Login Register

Pimping Mom's old ride (S70 T5 Restoration)

Help, Advice and DIY Tutorials on Volvo's P80 platform cars -- Volvo's 1990s "bread and butter" cars -- powered by the ubiquitous and durable Volvo inline 5-cylinder engine.

1992 - 1997 850, including 850 R, 850 T-5R, 850 T-5, 850 GLT
1997 - 2000 S70, S70 AWD
1997 - 2000 V70, V70 AWD
1997 - 2000 V70-XC
1997 - 2004 C70

Post Reply
slupul
Posts: 20
Joined: 8 October 2015
Year and Model: 1998 S70 T5 SE
Location: Kelowna, BC

Pimping Mom's old ride (S70 T5 Restoration)

Post by slupul »

I inherited mommy's sports car (haha), My '98 S70 T5 SE last October. I hadn't originally planned on owning this car, because I was so set on having a manual, but this turned out to be a much better financial decision (IE, essentially free) for me. It took me about a week of driving to fall in love and really appreciate being able to drive the car that I was basically born into and had in the family my whole life.

The best part? Being able to bring it back to it's former glory. I've done a lot of stuff so far but more is to come! I'll post what I have so far and stay tuned for more cool stuff around the corner! The original thread can be found over on SS too.

Possession Day:

She has seen better days. Paint is not worn down but could use some re-doing. Front bumper has a few dents and dings, probably from when I was learning to drive.

Image

Image

Image

2 years ago the front seat started splitting and my mom never got around to fixing it. Too bad, because it's beyond repair. All's not lost, I sourced some new seat covers and will get to work making the interior looking great again!
Image

Image

Did some Dynamat in the front doors and the back parcel shelf. The material on the inside of the door panels didn't do anything for the sound, however, formed around the front speakers and in the parcel shelf did wonders for controlling the low-mids and bass frequencies. The stock system is these cars is aweeeesome!

Image
Image
Image


added a new rear decal, inspired by some fellow Swedes, and mudflaps.

Image
Image

Oh, and I discovered I have a ghost for a left-hand radiator bolt:

Image
Image

Just got some new leather seat covers (proper SE) in the mail yesterday, and hit them with some fine sandpaper to take down the pilling. More updates to come with the seats. Next on the list is side marker lights, SAS delete (because we can do that here in Canada, and mine squeals like a pig) R bumper and beyond!

precopster
Posts: 7543
Joined: 21 August 2010
Year and Model: Lots
Location: Melbourne Australia
Has thanked: 8 times
Been thanked: 128 times

Post by precopster »

Great looking vehicle. Not as many S70s out there as V70s. I always thought that rear boot lip looked great in conjunction with a spoiler.

Keep up the great work. The T5s go like a stunned mullet !!
Current cars VW Transporter 2.5TDI, 2010 XC90 D5 R Design

User avatar
bmdubya1198
Posts: 6338
Joined: 30 December 2014
Year and Model: 2K V70R M56
Location: Charlotte, NC
Has thanked: 304 times
Been thanked: 517 times

Post by bmdubya1198 »

Nice car! I'd like to throw the side markers on my car, I just need to figure out how to wire them up.
00 V70R Venetian Red/Charcoal M56 Swapped 214k
07 XC90 V8 AWD Sport Titanium Grey/Black 220k
92 245 White/Beige 249k
91 944 Turbo 175k
…and a bunch of other stuff
Sold-
03 S60 2.4T
00 S70 GLT
98 V70 GLT
93 944
98 S90
95 850 GLT
01 S60 2.4T
05 S60R M66
08 S40 2.4i
88 744 Turbo M46

benpineapple
Posts: 313
Joined: 3 November 2015
Year and Model: '06 V50 T5, '13 XC90
Location: MI
Has thanked: 5 times
Been thanked: 4 times

Post by benpineapple »

bmdubya1198 wrote:Nice car! I'd like to throw the side markers on my car, I just need to figure out how to wire them up.

rspi shows how you can tell if your car is pre-wired or not. He's mostly talking about 850s, not 70 series. I feel like the 70 series would be even more likely to be pre-wired.

slupul, haha the re-spaced Volvo name on the back looks so fresh! I've always been jealous of the newer ones, or the super old ones that have that spacing. Did you buy all new letters, or just reuse the other ones? How hard was it to clean up the gunk that was left behind from the old letters? I might do this. Inspired.
2006 V50 T5 [190,xxxM]
2013 XC90 FWD [80,xxxM]

2001 V70 X/C AWD [sold at 120xxxM],1998 V70 AWD [RIP at 249,255M], 1990 240 [SOLD at 220xxxM]

User avatar
bmdubya1198
Posts: 6338
Joined: 30 December 2014
Year and Model: 2K V70R M56
Location: Charlotte, NC
Has thanked: 304 times
Been thanked: 517 times

Post by bmdubya1198 »

benpineapple wrote:
bmdubya1198 wrote:Nice car! I'd like to throw the side markers on my car, I just need to figure out how to wire them up.

rspi shows how you can tell if your car is pre-wired or not. He's mostly talking about 850s, not 70 series. I feel like the 70 series would be even more likely to be pre-wired.

slupul, haha the re-spaced Volvo name on the back looks so fresh! I've always been jealous of the newer ones, or the super old ones that have that spacing. Did you buy all new letters, or just reuse the other ones? How hard was it to clean up the gunk that was left behind from the old letters? I might do this. Inspired.
Yeah, I've seen that. My car isn't pre-wires, unfortunately. I have a set of the lights sitting around, maybe I'll do that soon!
00 V70R Venetian Red/Charcoal M56 Swapped 214k
07 XC90 V8 AWD Sport Titanium Grey/Black 220k
92 245 White/Beige 249k
91 944 Turbo 175k
…and a bunch of other stuff
Sold-
03 S60 2.4T
00 S70 GLT
98 V70 GLT
93 944
98 S90
95 850 GLT
01 S60 2.4T
05 S60R M66
08 S40 2.4i
88 744 Turbo M46

Post Reply
  • Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post