Volvo 940 Tuning

"940 Big Bold and Beautiful"

The 940 is a good solid car and provides a great chassis for tuning. The solidity and rigidity of the body really does give you an advantage over lots of other cars and we note that 940's do really well in motorsports.

That said though safety and handling upgrades should be your first priority in your 940 tuning project. We would go to a maximum drop of 35mm on the T5 and 45mm on other models. You risk rubbing on the arches if you go lower than this and it upsets the suspension geometry.

Top end power should be your overall aim on the 940 with a nice fat peak torque band.

Sadly with smaller engine sizes you are wasting your time spending money on modifications, especailly in  a big car like the 940. So if this applies to you get yourself an engine swap then apply the following mods.

Engine Tuning modifications.

As with everything in life you get what you pay for. Set a budget and then see which mods would give you the best return on your investment. Here are the most common approaches to 940 Tuning projects set out in "stages of tune".

Stage 1 mods: Exhaust, Remap, Panel air filter, lighter flywheel

Stage 2 mods: Fast road cam, ported and polished head, fuel injector & fuel pump upgrades, 

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

This will help to ensure you retain some economy low down. A fast road cam will be one of the best power mod you can do mechanically to your engine. You will need to ensure that the engine is not starved of fuel so will need to uprate the fuelling. Improve your cars response to the throttle with a Fuel pressure boost valve. Uprated injectors will enable you to supply sufficient fuel to the engine. When increasing your fuelling you will also need to get a bigger fuel pump to supply it.

Volvo 940 Intake and Exhaust.

Breathing mods are usually next up. For small 940 engine sizes go with a washable panel air filter. On larger engines and turbo vehicles an induction kit will help increase power. Do not go with the biggest exhaust you can find - the best for power gains are usually between 1.5 to 2.5 inches.

Airflow through the head can be dramatically increased with some porting and polishing. When you start tuning your 940 you will find that the standard clutch starts to complain so get an uprated clutch. Turbo engines are just begging to be custom remapped.You will see big power gains on most turbo engined cars including diesels making a remap one of the most cost effective modifications.

The largest power gains for NASP engines usually involve the addition of forced induction. It is easier to bolt on a supercharger than it is to get a turbo working. It is harder to map a turbo as the boost comes on exponentially with engine speed. 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 compression ratio of the engine.

Volvo 940 Wheel modifications.

The benefits of alloy wheels include a lower unsprung weight and more efficient brake cooling. Large 940 alloy wheels can decrease performance. If you get bigger wheels you will be changing your final drive ratio and your acceleration will suffer. Although some people have gone larger we would stick to a 18 inch rim on low profile tyres  as the maximum.

Please join us in our forum to discuss the 940 options in more detail with our 940 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.

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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.

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