T4r feat White Whale
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headlights done (well almost, still need to apply the lamin-x)
loving the simplicity of assembly on the volvo. the headlights come out by removing 1 pin and disconnecting 1 plug. it takes approx 10 sec to get them out of the car.
as you can see, the headlights were hazy and very pitted
polished them up first, using the pretty standard method of decreasing grit sandpaper followed by a final polish. I will be sealing them with lamin-x
in order to remove the big pits, i started very agressively with the grit and wetsanded 220, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 2000, 2500 followed by polishing compound with a DA orbital.
after all the wetsanding you are left with this:
hit it with the polish and here are the results:
of course, I am obsessed with proper lighting on all my vehicles, so even though this car came with factory bixenons, I still upgraded them.
these volvos actually come with an almost identical version of the AL/Bosch projectors found in e46s. their performance is not spectacular and they are known for wearing out the reflective coating on the bowls.
I upgraded to Morimoto Mini D2S 5.0 projectors, 3800k bulbs, and kept the factory 35w ballasts. I would have liked to use the bigger FXR projectors i have sitting in my parts bin, but I decided it wouldnt be worth my effort to crack open the headlight and possibly make the self-leveling feature of the factory lights inoperable. As a bonus, the Mini D2S setup is completely reversible to the stock setup if I ever sell the car or need to replace a broken headlight.
Disassembly:
of course the cat had to help
factory projector vs the morimoto (the morimoto on the left)
the retrofit source, where i get most of my parts, has mini D2S to Bosch/AL brackets which is normally used for people fixing their e46s, but it fits the volvo as well. it is the black bracket in the photo below.
used a combination of spacers to get the projector sitting far enough back to clear the plastic headlight bracket.
the factory ignitor fits on the back of the morimoto projector:
boom, done.
I also upgraded the 'city lights' to W5W amber LED bulbs while i was in there.
another bonus is that volvo left the high beam even with the factory bixenon setup, so you get quad high beams!
Dan
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more work on the clear bra removal. the process I was using was going to be too slow and drive me nuts, so I found something better.
3M Stripe off wheel. Its essentially a rubber wheel that rubs stickers/glue, etc right off the paint. It was unnerving to use at first, but my test corner suggested it wouldn't be a problem. the only drawback is it is not safe to use on plastic body parts like bumpers.
my guess is this bra was installed when the car was new, or soon after. very dirty, scratched, and cracking to pieces
mount the stripe off wheel to a drill and run at 2000+/- rpms and just grind your sticker/bra off.
after wiping the rubber residue off with a little alcohol, the paint underneath looks perfect.
the nose of the hood after once over.
and the final product after wipe down. despite this being a pain in the ass, the clear bra did protect the paint all these years.
Dan
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to my dismay, the car also arrived with a check engine light, stumbling idle and a belt squeal when the car warms up. i definately have to solve the CEL before registration.
I snagged anOBDII reader with some volvo specific software in it. iCarSoft Volvo/Saab i906-II. I needed one that can also generic scan other cars(for the lady's mazda). I've learned there is a great diagnosis software/reader for Volvos called VIDA/DICE, but its stupid complicated to setup (need an old laptop still running some specific Windows version) and you have to buy shady CD software to get it working so I didnt want to bother.
The scanner worked great. I was able to pull a few codes ECM-310C (Misfire, one cyl), ECM-315C (Misfire cyl 5), and ECM-313D (Misfire cyl 3). The codes suggest a spark/fuel issue specific to cylinders 3/5. I am planning on a 'stage 0' (basically getting maintenance up to snuff) so I decided to just fix spark first and go from there. I threw 5 new Bosch Iridium plugs and 5 new bosch coils at the car, and it fixed the running issue. The car pulls really good, its got more pep than the e34 had.
coils and plugs are very easy on this car, no different than a bmw 6.
also changed the oil (134,400) and threw in a new oil plug as the old one was nearly stripped.
Dan
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more light stuff.
I upgraded the fog bulbs from H11 to H9s, which is merely a 10w bump. chose a yellow bulb for better visability.
also had one running light burnt out, so i got some w5w amber LEDs, which look nicer than the stock halogens.
Dan
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I have a Vida/Dice setup. It isn't as bad as it sounds. I just ran it in an Oracle virtual machine on my Surface Pro (Windows 8). The functionality is amazing. Test fire a fuel injector, see inputs/outputs of every module, it's all there. It's pretty cool.
it sounds super helpful. i am keeping my eye out for an old free/junker laptop that has windows 7. any ideas for sources that will be reputable for the reader and software? seems like it might just be a crap-shoot ordering from Chinese companies on ebay...
Dan
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You don't want a P2R. Volvo parts are insanely expensive compared to BMW parts. At least compared to e36 parts. The engine isn't much different from a 2.5t to the R trim. The R I think has lower compression ratio because stock is 1 bar (14.5 psi) boost, 8.5:1 if I remember right.
I loved my V70R when I had it some years ago, but in hindsight, I don't think the cost of the big ticket parts justified the car - especially now with the cost of them being obnoxious.
it sounds super helpful. i am keeping my eye out for an old free/junker laptop that has windows 7. any ideas for sources that will be reputable for the reader and software? seems like it might just be a crap-shoot ordering from Chinese companies on ebay...
