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Alright, for those of you who don't read the Volvo megathread, back in March a lady ran a red light and junked my very precious to me C70, a car in which I have probably a hundred hours of labor and several grand in mods. This was my first wreck in 25 years of driving, and I was very annoyed to have my streak ruined by something so banal. Insurance paid out very nicely, they gave me full book and consideration for mods, and I bought the car back after settling. The adjusters commented both on how nice the car was and how low the miles were. So I spent the summer very depressed, shopping craigslist, autotrader, and of course my dad's insurance auction where I get all my cars. All the while I put my 122 in storage with a friend and started stripping parts. In July, a car popped up in the salvage auction that seemed like it might fit the bill. An 03 C70 LPT with 89k, no visible body damage in the crappy pics the auction likes to post, and a clean title. Listed as "donated with mechanical problems, does not start". So I bid. What the hell, right? It comes down to me and one other bidder, and I win the auction at $3400, more than I want to spend but it's substantially cheaper than full retail. Well, this auction was listed as "on approval" meaning if it doesn't get enough money the seller can reject the winning bid. They counter offered with $5700. Yeah, right I tell myself, this is a wholesale auction. With fees and transport I'd be paying full retail at that price. So no agreement is reached, and they re-list it. I win again for $1200 this time. The auction does not take kindly to rejections of bids, so whoever else wanted it has backed out. They reject it and re-list. I win for $1050 this time, and they counter down to $4900 this time. I say no, and they re-list. At this point I'm just playing, thinking I'll never get it. I win again at $2000, and to my surprise this time they just let me have it. So after 5 weeks of idiotic back and forth, I take delivery of my new car. I couldn't believe these guys drove into my cul-de-sac, the driver was pretty good.  I washed it up tonight. The good: The body is very nice, with no evidence of previous repairs or paint. Minimal rock chips in the hood, headlights, or windshield. It was a Texas car, so none of that winter nonsense we get here in CO.   The top is brand new. Obviously replaced, and I think the blue is cool.  It's got more scratches and dings than the other one but so far nothing that won't polish out fairly well. Here's an example.  The front bumper has seen better days. It'll polish out I think but at some point I'll replace it, I like not running a front plate.  The tonneau cover doesn't fit right, but that's just bump stop adjustments.  Whoever owned it liked to just drag their poo poo over the rear bumper, but I have the bumper off my last car, which only had one scratch. The funny part is that I didn't really want another silver car, but I'm going to benefit from it in this case.  So the bad news: The interior is shot. Very dirty, lots of little nicks out of the vinyl in both door panels and dash, front and rear. I could tell from the auction pictures that it was rough but it's even worse than I could see. I didn't want the light gray anyway, and I have the complete interior out of my old car, but at the same time it would have been nice to have something passable while I do the rest of the work. Now it just means the interior swap happens earlier rather than later, and I can't sell much of the light gray one.  So the rest of the bad: I pop the hood and there's no coolant in it. So it looks like that's the source of the problem. I get a gallon of water and pour it in - and it pours right out from what I guess is probably the turbo coolant line. They often go neglected because they're on the back of the motor under the turbo, hard to reach. I get in and crank it over and it lopes fast and slow, and after about 5 cranks I see puffs of vapor coming out of the coolant filler hole. I go sniff it and it's fuel/air mixture. I don't need a compression check to figure out that's a blown head gasket. Which explains why it was donated and wouldn't start. I would have been pissed if I paid more for this car. So, the project begins. First, I finish stripping the old car of its good parts:  Then I clean them up so I can get this new car in the garage. My HOA does not take kindly to non-running cars parked outside.  My plans are to just get my loving convertible back. I loved that thing. My other motor goes in, along with the manual tranny, suspension, wheels, and the graphite interior. I needed tires and brakes, so those will come along as added expenses, and I swore that if I ever needed to pull the tranny I'd install an LSD in it. I helped a friend put one in his car earlier this year, and it's so easy that it's really stupid not to. Except they cost around $1100, so that's one more added expense but it'll really improve the car. I used to one-wheel-peel if I did anything more than 3/4 throttle in 1st gear, and with the flexible convertible chassis it translated into horrible wheel hop. So yet another project thread from me. The 122 has not gone away, but I have to take care of this crap before I can get back on it. LloydDobler fucked around with this message at 04:56 on Jul 9, 2014 |
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Aug 27, 2012 06:20
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A volvo thread!  What year was the wrecked one? And wasn't it an HPT, or am I making things up?
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Aug 27, 2012 06:30
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Yay!! A new LloydDobler Volvo project. Are there aftermarket chassis/strut braces you can add to tame the hop/torquesteer this time?
