Monthly Archives: October 2018

Some tuning explaining

Right now I’m just running a stock European map, they tuned the car down in the US to meet CA emissions.

http://m44.wikia.com/wiki/M44_Wiki

That is an entire site that explains how to tune these cars. My first step before I start doing any tuning is getting high quality wideband and boost gauges. I also can’t really mess with it much without doing the downpipe because that is a huge restriction.

There is a lot of good info on that site explaining everything. The info is basically all the best of what was put on a huge thread in on Volvospeed.com. It just so happens that one of the guys who developed this method of tuning sells this as a service and lives in Denver. He does tunes for these car around the world.

http://vasttuning.com/

From the tuning site:
“RECAP: First step, accurate boost guage and afr guage. I suggest having something to datalog afr, rpm, maf and ign adv at the minimum. Start with WOT tuning as this is the easiest approach(since tuning part load on the street would require holding the car at a steady rpm/load which is extremely hard). If you find any issues with your new boost value, try adding fuel, pulling ign or reducing boost if neither of those work. If you max your MAF / go over the max load on the table (8.02) use that column to tune. If your finding you cannot reach desired boost and keep increasing requested load and you dont see any changes try playing around with max duty for boost control solenoid. Remember dont go too crazy on this map! You risk bending rods at low RPM high TPS.”

The stock ECU actually limits the boost in first gear from a dead stop. This reduces tire spin but it also protects the motor from bending a rod.

Clanging out the injectors to the larger ones requires “Calibrating for injectors requires setting the ‘Injection Basic Adjustment Factor’ and the ‘Injector Opening Time by Voltage’.” This is really easy to do.

Also another restriction on the system is the MAF. 
“The stock MAF can only measure flow up to 826Kg/h, this limit can be reached on a stock 850 with a 15g fairly easily. In order to maintain accurate fueling calculations past this rather low limit it is recommended to upgrade the size of the MAF by placing the stock sensor in a larger housing. Here are a couple of housings that are a direct fit for the original MAF sensor:

2.50″ ID Volvo 850/S/V/C70 826 kg/h (stock)
2.75″ ID Volvo S90/960 1056 kg/h
3.25″ ID 540i BMW 1612 kg/h
It is very important the increase in airflow is accounted for in your bin!”

Denver Salvage Yard Run

I made a run to the pull and pay in Denver on Friday.

I picked up a ’99 V70R front bumper in black. The bumper had a little damage but I’ve already fixed most of it with a heat gun. I will need to paint it to match the car. This was the last part I was missing to make my car a V70R.


I also got a passenger plastic wheel well liner, plastic under tray, and green injectors. 

Injector – Pressure – Flow Rate

Bosch Blue – 3bar – 347cc (stock on the 1998 V70R)

Bosch Green – 3bar – 448cc

The green injectors are a good flow upgrade for the car.

I also found a factory tool kit.

Base tune installed

I got some work done on the car. I swapped out the barometric pressure sensor on the car to deal with a check engine light. They are a common fail point on these cars and it only takes a few minutes to replace. The sensor costs $80 so I first tried a few junk yard sensors with no luck. I do still need to clear the code.

My car was boosting at about 5-7 psi but should have been 10 psi stock (240bhp). Since I installed the Euro tune, I’m now getting 12 lbs(250bhp). It definitely feels like a different car. The stock turbo that I’m running is a Mitsubishi TD04HL-16T and it maxes out at about 15 psi and (250whp). If I go with the ’99 V70R 18T or the 2000 V70R 19T, I can get to 20 psi max and close to 300whp.

300 WHP is about the max the auto tranny can hold. From what I’ve read, pushing the power to close to 300 whp is recommended to add a tranny cooler. Not a huge deal to add a tranny cooler and only costs about $60 so I will do it even without the added power.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000C3BBKS/?c … _lig_dp_it

The weak link on this motor is the connecting rods so I plan to keep it safe and not push the motor to 300 whp. At most I will probably install an 18t or 19t and push 17 psi max. The 1998 TD04’s have an straight flange exhaust hosing with a 2.5″ outlet and the ’99+ TD04’s have a angle flange exhaust hosing with a 2.75″ outlet. I plan to snag an angle flange housing from the junk yard in the near future and install a custom 3″ downpipe with a high flow cat.

I’m going to pick up the “upgraded” Pierburg 7.22908.03.0 BOOST CONTROL VALVE out of a Porsche since it does better at the higher boost numbers.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FA364EI/?c … _lig_dp_it

I also plan to get an Innovate Motorsports PSB-1 Boost/Wideband Oxygen Gauge Kit.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B013UG0ERE/?c … _lig_dp_it

I’m still back and forth on the tune, doing it myself vs having it done. I’m planning on loosing the distributor and going with Coil on Plug. I already have the coils.