I just did my evap over labor day weekend. it was a pita, but no one thing was overly complicated, just a lot of work. As for the evap itself, i first tried one from fcpfroton and the lines needed to be bent as expected but when i went to put in the climate control housing i found that the design of the flanges where the lines came out of the evap prevented the housing from seating properly. i went with a nicly made evap from volvopartsdirect.com, but still had to bend lines. Looking at the evap mentioned from the drivewire link it looks exactly like orrigional. i would definatly use this one just due to ease of fitting, it looks like the lines are at proper angles and it is cheaper than all others i looked at. To fcpgroton credit when i told them that i had troubl with the fit of evap the took it back even though i bent the lines. I will post links to some good directions and pictures when i get a chance. Bobd

I did mine with an evaporator and receiver dryer from AC-Delco. They look in every respect just like the originals. I went to the AC-Delco website and located a local distributor who verified the part numbers (there are some variants, e.g. for right hand drive cars) and got the parts in about 24Hrs. The pair was about $250 which is almost $200 less than the dealer. It was necessary to bend the lines several degrees. You will need to make some kind of mandrel or form to do this without distorting the sealing surfaces.

The job is only about 2 months old but the a/c was used extensively in this time and is performing as well as it ever did. I put in the pollen filter assembly at the time.

In case you did not do this before on the Volvo, the following were helpful to me:

Before disconnecting the battery move the driver's seat (and passenger if powered) fully back. Get the car out of park (else you will not get the dash out). It is much easier if you can get the ignition lock out too so the key will not be stuck in the cylinder. These things are an issue in case you have the air bag wiring disconnected - so you will not need to reconnect power - you would otherwise trigger a fault code unless you reinstate the airbag wiring first.

I chose to remove the dashboard cover separately to make taking out the instrument cluster easier.

Someone makes an Evap for 850s/X70s now besides Volvo?

The original part is available for about $110 online. Remember to install a cabin filter retro kit if you don't have one already. Its available from FCPGroton.com in their 850 Tune Up section for about $30. You'll need a new receiver/drier too. How's your blower motor? Good time to replace that too if its original. Good luck. Here's a couple of links:

http://www.alconautomotive.com/850evapcore.htm

http://www.drivewire.com/specials/catalog/volvo850acevaporator.html?source=FVolvo850a_cevaporator








Mike
'95 850T

Do yourself a favor and put in the factory one. 850 evaps are a lot of friggin work to try and save a few bucks by putting in a wildcat evaporator. Do you really want to go back in there and do it again because you shaved a few bucks off of the price of the part? The general rule of thumb on that stuff is that if the labor is intensive then make sure you use the best part possible because you really do not want to have to go back in there again. And in the case of a professional mechanic it is what you do for a living so now it is costing you not only time but money too.

Mark