MENUVolvo B6304T2 Tuning
"All you need to know about performance parts and tuning the Volvo B6304T2 engine!"
Herein we examine the options for your B6304T2 tuning and outline the greatest upgrades.
This engine was a Landrover and Volvo collaboration and was designated the Volvo SI6 engine - short inline 6.
Volvo B6304T2 are fantastic to work on and with a few sensible performance parts like remapping, turbo kits and camshafts you will positively enhance your driving fun.
History, Power & Specs of the B6304T2 Engine
This is a short inline 6 and actually took up less space than the 5 cylinder predecessor!
B6304T2
285 PS (210 kW; 281 hp) at 5600 rpm, and produces 400 Nm (295 lbft) of torque at 1500–4800 rpm.
Applications:
- 2008–2010 Volvo S80 II badged as S80 T6 or S80 T6 AWD
- 2008–2010 Volvo S80L badged as S80L T6 or S80L T6 AWD
- 2008–2010 Volvo V70 III badged as V70 T6 or V70 T6 AWD
- 2009–2010 Volvo XC70 II badged as XC70 T6 or XC70 T6 AWD
- 2009–2010 Volvo XC60 badged as XC60 T6 or XC60 T6 AWD
- Tuning the Volvo B6304T2 and best B6304T2 performance parts.
Best B6304T2 tuning mods
The ultimate B6304T2 mods on an engine are typically the ones that give the best power gain for you spend.
We won't be swayed by popular B6304T2 mods, they need to be cost effective.
The cam profile plays a big part in the engines power output so cam upgrades make quite a large difference. The intake and exhaust durations will alter depending on the chosen cam profile, so large power band gains are on offer for cam upgrades.
Fast road cams normally boost the bhp through the rpm band, you may lose a little low down torque but your higher rpm power will be lifted.
Motorsport and race cams, boost the higher rpm power band but as a result the car will not idle smoothly and low end power nearly always suffers.
A Motorsport and race cam makes it harder when on the daily commute, because the lumpy idle will make the car prone to stall and smooth driving at low rpm becomes impossible. If you are developing a track car this doesn't matter as you are in the high end of your RPM range anyway and that is where you want the power to be.
You should ideally match your bhp range to your preferences so for a road car stick with a mild fast road B6304T2 cam
Different B6304T2 engines respond better to different cam durations so view each engine as unique.
The engine timing and fuel pump and injectors also have an effect on the bhp gains you'll get.
Extending exhaust or intake durations can alter the bhp band and on most engines the exhaust and intake durations do not need to match, although most cams and tuners use matched pairs there are some advantages to extending the intake or exhaust durations.
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 Engine Mods for your car
- Engine Tunes - engine tuning/remapping provides the most advantage in terms of cost savings, aftermarket ECUs, and piggyback ECUs are all alternatives.
- Fast road cams are one of the most significant mechanical changes, but they must be installed by someone who knows what they're doing and they are not always easy to source but you might find a local firm to regrind a stock camshaft.
- Intake and Exhaust - Note that on their own these mods will NOT ADD POWER in most cases, but they can help enhance power after other mods by removing the restriction.
- Upgrades to turbochargers and superchargers - forced induction is the most efficient approach to increase air supply, allowing you to burn more fuel and make more power. It is one of the most costly upgrades but provides the best gains.
- Head work - The goals of porting and flowing the head are to get air flowing into the engine while removing flow restrictions and turbulence.
Typical stage 1 mods often include:
Remaps/piggy back ECU, Intake manifolds, Panel air filters, Sports exhaust header/manifold, Fast road camshaft, drilled & smoothed airbox.
Typical stage 2 mods often include:
Ported and polished head, fuel pump upgrades, induction kit, high flow fuel injectors, Sports catalyst & performance exhaust, Fast road cam.
Typical stage 3 mods often include:
Competition cam, Internal engine upgrades (head flowing porting/bigger valves), Twin charging conversions, Engine balancing & blueprinting, Adding or Upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Crank and Piston upgrades to alter compression.
A remap allows a tuner to fully realize the full potential of all the parts you've done to your B6304T2.
(In some cases, as the factory ECU is locked flashing is not an option, so an aftermarket ECU is the route to take, and many of these will outperform factory ECU's but make sure it has knock protection and that you get it setup properly.)
It will usually give you around 30% more power on turbocharged vehicles and you can expect to see around 15% on NA (naturally aspirated) engines, but your results often depend much on the parts you've done and the condition of your engine.
Forcing more fuel and air into each cylinder is the aim to any engine performance tuning job.
Intake manifold transmit the air during the suck phase from the filter and allow it to be drawn into the engine and mixed with fuel.
Design and rate of flow of the Air Intake manifolds can make a noticeable improvement to fuel atomisation and engine efficiency on the B6304T2.
Most intake are crying out for aftermarket parts, although some manufacturers provide fairly well optimized intake.
