Volvo 760 Tuning

"Showing that Square is Beautiful"

The 760 was used as a police car, and rightly so as it offered a lot of storage space, a turn of speed and a very solid chassis. The turbo models are the ones to go for if you are after a tuning project. We were surprised how rapid such a big heavy car can be made to feel. We note that lots of Volvo 760 owners uprate the handling of their cars as a priority, this will certainly increase your enjoyment of the car.

Bear in mind that these are quite heavy cars, so weight reduction can really pay dividends when it comes to performance tuning. Panels can be replaced with lighter parts and lighter interior parts can be fitted.

When it comes to handling upgrades, drop the car by a maximum of 45mm and fit stiffer dampers, bigger drops will need other modifications in most instances but this obviously depends on your wheel size.

Turning our attention to the 760s engine we need to get a bit more power out of the top end.

Enjoy your 760 and tune the engine to the max with our simple tuning tips.

Smaller engines do not provide much of a return in terms of power so start with a bigger engine. Engine swaps are a good option if you have a small engine size.

Tuning tips and articles

Engine tuning Transmission tuning Care care Intake & exhaust mods Improve handling Forums

 

Handling/Suspension upgrades

Improving the handling for car owners first priority in your 760 tuning project.

Fully adjustable suspension allows you to fine tune the handling of you 760 greatly benefitting your drive.

We would go to a maximum drop of 23mm - 40 mm on most models. You risk handling compromises if you go lower than this.

Our aim in 760 engine tuning should be to increase peak power and Torque at the top end.

Following our guidance for tuning your 760 you will attain a practical but hot car that will potentially out perform bigger cars.

To be completely frank and honest, on the more modest engine sizes you are wasting your time spending money on modifications, so if this applies to you get yourself an engine swap then apply the following mods.

Power mods.

Typically these modified modifications are usually installed by our members, decide how far you want to push your car before you get going.

Getting the right sports modifications for your planned usage of the car is vital. Stage 3 motor sport parts just won't work well on the road making the car difficult to drive.

Please watch our video which covers the 5 principles of tuning your car. Be sure to keep up with our latest YouTube content and subscribe.

Best mods for your 760

  1. Engine Tunes - A Remapped 760 ECU offers the most power with respect to your investment, aftermarket ECU upgrades, and Tuning boxes are all alternatives.
  2. Brake Upgrades - Enhancing your stopping power ought to be somewhere in your mods list.
  3. Lighter flywheels - a lower weight flywheel will enhance the engines rev changes. Not always not a great upgrade for all 760 engines.
  4. Fast road cams are generally the biggest mechanical mod upgrade, but we recommend they be installed by someone qualified to set them up and you might struggle to find one but there might be a local firm to regrind a stock camshaft for you.
  5. Air Intake and high flowing exhausts - Note that on their own these mods will NOT ADD POWER , but they permit you to release power after other upgrades by losing a restriction.
  6. Upgrades to turbochargers and superchargers - A New Turbo is the most efficient approach to increase air supply, ensuring you are able to use more fuel and make more power. Typically one of the most challenging mods it offers big gains.
  7. 760 Suspension - Fitting a more sporty Suspension kit radically improves your 760 handling Poly Bushes and Coilovers are typically fitted to achieve this
  8. Flowing and porting the Head - Head work will get air flowing into the engine while removing turbulence or restrictions.

760 Tuning Stages

Typical stage 1 mods often include: Sports exhaust, Panel air filter, Engine Tunes/Remapping, Suspension upgrade (drop 30-40mm), Alloy wheels, Lighter flywheel.

Typical stage 2 mods often include: Fast road cam, Ported and polished head, fuel pump upgrades, high flow fuel injector, Power/Sport clutch.

Typical stage 3 mods often include: Internal engine upgrades (pistons/head/valves), Competition cam, Sports gearbox, Adding or upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Engine balancing.

You really need to keep as much low end torque as you can and aim to achieve a wide power band across the rev range rather than a narrow top end power spike.

In this article we shall give your a good starting base to the best modifications for your car, but we'd encourage you to spend some time on the site looking into the details of each type of performance upgrade.Fast road cams offer one of the biggest performance gains for your money as far as a solitary upgrades goes on a NA (naturally aspirated) engine.

It maximises the intake and exhaust flow and pushes up the power if done right. Ideally you'd add other mods and finish up with a remap. TorqueCars would caution you not to go with a motor sport cam as this upsets the engines idling and general town driving characteristics.

You will need to ensure that the engine is not starved of fuel so will need to increase the fuelling.

Frequently power losses, and erratic idling after performance mods are done can usually be traced to fuel delivery or timing issues.Improving the injectors is another beneficial modification and will deliver sufficient fuel.

If you are increasing your fuelling with bigger injectors you will also need to get a bigger fuel pump to supply it.

Volvo 760 Intake and Exhaust Tuning.

Breathing mods are usually next up. Induction kits only help to add power if the cars air intake is restricted! Adding an induction kit to most small engines will see NO LOW END POWER GAIN AT ALL. If you have heavily modified your engine and it's need for air INCREASES DRAMATICALLY then an induction kit is the answer and will help remove this restriction.

Derestricting the airflow into the engine is a primary goal of performance tuning so get a freer flowing air filter if you find that the car is running lean only if you find the car is running lean. Induction kits can sound sporty but due to the warm air in the engine bay they will not do much to increase power and actually rob you of power.

Do not go with the biggest exhaust you can find this will slow the exhaust rate - the best for power gains are usually between 1.5 to 2.5 inches. It is the shape and material more than the bore size.

Getting a professionally polished and ported head with larger valves can fully release the engines power. In nearly all cases of 760 tuning your clutch will start to suffer and this needs an upgrade - read our tips on clutches for more information. The best mods we recommend for your 760 are a tune/remap especially on a turbo, a fast road camshaft and sports exhaust, with a good air intake.

Remaps offer impressive power gains on all turbo charged cars. On NA (naturally aspirated) engines the benefits are doubtful. However a tuned/remapped ECU on a NA (naturally aspirated) engine will help unleash the potential if you have done a lot of mods. Adding forced induction will see big power gains but this is usually too expensive to be cost effective. It is generally easier to bolt on a supercharger than it is to fit a working turbo. It is more challenging to map a turbo as the boost builds exponentially with engine speed.

The nice proportional boost and rpm characteristics of the supercharger make them simpler to map. Adding forced induction will usually require a lower compression ratio or water injection.

Volvo 760 Wheel modifications.

Because alloy wheels are lighter they improve performance and they help to cool the brake disks. It is worth noting that although they can look cool on the 760, big alloy wheels will actually decrease your performance. The larger you go the higher the top speed will be due to the change in your effective final drive ratio, the downside is the slower acceleration. Aim to keep the overall rolling diameter of the wheel the same as supplied from the factory. In all cases we do not recommend going above 16 inches.

If you would like to know more, or just get some friendly advice on Tuning your car please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss 760 options in more detail with our 760 owners. It would also be worth reading our unbiased Volvo tuning articles to get a full grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each modification.

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