell the only RHD AWD 850R Saloon. And definately the only 4wd saloon in the UK. Engine has had a few bits and pieces done too. I will let the masses of pictures do the talking. As it will be copied from another forum.
Adam

Hi everyone. In november i bought myself a low mileage 850R Auto saloon with blown headgasket to become my new daily and a quick build project. With the biggest single mod to convert it to AWD using the AWD system from an 850 AWD estate doner and at the same time complete the manual swap. Reason for the conversion is i really dont do Auto or wrong wheel drive.....

I also managed to come accross a pair of compomotive MO6's in 18 x 8 fitment to go with the pair i already had. Unfortunately they were the incorrect offset for the 850 so i needed spacers. So instead of going for the expensive extended wheel bolt option, i decided to convert the car to wheel studs and nuts instead as i hate wheel bolts anyway. I also upgraded it to the 302mm discs.

I also decided a small head unit upgrade was on the cards as i wanted iphone feedback. Because of using the single din ALpine unit i wanted to fill the space with something other than a radio pocket so i made a gauge panel using a set of VAG VDO gauges which will also give me nice engine readings too.

In early February i picked up my doner AWD which looks a state but has all the parts i need on it and a fairly low mileage again. I got the car from my local breakers yard hence the knackered roof. The car drove into the yard and the prop was still all connected so i cannot see why there will be any problems with the running gear.

Cheers Adam

[340GLT]

Well the rear suspension is on and all fitted. The driveshafts have been painted as was most other items o the rear suspension.
I have converted the centre console to take the standard gear gaiter by cutting the surround from the manual and bonding it into the auto centre console. Works a treat.
The wheels have come back from the powdercoaters and have had the tyres fitted.
The ride height is ok for now, i cut one coil from the rear springs whilst the suspension was apart.
Overall fitting of the rear suspension has been relatively straight forward like i planned the ABS fuel Pump and fuel sender wires are all a direct plug in. So now its time to move onto the front.
The car has already had the pedlas fitted from the manual and i modified th egear lever for a better driving position. (pics to follow)
I also built a 16t up including porting the cold side outlet. For now i have used a 6cm straight flange hot side so i can use the awd downpipe but i will upgrade this at a later date.
I have also aquired a race cat for the build.
Cheers Adam

[340GLT]

[340GLT]

[340GLT]

Whilst building the 850 i killed my iphone. Only just realised a load of pics of the bracket fitting were lost on my backup phone so excuse the pic quality but i will upload anyway.
Adam

[340GLT]

I have been workig on this but have been way too lazy to update so here is an update:P
I have located and bought a new later M58 box which is mint and warranteed so all is good there.
I have taken the T5 engine out of the R and got it on a stand to sort the head gasket which is now done. All new genuine volvo gaskets all valves decoked, lapped in etc. I have also detailed the engine a fair bit and done the BTCC filler mod, just for the hell of it. Its now running a 960 throttle body and soon to be running blue injectors.
Engine should be going back in in the next couple of days as i have also swapped the 4wd Subframe into the R.

At the start of the project i bought some poly ARB bushes but when i looked the ARB brackets i had wouldnt work. I soon found out that 1993 brackets are required. As an added bonus i found the AWD had a thicker ARB too.
Anyways here are the pics.
Cheers Adam

[340GLT]

Well long time no update. I have had a bit of a nightmare with this one recently. I got the engine in fairly easily after swapping subframes. Once it was in i kept plodding along in the evenings after work etc getting bits put back in. As i have changed to a 98 onwards gearbox i needed to have a new clutch line made, i couldnt get one locally in a breakers so i grabbed an S40 one as it has the same ends and had some braided line made up for in between. The gearbox has had all new seals etc and a thorough cleaning.
I also got around to buying some MR2 poly gear linkage bushes, fited those and made myself a quickshift complete with aluminium turned gear leaver shaft. Fitted my ITG filter, then the problems started......
I mixed some coolant up and started filling the expansion bottle. When i realised it had taken nearly all required coolant but kept emptying the bottle, but no leaks. Strange so i left it till later that day and found a very wet and blue passenger footwell. Up under the dash i went as i relaised it must be the heater matrix. So i set about ripping all seats and carpet etc out before the coolant had stained everything. I used some carpet valet i have here scrubbed the carpets and pressure washed till water ran clean. Luckily Wales was having a rare type of weather... Sun... So everthing could dry quickly.
To be honest the carpets cleaned up much nicer than i ever imagined they would and the day after the carpets had been refitted the new matrix turned up. So armed with a cup of coffee i set to refitting tehy new one.
On tuesday the boost pipes turned up, so once i had cut the silicone and worked out the routing i got to painting the hard pipes as im not a fan of the bare polished alloy. Very very happy with how they turned out too.
Plus i did a bit of work on my mates T5 estate.
Got transfer box in today to make exhaust... pics to follow tommorow.
Thats all for now.
Cheers Adam

[Chris_C]

Bloody hell mate, how many cars are in the garden now!?

Looking good though, hope to see it soon!

[340GLT]

The car was booked in for MOT on the 24th so I had a mad rush to get everything sorted including all the bodywork repairs and painting of all the parts. I repaired the front splitter and repainted that along with a pair of the smooth 850 skirts which appear to be slightly deeper in the centre. Anyway I also painted a set of v70/s70 door handles for the car to clean the doors up, I welded the aerial hole up and fitted a glass mount aerial. And lastly repaired the massive key scratch down the side of the car. All this done by late Thursday and a final once over check on the Friday morning.
Well, the time has finally come. The 850R is finished (for now) it went for MOT Friday and only failed on a pair of front arms, which I must admit I knew were dubious but still. Arms back on and she went through. Big thanks to SImon (Rufe) on here for sorting the MOT out at Volvo. Apparently the car had a few admirers and alot of attention.
The driving.... Well I cannot get over how well the car does what I was aiming to achieve. Driving it around it seems very very sure footed, (shimmed front arms to gain a bit of camber on the front)
Saturday morning was wet and I decided to have a bit of a play, at 1.2 bar boost in 1st and second up hill with small crests the car would not unsettle itself. NO WHEELSPIN and no torque steer. So the 4wd system I feel is a very worthy upgrade to a moderately powered 850. The car drives like a dream, really willing to go round corners, even at the moment with very little setup.
In my opinion I would do the conversion again, and don’t forget it could be done to a C70 too......
Adam

[340GLT]

As requested some sunny pics showing paint joins.
Adam

[volvosneverdie]

epic.

[Nimminz]

Nice! looks mean as f**k mate! Some work gone into that!

[jon-ovlov]

Blimey Adam, that's brilliant. You don't half make it look easy! Love the fact you decide you need a daily, and instead of buying one, build one instead. Excellent work mate!

[Evoman]

Looks brillant!! great work adam! only impressed

[volvodspec]

looks like fun! well done mate