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Aug 27, 2012 06:30
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bolind posted:A volvo thread! The last one was an 04 and yes it not only started as an HPT but was flashed for even more power. All of which will bolt right in to this car. Seat Safety Switch posted:Yay!! A new LloydDobler Volvo project. The convertible comes with a front chassis brace and a subframe brace, as well as solid subframe mounts, and I added a strut brace. They helped, but not as much as an LSD will. I guess I should also address why I just got more of the same rather than something newer, basically I was perfectly content with the 3 cars I had, and I started putting much more money into my 401k as well as trying to pay down my 2nd mortgage. So bottom line is that I have very little money to play with and the next gen verts are much more expensive. This is the cheapest way to get me back to content. Preliminary budgeting says I'll have this car back on the road with $8k of my insurance payout left. Gotta love that. LloydDobler fucked around with this message at 06:53 on Aug 27, 2012 |
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Aug 27, 2012 06:48
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Man, I love your Volvos. Sad to see the C70 go like that after reading its project thread.
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Aug 27, 2012 15:16
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$8000 left over? That's a winner in my book man.
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Aug 27, 2012 18:13
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No poo poo, I'd take my first significant accident in exchange for that kind of payout. Getting rearended in the Ranger last year doesn't count; they replaced one license plate light and the plastic covering on the bumper, and that second part was pretty questionable as far as whether it needed to be done.
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Aug 27, 2012 18:32
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Yay a new lloyd thread poo poo about the car but 8000 cash works the gently caress out.
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Aug 27, 2012 18:53
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Yeah, that's why I keep going back to the salvage auctions. It's a gamble but when you win you win pretty big. And you tend to win more often than not. I consider my wagon a loss because the paint is quite scratched and it had previous bodywork, but I still got it around $3k under retail. That white 960 I used to have was a huge win. The car looked brand new. And the first C70 was a win, it retailed at around $23k when I got it and it was back on the road for $11k plus 37 hours of my labor. I had $18k of hard costs in it when it was wrecked, and insurance paid out around $14k so basically I paid $1000 a year to enjoy the poo poo out of it. And I get to re-use all those things I spent money on. Hell, the clutch only has 16k miles on it. I'm a cheapskate, but I wouldn't be able to manage 3 paid-off cars otherwise. LloydDobler fucked around with this message at 19:39 on Aug 27, 2012 |
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Aug 27, 2012 19:37
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Nice project, again. I've had better luck at salvage auctions than repo auctions, I think primarily because the salvage cars were running vehicles immediately before the accident, whereas the repo auctions have cars where the owners couldn't pay the note so you can be damned sure they didn't do any maintenance.
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Aug 28, 2012 00:57
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I love your threads, looks like it should be a good read.
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Aug 28, 2012 13:36
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So does this car have a branded title? I know it doesn't matter much but I am still curious. It came through a salvage auction, but it isn't wrecked and there doesn't seem to have been an insurance claim on the car.
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Aug 29, 2012 19:59
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This one's clean title, as it was donated to charity, they just used the auction yard to sell. My last one was branded and the insurance never even asked to see the title, and paid out full retail based on the opinions of the adjusters and how great the condition was.
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Aug 29, 2012 22:26
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LloydDobler posted:This one's clean title, as it was donated to charity, they just used the auction yard to sell. My last one was branded and the insurance never even asked to see the title, and paid out full retail based on the opinions of the adjusters and how great the condition was. Looks like the graphite interior will work fine with the silver/blue exterior... have you had the cars close enough together to tell if the silver bumper will match without a respray?
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Aug 29, 2012 22:44
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Is that the license plate or did you edit it?
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Aug 29, 2012 23:19
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meatpimp posted:Looks like the graphite interior will work fine with the silver/blue exterior... have you had the cars close enough together to tell if the silver bumper will match without a respray? CharlesM posted:Is that the license plate or did you edit it? That's my plate off the dead one, I've transferred it through 2 cars already and intend to transfer it to this one as soon as I get the title in the mail. I refer to them as my satan plates, I think it's hilarious, as I enjoy being anti-superstitious. When the woman at the DMV saw it as she handed it to me, she said "ooo, is this going to be a problem?" And I was like "nope, I think it's cool".
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Aug 30, 2012 00:07
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I think your last C70 was the first AI thread I went through or something. Seems like a long time ago.
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Aug 30, 2012 16:59
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It was over 5 years ago, wow. I thought it was 4. It's actually the 4th post in the project tracking thread if anyone with archives wants to go down memory lane. Of course, narcissistic bastard that I am, I'm reading the whole thing again.
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Aug 30, 2012 19:26
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So, speaking of C70s...my sister-in-law's Miata was on the receiving end of an inattentive SUV driver's front end, and from the sound of it the car might finally be getting totalled out. She still wants a convertible, but also wants a usable back seat, and doesn't want to spend a huge amount of money. Is the back seat of the C70 convertible big enough to get a car seat into (yes I do realize that "car seat" and "convertible" is insane) and realistically how bad is the upkeep on it? Obviously it will cost more than the Miata, and they're not mechanically inclined so they would be paying a shop to keep it rolling. No idea on the budget so I have no idea if a CPO C70 would even be an option for them.
