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My new winter beater

I found green LED lights that I think are a closer match to OEM. Still too green, but close enough I guess.

The LED lamps appear quite dim inside the dimmer switch given the direction the light is projected, so I glued a piece of tin foil inside the housing. That improves things enough lighting wise even if it's a crude solution.
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Still working with vast to get this car tuned. I haven't been able to hit the targeted boost levels. To date I've replaced the tcv and tested for boost leaks with no luck.

Last night I replaced the WG actuator with a kiniguaw .5 bar model and was finally able to hit 15psi. Of course on the next pull I only saw 10psi. I'm not certain the problem is solved.
 
I finally around to replacing the PCV system on this car. I decided to try the idea of replacing the brittle plastic breather box hose with 5/8" heater hose as other people have done. The whole reason I'm doing this is because the OEM plastic hose had broken in several place. The other rubber bits were replaced with OEM stuff.
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I was able to find the right rotors and pads for this car at FCP for $99. FCP says its the wrong part but the part numbers match up with what's on the car. Apparently there was an update to for the rear brakes, which this particular car never got.

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I replaced the throttle body gasket and cleaned the throttle body. I think this may have fixed my boost issues. I need to log at WOT to be sure.
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Since I have been feeling some vibration at idle and at high RPM's I replaced the front engine pad. Always a fun job on FWD Volvo's due to little access for a 17mm socket. :roll: It's very quiet at idle now and sounds smooth up top.

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My boost issue is fixed. I replaced the upper hard pipe and two of the rubber intercooler hoses. I have no idea which one was the offender. My "knock light" started flashing when I surpassed 18psi. :oops:
 
I cut off the dual muffler setup and replaced it with a single dynomax muffler. I moved the exhaust outlet to the drivers side. It's a bit louder but it also feels peppier during WOT.
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I decided the IPD poly torque mount was making the car too rumbly on cold mornings. The firewall mount was also busted. I tried and failed with the Robert DIY method of pressing in a OEM bushing. I was successful using the method shown below with pipe fittings, carriage bolts, washers and nuts.
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Replaced the firewall mounted bushing while I was at it. It's probably the original.
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Some parts of this homemade press are for one time use only.
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Because of growing issues with the electrical and aiming systems of the factory headlights, I bought a pair of aftermarket TYC units to replace them. I was glad to see that TYC made some needed improvements to the Volvo design. The connectors are much less fragile. The spring retaining clips are easier to deal with. Time will tell if the wiring insulation holds up better.

New on the left and old on the right.
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Two new headlight assemblies.
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I have been experiencing a random sort of miss at idle. The RPM's drop for half a second but the car never dies. On top of that I had also been experiencing inconsistent performance under hard acceleration. Given that plug wires are newish Volvo brand wires and the plugs are new, I started by replacing the cap and rotor. The cap and rotor looked okay to me but I found this corroded plug wire during the process. I tossed on an old plug wire and all my running issues went away.

It's shocking to me that it could be that simple. I still don't know how water would have gotten into this plug wire. The dizzy is located in the middle of the engine bay on these cars. These are wires are only about 5-6 years old. Kind of disappointing.
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Today was the day to replace the busted sunroof with one that was working when removed.

I managed to get the headliner out while only slightly cracking one piece of interior plastic. I was expecting much more P80 plastic carnage from a job like this. I ended up deciding to cut the headliner wiring for easier removal.

Getting the 20-30lb assembly out and back in the car was pretty awkward to do solo.

Headliner out.
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The old sunroof assembly.
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No sunroof assembly.
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Known bad sunroof. Lots of junk in the tracks. At the very least one of the cables needs to be replaced for it to function again. Another part for my junk Volvo parts collection.
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known bad sunroof and known good sunroof
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Now the car finally has a sunroof that works.
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I returned the exhaust back to stock. It seemed to be the simplest way to deal with the rust issues of the rear section.
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I added a used IPD strut brace. I do find P80 cars benefit much in the ride quality department from adding these. The car feels noticeably better on bad roads.
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I also noticed some rust on the under the rocker panel covers. I have not taken them off yet to see just how bad it is. I hope it's just a few spots of light rust. It kind of looked to me that the sharp edges of the cover have cut into the paint over time. I don't know if simple rust converter is the answer for this?
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10k miles to go...
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Awesome job on the headliner/sunroof replacement, that looks like it was a chore! As far as the rust goes, I'd take a small wire wheel and take that rust down to clean metal, wipe with some alcohol or paint prep, then throw some converter on there. I like POR15 and Chassis Saver. From there you could decide if you want to fill the void or maybe it would hide well under the seal. Either way that'll fix it and stop the rust from continuing to grow.
 
Awesome job on the headliner/sunroof replacement, that looks like it was a chore! As far as the rust goes, I'd take a small wire wheel and take that rust down to clean metal, wipe with some alcohol or paint prep, then throw some converter on there. I like POR15 and Chassis Saver. From there you could decide if you want to fill the void or maybe it would hide well under the seal. Either way that'll fix it and stop the rust from continuing to grow.

Thanks!

I ended up using a POR15 kit I had. The rust was a bit worse than I was expecting. I should have either been more careful with the application or gotten silver POR15 paint. The rocker panel cover doesn't quite cover what I did.

This is what was hiding under the panel cover.
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I definitely didn't do a perfect job. These areas don't get any UV exposure but I would like to rattle can them volvo 426 silver anyways.
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What I don't understand is why the drivers side of the car has more rust than the passenger side.
 
Last picture seems to show some rust bubbles. It might be better to sand the whole section down, apply more POR-15 and then go over the whole thing with a can of Silver paint.

That's unusual, these don't rust easily. I wonder if that panel had an issue to begin with or had prior collision damage done on it.
 
There are bubbles but I didn't address them. I was not expecting to see that much rust when I started this. I'm guess I'm also torn on how effort I should expend on one of these cars.

Body work is not my thing. I'll probably address it slowly as I find time. I'm currently trying to get my house ready to sell while simultaneously cleaning up another property.
 
Recently this trim moulding started to warp outward. It is apparently a piece of rusted out steel covered in brittle plastic. I'm not sure what function it serves? It's part #9483520.
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Anyways, I ended up taking the whole piece off. Initially I planned to replace the piece with a new one but I actually think it looks a lot better without it. I also noted the piece had trapped a bunch of crud behind itself. That didn't seem like a good thing to me.

Before:
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After:
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I suppose I could also try a thinner piece of weatherstripping in its place.
 
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