850 radiator replacement report.

Well, after 6 hours of hot, sweaty work, my 94 850 turbo wagon has a
new, leak-free (hopefully) radiator.

I ordered one from http://www.radiator.com/ on Friday at work, and it
was waiting for me when I got home (Atlanta area)

I started with VolvoSpeed's procedure:
http://www.volvospeed.com/Repair/Radiator850turbo.php

but started by removing the fan shround:
http://webpages.charter.net/dwarner2/NoShroud.jpg. This isn't
mentioned at VolvoSpeed, and I don't see how the rad could be removed
with the shround attached.
Fortunately, I already had a 10mm 1/4 drive universal drive socket, I
stuck a small rare-earth magnet in it, and removed the upper
evaporator bolts without a problem. It would be nearly impossible to
get these bolts out without this tool.

The new radiator was made by Behr in South Africa, painted black, and
about six pounds heavier. It was non-magnetic, so I suspect it's made
of copper or brass instead of the original's aluminum.
One thing is that the holes, and possible the internal tubing for the
oil cooler fittings are much smaller than the originals. At least
they fit the hoses perfectly.
http://webpages.charter.net/dwarner2/New-Old.jpg

One thing I didn't like was the drain petcock:
http://webpages.charter.net/dwarner2/Petcock.jpg
The original (left) has a nice fitting that drains the coolant through
a hose barb when it;s loosened with a wrench. The new one has a
simple plug, which will make draining the system a bit messier.

One problem with the replacment was a misplaced AC evaporator mounting
hole on the lower left corner (lower right in photo). This photo
shows the misalignment compared to the intercooler bracket.
http://webpages.charter.net/dwarner2/Hole.jpg
The fix was to drill a new hole, using the intercooler as a guide,
with a piece of sheet metal to protect the plastic end cap as I
drilled through the flange.

I purchased new O-rings. clips, and compression washers for the oil
hoses from the dealer, 12 tiny parts for $95.00(!), but after
reconsidering, I re-used the original parts after bending the clips
closed a bit.
I'll return the overpriced parts to the dealer next week.

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