Hi everyone,
I am from Perth Western australia,
We have some great 4x4 destinations both nearby and ones that will make very very long trips around 4,000kms.
My background comes from the country growing up with Hilux Utes and a d40 Nissan navara. My dad is a Volvo freak and currently has 4 Volvo's, one of which is his daily driver xc70 new from 2007, it has 280,000kms all of which hes done. This is my main inspiration to grab a cheap xc70 they go for between $2000-5000 AUD here which is a bargain project car.
I'm planning to do the bad Swede 2" lift with new Bilstein shocks, new contract arm bushings, full driver minor servicing, bash plates, a muffler delete, and maybe if the budget allows a tune as I would like some better fuel economy considering the extra weight and tyres I'll be running. Also better low down torque for on trails would be great to make the car behave more like a turbo diesel, yet still have good high revving power for on the pavement.
The main use for the car will be a daily driver albeit I only have to drive about 100km max per week for work, and then I use public transport to get to university. Then once a week I'm looking to do an overnight trip out on the tracks, which are either sand dunes/beaches, or steep Rocky Forrest terrain in the nearby hills. In winter we get lots of mud and bog holes but absolutely no snow which is sad.
My other car at the moment is a 1974 Volvo 164 on air bags with a Toyota 1jz swap making 340hp I have plans to soon get this tuned with a new ECU and to fix a few minor problems, this should see around 450hp - 500hp if I'm lucky. This car attracts alot of attention and is a joy to drive however it already drinks fuel, and soon with my new 264 duration cams it will be kept only for occasional weekends and car club meets.
I'm keen to get stuck into this Volvo project mainly to prove a lot of arrogant Toyota fan boy 4x4 cowboys wrong about the haldex awd system, yes it is a slip to grip electronic system but people heavily underestimate what it can do.
Just awaiting the sale of my current daily VW Jetta TDI to go out and purchase the lucky girl.
I will definitely be making a build thread and would appreciate any input and recommendations.
Cheers