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  1. #1
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    2009 Volvo S40 T5

    Hello, I thought I would start a project threat here on mine and update as it continues.

    Bought my car 4 years ago at 44k and its now on 149k which is amazing and it has been incredibly reliable! (touch wood)

    Car has had quite a bit of work done on it by various people and currently running 390bhp, it was running 414bhp but that was right at the limit of the current 550cc injectors. It is used as a daily as well as a track car, takes me to work and bashes around Castlecombe / Thuxton & yearly trips to the Nuremburgring. Also ran quite a few times at Santa pod to see how it does on the 1/4 through all the stages of modding (I like to see what the car actually does real life than a print out, times below)

    At Santpod when the car was completly standard, it ran 17.0. That was its best time.
    With standard remap, K&N intake filter, Performance Jetex Exhaust, it ran 14.5. Best on the day
    With standard remap, K&N intake filter, Performance Jetex Exhaust, smaller 17" alloys and B14 coilovers it ran 14.4. Best on the day

    With the bigger turbo and all the new mods, the car did a best time of 13.2. The funny thing is that most of the day I was actually running 14.5 times and worse as without a diff or slick tires it was just too difficult to get the power down without constant wheel spin down the 1/4. Hopefully when I get these one, I want to try and get into the 12's.


    I will put my mod list down below:

    - Weisco pistons and K1 rods & Engine block modded by BD Performance
    - Vibratech lower torque mount
    - Uprated fuel pump
    - 550cc injectors
    - Port polished lower manifold
    - AS Plenum
    - RS Customod vac line
    - BD foam induction cone with a 3" intake pipe
    - Turbo K16 stage 3 hybrid
    - Full 3" Custom exhaust system
    - Bilstein B14 coilovers
    - Hardrace rear anti roll
    - ST225 front brakes with vented slotted discs and green stuff pads
    - 4x PS4 tires on RS MK3 rep alloys 18"

    Remapped by PSL Performance.

    S40 T5 by Dom Hartland, on Flickr

    Got a list of parts that are waiting to go on now

    - Volvo Modded oil can with breather kit
    - Hardrace lower arms
    - Got a full polybush kit
    - 750cc injectors (Aiming for bigger power)

    Still on the list
    - Big brake kit (Still undecided which one to go for)
    - LSD (Still undecided which one to go for)

    All hopefully goes back in the next couple months to get those injectors on to push the power again. But hoping to have it all ready before another Ring trip next year!

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    Hi there,

    Sounds like a very impressive piece of machinery!

    I have a standard S40 T5, only had it about 3 weeks and I really like it. What was most unexpected and pleasing was the lack of turbo lag over about 3000rpm. Having had an old Integrale where there was so much lag you have to book up a couple of days in advance if you want to overtake something!

    So tell me, is such a heavily modified car still lag free or is there a trade off for the extra oomph. If that's a yes which mods made no difference and which ones changed the characteristics of the engine.

    Cheers.

  4. #3
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    Hey man, thank you very much!

    Yes this S40 T5 is my first petrol and I am really over the moon with it. The drivability is a lot easier and more comfortable standard than the previous high pressure turbo's, makes the car brilliant for more just motor way cruising and you dont need to keep changing down to get that power to pass.

    So end result of this is, no it isnt lag free. There is some lag low down defenitly but from around 2k the turbo really kicks in, were as previously with an initial map it was more gradual but came in at 1500rpm if I remember rightly. If yours is standard, it is defenitly worth getting a remap done to get more out of that engine.

    As for which mods made no difference, that is a hard one to answer as a lot of the mods are for protection and cooling, things like the intercooler (This is a Bell intercooler, the largest one you can fit in these S40's before having to cut any bumpers)

    For me the biggest mod that really transformed the car.

    - The Bilstein B14 coilovers, mated with some wider 235/40 PS4 tires made this car just so much fun on track an was absolute night an day for the handling and body control of this car. I could really push some of the more powerful cars out the way with being faster in the corners but still having the power to slingshot me out the corners.

    - Stage 1 remap. I previously came from an identical S40 in black but a 2.0D. When I got in the my T5 standard I was laughing so much, loved the power ... the firmer feel, everything about it. After I got a stage 1 map, I just could not stop laughing and this car just constantly makes me chuckle, got a video of just taking him for a spin to the shops -




    - The only other mod which made a massive change was the K16 turbo, I cannot explain it but it just throws me back in my seat when the turbo kicks in.

