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Best modifications made to your P80 Volvo

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

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Richard99
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Year and Model: 2000 V70XC
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Best modifications made to your P80 Volvo

Post by Richard99 »

Hi,

Wondering if people would like to share modifications they have made to their P80 Volvo that they feel improved the performance, reliability, or looks of the vehicle?

Thanks for sharing!

Eric
Eric

1998 Volvo V70 - rear-ended and totaled
2000 Volvo V70XC
2007 Volvo V50 T5 AWD M66

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misha
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Year and Model: '97 850 2.5 20v
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Post by misha »

I had door and front bumper trims professionally painted in matching color.

Upgraded to rear bumper and tailgate with upper LED 3rd brake light from '99-'00 v70.
Tailgate spoiler/wing (OE Volvo).

Upgraded to s,v70 instrument cluster because of broken odometer gear(s)and solved the problem permanently.

Also had tinted windows all around,but that needed to be removed because of our freshly awkward law.

Wooden trim gearshift knob from s,v70 series,thanks to Neil(scot850)to match the factory wood trim interior. ;)
'97 850 2.5 20v / fully equipped / Motronic 4.4 from the factory / upgraded with S,V,C,XC70 instrument cluster / polar white wagon
History of Volvos in the family:
'71 144 S
'73 144 De Luxe
'78 244 DL
'78 244 DL
'79 244 GLE
'85 340 GLS

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Sveedy
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Year and Model: 96 850 Turbo
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Post by Sveedy »

Put a sticker on it ?
Try to learn life's bad lessons vicariously through others.


1996 850 Turbo GLH ( Goes Like Hell )
1999 V70 GLT

redc70
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Post by redc70 »

Strut tower brace. Reduced cowl shake significantly but still unacceptable.
IPD short ram intake. Love the sound of the air intake under acceleration, might have more throttle response, probably not.
Pierburg TCV in anticipation of Hilton tune.
Silicone turbo hoses.

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matthew1
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Post by matthew1 »

For HP, by far the best cost/benefit ratio was a manual boost controller. It was peanuts for the huge jump in HP. Even more cost/benefitty if you DIY one from stuff at a hardware store, maybe $20.

Strut tower brace was a decent upgrade.

Tires however are probably the most prudent item you can upgrade. It doesn't matter what's in or on a car. 800 HP LS1 swap? Five strut braces, a nuclear reactor engine, and three beautiful blonde passengers? Doesn't matter. The tires are still and always the only thing that transmits power, turning forces, and braking forces.
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1998 V70, no dash lights on

1997 850 T5 [gone] w/ MSD ignition coil, Hallman manual boost controller, injectors, R bumper, OMP strut brace

2004 V70 R [gone]

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FlyingVolvo
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Post by FlyingVolvo »

Depends on how much you wanna spend! See my signature for my list of 2000 XC mods... it is a completely different car. I would know, I did all these these mods when it had 280K!

If I could only pick a few.... a tune is probably easiest way to change the feeling of the car. IPD short intake sounds and looks great. IPD sway bars change the handling drastically in a good way.
2000 V70XC - 340,000 miles
Hilton Tune, 16T Turbo, Mototec 3" downpipe, Blue injectors, IPD Short Ram Filter, Snabb Intake Piping & RIP kit, do88 Intercooler, TME Dual Exhaust, HID Projectors, R Panels, do88 Silicone Hoses

2023 V60 T8 PE

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erikv11
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Year and Model: 850, V70, S60R, XC70
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Post by erikv11 »

ecbsykes wrote: 30 Jan 2020, 21:18 Depends on how much you wanna spend! See my signature for my list of 2000 XC mods... it is a completely different car. I would know, I did all these these mods when it had 280K!

If I could only pick a few.... a tune is probably easiest way to change the feeling of the car. IPD short intake sounds and looks great. IPD sway bars change the handling drastically in a good way.
Love what you've done with this car Ed!
'95 854 T-5R, Motronic 4.4, 185k
'98 V70, T5 tune-injectors-turbo, LPT engine, 304k, daily driver
'06 S60 R, 197k
'07 XC70, black, 205k
'07 XC70, willow green, 212k
'99 Camry V6 :shock: 153k
gone: '96 NA 850 210k, '98 NA V70 182k, '98 S70 NA 225k, '96 855 NA 169k

Peevarino
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Year and Model: 2009 XC70, 97 855R
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Post by Peevarino »

Still stage 0ing my 97 855R, so not much modified, RIP and Snaab intake pipe, poly upper torque mounts (don’t really mind the extra vibrations at idle). Favorite mod? $8 cassette adapter from Amazon, blasting black flag and minor threat on my commute is just plain fun.
09 XC70 3.2
97 855R

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Rattnalle
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Post by Rattnalle »

I agree with Matthew that tyres, if you don't already have good ones, are by far the best upgrade you can do.

SlowLane
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Year and Model: 1996 855 Turbo
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Post by SlowLane »

Prancing Moose fender badges.
Current Volvos:
2014 T6 XC70 - Turning into an expensive lesson.
2002 2.9 S80 - Wife's car, the "Silver Flash"
1996 855 Turbo - Formerly daughter's ride. My toy now.

Former Volvos:
1997 855 GLT - Totalled by daughter. Now she appreciates Volvos. :wink:
1984 244 DL B23F - warped head after radiator blew
1982 245 GL B21A - My first Volvo. Sold with 400,000 km on it.

Other:
1981 VW Westfalia - Californiated Canadian

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