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Sep 12, 2012 04:18
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Well, C70s like mine ended in 04, then underwent a major facelift to become a retractable hardtop from 06 up. I don't think you'll find a first gen as a CPO anywhere. The second gen with the hardtop is likely more expensive to own as well as maintain. The back seat is plenty big however, I'm extremely comfortable in it. On the other hand, my daughter hated riding back there with the top down due to wind. I eventually blew the money on an airbag switch so she could ride up front. The 1st gen (also known as P80 platform) convertible is based on the 850 chassis so its reliability is pretty good overall and it's less expensive than the newer models to maintain, but the convertible itself has its own quirks. The top mechanism has microswitches that are prone to failure on the early models from'98-01 or even 02, and the window regulators on all of them are prone to early failure and incredibly expensive to replace, and the car will have wind noise forever after. If she's serious about a C70 shop for the lowest mileage one you can afford, ideally an 03 or 04 due to better microswitches and the updated throttle body. Also the updated headlights and grille. 06 and up are still starting at around $18k for 50k mile cars. In other news, I've been stripping mine more, I have the interior completely out, the doors off, my dashboard is on the dining room table and I moved my couch a foot away from the wall so the doors are behind it. I'm only 10 bolts and a fuel line away from removing the motor. Probably tomorrow. And I took the plunge and ordered a limited slip diff for the tranny. No more one wheel peel for me.
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Sep 12, 2012 07:10
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IOwnCalculus posted:So, speaking of C70s...my sister-in-law's Miata was on the receiving end of an inattentive SUV driver's front end, and from the sound of it the car might finally be getting totalled out. She still wants a convertible, but also wants a usable back seat, and doesn't want to spend a huge amount of money. I don't know about the current generation, or the convertibles, but a car seat in a C70 coupe was one of the most miserable experiences I've had with a car/kid combo. There was no "quick forward" movement of the seat, so whenever you needed to get the kid in or out, you needed to hold the power seat button and wait. That doesn't sound like a big pain, but running errands became an exercise in waiting on the power seat to go back and forth. Obviously top-down would not be an issue, and hopefully they changed the seat design, but something to consider.
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Sep 12, 2012 11:29
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IOwnCalculus posted:So, speaking of C70s...my sister-in-law's Miata was on the receiving end of an inattentive SUV driver's front end, and from the sound of it the car might finally be getting totalled out. She still wants a convertible, but also wants a usable back seat, and doesn't want to spend a huge amount of money.
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Sep 12, 2012 12:07
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Thanks for the input, guys - the category of four-seat convertibles is sparse, and even more so when you get the turds that are the Sebring and Eclipse out of the pool. Technically there's also the Fiat 500 and the Mini Cooper, but I just don't see any way to get two adults and a rearfacing car seat in those. I don't think having it be 100% convenient with a kid is a must, since the reason given is so when my wife and daughter fly out to visit her, they can take her car instead of her husband's TSX.
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Sep 12, 2012 15:46
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IOwnCalculus posted:rearfacing car seat . I didn't know that's what you were talking about. No way a rear facing will fit in any version of C70, rear facing car seats are a pain in the rear end.
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Sep 12, 2012 16:16
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meatpimp posted:I didn't know that's what you were talking about. No way a rear facing will fit in any version of C70, rear facing car seats are a pain in the rear end. I thank god my wife is under 5'6 so she can fit in the wagon with one of those drat things. It's not terrible, but noticeably tight for sure.
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Sep 12, 2012 23:51
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Sockington posted:I thank god my wife is under 5'6 so she can fit in the wagon with one of those drat things. It's not terrible, but noticeably tight for sure. Same for my wife (and her sister) so it'd be a bit more doable. If I'm out there too it probably means we drove, in which case we have our 3 with us anyway. I did check and the backseat of the C70 only has about 2" less legroom than our 3 does, but then again 2 inches can be all it takes. Of course, at the same time, her husband does have a TSX which I suspect would work decently well as a car-seat hauler too, so I may not-so-subtly suggest that she just get herself whatever it is she feels like getting now and trade cars whenever she needs a back seat.
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Sep 13, 2012 00:07
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I'm gonna suggest a Miata so this officially turns into a recommend me a car thread and you have to probate yourself. Hehehehehe.
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Sep 13, 2012 06:57
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Eh I'll just gas it for not enough content instead 
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Sep 13, 2012 07:20
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A gasser-C70... 
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Sep 13, 2012 07:45
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YAY! A Lloyd thread!
