Discussion
Hi all,
We have a family friend whos partner has had to go into a home, hes always owned Volvo's and I've never really taken notice of them over the years but a few years ago at the age of 32 I purchased a SAAB 9-3 V6 estate and then a few months later ended up buying a Volvo XC90 D5 as a "family car", "fast" Volvo's have been on my radar since.
Anyway, in a few weeks we are visiting our family friend, the Volvo has been sat for ages now, last MOT was 2021, While up there I'm going to hopefully run it down to the local garage to get them to try and MOT it or at least see what work it needs!
its a 1997 S70 T5 2.3 auto in blue, not really sure of what condition it is in now if I'm honest but hoping it will run and doesn't need much for the MOT.
If it doesn't I'm sure she will want to sell it, a mate of mine has just put the idea in my head of a road trip back to Sinsheim museum in Germany as we went past there quickly in 2019 on the way to Maranello in my 981 Cayman S, we wanted to go back but I now only have the XC90 and a CDI Smart car none of which are going to be fun on a road trip.
Are the 2.3 engines tuneable at all? I know with a decent exhaust they can sound nice! The car is up in Scotland and I live down in MK so cant just pop over to check.
We have a family friend whos partner has had to go into a home, hes always owned Volvo's and I've never really taken notice of them over the years but a few years ago at the age of 32 I purchased a SAAB 9-3 V6 estate and then a few months later ended up buying a Volvo XC90 D5 as a "family car", "fast" Volvo's have been on my radar since.
Anyway, in a few weeks we are visiting our family friend, the Volvo has been sat for ages now, last MOT was 2021, While up there I'm going to hopefully run it down to the local garage to get them to try and MOT it or at least see what work it needs!
its a 1997 S70 T5 2.3 auto in blue, not really sure of what condition it is in now if I'm honest but hoping it will run and doesn't need much for the MOT.
If it doesn't I'm sure she will want to sell it, a mate of mine has just put the idea in my head of a road trip back to Sinsheim museum in Germany as we went past there quickly in 2019 on the way to Maranello in my 981 Cayman S, we wanted to go back but I now only have the XC90 and a CDI Smart car none of which are going to be fun on a road trip.
Are the 2.3 engines tuneable at all? I know with a decent exhaust they can sound nice! The car is up in Scotland and I live down in MK so cant just pop over to check.
Very tuneable, likely to be only limited by how deep your pockets are but basic changes like intercooler, exhaust, turbo and mapping can see well in excess of 300bhp and 400bhp and 500bhp isn't unheard of. Or, if you're from the Nordic area, then adding another 250bhp on top of that doesn't seem like too much bother... if you have the skills or financial ability. Not sure what the limits of the auto box would be or the chassis, so really a map and breathing mods should see it pushing on towards 300bhp which could be argued is "enough"
As an aside, there's a pretty active Volvo community north of the border so I'm sure if required, somebody could put eyes and ears on it for you if need be. Volvo Owners Scotland on Facebook is probably the most active / accommodating / least bummy of them all. I'm north of the border and have a reasonable knowledge of them, would be happy to have a look if it wasn't a million miles away.
Sadly, watch out for rot... they're of an age where quite a few are getting soft in the floors, sills and around the rear seatbelt mounts / rear seat brackets, rear chassis legs and rear panels despite how many fanbois will proclaim they don't rot. They do. Big time.
As an aside, there's a pretty active Volvo community north of the border so I'm sure if required, somebody could put eyes and ears on it for you if need be. Volvo Owners Scotland on Facebook is probably the most active / accommodating / least bummy of them all. I'm north of the border and have a reasonable knowledge of them, would be happy to have a look if it wasn't a million miles away.
Sadly, watch out for rot... they're of an age where quite a few are getting soft in the floors, sills and around the rear seatbelt mounts / rear seat brackets, rear chassis legs and rear panels despite how many fanbois will proclaim they don't rot. They do. Big time.
Well here she is, its 1997 S70 T5 SE on a P reg.
First job was to uncover the car, it was covered in a chalky substance
So as expected the battery had been left connected and was completely flat, so I left it to charge for about 6 hours and then tried my look! The car fired on first turn of the key, it did sound as if it didn't have enough power to fire for the first two rotations but third rotation it fired up.
I left it to run for about an hour and then attempted to move it, 3 wheels moved fine, the 4th dragged forwards but then when I backed it up, it released.
Gave it a quick was down.
I then drove it round the yard a few times to see if the discs and pads would clear up, they did a little. It seems to drive ok as well.
So the plan is, next time I'm up there (the cars about 5.5 hours away), new discs and pads all around, try to clear the engine warning light (stupidly left my OBD dongle at home) and then run it down to the MOT tester in the village.
If it manages to pass, or doesn't require a lot, then get it done, then clean the interior and also machine polish the exterior. The probably advertise it on behalf of the family (had a few messages already on the S70/V70 Facebook group).
First job was to uncover the car, it was covered in a chalky substance
So as expected the battery had been left connected and was completely flat, so I left it to charge for about 6 hours and then tried my look! The car fired on first turn of the key, it did sound as if it didn't have enough power to fire for the first two rotations but third rotation it fired up.
I left it to run for about an hour and then attempted to move it, 3 wheels moved fine, the 4th dragged forwards but then when I backed it up, it released.
Gave it a quick was down.
I then drove it round the yard a few times to see if the discs and pads would clear up, they did a little. It seems to drive ok as well.
So the plan is, next time I'm up there (the cars about 5.5 hours away), new discs and pads all around, try to clear the engine warning light (stupidly left my OBD dongle at home) and then run it down to the MOT tester in the village.
If it manages to pass, or doesn't require a lot, then get it done, then clean the interior and also machine polish the exterior. The probably advertise it on behalf of the family (had a few messages already on the S70/V70 Facebook group).
Unfortunately the owner of the car passed away the other day, I have said to our family friend I will continue trying to get the car back on the road if it benefits her but at the moment its a grey area.
The owners daughter is likely to inherit the lot (shes not been in contact with her dad for quite a while) but our family friend is saying she actually paid for the Volvo. So if our family friend does end up with it, ill carry on.
The owners daughter is likely to inherit the lot (shes not been in contact with her dad for quite a while) but our family friend is saying she actually paid for the Volvo. So if our family friend does end up with it, ill carry on.
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