Tuning the Volvo B52

"Comprehensive guide to tuning and performance parts on the Volvo B52 engine!"

We are always getting emails requesting information on the things we recommend when it comes to B52 mods that work. So let us look into Volvo B52 modifications and outline the best upgrades on this great engine and point out some potential pitfalls along the way.

The Volvo B52 great bases for a tuning project and with the best motorsport enhancements like a remap, turbo kits and camshafts you will enhance your driving pleasure.

This pages aim is examine B52 tuning and highlight the greatest upgrades.

The greatest B52 mods on an engine are in our opinion the ones that give the best power gain for you spend.

We won't be swayed by popular B52 mods, they need to be cost effective.

Altering your B52 cam will make a dramatic difference to the engine engines power. Choosing a higher performance cam profile raises the engines power accordingly.

NB: Fast road camshafts normally push up the torque across the rev band, you could sacrifice a little bottom end power but the high end rpm power will be better.

Motorsport and race camshafts, push up the high end rpm power band but as a result the car will not idle smoothly and low end power nearly always suffers.

For a road car you need to optimize your bhp range to your cars usage.

You'll never have found a B52 Competition cam is a pleasure to live with when driving around busy urban areas.

Different B52 engines respond better to mild cam durations so set your engine up on a rolling road.

The ecu map and fuel pump and injectors also will say much on the power gains you'll make.

A longer valve duration can alter the power 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.

B52 Tuning Stages

Stage 1 B52 modifications: Panel air filters, Fast road camshaft, Remaps/piggy back ECU, Sports exhaust manifold, Intake headers, Drilled & smoothed airbox.

Stage 2 B52 modifications: Ported and polished head, Fast road cam, fuel pump upgrades, induction kit, high flow fuel injectors, Sports catalyst & performance exhaust.

Stage 3 B52 modifications: Engine balancing & blueprinting, Internal engine upgrades (head flowing porting/bigger valves), Competition cam, Crank and Piston upgrades to alter compression, Twin charging conversions, Adding or Upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger).

ECU mapping helps fully realize the full potential of all the modifications you've done to your B52.

It will usually give around 30% more power on turbocharged vehicles and you can expect to see around 15% on NASP engines, but your results may depend much on the modifications you've carried out and the condition of your engine.

Pulling air into the B52 engine is vital to any engine tuning job.

Headers take the air from the intake filter and allow it to be sucked into the engine and mixed with fuel.

The bore size, shape and flow rate of the Intake headers can make a large difference to to fuel delivery on the B52.

We often see intake headers are crying out for motorsport parts, although a few car makers provide reasonably good intake headers.

Big valve conversions on the B52, doing a bit of B52 port enlargement and head flowing will also increase power, the fantastic side effect is it will allow you to get raising the power increase on other modifications.

Turbo upgrades for the B52

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 B52

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

When your motor is turbo charged upgrades are going to make more power and you will discover turbocharged engines are built using harder and stronger components.

There are practical limits for every engine, with some being extremely strong and some just sufficiently able to handle stock power

Research these restrictions and upgrade to forged components to handle the power.

There are many people spending a loads on turbocharger upgrades on the B52 only to experience the engine block explode soon after it's completed.

Bigger upgraded turbos commonly experience no power at low rpm, and smaller turbos spool up more quickly but do not have the top end power band gains.

Thanks to progress the selection of turbochargers is always increasing and we now see variable vane turbochargers, where the vane profile is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end bhp and torque.

Twin scroll turbochargers divert the exhaust flow into two channels and direct these at differently angled vanes in the turbo charger. They also increase the scavenging effect of the engine.

It is common that there is a limit in the air flow sensor AFM/MAF on the B52 when a lot more air is being drawn into the engine.

Going up you'll find 4 bar air sensors coping with quite large power gains, whereas the OEM air sensor was restricting power at a much lower level.

Adding a supercharger or additional turbo will make large torque gains, although more complex to install. We have this article covering twinchargers if you want to read more.

Uprating B52 fuel injectors

You will need to ensure that the engine is not starved of fuel so need to ramp up the fuelling when you start going beyond 20% of a power increase.We strongly recommend you to be generous with your injectors flow rate.

The accepted safe increase is to add another 20% when buying an injector, this takes into account 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.

Best B52 performance exhausts

You may need to replace your exhaust if the existing exhaust is actually causing a restriction.

On most factory exhausts you'll find the exhaust flow rate is still good 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 will certainly help air flow from the engine but do not go too big or you may end up will reduce the flow rate. Stick to 1.5 to 2.5 inches for best results.

Usual exhaust restrictions are in the catalyst installed, so adding a faster flowing race alternative will help avoid this restriction.

Problems and issues to look out for on the B52

The B52 engines, if regularly serviced and maintained, are generally very reliable and have few issues.

Regular oil changes are vital on the B52, particularly when the engine has been modified and is putting down more power than the manufacturer intended.

For more information on Tuning your B52 engine please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss tuning options in more detail with our B52 owners. It would also be worth reading our unbiased tuning articles to get a full grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each modification.

We need your help to complete and improve this page, so do give us your feedback in the comments box below.

We really like hearing from our readers, and hearing about which tuning parts were the most effective for them, it helps us improve our recommendations and articles to reflect current trends in modifications and ensures that our B52 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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