Learn me "Volvo 850 Turbo"

I have been finding them cheap, ie.. $1k Were they available in a 5-speed manual? If they were; how hard would it be to make a replica 850R? I have been finding parts on ebay including exhaust manifold, injectors, wheels, etc...

I grew up watching the German Touring Car Championship with the 850Rs competing against Audi... So I am a chump for liking turbo bricks!

What does everyone think about these cars? I have been seeing some locally that have some work done to them... the 5-cylinder just sounds fantastic when they take off hard...

The turbo was only available with an automatic. The manual swap is do-able, but probably not worth it. The auto isn't terrible.

There are a bunch of us here with 850's or v70's. I love mine - it was problematic at first but had been neglected for a long time so I got it cheap (free, actually) and knew it would have troubles. It's finally becoming a reliable commuter. It's fast enough to open your eyes and comfy enough for long drives. I put Bilstein HD shocks in it and it handles well but rides a good bit firmer than factory. (that's probably where my rattles came from...)

I think they're a great deal right now. For some reason they just bottomed out in value over the last couple years. They're easy to work on, but parts take some hunting to get good deals on. You can get almost anything at autozone/advance/napa, but they're not the cheapest and best sources.

The prevalence of automatics in Volvos is one of the great wrongs of the automotive world.

I just don't like automatics in anything that I want to enjoy driving...

From the archives:

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/articles/volvo-turbos/

I'm looking at Volvo wagons and want a manual swap, but will probably swap the engine at the same time. I haven't found a single wagon with a manual transmission.

Got an 850 wagon NA 5 speed for 800 buck last year. Awesome vehicle. Gets 27 MPG and fun to drive.

pretty much every week there is at least one on the local CL between 1,000-1,500 that at least looks good in the photos

isn't the 850 fwd? I would think the 745 would be a better starting point

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/volvo-850s70-eurotrash-or-treasure/8651/page1/

Maybe the title should've been "learn me the search function"?.

Yep, it's an oft discussed vehicle, and a damn good one. Got my '96 850 N/A wagon 1.5 yrs ago for something like $1400. I've put 31k miles on it with minimal issues, car is now at 140k total miles. Exhaust pipe split a few weeks back, but that's routine stuff (and a tube of $5 Autozone goo to fix it). Only non-routine thing it has needed is a MAF. Fuel mileage is meh, and it's not super fast, but it's a great car. Mine is an oil burner though, about a quart every 700-800 miles or so.

Klayfish, have you checked your PCV system at all? I think that being clogged up can cause oil burning. Mine's been burning oil and I just did the PCV so I am keeping an eye on the oil consumption. Can't vouch for it having fixed the problem yet but I'm hopeful. There was oil in the intake to the turbo (just past the PCV return or whatchamacallit) which implies to me that the PCV was oiling down the intake tract.

Hmm, didn't realize that. I'll have to check it out. I've just been living with it, assuming it's worn valve guides or something. But it'll be worth investigating.

Easy check for the pcv clog is white smoke out the dipstick tube while running or if its leaking oil out the bottom of the timing cover as the cam seals seem to be one of the 1st places the excess pressure relieves itself.

Here's some other links from the past year or so:

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/learn-me-volvo-850s/38356/page1/

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/learn-me-volvo-850/39356/page1/

They're great cars, the white block will go forever. I'm over 200K on my car, and I'd guess around 150K on it's engine. The turbo's can make gobs of power, and the auto trans is good to up to ~300 WHP, the manual (yes the manual used on the N/A cars) is good to well north of that, but you'll need a Quaife to make use of that kind of power.

Mine is a N/A '95 GLT, auto. It's easily the most reliable car I've ever owned. I've done just about all the usual maintenance, and then some, so if you've got any specific questions just ask. I did an engine swap on mine, out of necessity, but because I was dumb enough to overheat the thing. New-to-me lower mileage engine was cheaper than a reman head.

My car has the common N/A mods, and then some. It's not "fast" but has no problem keeping up with traffic. I've got it slightly lowered on Eibachs and Koni oranges. Am considering the IPD anti-swaybars... now I'm rambling.

Parts are really no harder to find than anything else we've got. I use online retailers mostly. IPDUSA.com FCPEuro.com are my primary, and I've gotten reman CV axles and what not from O'Reilly's, have bought an O2 sensor and ignition coil from Autozone, and they were in-stock setting on the shelf didn't have to order. I have also found that parts prices really aren't any worse either, as long as you aren't shopping at the dealer.

There's several large forums dedicated to these cars, and anything you want to know has been asked before. I usually recommend Matthewsvolvosite.com first, it's the most Noob friendly, and general maintenance oriented of the forums.

Klayfish, have you had the spark plug cover off? If there's a pool of oil under there, replace your oil filler cap gasket, that's about the most common place to loose the quantity of oil you're loosing. A clogged PCV would exacerbate the problem.

• Lee

My 850 T5 has 360k on it. I drive it every day, everywhere, anytime. I've had to change the heater core (took 45 minutes), both lower control arms (one ball joint failed completely), and tires. Got it from my brother with 320k on it. Everything still works as it should with exception of the power antenna.

Want another one when/if this one finally dies.