    The most disappointing mod were the brake upgrade from the 300mm kit to the Focus ST225 320mm. I read online quite a few people doing them with revolutionary benefits after which for me was the biggest disappointment and waste of money. I went from a fresh set on a 300m kit to a fresh set on 320mm (incuding brake fluid change) and there was really no difference at all, on track or road. On track they probably for me gave up even quicker and just got tonnes of fade ... So I wouldnt bother with that and go right to a big brake kit. Im currently looking to see if a Focus RS MK3 kit will fit our P1 T5's

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    Thanks for all that info.

    Now here's a coincidence...my previous car was also a Black S40 2.0D..and ..er..yes the T5 has the same chuckling effect on me whenever I drive it.
    I can feel a phone call to PSL performance coming on....

    Thanks again for all the information, good to know what works and what doesn't. It's sometimes difficult to see the wood from the trees when you read some of the pub bragging forum talk.

    Cheers.

  6. #5
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    Car has had a bit more work since the last post

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    Decided to go and fully polybush the car as the car was still on its oem bushes which were close to the end of their life. After getting this done I was suprised how the car was still quite comfortable to drive around, but more rougher country roads have become quite a lot more bumpy ... but I cant wait to see how it holds and feels on the track now.

    Decided to try and upgrade to 1000cc injectors which became a bit of a nightmare. First off the fuel pump was on the way out so had to swap in and went for a DW340lph which went into the current pump housing absolutly fine. Then after that issue the coolant pipe split by the gearbox on mapping, so decided to uprate those with some nice thicker silicone pipes.

    After all that we then tried mapping the 1000cc injectors and the guys at PSL were struggling to get this right so decided to pull the plug on this as they needed more info which I couldnt get as the injectors are second hand. What I found out is that all Bosh injectors bigger than 440cc are modified 440cc by those selling it? and PSL needed the spec of those injectors, long story short I just decided to pull the plug for now.

    So with that above I think I have decided to halt the hunt for anymore power as in all honesty, its really just going to ruin the car.

    So I have decided to tackle the handling side to get it ready for the track, still on the hunt for some good reliable big brakes. Have a reconditioned gearbox with LSD waiting to go on the car this week which should hopefully help hold the power down more now.

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  7. #6
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    Looking good there buddy.

    Some nice mods happening, shame that the 1000cc didn't work, were they Bosch injectors?
    1996 Olive Green 850 AWD - Follow the Project - Forged rods, 19T, big blue injectors, 960 TB, 3.25" MAF, Ostrich, 608 binary, arduino data display, active exhaust control with Focus RS tips, 320mm front brake conversion.
    1996 Nautic Blue 850 AWD - Failed its MOT, now it's a donor for the green thing.
    2004 Sapphire Black S60 D5 - The new daily hack.

  8. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dangerous Dave View Post
    Looking good there buddy.

    Some nice mods happening, shame that the 1000cc didn't work, were they Bosch injectors?
    Thank you!

    No they wernt bosch injectors, but they did come of a Focus RS MK2 already running big power so thought it would of been easy to just stick them on mine and get it mapped in. The mapper said he just needed some more info / specs of those modded injectors from the company who made those which I couldnt provide so he couldnt complete it (He also mentioned he hadnt mapped anything bigger than 750cc). He found a guy at Wayside performance who is selling these 1000cc bosch injectors which can provide the info, but I think I just want to pull the plug on power as the car is too fast for me already on track.

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    Doom and gloom post ... the hurdles of modding.

    Gearbox with LSD went on the car fine but on change they noticed a hairline crack in the turbo manifold. This slight loss of power I thought was a possible TCV on the way out, turns out it was an even worse issue, so mega sad news.

    When I started this quest I pretty much purchased all the parts from Nosh's car sold by Sam and Tim to try and build the same machine in Nosh's name but sadly every single part they sold me, has failed, everything from the pump, to larger port polished head to no his K16 Stage 3 hybrid turbo.

    So after ringing around it looks like you cannot source any K16 manifolds so a new turbo will need to be purchased. Been looking at doing the even bigger turbo upgrade but I feel like neither me or the car need that power, so it will looks like I need to grab another K16 and see what can be done to use the hybrid internals on the current K16 and pop them on the new one if I buy a standard K16. Tough time really, was just about to turn the boost up finally, since installing that turbo it has only been running at low boost to cater for various issues that have happened along the way and im suprised this has happened.

    Anyway onwards and upwards, going to be getting a new K16 on the car and hopefully have a long awaited ground 0 with the car finally running 100%

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    Car is out the garage now, more learning on the car.

