bad ideas part 2

[SirBrickWagon]

well, i'm back. time to upset some purists with ideas and questions.

so, there was an xc70 built on the p80 platform.

if i were to theoretically find one of these at a parts yard would it be possible to swap out the rear end, engine, and transmission to get an AWD turbo 850?

if it's tough but doable, that's fine by me. i need something to keep me occupied after school.

most concerned about the rear end's mounting points being the same as the ones on the 850.

[BlackBart]

or....... Get a decent XC P80 and re-trim it out to look like your preferred earlier 850 - bumper covers, trim, springs, etc.....??

Or are you thinking of converting your '97? Others here will know a lot more then I do, but if they were building 2WD 850/V70s at the same time as AWD XC70s, wouldn't they have used a common body shell with the attachment points for either? It seems the economical way to build cars. There are differences in the fuel tanks, etc, to straddle the driveshaft.

[matthew1]

Here you go AWD 850 conversion.

[abscate]

The North American Intervention Group for P80 AWD cars is headquartered in Calgary. Membership is Scot-Free.

There are many issues that come up. Wearing a BMW timing chain as a cilice will be less painful.

[SirBrickWagon]

or....... Get a decent XC P80 and re-trim it out to look like your preferred earlier 850 - bumper covers, trim, springs, etc.....??

Or are you thinking of converting your '97? Others here will know a lot more then I do, but if they were building 2WD 850/V70s at the same time as AWD XC70s, wouldn't they have used a common body shell with the attachment points for either? It seems the economical way to build cars. There are differences in the fuel tanks, etc, to straddle the driveshaft.

looking to convert my car, probably. don't have a lot of money so parts yards are my best friend. if a good xc70 came in i wouldn't be able to buy it outright.

[SirBrickWagon]

The North American Intervention Group for P80 AWD cars is headquartered in Calgary. Membership is Scot-Free.

There are many issues that come up. Wearing a BMW timing chain as a cilice will be less painful.

difficulty isn't so much of an issue, i need a good challenge.

[abscate]

You should understand that many of the parts in the AwD subframe are no longer available for purchase so a parts car is a necessity

[June]

In my opinion from ownership of a new P80 AWD. The thread name is completely correct! The Volvo guru's on here claim the newer AWD that do not use the viscous coupling are reliable. One new tire when the 98 was less than a year and under 10K destroyed the AWD in mine. At that time the dealer couldn't keep it working for more than three months before something would cause a vibration at the least, to throwing a shaft on the interstate right through a VW grill, condenser, and radiator. My insurance agent wasn't happy that day as the owner received a $30,000 payout for mental anguish. No kidding... So why ruin a perfectly good 850? If new parts are not available, and anything 20+ years old would certainly be trash or a ticking time bomb.? June

[scot850]

They are rare, but there were 850 AWD's sold in Canada and not the US. The advantage they have is they only came in manual transmissions. They do come up for sale occasionally.

There are also V70 AWD as well as the V70 XC AWD out there.

Out friend on MVS bmdubya did the reverse and converted an AWD V70 R to a FWD with manual trans.

AS abscate says, many of the parts for the P80 AWD are now NLA from Volvo. Front end and engine parts are mostly the same as FWD cars, but from the transmission back under the car is mostly different. That is where lots of parts are NLA, like suspension and sub-frame bushes, some of the bolts and other suspension and emissions parts are also hard to find.

The V70 XC come up for sale fairly frequently and usually broken as few know how to fix them.

Neil.

[BlackBart]

OR.....we have found that our FWD T-5 850 with four Blizzaks mounted is nearly unstoppable if you drive reasonably. (like don't stuff it into snowbanks)

That leaves you with just a motor swap instead.