Tuning the Volvo VED4

"Comprehensive guide to performance parts and tuning the Volvo VED4 engine!"

We are frequently seeing threads requesting information on the optimum VED4 mods that work. So let us look into Volvo VED4 parts and outline the best modifications on this great engine and point out some common pitfalls along the way.

The Volvo VED4 really good project engines and with the best motorsport tuning mods like remaps, turbo kits and camshafts you will really maximise your driving opportunities.

We shall review VED4 tuning and show the greatest modifications.

When talking about the ultimate parts for your VED4 engine, we are going to focus on the modifications that give the best power gain for you spend.

Altering your VED4 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 camshafts commonly raise the performance through the rev band, you may sacrifice a little low down bhp but your higher rpm power will be higher.

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

In a car used daily must carefully try to optimize your torque band to your typical driving style.

I'd be shocked if you have ever thought a VED4 Motorsport and race cam is a pleasure to live with when driving in heavy traffic.

Each engine responds better to less aggressive cam durations than others.

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

Altering valve durations 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.

VED4 Tuning Stages

Stage 1 VED4 modifications: Intake headers, Remaps/piggy back ECU, Fast road camshaft, Drilled & smoothed airbox, Panel air filters, Sports exhaust manifold.

Stage 2 VED4 modifications: Ported and polished head, Fast road cam, fuel pump upgrades, high flow fuel injectors, Sports catalyst & performance exhaust, induction kit.

Stage 3 VED4 modifications: Adding or Upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Engine balancing & blueprinting, Competition cam, Twin charging conversions, Internal engine upgrades (head flowing porting/bigger valves), Crank and Piston upgrades to alter compression.

The VED4 power trains are fantastic to work on and we see that there are quite a few choices of upgrades and performance parts out there.

ECU flashing helps to establish the full potential of all the mods you've done to your VED4.

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 usually rely on the mods you've done and the condition of your engine.

It is the whole point to any engine performance tuning project to force air into your VED4

The intake plenum take the air during the suck phase from the air filter and allow it to be pulled into the engine and mixed with fuel.

The size of bore and shape and flow characteristics of the Plenum can make a noticeable change to fuel atomisation on the VED4.

On popular production engines air intake manifolds are begging for motorsport parts, although some manufacturers provide reasonably well designed air intake manifolds.

Adding a VED4 larger valve kit, getting VED4 port enlargement and head flowing will also lift performance, and importantly will allow you to get raising the performance increase on other tuning mods.

Turbo upgrades for the VED4

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 VED4

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

If your motor is fitted with a turbocharger parts are more reliable and you'll see that turbo charged engines already contain harder and stronger components.

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

It is important to find these limitations and upgrade to better quality crank and pistons to utilize the power.

We see many drivers spending a loads of money on turbo upgrades on the VED4 only to suffer the indignity of watching the whole thing throw a rod on it's first outing after it's finished.

Big upgraded turbo chargers will usually experience low end lag, and smaller turbo chargers spool up quickly but won't have the high rpm power band gains.

Thanks to progress the range of turbo units is always moving on and we now see variable vane turbo units, permitting the vane profile is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end torque.

Twin scroll turbo units divert the exhaust gases into a couple of channels and feed these at differently designed vanes in the turbo. They also boost the scavenging effect of the engine.

It is common that there is a limit in the air flow sensor AFM/MAF on the VED4 when a lot more air is being drawn into the engine.

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

Adding a supercharger or additional turbo will make large bhp and torque gains, although more complex to configure. We have this article on twincharging if you want to read more.

Uprating VED4 fuel injectors

When you boost the bhp and torque you will need to increase to the fuelling.

More bhp and torque needs more fuel. Don't forget to over specify your flow rate on the injectors.

The rule of thumb is to add another 20% when fitting an injector, helps cope with injector deterioration and gives a little 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 VED4 performance exhausts

You may need to improve your exhaust if your exhaust is creating a restriction in flow.

On most factory exhausts you'll find 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.

Don't go with the largest exhaust you can buy this will reduce the exhaust flow rate - the best exhausts 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 can be located the filters installed, so adding a higher flowing high performance alternative will help avoid this restriction.

Problems and issues to look out for on the VED4

The VED4 engines, if regularly serviced and maintained, are generally very reliable and have few issues.

Regular oil changes are vital on the VED4, particularly when the engine has been modified and is putting down more power than the manufacturer intended.

For more information on Tuning your VED4 engine please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss tuning options in more detail with our VED4 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 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 VED4 guides and tips are kept up to date.

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