Newbie To Forum And M35

[Vegie1]

hi guys,

ive just purchased a 2001 250t RX four M35 stagea (aka volvo, been called a volvo 4 times in the first 2 days of owning it!) in pearl white. im in NZ by the way...

i had a couple of minor things to sort on it, mainly the tailgate auto close, which turned out to be a loose connection so all sorted.

the question i do have, there seems to be absolutely no release for the fuel flap/door. the door opens by just pushing the front edge of it, but there is a catch or lock of sorts on the flap (which seems to be stuck in the unlocked position).

do you guys have any form of release on your m35's?

thanks in advance...

p.s. totally stoked with the new car, glad i got a turbo one!

[leetom]

congrats and welcome pal, i'm sure some of the 35 boys will sort you out soon.

[Bis-e Bee]

Vegie,

Congrats on your new car.

A month ago I brought a red 2001 250t RS four

When I picked the car up it had next to no fuel, don't worry I was at the service station trying to find a release switch or trigger

The trick is, if the car's unlocked so is the fuel door Once you lock the car the fuel door SHOULD be secure.

Try it out, all going to plan you won't be able to open the fuel door.

Anything else let us know.

[Grungle]

when i bought my ARX the fuel flap release solenoid was sticky - sometimes it would unlock, sometimes it wouldnt.

The guy I bought it from got another one sent over from Japan, I changed it over and it's been fine ever since.

as bis-e said, lock the car and see if you can still open it. you sould be able to hear it click as you lock/unlock the doors.

if it's not working, you can get in there from the boot - there's a little hatch on the right-hand side. With a bit of maneuvering you can get the plastic out and then you're in the rear guard. There is a simple plastic "circlip" sort of thing holding the solenoid on - if you can get that off you should just be able to pull it out, disconnect the wires and swap it over.

I can probably get you the part number if you need a new one...

and welcome to the M35 family

[GTR91]

I swear you M35 guys need your own separate forum

Welcome Vegie1

[Punk72]

I swear you M35 guys need your own separate forum

Welcome Vegie1

good call!! same car but different!

con grads on the new car! stagea = fun, good times and style

[andy65b]

Welcome to the M35 world of cars. Lots of fun to be had with these cars.

I swear you C34 guys must be jealous of our luxury.

But seriously, I do know what you mean. We have more in common with V35's but they are too slow with their N/A motor's.

They also think differently from us parctical drivers who prefer a wagon with a bit of room for the family and my toys.

Cheers

Andy

[iamhe77]

Welcome to the M35 world of cars. Lots of fun to be had with these cars.

I swear you C34 guys must be jealous of our luxury.

But seriously, I do know what you mean. We have more in common with V35's but they are too slow with their N/A motor's.

They also think differently from us parctical drivers who prefer a wagon with a bit of room for the family and my toys.

Cheers

Andy

HAHAHAAAA!!!

+1

I swear you M35 guys need your own separate forum

Or maybe just a separate DIY section...

Edited March 21, 2009 by iamhe77

[RBPOWA-(TJ)]

Welcome to the M35 world of cars. Lots of fun to be had with these cars.

I swear you C34 guys must be jealous of our luxury.

But seriously, I do know what you mean. We have more in common with V35's but they are too slow with their N/A motor's.

They also think differently from us parctical drivers who prefer a wagon with a bit of room for the family and my toys.

Cheers

Andy

im fine mate ....

[BensDR30]

I swear you C34 guys must be jealous of our luxury.

Cheers

Andy

Maybe,

But you M35 guys are jealous of our aftermarket support & ease of maintenance.

(I agree that an M35 DIY sticky is due)

[zei20l]

woodgrain is so 90s

shit, i think i have woodgrain trim in my M35!! lol

and congrats on the M35 purchase Vegie1, i had a tailgate problem too with mine. they had to replace the motor in it.........

[GTR91]

LOL @ wood grain is so 90s

I'd give my left testicle for the same set up, in carbon fiber that is.

The way I see it, if you want a Japanese Volvo, buy a M35 - if not and you want the real deal, buy a REAL stagea.

/puts on flame resistant suit and gets fire extinguisher ready ....

[Vegie1]

The way I see it, if you want a Japanese Volvo, buy a M35 - if not and you want the real deal, buy a REAL stagea.

/puts on flame resistant suit and gets fire extinguisher ready ....

ha! boyracers with their OLD cars these days

just kidding, thanks for the welcome guys.

had a look into the fuel flap problem, and it seems the mechanism was just a bit dirty. cleaned it up and away it goes...

anyone had experiance with lowering springs in their M35's?

mine has had a set of IMPUL springs put into in japan, but the question i have is how low is too low? it also seems to slightly lower in the front too.

at the moment the bottom of the front bumper lip is about 100mm of the ground, and the front crossmember maybe 90mm ish at best. i dont want to be playing mr plow and having to get under there to remove any roadkill/street pizza in the near future...

