96 850 AWD Upgrades

[Randomnamegenerator]

Hello All,

A while back I posted that the I was looking at a 96 850 AWD and it's come through the local ADAC testing station without any major issues I will hopefully have the car in the coming weeks after all the paperwork is sorted.

Anyhow, I have a couple of things that I would like to fix or change in the non to distant future.

Remote central locking: I have read that I just need a module (grey 210?) and a key fob. I have been looking online and haven't found many or at least many at a price that seems reasonable. Is the fob shared with any other models so I can increase the range of my search?

Heated seats: This car doesn't have heated seats. I read somewhere that certain models have the heated seat wiring prewired even if it doesn't have the heated seat. Does anyone know if this is the case for the 96 AWD.

Steering Wheel audio controls: I have seen that some earlier V70 models have steering wheels with audio controls. I plan to update the head unit to something more modern with android auto and most seem to have a 3.5 jack for the steering wheel controls. Has anyone here tried fitting one of these wheels to use the audio controls with a modern head unit or are the controls in these wheels only compatible Volvo head units?


Tyres: The car has awful steel wheels which I will replace when I find a set of alloys that I like. Are there any gotchas with the AWD model tyres or its the same as the regular car?

Thanks in advance, I will post some pics when it's in my care

[abscate]

posted that the I was looking at a 96 850 AWD

Well , that’s exciting. We didn’t see AWD until 1998.

Has someone done some year mixng?

[Randomnamegenerator]

I believe in EU there was a limited run in 96, possibly mainly a Swiss thing as that's where allot of them pop up or have spent time there

[matthew1]

posted that the I was looking at a 96 850 AWD

Well , that’s exciting. We didn’t see AWD until 1998.

Has someone done some year mixng?

https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/awd-v ... e-850-v70/

[scot850]

The link says the final year of the 850 was 1996. In North America it was the 1997 model year (August 97). Me thinks there may be a difference of year sold and model year designation. In Canada we got 850 AWD manual trans wagons in 97 model year or from Aug 96).

AS to modifying, they are really not much different to any other 850. Limitations would be if it was an automatic, but being a manual the next limiting factor would be the Angle gear and V/C unit. Not sure what they are rated to.

I have seen 850's (R) modified to around 500 bhp, but I think the V/C unit and angle gear would give up long before then.

Neil.

[matthew1]

The link says the final year of the 850 was 1996. In North America it was the 1997 model year (August 97).

You're talking about my page (link above, in my post) that itself links to https://www.media.volvocars.com/us/en-u ... h-birthday I'm sure... Volvo uses Euro market MY dates in their press. North American MYs are generally one year later, so you're correct that in NA the last year of the 850 was 1997.

I'm pretty sure this holds true for P80, P1, P2, P3 and even SPA cars.

[befarrer]

Wheels are same as any regular. If anything, you may be able to go wider as the rear cambers inwards on compression, where the fwd models don't normally. I run 225/40ZR17 on my 98 V70 AWD, no rub on the back, only slight on the front inner fenders at full lock.

[scot850]

Only time I get any rub at all is if the car is off the ground (when on a lift or jack stands) at the rear, on full extension the tires (225/45/17) can rub on the frame on the inside of the wheels. Never had any issue driving with the car. Worst case maybe a 5mm spacer would fix that. I didn't have any issue at the front with rubbing until Volvo replaced the sub-frame bushes. Now it rubs on one side only on full lock. I'm guessing the subframe has some movement when loosened and tightening up.

We have a 00 V70R AWD.

Neil.

[befarrer]

Oops, I had 225/40ZR18 tires. On Pegasus rims, I was running 235/4*R17 just fine. I can't remember if they were 45 or 40.

[scot850]

The difference is if you are using P2 rims. I'm using P2 rims and they have a 49mm offset which sets them 6mm further into the car than P80 originals at 43mm offset.

Neil.