Restoration: I Bought the Cheapest Running 98 V70 T5M (2023)

[abscate]

I thought all P80's had the wide opening hoods. Now I will have to go check my 00 R. 454cid, can you post a picture of your hood hinges?

Neil.

Sorry, it took a few days for me to get to this.... I did not take a picture because I was wrong. My 99 hood does open 90 degrees as you thought. When I initially tried opening the hood 90 degree, I was in a hurry, and possibly cold/dark. It turns out that while the mechanism is a little different than my 850 it still has the short brackets that pivot... they're just hard to move. I sprayed them with Liquid Wrench. I got the hood open all the way, and got a new look behind the engine.

I'm glad to have this feature. I love the old massive GM hood hinges from the 60's that hold the hood above the car instead of the weenie hood pivot points you see today. These Volvo hinges remind me of those, but with added functionality of opening further.

I’m glad you posted this so that no one will notice I made the same false claim that the 1999s don’t open their mouth wide open. Just found the knobs on Shagg and did crouching Tiger , Yawning Lion

[BlackBart]

The straight-up hood is one of my favorite maintenance bits on the 850. I actually show it to people.

[scot850]

Glad you found them and all is good!

Neil.

[WhatAmIDoing]

UPDATE: Grabbed a junkyard alternator to replace the one with no output. The brushes on the old alternator were almost nonexistent. I tried to get away with replacing just the voltage regulator, but that went anything but well. So I pulled the PS pump and just replaced the whole alternator with one with only ~150k miles.

While I was at it, discovered the coolant reservoir return barb was busted. Replaced it and the return hose with a junkyard unit, and swapped out the black cap for a green.

Getting over 14V at the battery now and no more flickery lights. Seems to run better now that everything is getting full voltage.

Made two new discoveries: The radiator sandwich doesn't seem to be fixed to anything anymore and is just floating between the fan and the fiberglass cowl. The A/C compressor (which I don't think works) pulley is very growly but still spins freely.

[bmdubya1198]

There are four screws that attach the AC condenser and intercooler to the radiator. They should just be u-clip style nuts on the radiator, so nothing special. The steel brackets that attach to the sides to the intercooler like to fall out or come loose from the tabs that hold it onto the intercooler. Really bad design…
I actually ran without those brackets for a couple years on my old ‘98 V70. Didn’t know what they were for at the time I reassembled the car when I first bought it, so I left them out. I eventually realized after a while that I never installed them on the car… the intercooler moved around a bit, but never got damaged from moving around.

[scot850]

My intercooler did get damaged from the brackets not being there. It wore a chafe hole through the casing which I got a radiator repair shop to repair and asked them to flush it clean at the same time it was there.

I used some of the alternate side barbs and careful use of self threading aluminum screws to hold the brackets in place. Way stronger than original.

Neil.

[foggydogg]

UPDATE: Grabbed a junkyard alternator to replace the one with no output. The brushes on the old alternator were almost nonexistent. I tried to get away with replacing just the voltage regulator, but that went anything but well. So I pulled the PS pump and just replaced the whole alternator with one with only ~150k miles.

While I was at it, discovered the coolant reservoir return barb was busted. Replaced it and the return hose with a junkyard unit, and swapped out the black cap for a green.

Getting over 14V at the battery now and no more flickery lights. Seems to run better now that everything is getting full voltage.

Made two new discoveries: The radiator sandwich doesn't seem to be fixed to anything anymore and is just floating between the fan and the fiberglass cowl. The A/C compressor (which I don't think works) pulley is very growly but still spins freely.

I must have missed a couple episodes, I thought the J/Y alternator was already in service; as I think was mentioned before, low voltage output from the alternator can cause goofy driveablitiy things. Lots of stuff in the way on the turbo cars, so moving the pump is one way. I think the last two I did the car was already in the air so mine came out the bottom. If you get frisky and attack the sandwich up front, find Robert's vid on the fan mod, doesn't take a lot of time and you gain over an inch of space up there.
Another spot to check - since the car was in some state of disassembly when you saved it - is the rubber mounts on the bottom tabs for the radiator itself. The factory bits have a metal tube to keep from crushing the bushing. (9180544, NLA from dealers, ipd claims to have some.)

[bmdubya1198]

Oh yeah, I can definitely see the movement wearing through the intercooler over time. I was honestly surprised that mine never wore through.

[abscate]

I ditch those horrible screws and metal backings for cheap,SS m6 hardware if I ever move a radiator.

You can drill a 1 inch hole for easy tool access. You get 10 more HP with those holes

[WhatAmIDoing]

I'll read more into securing the rad sandwich. Finally got to drive the car for the full day. It drives pretty nice now. Still stumbles off idle if I'm too aggressive with the clutch/gas.

Replaced the driver's door with the mismatch one I salvaged. Nice having a fully functional door now. Needs a bit of adjustment, it hits on the bottom when I close it. also have to figure out how to swap the lock cylinder.