Volvo S60 Tuning

"Tuning guide to the most effective Volvo S60 modifications."
The S60 is a good car tuning project to play with. With the right mods your S60 can be transformed into an awesome motor. Don't waste money, do your homework and follow our unbiased guides to each performance upgrade to avoid disappointment.

Our aim in engine tuning should be to increase peak bhp at the top end.

Smaller engines do not provide much of a return in terms of power so start with a bigger engine. Engine swaps are a good option if you have a small engine size.

Engine Tuning.

Typically these performance mods are usually carried out by our members, decide how far you want to push your car before you begin.

Getting the right tuning upgrade kits for your planned usage of the car is a time and money saver. Stage 3 (competition) mods just don't work well on the road difficult in stop start traffic.

Stage 1 modifications: Panel air filter, Lighter flywheel, Remap, Alloy wheels, Suspension upgrade (drop 30-40mm), Sports exhaust.

Stage 2 modifications: fuel pump upgrades, Ported and polished head, high flow fuel injector, Fast road cam, Power/Sport clutch.

Stage 3 modifications: Engine balancing, Adding or upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Competition cam, Sports gearbox, Internal engine upgrades (pistons/head/valves).

You need to keep as much low end power as you can and aim to get a long power band across the rev range rather than a narrow top end power hike.

In this article we shall give your a good starting base to the best upgrades for your car, but we'd encourage you to spend some time on the site looking into the details of each type of performance part.A fast road camshaft usually proves to be one of the best NASP power mods you can do with a single part fitted to your engine.

It maximises the intake and exhaust durations and pushes up the power if done right. Ideally you'd add other mods and finish up with a reflashed ECU. We'd also caution you not to go with a competition cam as this upsets the engines idling and general town driving characteristics.

When pushing up the power you will need to pay attention to to the fuelling. More power needs more fuel.

Frequently power losses, flat spots and erratic idling after motorsport mods are done can usually be traced to fuel delivery or timing issues.Upgrading the injectors is another beneficial modification and will deliver sufficient fuel.

Uprate the fuel pump to cope with the extra fuel requirements of your tuned S60s uprated injectors.

Intake and Exhaust Tuning.

Breathing mods are usually next up. Please note that WE DO NOT FEEL YOU GET POWER GAINS FROM INDUCTION KITS, unless you have tuned your car extensively and are finding that the standard air intake has become a restriction.

Induction kits can work well on turbo engines and larger engines (if supplied with a suitable cold air feed or air box), generally though we'd just recommend for S60 engines you should settle for a performance panel air filter preferably made from cotton.

Do not go with the widest exhaust you can find this will slow up 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.

Head work including a head port and polished and 3 or 5 angle valve job will really help to release the potential of the engine. Your clutch can lose you loads of power if it starts to suffer and the standard clutches are only ever good for power gains of up to 40%. Fit a competition clutch to avoid power losses through the transmission. The best mods we recommend for your S60 are fast road camshaft, remap, induction and exhaust, suspension.

Remaps offer significant power gains on all turbo charged cars. On NASP engines the benefits are doubtful. However a flashed ecu on a NASP engine will help unleash the potential if you have done a lot of mods.

We've also come across some owners toying with twincharged conversions and making some impressively high power gains.

Adding forced induction will see phenomenal power gains but this is usually too expensive to be cost effective. Turbos are generally harder to add than a supercharger. It is harder to map a turbo as the boost increases exponentially with revs.

The nice correlating boost and rpm characteristics of the supercharger make them easier to map. Alternatively you could perhaps fit water injection to control knock.

Handling/Suspension upgrades

Handling modifications are usually your first port of call for the S60.

Good suspension tweaks that radically improve handling for the S60 include a couple of degrees negative camber and 1-1.5 degrees of toe out on the front wheels.

Drop the car by as much as 22mm - 40 mm and fit sports stiffer dampers, bigger drops will need other modifications in most instances.

Alloy wheel upgrades.

The benefits of alloy wheels include reducing your unsprung weight and more efficient brake cooling. Don't forget that your choice of rubber greatly affects your cars grip and handling. It is not worth compromising performance with cheap tyres when you can buy soft compound performance tyres.The drawback to large rims on your S60 is that you alter your final drive ratio and this will have a detrimental effect on acceleration.

Because of this try to keep the overall rolling diameter of the wheel the standard factory sizes. In all cases without going larger than 18 inches.

There is a more updated version of this Volvo S60 Tuning article on TorqueCars.com.

For more information on Tuning your car please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss S60 options in more detail with our S60 owners. It would also be worth reading our unbiased Volvo 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 EZ engine guides and tips are kept up to date and we remind our visitors of our non profit non commercial approach to running this site.

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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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