I bought a worn out 98 Volvo S70, aka how older cars can get so expensive so quickly

[HarryLui]

I came across a 98 Volvo S70 for sale, 254k miles, turbo with manual transmission. Stock, they make 236hp, 5 speed manual options was rare. I went to check it out and it has non-torn front seats!!! The car was sold with an engine with dead cylinders and I have a working engine at home, so that is not big deal to me. I was told the car have its clutch changed a few years ago, there were also around $1800 worth of receipts of radiator change, struts change, brakes, and etc done few months ago. After a short negotiation, car was mine. Plan was to fix it up and sell it for profit.

After I took everything apart, here is what I found:

Has two dead cylinders on the engine.
Clutch disc worn to the rivets (factory 254k clutch, most likely)
Leaking heater core
All vacuum hoses have cracks
All torn boots on CV shafts
All torn boots on ball joints
Motor mounts are all broken, yes all 5. Transmission mount is ok.
Steering wheel light tan leather is worn to grey
Arm rest skin is all cracked
Rear main started to seep a little
Exhaust gasket are all in pieces
8 rivets are missing on the front mud flaps
Wire plastic insulation crumples when you touch them
A/C clutch gap is at .6 mm
Cracks on the coolant surge tank
PCV system is plugged
Hand brakes adjustment is way off, due to one side brake shoes have no meat
Dead fuel pump
Air pump code
Turbo coolant hoses are old and worn
Dual mass flywheel is worn
Volvo heater hose junction came apart when I undo the heater core hoses

See the shiny rivets? The disc is worn down to the rivets!

 

[HarryLui]

Plan was to change/upgrade the below

Newer engine with 142k miles, change cam seals, both front and rear main seals, change intake/exhaust manifold gaskets
Single mass flywheel conversion and R 240mm clutch.
New heater core with heater core hose conversion
New silicone vacuum hoses
CV shafts with good boots
All new OE engine mounts
Vinyl steering wheel
Re-skin arm rest
Put in new rivets for the front mud flaps
Wireloom and tape all wires
Re-gapped the A/C clutch gap to .4mm
Change the coolant surge tank
Change PCV system and upgrade the hose
Put in new hand brake shoes
Put in new fuel pump
All new coolant hoses
New fluids for everything, oil, brake fluid, manual trans oil, and coolant
New o-rings for the engine oil cooler hoses


Engine out

Old engine and new engine

New Aisin timing belt kit with Aisin waterpump

Changed to single mass flywheel so save $150 - $200

240mm R clutch

New style exhaust gasket

New engine in

Almost ready

Ready

 

[HarryLui]

Newer brake shoe and adjusted the e brake

New armrest skin

Interior done

Newer steering wheel

A/C works!

18 years is a lot of tolls on parts, and they seems to all worn down to nothing at the same time. This is how things can get so expensive! I expected to do maybe 80% of the work that I've done, and I was definitely expecting to see a newer clutch in there instead of a 254k original Volvo clutch. I was not expecting the fuel pump to be dead, nor that there was no meat on one side of the brake shoe.

The moral is, when work claim is made, unless the seller have the receipts of the work done, expect the work not done.

I finished up late afternoon couple days ago and drove the car for 3 miles today. A/C and the transmission works flawlessly.

Abs/trac light came on after I got the engine running, common issue for these cars. Solder joints needs to be re-solder, bad news is that the unit on the car is already re-solder by someone, that means I need to get a new one and solder it myself.

 

[HarryLui]

Yesterday, I went to junkyard to get a better looking seatbelt, a master windows switch, and ABS module.

Today, I put in the new seatbelt and windows switch

Someone failed at repairing the ABS module.

Open up the NEW ABS module and redo all the soldering.

Fixed the ABS/TRAC lights!

Found both shifter bushings are broken!

Homemade bushings to the rescue! 5/8 heatercore hose, 5/16 silicone hose, and stock bushing sleeve in the center with a bracket preventing the cable to come loose.

Had to put in a spare 850 info switch, the S70's switch came apart when I touched it.

All I have left is finish the coolant flush and fill it with coolant.
69hrs into it.

 

[Mide]

Good job fixing that Volvo up.

 

[Ns1]

must be nice to be handy as fuck.

 

[michal1980]

nice work.

 

[Zivic]

looks like nice work, but after the cost of the parts and 69 hrs of labor, is there any meat left on the bone? it's still an almost 20 yr old volvo with 250k+ on it. I just looked up NADA on it and it has a negative value at "rough trade-in" LOL... and only around 2500 bucks at clean retail pricing.

you plan on keeping it at this point?

 

[HarryLui]

For older cars, I found NADA, KKB, or anything else pretty useless to judge what a car is worth that is well maintained, have major parts serviced or restored car. Sure, chassis have 257k miles, but most of the important parts are new and the entire engine bay been gone-thru with questionable parts replaced.

Car is pretty much sold to a friend, just wanting for pick up and cash exchange. He's looking for something that does not need work for a while and he likes to shift himself, this is a perfect car for him for the money.

I get about $19 per hour for my work. Not bad for something I do for the fun of it, much better than building a puzzle while helping a friend out.

 

[Engineer]

For older cars, I found NADA, KKB, or anything else pretty useless to judge what a car is worth that is well maintained, have major parts serviced or restored car. Sure, chassis have 257k miles, but most of the important parts are new and the entire engine bay been gone-thru with questionable parts replaced.

Car is pretty much sold to a friend, just wanting for pick up and cash exchange. He's looking for something that does not need work for a while and he likes to shift himself, this is a perfect car for him for the money.

I get about $19 per hour for my work. Not bad for something I do for the fun of it, much better than building a puzzle while helping a friend out.

That's awesome. You're skills are pretty amazing too. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[JulesMaximus]

Nicely done! :thumbsup:

 

[Insomniator]

Those are cool cars, nice work! Can be quite the sleeper!

 

[HarryLui]

Last day working on the car! Changed the fuel filter, filled it up with coolant and changed the spark plugs. Total working hours was 73.25.

Buyer should be showing up tomorrow with cash.

Looks like a stock filter.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

Saved one from the crusher. You are a skilled mechanic.

 

[NutBucket]

Or a very patient one!

 

[HarryLui]

Car is sold and picked up. I made $20.08/hr for the hours I worked.

Now, on to my other non-car projects...

 

[slag]

must be nice to be handy as fuck.

My sentiments exactly!

 

[thomsbrain]

Awesome work!

Though I have to reflect warmly on the fact that my 13 year old Honda Accord V6 (the "unreliable" one) with 278,000 miles has needed precisely none of those things repaired over my decade of ownership.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Nice work!