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Plan and Build for Autocross/Time Trial 854

LukeWoessner

New member
Joined
May 9, 2018
Location
Raleigh, NC
Back in the beginning of 2015 I was still driving around my dad's old 88' Mazda 626. It was actually a great car, but when it finally died, it wasn't worth the expense to repair considering it needed all new suspension and most of the wiring redone.

I found myself looking to buy my first car! Funnily enough my first choice was a NA Miata, which was immediately shot down (probably for the best) and I had to find a car that was agreeable to those who would be, *ahem* "assisting" me with my purchase. (God bless the bank of Dad, promptly repaid of course) So I found a 1996 Volvo 850 sedan, 2.4L I5 so the slower of the engines, but it was a 5 speed manual so that was well worth it. The dealership (family owned place, nice guys) was asking $3500, we countered with $2000, and for some reason, they agreed. So I was the proud owner of a low mileage (102,000) Volvo 850.

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First thing that needed doing was the cooling system, mainly because it all decided to stop working at the same time, radiator side tank cracked, replaced, radiator fan refused to kick on till 240 degrees Fahrenheit, so, manual fan switch, replaced hoses and the thermostat while I was at it. Most of the cooling system is completely new.

Recently gave it a full tune up. Timing belt, water pump, new rollers and belts, and fresh ignition parts.

Some brake maintenance came next. All new front rotors and pads, went for an oe rotor and a stop tech street type pad. Good in most conditions, never had problems in mountain driving or repeated auto-x runs. My only complaint with the pads it that they're a bit dust heavy. Meh, can't have everything.

Next came the wheels and tires, the stock steel wheels were a bit poorly so I grabbed a set of 16" aluminum wheels from my local salvage yard for $100 and DIY refurbished them. Found a set of 205/50-R16 General GMax As-03 tires on sale from tire rack. Ended up getting the whole set shipped (after rebate) for about $275. They're decent enough tires for just driving around, good in rain and surprisingly good in the snow but absolutely TERRIBLE autocross tires. No front end grip and the roll over onto their sidewall massively. I'm currently working on getting a separate set for competitive driving. Already have the wheels (17x7.5 Borbet Orpheus wheels from a newer v/s model) Got them for $150 from another local Volvo nut.

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That's all that's been done to the car for now. My overall goal for the car is to have it be competitive in STS ("Street Touring Sport" SCCA class) by the end of next year's season. (2019) It's still my daily driver so I'm not planning to do anything that would drastically reduce it's utility.

The planned modifications include;
-225/45-R17 Falken Azenis RT615K tires on the previously mentioned wheels.
-BC Racing Coil overs (Cheapest way to replace all coils and dampers with new mounts that would give me the desired result)
-IPD Sway Bars
-Braided Steel Brake Lines
-Drilled and Slotted Rotors (mostly for the looks tbh) front and rear w/ more aggressive pads
-Modify gas pedal to allow for easier heel-toe shifting.
-OE Turbo Rear wing (Or BMW e30 replica wing, Width matches the inside width of the trunk lid)
-OE Volvo 960 Front lip (Fits perfectly apparently)
-IPD Subframe Bushings
-etc IPD suspension goodies
-Addition of extra gauges (Oil Pressure, Voltage, etc)

That's the plan for now. Here's a photo dump from what I've got in terms of race photos and a link to the video playlist. I'm no Rickard Rydell or Randy Pobst but everyone starts somewhere. Any input or recommendations are welcomed!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kt_Z18ajCKQ&list=PL6mt84tku6ll1PTi4jJn05gSqBu9QQ9Nk

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Ben Kaplan built& ran a track 850 Sedan..... you might reach out to him for that experience and suggestions. I recall he worked hard (and succeeded I believe) in a custom oil pickup so the whiteblock didn't starve. Somewhere, there are some cool videos of he and Towery driving the car on a road course.
 
I don't know if CJ is still doing these: https://www.yother.com/product-p/1091-v-pk.htm

But I would highly recommend keeping an eye on the oil levels. It was not uncommon to see drastic or damn near total loss of oil pressure under hard cornering in my t5r if you were don even a quart. The pan isn't really baffled with any intention of lateral G forces in mind.
 
almost everything IPD sucks. its all show but never longevity ...

how do your bushings stack up against the C70 frame?

c70 subframe and delrin subframe bushings give you a simlar end result. C70 only comes w/ 4 bolt control arms though so alot of people prefer to upgrade the bushings instead of swapping out the entire subframe.

c70 subframe is abit heavier.
 
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