Volvo 850 Tuning

"850 shows aerodynamics are not needed with lots of power!"

Following success in the Touring car championships, Volvo carved out a name for themselves. The 850 is a good car tuning project to execute. Sit down first and research 850 tuning to spare yourself making the usual common mistakes we get told about.

A site visitor asked for more information on the 850 and how to tune it up and modify it, so we've put together this guide which covers our go to modifications that we find are the optimum upgrades you can do to this car.

Today there are lots of tuning options and upgrades for the 850 and if you choose them wisely you can have an awesome supercar chaser.

Handling modifications are usually your first port of call for the 850. We suggest that you fit uprated suspension and lower the car by 30-35mm. Larger drops require arch work - especially on models already equipped with sports suspension.

Our aim in 850 engine tuning should be to increase peak power and Torque at the top end.

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.

850 Engine Tuning Mods.

The following modifications are usually performed by our members, decide how far you want to go before you begin.

Petrol engines available

• 2.0–2.5L I5 (93kW–186kW)

Diesel:

• 2.5L I5 (103kW)

Getting the right mods for your planned usage of the car is vital. Stage 3 (competition) mods just don't work well on the road.

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 850

1. Air Induction and Exhaust Upgrades - Note that on their own these mods won't ADD TORQUE on most cars, but they permit you to release power after other modifications by losing a restriction.
2. Fast road cams are significant power adders, but we strongly suggest they be installed by someone competent and it can sometimes be hard to find one but you might find a local firm to regrind a stock cam for you.
3. 850 Handling Mods (Suspension) - Fitting a more sporty Suspension kit greatly enhances your 850 road holding and cornering. Adjustable coilovers and better bushings are what is needed here.
4. Lightened Flywheels - a lower weight flywheel will noticably improve the engines rev changes. Not a great mod for all 850 engines.
5. Flowing and porting the engine head - for larger gains, you will get better flow and make a more efficient engine if you do this to support your other mods.
6. Brake Upgrades - Improve your ability to stop should be high on your agenda.
7. Upgrades to turbochargers and superchargers - forced induction is the most dramatic method to increase your intakes air supply, which permits you to combust more fuel and make power gains. It is one of the most complex modifications you'll see massive gains.

850 Tuning Stages

Typical stage 1 mods often include: Exhaust, Panel air filter, Engine Tunes/Remapping, lighter flywheel

Typical stage 2 mods often include: Fast road cam, ported and polished head, fuel injector & fuel pump upgrades,

Typical stage 3 mods: Engine balancing, forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Internal engine upgrades (pistons/head/valves), competition cam.

Peak power is good on competition cars but for a drivable and fun car you need a wide torque band and perhaps extending the rev range.

The whole point of our guides is to give a brief overview of customizing upgrades and point you in the right direction, our forum is the place to go for detailed advice and tips on your modified car project, the best sport mods and all aspects of modding cars.One of the most cost effective mechanical mods you can do to your NA (naturally aspirated) engine is to fit a fast road camshaft .

It maximises the intake and exhaust durations and pushes up the power if done right. Ideally you'd add other mods and finish up with a reflashed ECU. We'd also 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 uprate the fuelling.

If you find you suffer from flat spots and surges after your motorsport modifications you should check the fuelling and try a higher octane fuel as well. Improving the injectors is another beneficial modification and will deliver sufficient fuel.

Uprate the fuel pump to cope with the extra fuel requirements of your tuned 850's uprated injectors.

Volvo 850 intake and Exhaust Tuning.

Breathing mods are usually next up. Induction kits only help to boost performance if the air intake is struggling! Adding an induction kit to most low power 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.

For most 850 engines TorqueCars would suggest you just go with a washable panel air filter. On heavily tuned engines and turbo vehicles an induction kit will help release the power providing you address the problem of needing cold air.

Sports exhausts generally help improve air flow through the engine but do not go too wide or you might just stuff your flow rate and make things worse. So generally speaking, keep to a size of 1.5 to around 2.5 inches to maximise flow rates, and this should take into account the amount of air your engine is moving.

flowed (porting and polishing) the head will allow you to maximise your air/fuel charge. Leave this to a professional though with a proper flow bench and machine tools When you heavily modify your 850 you will often find that the standard clutch starts to slip so get an uprated clutch. The best mods we recommend for your 850 are Remapping or piggy back ecu, fast road cam and air intake and exhaust.

