Things to do to a 480?

[daveforber]

I just bought a 480 turbo

1995, 102k on the clock with a bit of damage (cracked lens) and no MOT. On the rather big assumption it'll go through the MOT easily enough when the lens is replaced ... anyone know what engine upgrade options there are other than MBC?

Don't want to touch the body or the wheels -- hope this'll be an appreciating classic

[Marvin]

Enjoy it, when I had mine it put the biggest smile on my face ever. The only problem was they are prone to electrical problems, hence mine became known as Marvin (the Paranoid Android). In the end it had to go beacuse it was either it or me.

[cameron]

I went to a RR day in leeds that Cragmaz arranged and there was an older fellow there with a 480 turbo, pulled about 150bhp, So not too bad considering they are 119bhp standard.

Cant help you with mods but maybe Craig can put you onto him for inspiration

[Volvostorm]

I went to a RR day in leeds that Cragmaz arranged and there was an older fellow there with a 480 turbo, pulled about 150bhp, So not too bad considering they are 119bhp standard.

Cant help you with mods but maybe Craig can put you onto him for inspiration

I thought that was the run arranged by you mate? The car is question was an auto, and came from Shrewsbury

[cameron]

No Bud, that was arranged at Leeds by Cragmaz, his mates place that actually know how to run Autos SEE HERE

247bhp on the rollers was my result but the intake temp was 27c so he said maybe add another 10bhp on top to compensate, i'll have to go back once they've sorted out the problems with the air intake temps and get a true figure, they were good and had no trouble at all running my auto or the 480, highly reccomended

[al c]

Hi,

If you google 480 forums, there is an absolute wealth of knowledge on tuning these engines on the 480 owners club site.

My son has a 2.0 es, just passed 100K in his, good going wee cars.

Alan

[PaulZX]

480 turbo? bigger rad and i/c (take them from summat like a ****roen bx td), mbc, boost at 14 psi, should see you in the region of 200bhp...

(it's what the renault 5 boys do when they nick the 1.7 turbo engine)

[piper1st]

I had a 480ES, 480GT then a 480 turbo. There are a couple of things to do:

First, cosmetically, go to Volvo and buy:
New heater slider knobs (60p each)
Clear front indicator lenses (£70 ish)

Basic and cheap mods that hides the age very well!

EBC and MBC are not really needed for the 440/460/480 turbo's as you have an ECU re-map option which is a lot better. The best proformance up-grade you can do (IMHO) is a RICHMOD ECU re-map. Take your standard ECU out, sent it away, and hey presto. If you go to the Volvo 480 Club Europe site, you can find out more info there as its been a few years since i had one! I ran one for 2 years with no problems and what a massive difference to the bhp and torque.

The story goes that Porsche took the 480 turbo and tuned it to 150bhp for Volvo, but Volvo reduced this to 120bhp so it wouldn't impact on the sales of the 2 litre and also to prolong the engines life. The RICHMOD takes you very safely to 170bhp and a shed load more torque. RICA also do a ECU remap, but costs a lot and doesn't provide as significant an increase.

Ross

[piper1st]

oh, and the IC on the 480 turbo is already massive! :0)

[Ed.]

I had a richmod on my 440 turbo back in the day. Definitely recommend it. My car ran fine with the mod however i have since read on the 480 forum that a few people have had problems.

Rear arches on the 400 series cars are prone to rust. Something to keep your eye on.

Ed