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Sep 13, 2012 09:28
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IOwnCalculus posted:Eh I'll just gas it for not enough content instead See, this is why women always have the upper hand in relationships with me. I'm just not good at power games. But I do have an update! Progress!  Much easier to strip the clutch cylinder and shifter cables without the engine in.  Getting closer to completely stripped  This is interesting, just before the wreck my passenger inner CV boot failed and it started to fling the grease out. I'll have to find out if I can have the boot replaced or if I'll have to pay for a whole rebuild on the shaft. Either way this will be fixed before the car goes back together.  So now there's just a few things left to pull from the old body. Rear bumper, springs, shocks, steering column, pedals, and I borrowed a windsheld removal saw that my dad says allows you to remove the windshield without breaking it. We'll see. I've heard that these windshields cost a fortune and this one, while not new, is very nice and worth saving if possible. Once I have the body stripped I can get rid of it and pull the other car in and begin the whole process over again. It's sad but it's clear to me now that I won't have this done before winter hits, I just don't have the motivation. I work on it for about 2 hours at a time, 1-2 days a week. If I'm lucky there will be a warm day in November for me to test drive it. Oh, and it never goes smoothly. The trucker forgot to give me the title when he dropped the car off. So they said they'd mail it to me. Three weeks later and I still don't have it. Finally asked where the hell they sent it - and they recited the address on the title. Morons mailed it back to the people who donated it to the auction, who, since they haven't alerted anyone, and thought they were done with the car, probably just threw it away. Awesome. LloydDobler fucked around with this message at 04:57 on Jul 9, 2014 |
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Sep 18, 2012 07:36
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Well, as always I got about halfway done with the windshield removal and got cocky and careless, and hooked the tool on the edge of the glass. One second everything is going well, next I heard a click and I was done. Busted the glass.  So that ended my Sunday with frustration, but at least I can get moving and finish the rest of the stripping without any big jobs ahead of me. I did a few hours work Monday and tonight, engine bay is all cleaned out now, master cylinder, brake booster, wiring harness all archived for spare parts.  From the interior side, all the pedals and shifter and ignition cylinder are out.  I really did bend the brake pedal, not sure if I should try to straighten it or replace it or just run it as is. Blue line drawn to show the direction the pedal should be going.  And I have the rear upper shock mounts out, these things are in such a terrible location.  All that's left now is to drop shocks and springs from under the rear, pull the mud flaps and bumper (5 minutes) and remove the rear brakes and maybe the whole rear suspension for spare parts. I figure with a full set of spare brakes if I decide to keep using factory calipers at least I can rebuild and powder coat a set. I really want to fill the wheels with a big brake kit, but I guess the whole Brembo thing is just for ego, I already have all the parts to do the 12" rotor upgrade except rotors, so that's vastly more affordable. Oh, and my Quaife LSD came in the mail today, but it's still at work where I forgot to take pics. LloydDobler fucked around with this message at 04:57 on Jul 9, 2014 |
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Sep 27, 2012 06:51
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Bent as in you bent it while standing on the brakes in the crash? I'd toss it without a moment's hesitation.
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Sep 27, 2012 17:34
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Yeah I'm a pretty big guy and I was standing on it probably with my rear end off the seat when I smacked the van. I remember my airbag didn't even touch me, that's how well braced I was. I'm not sure I should even save the master cylinder either. The problem is then how do I replace it? They're rare as poo poo. I wonder if the automatic pedal could be shaved down to fit the manual rubber pad.
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Sep 27, 2012 19:38
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LloydDobler posted:The problem is then how do I replace it? They're rare as poo poo. I wonder if the automatic pedal could be shaved down to fit the manual rubber pad. I'm sure you'll figure something out, LloydCobbler of Volvos. 
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Sep 27, 2012 20:08
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Couldn't you use the pedal from a V70 or S70? Is the C70 that unique? Does Volvo have an aftermarket option at the dealership, sports pedals, something like that?
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Sep 28, 2012 04:51
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-edit: Nvm, missunderstood
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Sep 28, 2012 21:20
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Seat Safety Switch posted:Couldn't you use the pedal from a V70 or S70? Is the C70 that unique? Does Volvo have an aftermarket option at the dealership, sports pedals, something like that? It's not the C70 that's unique, it's the manual tranny. As far as I know I have to buy one from 98 to 2000 for S or V 70s and from C70s through 04, but that's a pool of like 4000 cars in the states. They did like 150-250 per year of each model in manual and that's it. I suppose I could just buy one new if it's available. I'll have to find the part number and search.
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Sep 29, 2012 05:01
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Is euro availability any better for used pedals? It's not like you're in a rush for it.
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Sep 29, 2012 20:00
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Yeah, if you want people over here to keep an eye out for one for you. Might help if you know exactly what models it's shared with, and whether it's RHD/LHD specific.
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Sep 29, 2012 20:15
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