    Sent the car off to the turbo specialist to swap over the manifolds from a standard K16 I bought to pop on the K16 hybrid. Turns out while the internals on the hybrid are larger, the manifold itself is also larger than the standard K16. So the standard K16 is on the car now, feels down on power compared to the hybrid already but it still needs to get mapped in, so should be going back to the PSL garage to finish mapping the car in the next couple weeks.

    So now I have a K16 hybrid that is essentially a big paper weight, so I have someone taking a look at it to find out the damage to repair the turbo and maybe try and get that back on the car at a later date with some bigger injectors.


    Been playing around with the LSD on the car now, not really sure how these are meant to help? but im still getting a lot of wheel spin. Will be good to try book a track day soon and really see how well it performs.

    On the hunt for some larger brakes now as well but dont really know where to look yet.

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  12. #10
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    Good to hear an update and that your still plodding on with your project, just sad that tuning can be a right ball breaker sometimes.....

    Current Volvo's 1995 854 Gul T-5R 1996 855 Olive T-5R 1997 855 Olive AWD 1999 V70R AWD and 2005 XC90 D5 AWD
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  14. #11
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    The other day I walked towards the car and noticed a lot of oil on the ground ... defenitly not a good sign.

    Put the car up on stands to start having a look and see where its coming from. After stripping it back a bit I could see that the pipe that runs from the plenum to the turbo had completly split in half, I doubt this would be the culprit of all the oil? no idea but maybe the pressure in the turbo was unbalanced?

    I can defenitly see the oil leak has come from the turbo so atleast thats a good thing and narrowed down that issue. Still waiting on some tougher silicon pipes to replace that with, then check if that solves the problem. Changing the TCV while im there as well and rellocating it somewhere better as I saw it just dangling there.

    Up again by Dom Hartland, on Flickr

  15. #12
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    Hope the new pipes sort the leak, sounds like a relief that it was the pipe split and not something worse!

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    Quote Originally Posted by kmb View Post
    Hope the new pipes sort the leak, sounds like a relief that it was the pipe split and not something worse!
    Yeh bit of an odd one really, the new pipe sorted out the leak. The pipe from the plenum to the turbo was just air to the turbo? so not sure why when that split the turbo decided to kick all the oil out at the same time? odd really.

    Anyway the K16 hybrid is still at the garage getting repaired, they fixed one of the cracks and did a smoke test and found another one so still trying to get that solved.


    Had an issue the other week where I took the car to the shops and on getting in to drive back the car just died on me, just didnt want to start at all. Doing all the usually checks I couldnt find anything wrong, luckily the RAC turned up and went to read some codes and 100% sure the issue was an ECU (I completly forgot I had breakdown cover). Luckily I already had an ECU waiting for this day to happen so it was carted off to PSL who had me ECU to fit the new one and clone onto the new ECU. After that was done, car start up right away *perfect* Only thing was it was running on an old map so turbo had to get dialed down again. So car is just sitting around waiting on the K16 hybrid to be fixed and to return to PSL for some final mapping.

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    So car is still sitting around with the standard K16 waiting on the K16 hybrid to be repaired. Been a few issues with trying to weld the manifold. Because it gets so hot, fixing one crack potential results in creating more so we shall see if it gets done this week. If id does it will be bolted on, if not, I will push on with the standard K16 and get that mapped up ready for track.


    I had some 20mm spacers sitting in the garage so decided to fit them to the rear of the car and see how they did. There has always been a bit more of a gap on the rear than the front which I have found odd, but been told its to aid traction / control for the front.

    Anyway I fitted the rear spacers on and the wheels came right out and not line up with the body panel, if not they come out a touch bit too far. So the only problem with this, is under hard cornering there is obviously some scraping on the wheel arch.

    Decided that these arent worth doing and just going to remove them from the car, the rear camber seems to be a bit different as well with the spacers on and even the arch gap seems to of got bigger which is even more odd.

    Anyway, trail and test and not something for me, so they are coming out. Without the spacers the rear sits perfectly with a touch of lean from the rear tires which I think has helps me for grip on track (Thinking of that, might have to get some rear adjustable camber arms)



    20mm rear spacers by Dom Hartland, on Flickr

    20mm rear spacers by Dom Hartland, on Flickr

    Rear Arch Gap
    20mm rear spacers by Dom Hartland, on Flickr

    20mm rear spacers by Dom Hartland, on Flickr

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    So the car is all done now, the turbo specialist couldnt fix the crack on the k16 hybrid so decided to call it off now and get the standard K16 mapped on the car.

    Before any mapping starting the car was running 380bhp, finished off with a healthy strong 405bhp.

