Best way to uprate a 940 turbo

[popuptoaster]

Right, I have been playing with cars for a long time, but have always avoided turbo cars, I like a big N/A engine usually but have finally succumbed to the lure of a blower.

My love of stealth performance (I ran a 220bhp mk5 Cortina for a while) lead me to the 940, as well as my slightly challenged financial state and the fact that the Volvo has "relatively cheap" performance available.

I have got to the point now where I can start doing stuff to my LPT Celebration estate.

I picked this one as its a 2.3 turbo, has an M90 and a live axle as i was told the box and axle were strong enough to take extra grunt and the 2.3 has oodles of potential.

Heres my plan, first of all i'm going to pick up a boost gauge and a manual boost controller and turn the boost up to around 10 or 11psi, I was told at that level, everything should work fine, car should behave ok and make around 200bhp without any other mods, is that true?

Anyway, once thats achieved I shal be looking at getting the car on nicer rims and lowering it a bit (I have to remove the Nivomats I think) and then running it around like that while I build it an engine.

I'm gonna hunt around for another 2.3 turbo engine and build up something better, this is what i have been told works, can someone who has done it confirm its not all fairy tails?

I want to fit a 16v head, so was told using a belt and tensioner from a penta i can fit the 16v head from a later 2.0L 16v non turbo if I have pockets machined into the pistons, i was also told it would need uprated rods and obviously a custom turbo manifold.

Is that all true?

If so, any particular head or Penta parts I need to get?

What about cams? stock or aftermarket?

which rods and where from?

and what about the pockets on the pistons? where can i find out dimensions, or is it try it and see?

What about the Turbo? will it need a bigger one?

Also which management are people using?

I was told that sort of spec would make around 300bhp, and I should get rid of the dual mass flywheel, using parts from a diesel clutch.


Thanks for any help you guys can give me, i really cant afford to make to many expensive mistakes, the missus thinks I'm just

"tidying it up dear as its a lovely car to drive and I think we should keep it for a while"

[mitchyboy01]

Smithy is your man. His is hightly modded. He will love that he has a fellow 940 nut on the forum!

[T5frankie]

forge the engine, massive turbo with fueling to match, 850r clutch, job done lol,

[smithy]

Right, I have been playing with cars for a long time, but have always avoided turbo cars, I like a big N/A engine usually but have finally succumbed to the lure of a blower.

My love of stealth performance (I ran a 220bhp mk5 Cortina for a while) lead me to the 940, as well as my slightly challenged financial state and the fact that the Volvo has "relatively cheap" performance available.

I have got to the point now where I can start doing stuff to my LPT Celebration estate.

I picked this one as its a 2.3 turbo, has an M90 and a live axle as i was told the box and axle were strong enough to take extra grunt and the 2.3 has oodles of potential.

Heres my plan, first of all i'm going to pick up a boost gauge and a manual boost controller and turn the boost up to around 10 or 11psi, I was told at that level, everything should work fine, car should behave ok and make around 200bhp without any other mods, is that true?

Anyway, once thats achieved I shal be looking at getting the car on nicer rims and lowering it a bit (I have to remove the Nivomats I think) and then running it around like that while I build it an engine.

I'm gonna hunt around for another 2.3 turbo engine and build up something better, this is what i have been told works, can someone who has done it confirm its not all fairy tails?

I want to fit a 16v head, so was told using a belt and tensioner from a penta i can fit the 16v head from a later 2.0L 16v non turbo if I have pockets machined into the pistons, i was also told it would need uprated rods and obviously a custom turbo manifold.

Is that all true?

If so, any particular head or Penta parts I need to get?

What about cams? stock or aftermarket?

which rods and where from?

and what about the pockets on the pistons? where can i find out dimensions, or is it try it and see?

What about the Turbo? will it need a bigger one?

Also which management are people using?

I was told that sort of spec would make around 300bhp, and I should get rid of the dual mass flywheel, using parts from a diesel clutch.


