[jseaberry]

Hi Guy,

Who sales aftermarket rods for Volvo's? I was thinking about performing some upgrades that will surpass 1.0 bar of boost.

If I correct, (please correct me if I am wrong) I believe OEM rods are prone to fail if you surpass 1.0 bar?

By the way, who is a manufacture of aftermarket pistons and cams?

Thanks in advance!

James

 

[Kai]

Check out this link: http://www.swedespeed.com/ubb/Forum26/HTML/000034.html

No, it's not just how many PSI you run to bend your rod. Many other factors matters, too....if you assume that..then most of the ECU upgrades out there will cause your rods failure. It's the amount of HP&TQ you are pushing that causes more stress to your engine.

There is no aftermarket company out there just manufactures these rods, pistons, and cam and put on the shelf to have you just call them up and order them. You would need to get them custom made.

So you are willing to spend $10K on your car b/c you want to run just 1.0 bar of boost? I'm assuming that you're not doing the work yourself.

BTW, there's really no aftermarket company that makes cam for the T5, except for Heico. And the performance gain is yet to be proven.

Hope you don't take my reply offensive, just simply want to point out, it's not a simple task of doing all these work..especially just to run 1 bar of boost. I know few 850s out there run 20 psi everyday without bending their rods.

 

[towerymt]

Detonation/Pre-ignition can break rods, and it doesn't necessarily take much boost for it to happen.

 

[TFIVEUK]

What 850 do you have, if its a standard T5 then the rods from 850R (notT5R) or 70 series will fit and are stronger.

 

[Kai]

quote:

Originally posted by TFIVEUK:
What 850 do you have, if its a standard T5 then the rods from 850R (notT5R) or 70 series will fit and are stronger.

I never knew they were THAT different. Stronger in what sense? Mine was still bent, I don't think they are all that strong. If anyone wants to go through the whole process of rebuilding the engine, should never consider these rods from Volvo.

 

[jseaberry]

Hi The_one_n_only,

Thanks for the insight. My comments stem from reading the ECU upgrade on my car (I purchased George Achorn's 850R). After reading the article and reading TME's website. In may opinion the rods... where mentioned several times as the limiting factor. The cause - Boost/PSI!

Yes, I will do all of the modification to my car myself, not including the machine work.... of course... I am aware of the entire sundry of facts that going into these modifications, but this is my first Volvo and I thought I would learn vicariously by asking other owners. (No offense taken!)

So, it seems like the my piggy bank is in trouble...

Remember....Speed Kills!

 

[Kai]

Ahh...so, you are the lucky guy who bought the car from him.

Boost/PSI = power....but other additional power sources count. You can have no other modification and just dialing some high boost, but it does not mean your rods will just die on you. There are just so many other reasons out there that will cause the rod to fail.

Follow other posts more closely then you will find out more info. I've been telling people, this other 850 we have...we run 18+ psi on the 16T all day long. And we also ran 20+ psi for quite some time.

So, no pun intended...you do need to do more research on this topic than just TME's site....and yeah, a fat wallet with lots $$$$$.

If you don't mind sharing your plan with everyone, so we can all help you better instead of looking to change your rods when you still have some room to gamble with.

 

[Kai]

BTW, my name is Kai.

 

[[email protected]]

James, you might want to consider the wastegate adjustement. I never did it, but it give better off the line power and there are a few on here who can attest to that.

Also, I'll be running a feature next week on Kai's car. You should check it out. He's one of the people on this board who's probably done some of the more extensive work to that motor.

 

[jseaberry]

George,

Thanks for the insight...I am looking forward to reading about Kai's car. BTW I adjusted the wastegate last week...huge difference of the line, but I lost some mid-rpm acceleration.

Kai,

Have you done any rearch on S90 Turbo's or other Volvo turbos? I am presently, looking at Volvo OEM Turbos and would like to upgrade to a large one without using another manufactures turbo...

Thanks!

George and Kai

 

[towerymt]

quote:

Originally posted by jseaberry:
Have you done any rearch on S90 Turbo's

S90 never had a turbo, if you do in fact mean the S90 and not the S70 T5.

quote:

I am presently, looking at Volvo OEM Turbos and would like to upgrade to a large one without using another manufactures turbo...

I think the largest stock Volvo turbo used in the US was on the V70R AWD, but we'll have to wait for Kai to confirm and tell us which turbo that was.

 

[GrecianVolvo]

quote:

Originally posted by The_one_n_only:

Boost/PSI = power....but other additional power sources count. You can have no other modification and just dialing some high boost, but it does not mean your rods will just die on you. There are just so many other reasons out there that will cause the rod to fail.

we run 18+ psi on the 16T all day long. And we also ran 20+ psi for quite some time.

Kai,

in your opinion, what other factors? I understand that you mentioned HP and Torque...what are the limitations (if you know) on the 5-cyl. T5 engine? Does frequency of WOT runs also play a role into the risk?

Thanks,

Yannis

 

[[email protected]]

As I recall, Terrence had put the V70R turbo in his 850. Kai, your cousin has that car now right?

 

[Kai]

quote:

Originally posted by GrecianVolvo:
Kai,
what are the limitations Does frequency of WOT runs also play a role into the risk?

I don't really know the limitation...but I would tend to assume that 280~275 FWHP would be the limit. When you say frequency, are you talking about the vibration from the 5 cylinder engine at high RPM?

 

[Kai]

quote:

Originally posted by [email protected]:
As I recall, Terrence had put the V70R turbo in his 850. Kai, your cousin has that car now right?

NO, he only used the reuglar 70 series 16T turbo, but with the European MY99 V70R's wastegate.

 

[jseaberry]

Okay, I have an update on what I have located...I contacted Crower at www.crower.com about manufacturing aftermarket Volvo's rods, pitsons, and cams.

Rods: $177 a piece or $885

Pistons: $150 a piece or $750 a set. The includes pins, rings, and locks.

Cams: Crower will hardface your cam (they do not manufacture Volvo camshafts) at a cost of $40 per lobe plus a $100 grinding fee. Total cost $300.

Furthermore, they also manufacture stroker cranks.

Total cost. $1935!

Remember Speed Kills!

 

[Kai]

quote:

Originally posted by jseaberry:
Okay, I have an update on what I have located...I contacted Crower at about manufacturing aftermarket Volvo's rods, pitsons, and cams.

Rods: $177 a piece or $885

Pistons: $150 a piece or $750 a set. The includes pins, rings, and locks.

Crower is a pretty good company (one of the most popular companies out there), the price is about right also. I'd go for JE or other brands for the pistons, though.

Don't forget the gaskets, they do add up. And leave some extra $$$ for other misc items that you need to replace while you are at it.

Well, doing the math for these parts is not hard. Now, unless you plan to do all the engine assembly yourself...prepare to burn a hole in your wallet when it comes to the labor cost.
Can't imagine they can do complete engine rebuild and swap in some Asian countries cheaper than you could spend on 1/6 of your budget for engine rebuild here in the States.

The labor here is the killer, not the parts...I envy those who knows their ways around these machanical works.

 

[jseaberry]

Kai,

Crower is selling JE pistons. And you are right, the cost is in the labor. I guess all my pervious muscle car engine rebuilding skills will come in handy after all.

James

 

[Kai]

quote:

Originally posted by jseaberry:
Kai,
I guess all my pervious muscle car engine rebuilding skills will come in handy after all.

James

Great, then..it should be a piece of cake for you. Let us know when you get the project done. Hey..maybe you can be pushing 400 some hp, and take the crown of most powerful T5.

 

[[email protected]]

HAH, that'd be cool. I could say I knew that car when...