MATT'S C70 AWD "R" BUILD

I picked up an AWD donor car from the salvage auctions which came with about $5k worth of Elevate parts fitted to it.

The car is a stat write-off 2010 S40 T5 AWD (auto) with only 77,000km.

It came with a full Elevate intake system piping, Plenum and intercooler, full Elevate 3” exhaust, Elevate springs and swaybars, Elevate TCV & diverter valve. This is why I'm using all Elevate and not DO88.

I had seen the work that was done on the ultimate_c70 on Instagram as mentioned above by timbo

From this I could see that the main issue is the boot floor and the need to cut away the part of it to give enough clearance for the AWD subframe.

Unlike the C30 and AWD S40/V50, the C70 and FWD S40/V50 have a recessed boot floor to accommodate the spare wheel and roof pump in the case of the C70.

S40 AWD Boot Floor from the rear

C70 Boot floor from the RH side without rear subframe

In regard to the C70 rear suspension. From what I've found there are 3 minor differences between it and the other FWD cars

The rear shocks are shorter due to their top mount being lower to accommodate the roof mechanism.

There are 5mm spaces between the rear hubs and trailing arms to widen the track due to the c70's wider body.

 Lastly it has cross braces tying the rear subframe to the sills. (SEE BELOW)

To use the Bilstein B14 kit on a C70 I needed to substitute the rear shocks for B8 C70 shocks which are shorter.

However, with the AWD in the C70 they will need to be even shorter due to the AWD lower shock mount being higher on the trailing arm. I will need to find a custom solution for this.

Just before starting to pull apart the C70 I ended up buying another one to convert instead as I much prefer looks of the later facelifted version.

It's a 2010 T5 with half as many Ks and in much better condition.

I started by stripping the AWD doner car of the entire drive train and all the underbody.

Cleaning all the parts taken off.

Once Everything I would need was out. I put the body outside

and bought in the C70.

Removed the rear subframe, exhaust and fuel tank from the C70.

Offered up the bare AWD subframe to see how much needs to be cut away.

Cut out the section of the rear floor, made up the patch panels and welded them in

I only removed just enough to ensure the boot floor liner and spare wheel still fits. The roof pump will need to sit in the boot. I will have to make a cover for it.

Sealed and painted the new panels.

There is no accommodation on the AWD subframe for the C70’s cross bracing I had to weld on some plates to mount the bracing to.

Cleaned up, painted and assembled the rear subframe.

The camber arm are whiteline.

It's been a while since adding more post. I've been busy working away at it.
The next few post shows the last 6 months of work.

FUEL TANK

Cleaned up and installed the AWD fuel tank. I had to reconfigure the AWD tank harness to make it fit in the C70.


The C70's fuel filter pipe won't fit with the AWD subframe and the AWD pipe won't fit around the C70's boot floor. I had to cut up both to make it fit. I had to find some fuel resistant hose to fit the pipes to join them.

Modified the C70,s rear heat sheild to fit with the cutout floor.

REAR AXLE

Installed the rear axle assembly.

FRONT AXLE

The AWD subframe is spaced about 1" lower than the FWD one.
As I'm lowering the car this will cause issues. So I'll use the C70's original one.
Pulled out the front subframe, stripped it and cleaned all the gunk off it.

Gave the subframe a coat of paint along with a few other parts.


Reassembled the front subrrame with new arm from Superpro with poly bushes.
New tierods and ends in the rack.
Whiteline adjustable sway bar for a Mk3 Focus ST.

Due to the shape of the bar It needed 10mm spaces under the mounts.

Cleaned up, painted and reassembled the swivel hubs

FRONT BRAKES & UPRIGHTS

Another pat of the R upgrade is the brakes.
I purchased a set of new Brembo calipers for the MK3 RS from Tasca Parts in the US. They were only about US$150 each.
Trial fitted them before I took the car off the road.
To make them fit the earlier P1s the disk needs to be spaced 5mm off the hub and drill out the mounting holes on the stub axle from 12mm to 14mm.

I like the look of the Gold Polestar brakes fitted on the new model Volvos.
I repainted them in S60 Maya Gold and applied Brembo stickers I made up.
Disc are 350mm DBA slotted T2 for MK3 RS
5mm spaces to go under the disc.
Brake hoses are Hell braded hoses for MK3 RS
Callipers are bolted on using 14mm Calliper bolts for a P3 Volvo

Assembled the front uprights with Bilstein B14 Coil over struts, Whiteline adjustable drop links and the Mk3 RS Brembo Brakes.

Difference between the original uprights and my new ones

The hole setup in the car. fits perfectly inside the C70(18x8) R design wheel.

REAR BRAKES

Like the front the rear brakes are upgraded to MK3 RS spec.
The RS uses the same Calliper as the P1 Volvos but with a larger disc.
The clippers are the standard Volvo calliper with Mazda 5 Carrier brackets to mount them further out.
The discs are 302mm DBA slotted T2 for MK3 RS
Brake hoses are Hell braded hoses for MK3 RS
the calliper and carrier bracket are painted in Maya Gold to match the front.

That's absolutely right. The bigger MAF is to suit the stage 4 tune needed for the bigger turbo. You can't just swap one in without the computer being remapped to suit it.

THE ENGINE

The Engine is being upgraded with a K16 turbo for a MK2 RS.
The first thing to do is remove the head to install block shims.
This is a mod Recommended when upping the power of these engines to help prevent the block cracking.

I leak tested the Valves and had the head refaced before reinstalling it.

The K16 Turbo finally arrived after being on backorder for about 6 months.

You can see the difference in size of the K16 over the original K04 Turbo.

The bigger turbo hits the heatsheild for the angle gear

I had to modify the edge by cutting out the edge, bending the top down and welding it back together.

The original coolant lines still fit but the oil lines and PCV Valve don’t and need to order the RS ones.

I ordered the genuine ford oil drain pipe and PCV Valve but opted to make up the oil feed using Aeroflow AN hose & fittings.

The Elevate plenum was in raw aluminium, painted Satin black.

Recoloured all the black plastics with Bowdens trim restorer kit. (the timing gear cover is not yet done for comparison)

Cleaned up the engine bay ready for the engine to go in.

Engine is all back together and ready to go in.
Using a MK2 RS ECU mount
I worked out earlier the reason the AWD subframe sits lower is to allow enough clearance between the angle gear and the steering rack.
With the FWD subframe it fits but there's not much clearance 
So I raised the engine 10mm to give that clearance.

Raised the engine by making 10mm spaces to go under the engine mounts.

The engine is put together and ready to go back in.

Engine is finally in

With the engine spaces up the torque mount then wouldn't line up. A new one had to be made.

I measures and CAD Designed it, then 3d printed a prototype to check the fitment.

I could then get the part made from my drawing.

To use the RS ECU mount I had to reconfigure the engine loom to get the plugs over the the ECU.


Getting the engine bay back together and the front end on with the cooling pack with the Elevate intercooler form the donor S40

With the extra torque going through the auto trans, I Added an additional trans oil cooler with a bypass thermostat.

The extra cooler is connected to the outlet of the stock cooler and returns to the transmission.

That's interesting. Is yours also complianced as an 05 like mine, despite being built in 03?

SwedVolvoc70 The Mazda part No. for the rear caliper brackets is C2Y6-26-28XA.

I've been meaning to do an update on the car as I've had it on the road for 6 months now. I still have a few loose ends and gremlins to sort out before I can call it finished. I plan to start putting more info up soon including all the part Numbers of genuine parts used.