Thanks for any help you guys can give me, i really cant afford to make to many expensive mistakes, the missus thinks I'm just

"tidying it up dear as its a lovely car to drive and I think we should keep it for a while"

hello sir is it 300 whp or crank mate.you dont need a 16v head unless you want to push over 600 whp ,the 8v will do alot of power mate.you can get well over 300bhp with just a turbo ,cam,chips exhaust,injectors but the is loads you can do to these redblock volvos mate.just as much as you can do with a cossie but most of them parts are in sweden though.

[silveruser]

Sorry for disturbing here. In order to achieve 300bhp you have to forge engine internals - and that's rather pricey. If you don't do it there is a high risk of engine failure. High pressure head gasket is recommended as well + High pressure silicon hoses + proper intercooler + turbo + injectors + poli engine mounts + oil intercooler + wide band lambda + aftermarket ECU + half box of additional gauges + clutch assembly and many more bits and pieces that ARE pricey. If you don't have that amount of cash its better to start with 16V head as they are cheaper ON very beginning. But 300bhp done wright with warranty is not cheap.

You will NOT get 600bhp from 16V engine within reasonable amount of moneys and NASA technology instead I'd use 2-JZ engine <works out cheaper and it will last longer. Marginal thing to mention... if you play with that amount of power you go to 6 pot blocks -> T6 >.

I'd say you can get up to 250bhp within stuff mentioned by you if you get your engine a proper refurb first.

[popuptoaster]

Hmmm, it may be cheaper to just bung a white block into it then i guess if I want more than 250bhp, i reckon i'll stick a bigger turbo, exhaust and get it chipped and see what its like on the 8v.

[smithy]

Hmmm, it may be cheaper to just bung a white block into it then i guess if I want more than 250bhp, i reckon i'll stick a bigger turbo, exhaust and get it chipped and see what its like on the 8v.

its been proved again and again that you can pull 300 bhp out of these redblock engines on standard interenals ,go on turbobricks and any swedish volvo forum and you will see plenty of cars doing it ,the only thing i will agree is the clutch will give up at anything over 250 bhp ,but a ttv racing flywheel and 850r clutch will sort that problem out .lh 2.4 has been used on cars over 400 bhp with no probs just with decent chips ,i hope this helps mate.now im not asking you to believe anything i say but i recommend you do some more investigation though.

[Jamest5r]

Yeah Smithy you know nuffink

[popuptoaster]

I'm not disbeliveing its possible, its a matter of economics.

I'm happy to leave an 8v in there, my exhaust is cracked and my thrust bearing is groaning so both need replacing and obviously it makes sense to do the clutch/flywheel change while its out so both of those costs can be discounted as i'd have to do those jobs anyway.

I was told earlier 940s didn't run the dual mass flywheel, will one of those work with an 850r clutch? I dont need a super light flywheel, its mainly a road car so needs to keep its road manners to a degree.

Which turbo do people use for over 250bhp? and what exhaust? I assume it will need a cam as well so which cam and which chip work well together?

I'm not dead set on getting 300bhp out of it, but in my opinion, if i'm gonna spend money on it i may as well spend it right and get a decent result.

If the price goes up to high for the 8v I may as well just drop a white block lump into it if you see what i mean.

I don't mind the odd engine change as you can see.

[jks]

its been proved again and again that you can pull 300 bhp out of these redblock engines on standard interenals ,go on turbobricks and any swedish volvo forum and you will see plenty of cars doing it ,the only thing i will agree is the clutch will give up at anything over 250 bhp ,but a ttv racing flywheel and 850r clutch will sort that problem out .lh 2.4 has been used on cars over 400 bhp with no probs just with decent chips ,i hope this helps mate.now im not asking you to believe anything i say but i recommend you do some more investigation though.

I agree! 300bhp is not massively expensive.
Language is big barrier for some people when looking at Swedish forums.
Things are done different, here in England and Volvo tuning seen is different level in Scandinavia..eh, Smithy?
Volvo 940's are massively under rated here!