NA (naturally aspirated) engines do not achieve big power gains if you tune/remap them, unless you have done extensive modifications. With turbocharged engines this is another story. A tuned/remapped turbo will give massive power gains and fully release the potential power of the engine.

We've also seen some tuners playing with twincharging conversions and making some seriously high power gains.

The most phenomenal power gains for NA (naturally aspirated) engines usually involve the addition of forced induction. Superchargers are generally easier to add than a turbo. Turbos provide boost in exponential proportion to th engine speed and this can make mapping difficult.

Superchargers, however will give a boost which is proportional to engine speed so is easier to map. To cope with forced induction you will usually need to decrease the engines compression ratio .

850 Handling/Suspension upgrades

Improving the handling for people often first priority in your 850 tuning project.

Drop the car optimally somewhere in the region of 23 - 42 and fit modified stiffer dampers, bigger drops will need other modifications in most instances.

Upgrades to the 850's suspension and handling

When it comes to modifying your 850, one of the most often cited reasons is to better its handling. However, we repeatedly encounter the same mistakes.

We would choose a set of Good Quality coilovers that provide an opportunity for you to lower or raise the car to set the cars handling to your preference

Is there anything I should bear in mind while deciding on suspension mods for my 850?

Uprated Bushes

Bushing mods are needed so what's involved?

Bushings, which are rubber mounts, allow the 850's suspension components to be affixed to the car's chassis. The rubber ones will degrade as they wear out.

Installing new OEM rubber bushes may dramatically improve the performance of your car.

Because the polyurethane bushes are firmer, the ride may be a bit firmer, but they will last longer and maintain the handling.

Worn bushes may also hasten the stress of other suspension components due to the increased vibration and play.

With a new set of poly bushes, the excessive play associated with rubber bushes may be lessened.

You may struggle to find a full set of polyeyurothane bushings, but most stores have the primary mounts available. You may be able to have custom poly bushes created to suit your needs.

Many people believe that a 90mm lower 850 suspension kit from a car part store would be perfect. However, this is not the case - suspension design and setup is quite complex. Vendors may assert that their 850 suspension kits are compatible with any or all of the 850 model years.

The 'one size fits all' approach is obviously a flawed assumption when it comes to adequately supporting a diverse variety of cars. Engine weights and trim levels, and even alloy rims will affect the handling and require different suspension setups.

How low should you go on the 850?

According to TorqueCars research and testing, the maximum amount of suspension drop for most road vehicles is 23 - 42 millimetres, whereas cars that are factory fitted with lowered springs have a maximum suspension drop of 20 millimetres.

Tolerances may be greatly reduced by altering the diameter of the wheels. Lowering a vehicle, even with 17-inch wheels and stock suspension, may create several problems.

While the fact that the 850 being lower allows for less air to travel underneath it may aid in stability, the ultimate goal should always be to enhance handling. When lowering the springs, it is critical to use the proper shocks that match all round.

We found that most 850 factory suspension setups need tweaking, a few degrees of toe (set some toe out to improve cornering or use toe in for better stability) and you only need around 1-1.7 degrees, and slight negative camber will greatly enhance your cornering and handling.

For sharper enhanced braking add better brake pads and mate this with larger brake discs.

Bear in mind that race pads will be noisy and will have to be hot before they are effective.

On a road car the brakes are only used rarely so won't stop you as well so specify friction pads which don't need to be really hot.

850 Alloy wheel Upgrades

The benefits of alloy wheels include a lower unsprung weight and more efficient brake cooling. It is worth noting that although they can look cool on the 850, big alloy wheels will actually decrease your performance. The larger you go the lower your top speed will be due to the change in your effective final drive ratio. Although some people have gone larger, we would stick to a 16 inch rim size as the maximum.

Please join us in our forum to discuss the 850 options in more detail with our 850 owners. It would also be worth reading our Volvo tuning articles to get a full grasp of the pros and cons of each type of modification.

Please Check out my YouTube channel, we're regularly adding new content...

Click to accept YouTube Cookies & Play.

This article is flagged for an update, so please pass on specific tips below that I can include. All articles, and content was written by me, Waynne Smith TorqueCars founder. Some outlines are just too general so I appreciate your feedback and suggestions. This entry was filed under Volvo. You can leave a response below or join our forum to discuss this article and car modification in detail with our members.

If you liked this page please share it with your friends, drop a link to it in your favourite forum or use the bookmarking options to save it to your social media profile.