Tuning the Volvo B230

"Comprehensive guide to tuning the Volvo B230 engine!"

We are regularly getting posts about the greatest B230 upgrades. So let us look into Volvo B230 upgrades and outline the best mods that work on this great engine and point out some problems along the way.

We shall review and look at B230 tuning and summarise the best upgrades. Volvo B230 are good project engines and with carefully chosen sports parts like ECU maps, turbo upgrades and camshafts you will noticeably maximise your driving pleasure.

Just because particular tuning mods are appear in lots of B230 projects it doesn't mean it is good, so we'll ultimate tuning mods that will give your B230 the biggest power gain return for your cash.

Significant gains on the B230 can be made from cam upgrades. Altering the cam profile alters the intake and exhaust durations on the engine and can dramatically change the bhp and power output.

NB: Fast road cams commonly push up the performance across the rev range, you might lose a little bottom end bhp but top end will improve.

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

In a car driven daily you need to match your power band to your preferences.

I would be surprised if you have found a B230 Race camshaft is a pleasure to live with when driving around busy urban areas.

Different B230 engines respond better to extreme camshaft durations than others.

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

Extending exhaust or intake 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.

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B230 Tuning Stages

Stage 1 B230 modifications: Drilled & smoothed airbox, Intake headers, Remaps/piggy back ECU, Sports exhaust manifold, Fast road camshaft, Panel air filters.

Stage 2 B230 modifications: induction kit, Fast road cam, high flow fuel injectors, Sports catalyst & performance exhaust, fuel pump upgrades, Ported and polished head.

Stage 3 B230 modifications: Adding or Upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Internal engine upgrades (head flowing porting/bigger valves), Competition cam, Crank and Piston upgrades to alter compression, Engine balancing & blueprinting, Twin charging conversions.

ECU flashing should help to to establish the full potential of all the upgrades you've done to your B230.

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 differs on the upgrades you've fitted and the condition of your engine.

It is the aim to any engine tuning task to get fuel and air into your B230

Intake manifold take the air during the suck phase from the air cleaner and allow it to be drawn into the engine cylinders with fuel for the squish phase.

Design and rate of flow of the Air Intake manifolds can make a large improvement to fuel mixing and power on the B230.

We often see air intake manifolds are in desperate need of a performance upgrade, although a few OEM provide decently flowing air intake manifolds.

Larger B230 valves, doing a bit of 3 or 5 angle valve jobs and porting and head flowing will also boost performance, and more importantly will permit a greater performance increase on other upgrades.

Turbo upgrades for the B230

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 B230

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 your car is fitted with a turbocharger mods are giving better power gains and you will discover turbo engines are made with uprated components.

There are common areas of failure for every engine, with some being incredibly solid and some only just able to handle stock power

See where you'll find these restrictions and fit better quality crank and pistons to handle the power.

It's not unheard of people spending a loads on turbo charger upgrades on the B230 only to suffer the humiliation of seeing the motor catastrophically fail soon after it's finished.

Large capacity turbochargers will usually suffer a bottom end lag, and low capacity turbochargers spool up really quickly but don't have the high rpm power band gains.

Thanks to progress the choice of turbo units is always improving and we are seeing variable vane turbo units, where the vane profile is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end power.

Twin scroll turbo units divert the exhaust flow into two channels and feed these at differently designed vanes in the turbo. They also help the scavenging effect of the engine.

You'll commonly see there is a limitation in the air flow sensor AFM/MAF on the B230 when considerably more air is being fed into the engine.

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

Adding a supercharger or additional turbo will make large performance gains, although more challenging to install. We have this feature on twinchargers if you want to read more.

Uprating B230 fuel injectors

You will need to ensure that the engine is not starved of fuel so will have to pay attention to the fuelling when you start exceeding 20% of a bhp increase.It makes sense to over specify your injector capacity.

The accepted safe increase is to add 20% to the flow rate when fitting an injector, helps cope with injector deterioration and allows 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 B230 performance exhausts

You should look to boost your exhaust if your current exhaust is creating a restriction.

On most factory exhausts you should find that the flow rate is still fine 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 through the engine but avoid an exhaust that is too wide or you may end up will reduce the flow rate. Stick to 1.5 to 2.5 inches as a rule of thumb.

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

Problems and issues to look out for on the B230

The B230 engines, if regularly serviced and maintained, are generally very reliable and have few issues.

Regular oil changes are vital on the B230, particularly when the engine has been modified and is putting down more power than the manufacturer intended.

For more information on Tuning your B230 engine please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss tuning options in more detail with our B230 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 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 B230 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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