Big valve conversions on the B6304T2, doing a bit of 3 or 5 angle valve jobs and porting and head flowing will also improve bhp, this will allow you to get increasing the bhp increase on other tuning parts.
B6304T2 Turbo upgrades
NA (naturally aspirated) engines need quite a lot of work when you add a turbo, so we have a separate guide to help you take into account the pros and cons of going this route on your B6304T2
The more air you can get into an engine, the more fuel it can burn and uprating the induction with a turbocharger upgrade makes impressive power gains.
When your motor has forced induction parts are simpler to install and you'll see that turbocharged engines are made with many forged and stronger components.
There are common areas of failure for every engine, with some being very over engineered and some only able to handle stock powerDiscover these limitations and upgrade to higher quality crank and pistons to cope with the power.
There are many guys spending a loads on turbocharger upgrades on the B6304T2 only to experience the car throw a rod on it's first outing after it's finished.
Larger turbo units tend to experience low end lag, and small turbo units spool up much more quickly but do not have the top end power band gains.
Thanks to progress the range of turbochargers is always evolving and we are seeing variable vane turbochargers, permitting the vane profile is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end bhp and torque.
Twin scroll turbochargers divert the exhaust gases into a couple of channels and feed these at differently designed vanes in the turbocharger. They also increase the scavenging effect of the engine.
It is common that there is a limitation in the air flow sensor (AFM/MAF/MAP) on the B6304T2 when a lot more air is being drawn into the engine.
We see 4 bar air sensors coping with quite large power gains, whereas the OEM air sensor was restricting bhp at a much lower level.
Adding a supercharger or additional turbo will make large torque gains, although more complex to setup. We have this feature on twinchargers if you want to read more.
Fuelling
Don't miss you'll need to raise the fuelling when you are increasing the torque - it makes the car more thirsty. 
It is important to over specify your injectors flow rate.
As a rule of thumb add 20% when buying an injector, this allows for injector deterioration and affords a little spare capacity should the engine need more fuel.
We think this one is common sense, but you'll need to match your fuel injector to the type of fuel your car uses as well.
B6304T2 Performance Exhausts
You only need to replace your exhaust if the existing exhaust is actually causing a flow problem.
On most factory exhausts you should find that your flow rate is ok even on modest power gains, but when you start pushing up the power levels you will need to get a better flowing exhaust.
Sports exhausts increase the flow of air through the engine.
But if your exhaust pipe is too big, ie: over 2.5 inches bore, you will lose much of the flow rate and end up lacking power and torque.
Typically exhaust restrictions come around the emissions filters installed, so adding a freer flowing performance catalyst removes the restriction. We note that performance cats perform similarly to decats and have the added benefit of keeping your car street legal, as decats or catalyst removal is illegal in most territories for road going cars.
Weak spots, Issues & problem areas on the B6304T2
The B6304T2 engines are generally reliable and solid units, as long as you follow the manufacturers service schedules, and use a good quality oil to ensure longevity. Few problems should happen as long as they are regularly serviced and maintained.
Carbon build up in the head, particularly around the valves which will sap power or create flat spots, this is a larger issue on direct injection engines but should be looked out for on all engines. We have tips on removing carbon build up.
Some of our members have had issues with flat spots or glitches after applying mods and upgrades or tuning, this is not usually related to this engines design, so instead see our article on diagnosing flat spots and problems after tuning which should help you get the bottom of this issue.
Regular oil changes are vital on the B6304T2, especially when tuned and will help extend the life and reliability of the engine.
If you would like to know more, or just get some friendly advice on Tuning your B6304T2 engine please join us in our car forums where you can discuss B6304T2 tuning options in more detail with our B6304T2 owners. It would also be worth reading our unbiased Volvo tuning articles to get insights into each modification and how effective they will be for your car.
Please help us improve these tips by sending us your feedback in the comments box below.
We love to hear what our visitors have got up to and which upgrades work best for you on your car. Which helps us keep our guides and tips up to date helping others with their modified car projects. Your feedback and comments are used to keep this page up to date, and help improve the accuracy of these B6304T2 tuning guides which get regular updates and revisions.
Please Check out my YouTube channel, we're regularly adding new content...
Click to accept YouTube Cookies & Play.Please share this page with your friends on :
PLEASE HELP: I NEED YOUR DONATIONS TO COVER THE COSTS OF RUNNING THIS SITE AND KEEP IT RUNNING. I do not charge you to access this website and it saves most TorqueCars readers $100's each year - but we are NON PROFIT and not even covering our costs. To keep us running PLEASE Donate here
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.
Feedback - What do You Think?
Please use our forums if you wish to ask a tuning question, and please note we do not sell parts or services, we are just an online magazine.
Help us improve, leave a suggestion or tip
Please watch this video and subscribe to my YouTube channel.