Tuning the Volvo VED5

"Comprehensive guide to tuning the Volvo VED5 engine!"

We are frequently seeing threads requesting info on the premier VED5 mods that work. So let us look into Volvo VED5 tuning mods and outline the best modifications on this great engine and point out some problems along the way.

Therefore we review VED5 tuning and provide tips on the best upgrades. Volvo VED5 make a good tuning project and with the best modified parts like ECU maps, turbo upgrades and camshafts you will positively enhance your driving pleasure.

The greatest VED5 upgrades on an engine are sensibly the ones that give the biggest return for your cash.

We won't be swayed by popular VED5 upgrades, they need to be cost effective.

Altering your VED5 camshaft will make a dramatic difference to the engine power band. Choosing a higher performance camshaft profile raises the power band accordingly.

NB: Fast road camshafts commonly increase the torque across the rev range, you might lose a little low down bhp but high end rpm power will improve.

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

In a car driven daily one should, ideally, try to optimize your bhp range to your typical driving style.

I'd be surprised if you have found a VED5 Race cam is a pleasure to live with when on the daily commute.

Each engine responds better to mild camshaft durations than others.

The engine timing and fuel pump and injectors also have a large bearing on the power gains you'll hit.

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.

VED5 Tuning Stages

Stage 1 VED5 modifications: Drilled & smoothed airbox, Panel air filters, Sports exhaust manifold, Remaps/piggy back ECU, Intake headers, Fast road camshaft.

Stage 2 VED5 modifications: fuel pump upgrades, Fast road cam, high flow fuel injectors, Ported and polished head, induction kit, Sports catalyst & performance exhaust.

Stage 3 VED5 modifications: Crank and Piston upgrades to alter compression, Engine balancing & blueprinting, Internal engine upgrades (head flowing porting/bigger valves), Competition cam, Twin charging conversions, Adding or Upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger).

Review your options and then buy your tuning mods and set yourself a power target to avoid costly mistakes.

Remaps helps unlock the full potential of all the tuning mods you've done to your VED5.

It will usually give around 30% more power on turbocharged vehicles and you can expect to see around 15% on NASP engines, but your mileage usually depend much on the tuning mods you've fitted and the condition of your engine.

Shoving more air and fuel into your VED5 is vital to any engine performance tuning task.

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 shape and rate of flow of the Intake manifold can make a noticeable effect on to fuel delivery on the VED5.

It's not uncommon that plenum chambers are in desperate need of an upgrade, although some OEM provide fairly well optimized plenum chambers.

Adding a VED5 larger valve kit, doing some port work and head flowing will also boost performance, and as an added benefit will make space for increasing the performance increase on other modifications.

Turbo upgrades for the VED5

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 VED5

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

When the engine is fitted with a turbo mods are giving better power gains and turbo charged engines already contain uprated components.

There are tuning limits for every engine, with some being over specified and some just sufficiently able to handle stock power

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

It's not unheard of guys spending a lot of money on turbo charger upgrades on the VED5 only to suffer the humiliation of seeing the car catastrophically fail on it's first outing after it's been enthusiastically driven.

Big capacity turbo units will usually suffer low end lag, and low capacity turbo units spool up really quickly but won't have the peak end power band gains.

Thankfully the range of turbos is always evolving and we commonly find variable vane turbos, allowing the vane angle is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end bhp and torque.

Twin scroll turbos divert the exhaust flow into 2 channels and push these at differently profiled vanes in the turbo charger. They also help the scavenging effect of the engine.

You'll commonly see there's a limitation in the air flow sensor MAF/MAP on the VED5 when loads 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 sapped torque at a much lower level.

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

Uprating VED5 fuel injectors

Don't dismiss the need ramp up the fuelling when you are increasing the torque - it makes the car more thirsty. Don't forget to be generous with your injector capacity.

The accepted safe increase is to add 20% to the flow rate when buying an injector, which takes into account injector deterioration and allows you 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 VED5 performance exhausts

You may need to replace your exhaust if your current exhaust is actually creating a flow problem.

On most factory exhausts you'll see 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 will certainly help air flow from the engine but avoid an exhaust that is too big or you may end up will reduce the flow rate. Stick to 1.5 to 2.5 inches as a rule of thumb.

Common exhaust restrictions come around the catalyst and filters installed, so adding a freer flowing race alternative will help avoid this restriction.

Problems and issues to look out for on the VED5

The VED5 engines, if regularly serviced and maintained, are generally very reliable and have few issues.

Regular oil changes are vital on the VED5, particularly when the engine has been modified and is putting down more power than the manufacturer intended.

For more information on Tuning your VED5 engine please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss tuning options in more detail with our VED5 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 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 VED5 guides and tips are kept up to date.

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