What did you do to your P2 Volvo today?

[Georgeandkira]

Installed the Bilstein B6 rear shocks this morning. Noticeable improvement with just new rears.

BONUS DEVELOPMENT: I suppose covideconomics has lowered the price of the front struts. They're <$200 on RA!

Today I see the rears listed at >10% less than the "good price" I paid last Winter.

Odd that the Volvo originals had no markings.

[abscate]

Was thinking of you while dropping $390 for groceries at Uncle Guisseppe’s in Route 17 last weekend

[Mike Langlois]

Spent an hour under the V70 with a pressure washer- ohhh what fun! Removed the oil sump and was pleasantly surprised to find is fairly clean with no carbon clogged parts. Started organizing all the parts in preparation for reassembly. Pulling the head next for port matching, polishing and a valve job...

[abscate]

I want photos of all that Santa Ana rust you washed off

[BlackBart]

One of my trademark moves on grimy old cars was to go to the car wash with a floor jack, jack it up from the side until it's about to tip over, spray degreaser, wait, and then lay on the concrete and blast the bottom and engine with the high pressure washer. What a wet and greasy mess I was.

But my very clean P2 job today was to add some of my bike reflector stickers to the open tailgate. When you're loading at night on a dark road, or pulled over, they really light up. An all black car with small taillight reflectors doesn't show up well. I put a couple on the front door jams as well - when did they stop putting the red marker lights on the backs of the doors? My 850 has them.

[Mike Langlois]

I pulled the head off, removed the pistons and cleaned them up, honed the cylinders and started installing the R style IPD boost gauge. Also pulled off all the studs/bolts from the head in preperation to taking it to the shop for an inspection/ valve job.
Manic Mike

[BlackBart]

That's way harder than stickers.

[abscate]

If you put an R sticker on the back you get an instant 30 HP boost

[Starbuck]

Today I had the steering coupler replaced which hopefully fixed the odd steering wheel kickback I've been encountering in corners. Yes I had a shop do it because I wanted a third opinion on how Ben looked before my trek up to MD/NJ. This is a different shop than the one that performed the PPI. Or rather, named all the things could be replaced but didn't look at Ben at all (I'm fully convinced of this now) despite paying them an hour's labor for their time. Trying really hard not to call them and give them a piece of my mind and or destroy them on Google reviews.

I ordered control arms from FCP Euro two seconds ago and will put those in and get an alignment before I go too. I did not buy the special tool. I'm fairly certain I can install the ball joint somewhere between 1A Auto Sue's splines-be-damned approach and the sweet little guy from FCP who has the tools he needs. Anyone know why I couldn't draw it in with the bolts? Aluminum will bend? Opinions wanted!

[- Pete -]

Today I had the steering coupler replaced which hopefully fixed the odd steering wheel kickback I've been encountering in corners....

Anyone know why I couldn't draw it in with the bolts? Aluminum will bend? Opinions wanted!

Is it worse on left or right hand benders?
Our 06 XC70 had a similar feeling mid-corner (at speed). It was a really bizarre and unsettling feeling. The harder you pushed the car through sweepers the more prominent the sensation was. Pretty much like this - if you were following the car it looked like the driver was zig-zagging or making the corner choppy. From the driver seat, it felt like an invisible hand was pulling the wheel the opposite direction of your hand. It did have a very small PS leak at the rack on the drivers side where the hard line plugs into the rack. I tried switching the PS fluid and it didn’t really change much at all. I would take a close look at your rack for leaks. In my case I never did figure out whether it was the presence of air at the point the PS was leaking. Annoying as hell.

Do you want to try the ball joint tool? I have one and you can try it free as long as you ship it back to me when you’re done. I’d resist the temptation to use the bolts to suck the ball joint in. It’s a pretty snug interference fit & alyouminium threads won’t tolerate a whole lot. I’ve done it 1 time that way & won’t do it again, if at all possible. My excuse is I was in the middle of nowhere and as the bush mechanic it needed to be done. And so it was!