98 V70XC saved from the crusher

[Brickbox8398]

I have been a Volvo guy since 2010 but have been out of the club (and forums) for 10 years. My how time flies. I came across a very cheap wagon recently with no intentions of buying a car and inheriting a new project but here we are! My love for the p80s is even stronger now, and the nostalgia is strong. This car is not a good example of a p80 (you will see shortly), but I justify it by calling it a passion project. The goal is to get it drive able as cheap as possible, do some tasteful upgrades I can recoup later if needed, and have a nostalgic daily driver to split the miles between vehicles. TLDR: at least there are pictures below? Everyone likes pictures.

History. This car has spent its whole life in southern NH/Maine, including now. Currently has 162k miles. I am the third (registered) owner which I think is pretty good. However my investigation has found this car sat since 2019 at least and had two unregistered owners before me (making 4 total) because owner 2 lost the title, and in NH/Maine the car has to be over 25 years old to not “need” a title to register. Also, the inspection sticker was scraped at some point, so it clearly had issues. I think the last two owners never reached their goal of making this car drive able. Either way, the carfax was impeccable so I could see the potential in this project. The first owner of 10 years was likely an old lady. Serviced only at a dealer. The 2nd owner of another 10 years appeared to keep it serviced at that same dealer. However, this owner appears to have done the most damage to the car. Pretty sure this owner is “the smoker”, and its final years of service records were at a couple indy mechanics. I am assuming this is around when the AWD parts were deleted. I was disappointed to find this out after purchase. But I wasn’t really able to Jack the car up in the guys driveway. Turns out he said a lot of things worked that really didn’t…but that was silently reflected in the price of $600. Honestly this car was destined for the crusher if it didn’t find the right owner, it has already been waiting for the right owner for 5 to 6 years! All that aside, the body is fairly straight and the interior cleaned up well. You can tell that “light weight” people owned this car because the seats are in fantastic shape. Only problem is the subframe mounting points and other components are quite rotten. You can tell this was a New England car and spent most of its life not getting washed especially underneath. At least I don’t see any rot through the floor pans or rockers. I just know that every bolt I touch on this car will be a problem. And the biggest concern, the AWD fuel system. I have no fuel gage, and the hard lines out back look terrible. I will need to drop the subframe and tank in the near future to patch lines and replace the sending unit(s).

Current status. I have registered the XC and put 75 miles on it. It truly drives great considering how it looks underneath. This is only after the following work/fixes: PCV system, vacuum leaks, steering lines, full brake job, ignition tune up, new tires. Factory suspension is still working well, even the nivomats. Still needs motor (torque) mounts, thermostat, front pass CV axle. It still needs an inspection, and I believe it needs the ABS module fix to pass that. I am still all-in for less than 2k on this car so overall I am very happy with it and quickly approaching my goal. I am so excited to hear that 5 cylinder sound again, and ride in p80 comfort.

[scot850]

Wow! While I normally tell potential owners to run far from a P80 AWD, in this case I can see the attraction. The interior is amazing, as is the exterior that I can see too. We owned an identical car bought for a similar amount from an auction with no issues listed. Oh, boy did it have issues!

At least the AWD did work after a fashion. Lots of work later and it ran great. The only issue was the corrosion of the rear subframe we get up here. It is what eventually totaled the car. I liked that car and it was a good all-around car and our son's first car that he liked a lot.

I'll be interested to hear haw the remediation goes!

Good Luck!

Neil.

[abscate]

The big worry on the P80 AWD cars is..... can you get the rear axle carrier to drop without it disintegrating into pieces? Niel warned me about this with the Kat, my 99 AWD, but I dodged a bullet there.

I did just pick up a nice 1999 S70 AWD with VA and CA heritage and the rear axle is pristine.

[Brickbox8398]

Wow! While I normally tell potential owners to run far from a P80 AWD, in this case I can see the attraction. The interior is amazing, as is the exterior that I can see too. We owned an identical car bought for a similar amount from an auction with no issues listed. Oh, boy did it have issues!

At least the AWD did work after a fashion. Lots of work later and it ran great. The only issue was the corrosion of the rear subframe we get up here. It is what eventually totaled the car. I liked that car and it was a good all-around car and our son's first car that he liked a lot.

I'll be interested to hear haw the remediation goes!

Good Luck!

Neil.

My first Volvo was a 98 S70 T5M, and I never understood or appreciated the trouble that I was spared by having "just the FWD version." I only felt a strong desire to experience AWD donuts in the snow and unstoppable winter performance backed by the same 5 cylinder power and sound. Was I wrong about that! I now understand how a car that can be mechanically totalled for only needing fuel pumps and lines let alone AWD parts on top of that. All that said, given the corrosion on the XC, I have told myself it is not worth paying $800+ for used AWD components to maybe function again. I most likely will be paying $800 for a never ending headache. Trying not to go upside down on this car as well. I will just appreciate it for what it is.

[Brickbox8398]

The big worry on the P80 AWD cars is..... can you get the rear axle carrier to drop without it disintegrating into pieces? Niel warned me about this with the Kat, my 99 AWD, but I dodged a bullet there.

I did just pick up a nice 1999 S70 AWD with VA and CA heritage and the rear axle is pristine.

I need to drop the rear subframe eventually to address rotten fuel lines. They don't currently leak but they look like mulch glued together to represent a pipe. Do I need to worry about this axle carrier if my AWD has already been deleted and I don't intend on putting it back? My worry with this car is that I could accidentally total it by simply taking the rear subframe out, just to address fuel issues!

[scot850]

You could go the FWD route and delete the whole AWD rear end and transfer a FWD rear suspension and axles in like Bmdubya did with his V70R and has been detailed by Robert DIY and I believe others. That way you keep the good stuff and get rid of the complex AWD stuff.

Neil

[Brickbox8398]

You could go the FWD route and delete the whole AWD rear end and transfer a FWD rear suspension and axles in like Bmdubya did with his V70R and has been detailed by Robert DIY and I believe others. That way you keep the good stuff and get rid of the complex AWD stuff.

Neil

I am aware of that swap. I was hoping to work with what I got right now, but I could entertain the swap depending what i run into.

[abscate]

Link to my Kat Resurrection thread , which has links to Neil’s resurrection thread generously spread throughout.

viewtopic.php?t=95586&hilit=Resurrection

You do have to drop the rear carrier to access the fuel lines , and a lot of parts there are not available. Once you get the big bolts to come out, it’s a driveway job in decent weather as you can see in the thread.

Keep the fuel level well over 4 gallons to keep that fuel pump cool in a gasoline bath, And just drive her.

[volvolugnut]

And just drive her.

Good advice for all our vehicles. Go drive all your Vovlos!

volvolugnut

[scot850]

I dropped the rear subframe on my car with it on jack stands. I've also dropped several in the junkyards over the years again with them on the equivalent of jack stands.

Neil.