If you just get the DICE unit I have the VADIS software you can use to download on to a computer. It is an excellent tool if you have a newer Volvo. The amount of communication you can do with the car is very helpful when diagnosing things or just general maintenance. Also - there are lots and lots of maintenance procedures on there that mechanics would use.
As an example - when the alternator went out on my S60R which left me stranded up north. I plugged the car into VADIS and it ran a self test on the alternator - loading it at different RPMs and it ultimately failed the test to confirm it was bad.
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sounds like VADIS doesnt cover the v50.
I can check the menus to see if I can select it as a vehicle, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t. If you’re ever up this way you could stop by and plug your car in to see if it reads it.
edit: actually as I dig deep into my brain holes I remember using it on my Wife’s C30 a while ago. Same platform as the V50. And I’ve probably used it on my Dad’s S40.
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it sounds super helpful. i am keeping my eye out for an old free/junker laptop that has windows 7. any ideas for sources that will be reputable for the reader and software? seems like it might just be a crap-shoot ordering from Chinese companies on ebay...
Using a virtual machine makes it so you can run it on any computer you want as long as it has a USB port which most do. If you aren't familiar you are running another "virtual" computer from your desktop after starting your "host" machine operating system like you always do. It isn't like the old BMW software that needs a clunker computer with a serial port. The virtual desktop is the "old clunker computer" eliminating the need for another piece of hardware.
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Using a virtual machine makes it so you can run it on any computer you want as long as it has a USB port which most do. If you aren't familiar you are running another "virtual" computer from your desktop after starting your "host" machine operating system like you always do. It isn't like the old BMW software that needs a clunker computer with a serial port. The virtual desktop is the "old clunker computer" eliminating the need for another piece of hardware.
i'm familiar with the concept of running virtual machines, although I've never set one up. i hadnt heard this would work for VIDA until now, but this is better news. i found this link, which seems very comprehensive for software setup. https://forums.swedespeed.com/showthread.php?481385-VIDA-Dice-2014D-VM-Image-Download-Link/page21&s=68b72d25b531ced85356522fc6f4069a
now, questions still remain. can I hijack my fiances laptop for this?
and, which cheap fake DICE unit to trust buying.Dan
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i'd also like to report that finally after a lot of hurdles, the car is registered and on the road. newbie question: this is the first car that I've owned that is OBDII and has emissions requirements. at the DMV they didnt say poo about that and gave me current registration tags. I thought it would be contingent on me passing the scan?
Dan
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now, questions still remain. can I hijack my fiances laptop for this?
and, which cheap fake DICE unit to trust buying.I got mine on Amazon. or aliexpress was another place I got one once.
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i'd also like to report that finally after a lot of hurdles, the car is registered and on the road. newbie question: this is the first car that I've owned that is OBDII and has emissions requirements. at the DMV they didnt say poo about that and gave me current registration tags. I thought it would be contingent on me passing the scan?
You'll get mailed a letter that says you need to do emissions and then the emissions place lets the DMV know that you passed. If you don't do it they suspend the vehicle's registration.
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Got my snow tires mounted just in tyme for pudding. I picked up some cheap stock Volvo wheels ( 17x7 Arrakis) on Facebook marketplace and threw 205/50R-17 Uniroyal Tiger Paw Ice & Snow 3 SL on them. Used Volvo rims are few and far between, but are cheap when you find them. I like a lot of their factory styles as well.
now that it has already snowed, I can say "bring it on!"
Dan
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Should be able to use any laptop with some free hard drive space. I downloaded an image from some guys thread named Roxy or something like that. Then I just opened the image. He probably fixed it by now but there used to be an issue with the license expire date but I had downloaded it right after the license expired. I could also export my image and send it to you because it works perfect. I use the Oracle virtualbox program because it's free.
The seller I bought my DICE from didn't have any active listings but it looked just like this one. It came with a sticker over the Volvo logo. Honestly they are probably made at night at the same factory as real Volvo units. What I mean is the cable quality and everything is very good.
Mine looks just like this https://www.ebay.com/itm/For-Volvo-Vida-Dice-2014D-OBD2-OBDII-Diagnostic-Tool-Scanner-Fault-Code-Reader/193000760162?epid=14030737443&hash=item2cefbde362:g:C30AAOSwMdddMRXf
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got my headlights aimed today. diagnosed my auto-leveling motors as dead, which I'm partially happy about. if they were working and died in the future, i wouldnt fix em anyways.
i'm very happy with these mini d2s 5.0 projectors. great width and even lighting. much better than the stock AL ones.
aiming via garage door
low beams
quad high beams
Dan
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Those are awesome.
Seeing that sharp cutoff reminds me of the projectors I had on my B5 A4 and I wonder if anyone else experiences this: my parents live out in the country kind of by Madison (Columbus) and the road to their house has some relatively steep hills and, because the lights had such a sharp cutoff, as I approached the hill all I could see was road. I couldn't see where the road was going until I started going up the hill. If there was a deer standing in the middle of the road halfway up the hill, I would have had no idea. After that, I decided I didn't really like projectors. It was a very scary drive for a few minutes - they hit usually 2-3 deer a winter by them so it was a very real thing that there could have been a deer right "above" the cutoff.
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