Damn, already mod'ing the T5

Sep 04, 2007 22 Replies

Haven't even picked it up yet and I'm already buying bits for it!!



My recent garage clearance has generated more money than I expected, so I've gone and bought a front strut brace. Apparently they do make a difference, and with 225bhp and 221ft lbs going through the front wheels I guess that's understandable!! Cool :)



I'm now on the lookout for a double din head unit, ideally an original Volvo jobbie, but if not a decent aftermarket one. So if anyone knows of something...



Cheers


Accompanied by the sound of a chisel on slate Carl Gibbs, managed to produce the following words of wisdom

Modding?? MODDING???

That's unheard of, and you'll never get your money back, etc.

/meanwhile, back in the real world/

The Alpine 3 disc, in dash, radio tape thing they had in the early V70s was good, but a tad unreliable.

Sounded excellent though, so I'd recommend one of those -at the risk of being Pikey. Natch

Hmmmm, maybe I should cancel the order, i'd never though of it like that.

;)

I think I saw that one on ebay, or maybe it was a Clarion. Missed the end of the auction by minutes though and it went for £46. Doh!

I wanna take it to Devon at the end of October, and I don't want to be stuck with a tape player for that trip so need to get it sorted before then!

etc.

Wish I had a double DIN slot

Tape deck - same as I've got (or very similar)!

Yep, already watching that one :)

:)

I've got a lovely Scorpio Ultima 24v. That's got a double-din slot. It's also got the Ford 7000RDS head unit (double din) with cd changer..

It may be ugly, but it does its job well.

0-60 in 8.5, top speed 140 mph and it's quiet, comfy, fully loaded and dirt cheap.

Cosworth motor is bloody lovely as well. Very smooth, very responsive and very quiet.

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YKIMS :)

Then you can swap it with me for the Rover (or Volvo) some time in the future

Accompanied by the sound of a chisel on slate Carl Gibbs, managed to produce the following words of wisdom

Heh, I actually think it'd be a shame to strip the Scorp'. It's quite a nice old thing.

A front strut brace will not make that much difference as the volvo is a huge car and will slide. You need to look at getting a bar for the rear too if you must. It will only affect handling and you will not get the volvo going fast enough around corners! The main problem on a T5 is front tyre wear, it is so easy to spin them. It used to be known as a tyre shredder. The strut brace will not control or regulate power to your front wheels, only traction control can do that. The car would have been far better as rear wheel drive! On something like a Civic Type R a front and rear brace is effective, but a waste of money on a T5. The T5 is good, but like driving the QE2. Fast in a straight line, not so good on corners.

Accompanied by the sound of a chisel on slate Rob Farrell, managed to produce the following words of wisdom

Oh, do f*ck off.

Well it's an original Volvo part, so they obviously thought it made a difference. And so do a lot of owners, including Jamesy who used to reside on here, and was a bit of a T5 nutcase. That's good enough reason to get one for me.

As for regulating power to the front wheels - I think you'll find that the accelerator is not an on/off switch so I'm pretty sure my right foot will be regulating that.

Yes it would have been better RWD, but I've got the V8 grunt of the Rover for that.

And finally, have you driven a T5? Admittadly I only drive this one on a breif test drive, but it seemed pretty sure footed, certainly more nimble than my SD1 which is also a barge.

They are - but as you say, the donk is a peach.

I did have the heated washer jet funkiness to go into Kermit but never had the opportunity.

Accompanied by the sound of a chisel on slate Carl Gibbs, managed to produce the following words of wisdom

One is a touring car, the other is a cruise ship. Probably the easiest way for you to understand is if I insert them rectally directly to your brain cavity. Sideways.

I seem to have just bought a Pikey MP3 player off ebay for £41 - brand new Goodmans thing that'll play MP3s off a CD or USB memory stick. Lucky for me I blagged myself a cubby-hole-single-din-convertor thingy from an 850 at the scrappy at the weekend that I can use with it. It'll do for now, and if I see a decent stereo of the double din variety the MP3 player can go in the Pug.

Better stop spending now and get back to some work!!

Accompanied by the sound of a chisel on slate Carl Gibbs, managed to produce the following words of wisdom

It'll probably sound surprisingly ok. Those Volvo speakers are damn good. The Cardigans "Erase Rewind" I remember sounded blinding in them when they were new.

Don't be silly, man.

Come on: tell us about your experience of speeding the QE2 in a straight line... or actual driving a T5 for that matter.

TDM

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