    There was a bit of an oil leak again at the start of the day which is odd, but after cleaning up the underneath, it didnt come back again. Will probably look to replace the RS oil cooler and the pipes to see if that does the job.

    Anyway thats it for now! K16 on and running and will probably leave the car for a while and just enjoy it.

    Next on the cars will be stuff more slanted towards handling which probably should of been a priority but there we go.

    - Big brake kit
    - Bucket seats

    The hybrid 16 (Which was Noshs) is gone though, am going to be sending that to AET turbo's who build it and I think that will return back on the car for more. But for this upgrade I am leaning more towards larger injectors now and a stand alone ECU management system.

    Psl mapping day by Dom Hartland, on Flickr

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    So I guess I cant stay away from modding this thing really. Next steps are working on the cooling to keep it running well on track

    With the current setup the intercooler is hitting temps of 47c at high rpm when ideally I need it down to 30c max. Need to see if I can find a proper radiator for this as well, I hear some people say that the focus ST / RS performance radiators might fit and others that say they done (Dont know a single P1 with unupgraded radiator) so might have to take a step into the unknown and just get one to make it fit.


    Currently looking at a full focus Airtec kit for larger stage intercooler (Might need some bumper cutting) along with big boost pipes to get rid of all that old worn OEM piping.

    Looking to stick the RS Intake pipe on so just need to get an ST MAF extension to route the cone further away from the engine.

    Also looking at the Airtec ST oil cooler, to see if those will fit. One thing I need to find out is where the oil cooler will be mounted and how to mount it. I can see mention of some rubber when mounting to ensure as little vibration gets to the oil cooler as possible.

    PSL have asked if we can stick on the standard MAF back on the car and not the RS MAF as it seems to read a bit funny. They recon the OEM MAF will still be up to the job running that K16.



    Some other things im looking into is how to install race seats, I know there might be some sensors I might need to deal with doing this? and also have a cut off switch for the sensor under the drivers chair to turn off tranction control.

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    I like how your wheels complemented the color of this car. It looks really clean and well-maintained.

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    Took the car to his first track day this year at Goodwood. Absolutly brilliant track, probably a bit to fast for me as it was a touch terrifying in some areas.

    Car did brilliantly well, the new LSD was incredible .... still struggling for grip out the corners so didnt completly cure that. The only downfall of the car on the track was really the tracktion control, its plain frustrating and gets in the way. Have to drive the car hard till it temporarily disables itself and even then it is still partially there, will need to find a way to get rid of this as soon as possible.

    But appart from that, car handled very well. a video clip below of the day.



    Brakes defenitly need improving, so I have some Ksports on the way this week.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Moonpiemagic View Post
    Took the car to his first track day this year at Goodwood. Absolutly brilliant track, probably a bit to fast for me as it was a touch terrifying in some areas.

    Car did brilliantly well, the new LSD was incredible .... still struggling for grip out the corners so didnt completly cure that. The only downfall of the car on the track was really the tracktion control, its plain frustrating and gets in the way. Have to drive the car hard till it temporarily disables itself and even then it is still partially there, will need to find a way to get rid of this as soon as possible.

    But appart from that, car handled very well. a video clip below of the day.



    Brakes defenitly need improving, so I have some Ksports on the way this week.
    It seems like you had so much fun with your first track. Keep us posted on the next one.

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    Before that Goodwood track day I popped on a fresh set of tarox brake pads which did much better than those horrible green stuff's that were on previously. No fade during the track and no wobble at all! Looking at youtube made the pad change look incredibly easy, where as I got myself into quite a pickle really. But my first brake pads change done!

    Anyway even though those Tarox pads were brilliant, the brakes just arent big enough for the power the car is running. So have a set of Ksport 8pot breaks waiting to go on, need to start researching how to do this myself really but if anyone has any comments, suggestions, please let me know!

    I also have a Airtec Stage 4 intercooler and pipes waiting to go on as well to replace the current bell intercooler and old worn oem pipes. Pretty sure this should be a very easy swap job *touch wood*


    Car is back at the turbo garage as it has it still has an oil leak after the turbo swap, which is quite frustrating. By the looks of it, maybe a missing gasket? or something like that, as quite a lot of oil has been dropped.


    Once that is done, am getting the other K16 hybrid back from them and sending that off to AET to get repaired properly.

    Will probably be getting that turbo back on the car hopefully this year along with some bigger injectors.

    The standard K16 is brilliant with a tonne of power, but the hybrid just gives it a lot more top end where the standard K16 just sort of goes flat.


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