Volvo Wagon Expedition Vehicle

[Lemsteraak]

They're only 1 year old and work well. Even the design literature for the Nivomats from Sachs mentions that they sag when parked a long time (like overnight) when new.

If I'm not mistaken the Nivomat concept is to have very soft springs with the strong Nivomat shock. The shock could adjust so you get a soft ride when lightly loaded and stiffen up to handle heavy loads. Years back I remember some Volvo owners would just change to a standard shock and then the back would permanently sag before they realized they had to change springs too. Seems to me if you are permanently carrying a load like your rooftent, maybe you could go to a junkyard and get a set of stock non Nivomat springs. This might adjust your baseline up so that you start out at the correct height. The tradeoff is you might have a stiffer ride though. Might be worth a try if it really bothers you.

 

[Lemsteraak]

I was going over your impressive list of modifications and I have one suggestion if you are going long

Look for a nice hardshell rooftent. Lighter and more aerodynamic. I noticed that when I put on a folding rooftent, even the little one that I used, mileage would suffer and the car didn't handle as well. Also the hardshell tents tend to be a little lighter, and better in cold conditions. I was camped out in the Cascades in the winter and didn't realize how cold it got until I got out of the tent. The tent in the picture was designed for the Alps.

 

[casioqv]

Look for a nice hardshell rooftent.

I'd love to have one, but it's outside my current budget for this project. Perhaps someday though. The campingLabs folding tent is really big and comfy, but it's also heavy and bulky. I noticed my wagon is taller than most stock SUVs with the RTT.

Seems to me if you are permanently carrying a load like your rooftent, maybe you could go to a junkyard and get a set of stock non Nivomat springs.

I think stiffer springs would defeat some of the purpose of the Nivomats- to give a soft comfortable ride while maintaining correct ride height. I think the Nivomats with stock springs would probably ride similar to overload springs and Bilstein HDs, so I think I'll just sell the Nivomats and go with the overloads/Bilsteins.

I might need to get the Bilsteins revalved to "rally car" specs, so they aren't so stiff though.

 

[Lemsteraak]

I might need to get the Bilsteins revalved to "rally car" specs, so they aren't so stiff though.

Oh, I don't know. I worked with a chassis tuner to revalve the Bilsteins on my expedition truck that replaced the Volvo. I think it is cheaper to keep the Nivomats and replace them when they go bad.

Personally I think the best suspension bar none is the old Citroen system. You could even adjust the ride height.

Keep an eye out on Craigslist for a used hardshell. The one pictured cost $400 but I had to dig it out under four feet of snow.

 

[casioqv]

I think it is cheaper to keep the Nivomats and replace them when they go bad.

I'm mostly afraid of the Nivomats not being reliable and failing in a remote place.

Because of your avatar I'm guessing you're also into Sailing? One of my major considerations in rear suspension on this vehicle is that I also tow a 22' sailboat with it:

The pic is with stock suspension, but it sits level under the tongue weight with the overload springs.

 

[dieselcruiserhead]

I think the FWD Volvos pretty good cars but totally unappealing to me- they lost most of the design characteristics I find so appealing about older Volvos.

I used to think that but owning one now I completely disagree. My '98 V70 I find to have a lot of similarities and awesome characteristics versus my old '83 245 wagon.

 

[Lemsteraak]

Because of your avatar I'm guessing you're also into Sailing? One of my major considerations in rear suspension on this vehicle is that I also tow a 22' sailboat with it:

Yes, I love boats and hate towing them. Actually that is the main reason I came back to Volvos, they tow so well. Just finished a cross country trip towing a 22' Sharpie with all our gear inside including a 18 foot kayak.

The idea of the new XC is to replace our old fleet with one car. It can tow well, replace the truck, and have the speed of the old SHO (pictured). I made the SHO into a tow vehicle after selling the truck.

 

[Viper]

I came here because of my LX-450, which is fairly well kitted out...but we have an 08 XC-70 wagon, love it. Does anyone manufacture "expedition" kit for the XC? Wouldn't mind a lift kit, and if I could lock the rear axle...pretty cool.

 

[spencyg]

This thread is too funny. My daily is a '93 945 Wagon, non turbo. The car is so easy to work on, fits an ungodly amount of stuff inside, and still gets 24MPG fully loaded. Some days I hate it because it has a tenancy to be amazingly boring, but most of the time, I just get a kick of how "utility" it is. To see others using their old Volvos (and new ones, for that matter) for mild offroad adventures is truly cool. I have thought more than once of putting a small lift in it to cram in some larger tires for winter duty, but I know it would wreck the mileage and that is one of the best parts of the car.

Kudos.

 

[shaggybus]

My wife had the same car, watchout for that timing belt!!!

My wife had a 93 960 sedan, very similar to yours (including the missing turn signal covers!). It stalled on us on the highway and I drifted to the shoulder. I tried restarting it not knowing I was doing more damage. According to our mechanic freind who works on all our more in-deptht automotive problems that I can't deal with, those volvos have whats called an Interference engine which means the pistons and the valves intersect each others space during operation. when the piston is at TDC, the valves are closed and out of the way and when the piston retracts, the valves open respectively. If the timing belt breaks, the valves can be stuck in the open position and the pistons will clobber them when it reaches TDC. If the pistons that were already rising and falling when the belt broke didn't do the car in, me trying to crank it on the shoulder sure did. Replace that timing belt before you set out and carry a spare. If you stall, check the belt before trying to restart the car. You can pull the top of the plastic cover back and look in at the top pretty easy. We couldn't afford to fix it at the time, so that little belt cost us a good car. Watch that belt!!

 

[Slothman]

tires?

taking my 940 to new mexico for the summer to live out of / offroad in. any tips on tires that can give me some better clearance? (aka whats the biggest tire i can slap on my 15" (i think) rims