Ok, so about 6 months ago I bought a 99 S-80 for a steal. After buying said car, I found out why I received such a good deal, not even 600 miles later the alternator went out, as did the main onboard computer, also come to find that the ABS unit was also out. Volvo quoted me $2400, but hey, I'm a sly guy, I pinned the repairs on the dealer that sold it to me, threatened a bit, and they ended up making a deal to fix the computer and the alternator if I fixed the $1300 ABS unit. I figured whatever, it'll at least get the car running. I figured they were in another state, no law saying they had to tell me what was wrong, so to get them to pay anything was amazing.

A little research here and there and what do I find, a guy in Cali who will fix my ABS unit for $150 if I send it to him. Took me 15 minutes to pull the unit, 2 days to get it back, and 20 minutes to reinstall. $1300 my arse. So basically I'm sitting pretty in my dirt cheap Volvo. $11,500 at 69,000 miles for those who care.

Anyway, so here are some other issues I have questions about:

1. Every time I start up the car a code reading "rear bulb position failure." It eventually goes away after driving, and all my bulbs work, so that one has me a bit confused. One bulb is glazed over, but it works, might be a sensor, who knows?

2. If the temperature outside is less than 10 degrees, (here in Minnesota, that's more often than not)I can start up my car but cannot shift from park, once the car has warmed up to 20 degrees, I can shift. If outside temp is 20, no problem, but when it's cold, it's guaranteed to not shift out of park. But, after I sit in the car for two minutes, the issue goes away. Volvo wants $300 to fix it, would seem to me nothing is broke yet, it just sticks.....

3. Recently had my car into Valovline for an oil change, after 30 minutes they had the nerve to ask me where my oil filter was. Needless to say they screwed up the job and my car leaked oil for a week. Now I have a pinging sound now and again from the top of the motor. I had it back in the shop and it turns out after they did find the oil filter, they didn't remove the original gasket so two gaskets together obviously isn't going to work. I'll be back to that shop later if the pinging persists.

Now for the good stuff

4. What kind of performance options are there for this car? Be it upgrading the turbos? better aftermarket intake or am i better with just the K&N filter? Anything anyone else knows of?

5. I'm currently looking at a program in which will bump the stock horsepower an extra 49 points and the same for the torque. Anyone heard of these ECU upgrades and how well they work?

6. Car goes into the shop tomorrow for an estimate on a custom 3" down pipe with a racing catalytic converter with dual exhaust going out the rear bumper. Hoping to get an extra 5-10 horsepower from that alone.

7. Also have on order 4 Canisto rims from the C-70 convertible, I like the looks of those 5 spoke rims and should give the car a more sportier look. It currently has the Regulus rims on it, anyone interest in purchasing the set?

8. Anyone local that knows Volvos and wants to be my mechanic? Seems I have plenty of work for you. Up next, lower balls joints, steering stops, and a front end alignment.

Thanks for everyone's time, I'll post pics as time goes by, in the meantime, you can just stare at the pretty white square.

Josh