Turbocharger Specialists

"Rolling" Magazine January, 2000. VCOA (Volvo Club of America)  

"Jim Pierce" 700/900 Volvo Strut and Chassis Brace Order, September 17, 2000    

"Walter Irish" Recent Volvo Conference, etc., October 26, 2000

By: Steve Seekins - President of Volvo Club of America & Mechanical Engineer
"Rolling" Magazine January, 2000. VCOA (Volvo Club of America)                   

A Canadian firm, Cherry Turbos, has introduced a new design strut brace and lower chassis brace for the 700 series. I received a prototype set and tried them out on my 1990 700 wagon which had IPD/TME strut braces and the Volvo lower chassis brace installed. The Cherry Turbos strut brace is a truss design made from welded steel rod. Although heavy, it is very rigid and with the powder coat finish looks great installed in the car. To go with this, they offer a hood mat support rod to keep the those old sagging hood insulation mats up where they belong. These supports only work on the early style (to '90) hoods. The later design uses a different hood and mat and has more button supports so it doesn't suffer from the same problem. To complete the front end treatment, Cherry Turbos designed a lower chassis brace that adds a new level of rigidity to the front frame area.

Strut Tower Brace

The strut brace is a rigid brace with no adjustments. Installation is straightforward and it mounts on the existing strut upper mount studs. One of the features that I asked to be incorporated is a slotted forward mounting hole in the brace. This is to accommodate the camber adjustment that is available by slotting the forward strut tower hole per a Volvo TSB on the subject. This is only necessary if the fixed camber of the strut assembly is not within specification, or if the owner desires a camber setting different from the stock one provided. The rear mount hole is sufficiently large to accommodate variations in distance between the strut towers on individual cars due to manufacturing differences or front end damage from collision. The brace design provides plenty of clearance for access to the brake reservoir and filler caps.

Lower Chassis Brace

The lower chassis brace is welded from heavy steel bar and stock. The rear mount points fit to the same points that the stock brace mounts, but the bars are extended forward and are clamped between the cross member and the cross member reinforcing plate using existing bolt holes with longer bolts. In this way, the brace supports the cross member (like the Volvo 200 series braces as well as the frame radius rod mount points).

Evaluation

I have been driving my '90 700 turbo wagon for about a year now with the IPD/TME strut brace and the Volvo optional lower chassis brace installed. The springs are stock and the car is equipped with the IPD sway bars and Bilstein shocks. The handling with the IPD brace and the Volvo lower brace was significantly improved with much more positive steering response and control. However, after installation of the Cherry Turbo handling package, the improvement in handling was amazing. Steering response was nearly instant with no feeling of uncertainty. Bump steer (the tendency to get a steering response when going over a bump) was significantly reduced, as was wander when encountering pavement rutted by heavy trucks. I would strongly recommend this setup to anyone interested in better handling on their 700/900. I believe that the improvement in handling comes from both the increased rigidity of the strut brace over the IPD/TME design, AND the additional support afforded to the front suspension and frame by the unique Cherry Turbo lower brace design. The setup will fit both manual and automatic trans. cars, turbo and normally aspirated engines.                                                

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"Jim Pierce" 700/900 Volvo Strut and Chassis Brace Order, September 17, 2000    

"Herman,  ....Wow!     The difference was noticeable from the first moment the car was in motion.  The improvement in turn-in, tracking and straight- line stability is far more than I expected....  Many thanks for a superior product!  Most enthusiastically, Jim"  jimpierce@ucsd.edu

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"Walter Irish" Recent Volvo Conference, etc., October 26, 2000 

"Dear Cherry Turbos: Just wanted you to know that your upper and lower strut brace installed in my 85 745 turbo inspired a lot of curiosity and interest at the West Coast National Volvo Club of America conference in Sacramento, California...My old 740 wagon was the best handling one on the track, ... and the major difference from the rest was your braces.  In time trials, the next fastest 740 wagon was 7 seconds slower than me....So I wanted to thank you for a good product...Thanks much.  Walter Irish."  ergo@snowcrest.net

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DISCLAIMER: Cherry Turbos and this website are not affiliated with nor sponsored by AB Volvo, Volvo Car Corporation, Volvo Cars of North America, Inc., Ford Motor Company., or other Volvo companies whose products may be viewed in these pages.

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