[andy65b]

anyone had experiance with lowering springs in their M35's?

mine has had a set of IMPUL springs put into in japan, but the question i have is how low is too low? it also seems to slightly lower in the front too.

at the moment the bottom of the front bumper lip is about 100mm of the ground, and the front crossmember maybe 90mm ish at best. i dont want to be playing mr plow and having to get under there to remove any roadkill/street pizza in the near future...

mmmm, that is low. Mine is an ARX so started life at 180mm clearance and I fitted Bilstien shocks and springs that lowered it around 45mm. So should be around 135mm clearance now. Also the front bar has a bit more clearance than the RS and RX models.

I know some others fitted bilstein shocks and other brands of springs, some were initially too low so they have either raised the front on different circlip settings or changed springs to increase height.

I am very happy with my height as I don't scrape in the city unless I have a full load (5 people + luggage) and then I can occasionaly rub the bellie.

Any lower on the front of the ARX and the wheels would scrape on the wheel arces as they just touch when going into driveways.

Are the front shocks adjustable?

Cheers

Andy

[iamhe77]

anyone had experiance with lowering springs in their M35's?

mine has had a set of IMPUL springs put into in japan, but the question i have is how low is too low? it also seems to slightly lower in the front too.

at the moment the bottom of the front bumper lip is about 100mm of the ground, and the front crossmember maybe 90mm ish at best. i dont want to be playing mr plow and having to get under there to remove any roadkill/street pizza in the near future...

Hmmm, that does seem awfully low. You can always swap your Impul springs (and shocks?) for my stockies.

~130mm ride height, but I have to still be careful not to scrape my exhaust.

I guess you could always take a trip to Pedders and get something there that would raise the height... would probably be cheaper than getting Bilsteins, Nismo's or Tein's from Japan.

Or maybe the shocks have had it?

(You did only specify that you only have Impul springs and not the shocks as well)

[zei20l]

i wish people would stop rubbing all their good mods in our faces!!!

haha id be sticking with a well known brand name, probably something ex-japan for our cars. you know they have been designed and tested on them properly. not like some australian companies that use re-set springs that break after a few thousand ks.

thats what id do anyway. but im happy if anyone wanted to lose their brand name springs/shocks and id be happy to part with my stockers for free

[Vegie1]

i wish people would stop rubbing all their good mods in our faces!!!

haha id be sticking with a well known brand name, probably something ex-japan for our cars. you know they have been designed and tested on them properly. not like some australian companies that use re-set springs that break after a few thousand ks.

thats what id do anyway. but im happy if anyone wanted to lose their brand name springs/shocks and id be happy to part with my stockers for free

tempting offer but no thanks,

it appears that the shocks are stock ones, with the springs fitted later. if i can find some reasonably priced shocks only, i think that may be the way to go. the shocks are feeling a bit sad to be honest.

so far i have found that the car has the impul springs and a Kakimoto cat back exhaust fitted, but other than that it doesnt look tampered with. still, you never know what else has been done...

roughly how high is the front crossmember meant to be off the ground with stock springs in a 250t rs/rx four?

and another thing ive noticed is the tyres are 215/50 17's, whereas i think they are meant to 215/55 17 stock. or so the sticker for tyre pressure says anyway. the reason i looked is the speedo "seems" a touch high in reading. might borrow a GPS and check.

[iamhe77]

tempting offer but no thanks,

it appears that the shocks are stock ones, with the springs fitted later. if i can find some reasonably priced shocks only, i think that may be the way to go. the shocks are feeling a bit sad to be honest.

so far i have found that the car has the impul springs and a Kakimoto cat back exhaust fitted, but other than that it doesnt look tampered with. still, you never know what else has been done...

roughly how high is the front crossmember meant to be off the ground with stock springs in a 250t rs/rx four?

and another thing ive noticed is the tyres are 215/50 17's, whereas i think they are meant to 215/55 17 stock. or so the sticker for tyre pressure says anyway. the reason i looked is the speedo "seems" a touch high in reading. might borrow a GPS and check.

Hmm Kaki cat-back? Any chance of recording the sound for me? would love to compare it to my Fujitsubo.

How does it ride with stock shocks and Impul springs?

Yep, shock wheel size is 215/55/17. According to the tyre calculator here your speedo should be displaying 3.2% too fast ie, you are travelling 3.2% slower than your speedo is showing.