Tuning the Volvo B4164

"Comprehensive guide to performance parts and tuning the Volvo B4164 engine!"

We are frequently getting emails asking about the premier B4164 power upgrades. So let us look into Volvo B4164 upgrades and outline the best modifications on this great engine and point out some common pitfalls along the way.

Let us outline options for your B4164 tuning and report on the optimum modifications for your car. Volvo B4164 are fantastic to work on and with the best uprated parts like ECU maps, turbo upgrades and camshafts you will really maximise your driving pleasure.

Just because particular upgrades are popular with B4164 owners it doesn't mean its worth having, we shall best upgrades that will give your B4164 the best value for money to power increase.

Altering your B4164 camshaft will make a dramatic difference to the engine engines power. Choosing a higher performance camshaft profile raises the engines power accordingly.

NB: Fast road cams commonly increase the power throughout the rev band, you could drop a little low down torque but your higher rpm power will be higher.

Race cams, increase the higher rpm power band but as a result the car will not idle smoothly and low end power nearly always suffers.

For a typical daily driver must carefully try to optimize your power band to your driving style.

You'll never find a B4164 Race camshaft is a pleasure to live with when driving around busy urban areas.

Each engine responds better to extreme camshaft durations so set your engine up on a rolling road.

The ecu map and fuel pump and injectors also have an effect on the bhp gains you'll hit.

Longer valve 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.

B4164 Best Tuning Mods & Upgrades

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Tuning Stages

Stage 1 B4164 modifications: Intake headers, Drilled & smoothed airbox, Fast road camshaft, Panel air filters, Sports exhaust manifold, Remaps/piggy back ECU.

Stage 2 B4164 modifications: fuel pump upgrades, induction kit, Sports catalyst & performance exhaust, Fast road cam, Ported and polished head, high flow fuel injectors.

Stage 3 B4164 modifications: Twin charging conversions, Adding or Upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Crank and Piston upgrades to alter compression, Competition cam, Engine balancing & blueprinting, Internal engine upgrades (head flowing porting/bigger valves).

ECU mapping should help to fully realize the full potential of all the parts you've done to your B4164.

It will usually give around 30% more power on turbocharged vehicles and you can expect to see around 15% on NASP engines, but the end result may differs on the parts you've applied and the condition of your engine.

It is the aim to any tuning job to pull fuel and air into each cylinder

Intake take the air during the suck phase from the filter and allow it to be sucked into the engine cylinders.

Design and flow characteristics of the Plenum can make a substantial difference to to fuel mixing and power on the B4164.

It's not uncommon that intake manifold are ripe for an upgrade, although some OEM provide well optimised intake manifold.

Adding a B4164 larger valve kit, doing a bit of port work and head flowing will also lift performance, and more importantly will afford you a greater performance increase on other modifications.

Turbo upgrades for the B4164

NASP 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 B4164

The more air you can get into an engine, the more fuel it can burn and uprating the induction with a turbocharger upgrade makes massive power gains.

If an engine is turbo charged upgrades are going to net you a larger power gain and we find turbo charged engines already contain better components.

However engines have weakspots

See where you'll find these limitations and fit better quality crank and pistons to cope with the power.

We see many people spending a a stack of money on turbo upgrades on the B4164 only to experience the engine block explode soon after it's been finished.

Larger capacity turbo units will usually suffer no power at low rpm, and low capacity turbo units spool up really quickly but won't have the peak end bhp gains.

Over the last 20 years the selection of turbo units is always increasing and we are seeing variable vane turbo units, allowing the vane profile is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end bhp.

Twin scroll turbo units divert the exhaust flow into a couple of channels and feed these at differently profiled vanes in the turbo charger. They also improve the scavenging effect of the engine.

You'll commonly see there's a restriction in the air flow sensor AFM/MAP on the B4164 when loads more air is being sucked into the engine.

You'll see that 4 bar air sensors coping with quite large power gains, whereas the OEM air sensor was restricting performance at a much lower level.

Adding a supercharger or additional turbo will make large performance gains, although harder to get working. We have this in depth look at twinchargers if you want to read more.

Uprating B4164 fuel injectors

When you increase the performance you will need to uprate to the fuelling.

More performance needs more fuel. We would recommend you to over specify your injectors flow rate.

As a rule of thumb add 20% capacity when fitting an injector, which takes into account injector deterioration and gives you some spare capacity should the engine require 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.

Best B4164 performance exhausts

You may need to replace your exhaust if your exhaust is creating a flow problem.

On most factory exhausts you'll see your flow rate is still 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 can usually air flow out of the engine but avoid an exhaust that is too large or you could will reduce the flow rate. Stick to 1.5 to 2.5 inches as a rule of thumb.

Usual exhaust restrictions are in the emissions filters installed, so adding a better flowing high performance alternative will help avoid this restriction.

D4164 Engine specs and bhp

• 1.6L I4 (109 bhp) D4164T

Problems and issues to look out for on the B4164

The B4164 engines, if regularly serviced and maintained, are generally very reliable and have few issues.

Regular oil changes are vital on the B4164, particularly when the engine has been modified and is putting down more power than the manufacturer intended.

For more information on Tuning your B4164 engine please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss tuning options in more detail with our B4164 owners. It would also be worth reading our unbiased tuning articles to get a full grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each modification.

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We really like hearing from our readers, and hearing about which upgrades were the most effective for them, it helps us improve our recommendations and articles to reflect current trends in modifications and ensures that our B4164 guides and tips are kept up to date.

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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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