[smithy]

I'm not disbeliveing its possible, its a matter of economics.

I'm happy to leave an 8v in there, my exhaust is cracked and my thrust bearing is groaning so both need replacing and obviously it makes sense to do the clutch/flywheel change while its out so both of those costs can be discounted as i'd have to do those jobs anyway.

I was told earlier 940s didn't run the dual mass flywheel, will one of those work with an 850r clutch? I dont need a super light flywheel, its mainly a road car so needs to keep its road manners to a degree.

Which turbo do people use for over 250bhp? and what exhaust? I assume it will need a cam as well so which cam and which chip work well together?

I'm not dead set on getting 300bhp out of it, but in my opinion, if i'm gonna spend money on it i may as well spend it right and get a decent result.

If the price goes up to high for the 8v I may as well just drop a white block lump into it if you see what i mean.

I don't mind the odd engine change as you can see.

nice engine change there mate in that cortina.get a ttv flywheel because they arte designed to fit the 850r clutch and drive alot better too.you can fit the dogdish flywheel and turbo diesel clutch in it.but it depends on the torque you are running because i melted a td clutch on the rollers.cheap power would be t34 cossie turbo, 3in exhaust ,truck intercooler if you want to run big boost,v cam and vernier pully ,me7 blue injectors with resistor mod,mbc,and a set of tlao chips job done and enjoy lol.but you can also use 15g/16t/18t/19t too off the 850/v70 also holset turbos run very well too on 940s aswell.

[popuptoaster]

I'll start collecting parts for it i think, Cossie turbo will probably be the way to go as I have contacts that do a lot of YB tuning, can probably pick up one of their replaced turbos nice and cheap.

[smithy]

I'll start collecting parts for it i think, Cossie turbo will probably be the way to go as I have contacts that do a lot of YB tuning, can probably pick up one of their replaced turbos nice and cheap.

weldone have you seen my new manifold im building in the modifications thread mate thats a cossie come volvo manifold .

[rockheadrumble]

Iv read in so many places that the later redblock rods are good for 350bhp and the earlier 740 redblock rod will put up with 500bhp but the oil squirters arnt as good.

smithys running 260whp and 280bhp with his and its dealing with it just fine.

iv got 2 engines now so i might try and blow one up then we will all know for sure!

[popuptoaster]

Fitted my boost gauge today and gave the car a good run, checking boost and vacuum readings as its done a lot of miles. Readings are all spot on and hold steady where they should for both boost and vacuum so even with 264,000 miles on it my engine is nice and healthy.

Gonna wait for the roads to dry out and then sort out the MBC.

[smithy]

Fitted my boost gauge today and gave the car a good run, checking boost and vacuum readings as its done a lot of miles. Readings are all spot on and hold steady where they should for both boost and vacuum so even with 264,000 miles on it my engine is nice and healthy.

Gonna wait for the roads to dry out and then sort out the MBC.

enjoy mate

[7mgtesup]

If you want to see whats doable on a small budget look at my video in the vid section I just posted. There is a list of my mods in there and it all came to less than £1000 including the cost of the car.

[rogerhechorister]

There is no 2 litre 16V except for the very rare B204 G/FT.

Relatively cheap howler - B234FT (13mm), B230FT pistons with grooves (or thick decompression gasket B234F pistons) , obviously add oil feed/return, adaptor plate for 90+, clocked 15 or 16 or even 17 turbo, MBC. Might get away with 850 injectors - thing about replacing the log inlet mani. Since you are using the B234F and flywheel you will need the diesel clutch to mate to an M90.

If you want to be more aggressive, B23 had tough crank/rods but then you need to have the §§§§pots cut for the 16V head and to figure out a belt tensioner - I believe Golf fits.

But I ain't done it yet.

[dalhousie2008]

a chap popped to my house the other day who was tuning a 740 turbo, might be good for you to talk with him?

[smithy]

You don't need a 16v when you have a good 8v sitting there