Tuning the Volvo B8444S

"Comprehensive guide to performance tuning the Volvo B8444S engine!"

We often are getting posts inquiring about getting more power from the B8444S and wanting to know what are the ultimate B8444S upgrades. So let us look into Volvo B8444S parts and outline the best modifications on this great engine and point out some common pitfalls along the way.

The Volvo B8444S make awesome project engines and with a few sensible tuning upgrades like a remap, turbo kits and camshafts you will really enhance your driving experience.

In this article we review B8444S tuning and outline the ultimate mods that work.

The top B8444S tuning mods on an engine are as we have found the ones that give the best power gain for you spend.

We won't be swayed by popular B8444S tuning mods, they need to be cost effective.

Significant gains on the B8444S can be made from camshaft upgrades. Altering the camshaft profile alters the intake and exhaust durations on the engine and can dramatically change the bhp and power output.

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

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

On a car used daily you need to match your torque band to your usage of the car.

You'll never have found a B8444S Competition camshaft is a pleasure to live with when on the daily commute.

Different B8444S engines respond better to mild cam durations check your engine on a rolling road.

The ecu map and fuelling also have a large bearing on the bhp gains you'll hit.

Altering 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.

B8444S Tuning Stages

Stage 1 B8444S modifications: Fast road camshaft, Intake headers, Panel air filters, Remaps/piggy back ECU, Sports exhaust manifold, Drilled & smoothed airbox.

Stage 2 B8444S modifications: high flow fuel injectors, fuel pump upgrades, Ported and polished head, Sports catalyst & performance exhaust, Fast road cam, induction kit.

Stage 3 B8444S modifications: Competition cam, Engine balancing & blueprinting, Adding or Upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Internal engine upgrades (head flowing porting/bigger valves), Crank and Piston upgrades to alter compression, Twin charging conversions.

The B8444S power plant are great to work on and thankfully there is an increase of upgrades and tuning parts around.

A remap helps unlock the full potential of all the parts you've done to your B8444S.

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 usually depend much on the parts you've applied and the condition of your engine.

Pulling more fuel and air into the B8444S engine is vital to any engine tuning project.

Intake manifold take the air from the filter and allow it to be drawn into the engine and mixed with fuel.

Structure and flow rate of the Headers can make a big improvement to fuel mixing and power on the B8444S.

Commonly we find the plenum chambers are needing aftermarket tuning parts, although a few manufacturers provide fairly well optimized plenum chambers.

Larger B8444S valves, carrying out port matching and head flowing will also lift bhp and torque, and as an added benefit will permit a greater bhp and torque increase on other parts.

Turbo upgrades for the B8444S

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 B8444S

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 car has a turbo already fitted mods are simpler to install and you'll see that turbocharged engines will have better components.

However every engines have weakspots

It is important to find these limitations and install more solid crank and pistons to survive the power.

There are many guys spending a a stack of money on turbo upgrades on the B8444S only to suffer the indignity of watching the engine catastrophically fail soon after it's finished.

Bigger turbo units commonly suffer low end lag, and low capacity turbo units spool up quickly but won't have the top end power band gains.

In the last 10 years the selection of turbo units is always increasing and we commonly find variable vane turbo units, permitting the vane angle is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end bhp.

Twin scroll turbo units divert the exhaust gases into two channels and push these at differently profiled vanes in the turbo. They also improve the scavenging effect of the engine.

It is not unusual that there's a limitation in the air flow sensor AFM/MAF on the B8444S when a lot more air is being fed into the engine.

You'll see that 4 bar air sensors coping with quite large power gains, whereas the OEM air sensor limited bhp 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 B8444S fuel injectors

Don't dismiss the need increase the fuel system when you are increasing the performance - it makes the car more thirsty. Don't forget to over specify your injectors flow rate.

The rule of thumb is to add 20% capacity when specifying an injector, which takes into account injector deterioration and gives some 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 B8444S performance exhausts

Only look to boost your exhaust if the current exhaust is actually causing a restriction.

On most factory exhausts you'll see 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.

Note that with the widest exhaust you can buy you'll slow the exhaust rate - the best for power gains are usually between 1.5 to 2.5 inches. It is the shape and material more than the bore size.

Typically exhaust restrictions are in the emissions filters installed, so adding a higher flowing sports alternative will help avoid this restriction.

Problems and issues to look out for on the B8444S

The B8444S engines, if regularly serviced and maintained, are generally very reliable and have few issues.

Regular oil changes are vital on the B8444S, particularly when the engine has been modified and is putting down more power than the manufacturer intended.

For more information on Tuning your B8444S engine please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss tuning options in more detail with our B8444S 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 mods were the most effective for them, it helps us improve our recommendations and articles to reflect current trends in modifications and ensures that our B8444S guides and tips are kept up to date.

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