Oh, and of course a full tune from Lucky and dyno at his new shop.

I wouldn't be opposed to a K24 turbo, or maybe even a R32 haha. I don't know about that. This will be done after everything is fixed on my car, new suspension will go on at the same time. It is in the early stages of preparation, but I'm curious of the possibilities.

 

Now when you ask the limit to the engine did you mean in stock form (all OEM internals) or just the block itself? I'd say 400-425 BHP (crank) would be a good limit on stock internals someone back that up if I misunderstood in the years of reading. From there you can obviously build the engine to withstand much more HP (ie. getting its sleeved, h-beam rods, pistons good bearings and arp studs/bolts and balanced) and with other quality supporting mods it can continue to go much higher. Fuel and tune is really the major limiting factor, the better the fuel trims and timing curves in the tune and the more you can cool down the cylinders and pistons the more power you can keep making.

With the mods you have listed there I don't see why Lucky can not produce a tune to support that as long as you have other supporting mods as well, 3" turbo back exhaust, upgraded FMIC, intake charge pipe, possibly water/meth injection to help keep temps down internally.

I myself will be going along that route myself when I get back from this deployment. The 19T conversion, and 11 blade hot side wheel, new tune ect. ect. but I do have a decent base as of now and will incorporate a few other odds and ends.

Overall it's best to speak to Lucky himself and tell him your plans/goals and see if he thinks he can support you through the build and also if his opinion with the 19T conversion on the LPT will be a good idea. He can probably answer everything and more for you to either give you a plan of parts to save up for and which supporting mods he thinks a setup like that will require.

 

Now when you ask the limit to the engine did you mean in stock form (all OEM internals) or just the block itself? I'd say 400-425 BHP (crank) would be a good limit on stock internals someone back that up if I misunderstood in the years of reading. From there you can obviously build the engine to withstand much more HP (ie. getting its sleeved, h-beam rods, pistons good bearings and arp studs/bolts and balanced) and with other quality supporting mods it can continue to go much higher. Fuel and tune is really the major limiting factor, the better the fuel trims and timing curves in the tune and the more you can cool down the cylinders and pistons the more power you can keep making.

I was curious of the stock limits, but am open to upgrading internals as well. At least to an extent, I don't know if I will need more than 400 bhp (but more isn't a bad thing ). As far as fuel and tune goes, I have faith in Lucky to get that right.

With the mods you have listed there I don't see why Lucky can not produce a tune to support that as long as you have other supporting mods as well, 3" turbo back exhaust, upgraded FMIC, intake charge pipe, possibly water/meth injection to help keep temps down internally.

Yep, I have the 3" turbo back exhaust with a single straight-thru muffler (no cat or resonator), FMIC, and the water/meth will probably be included when I get out to Lucky. When you say intake charge pipe, do you mean the OTE charge pipe? I have the Snabb intake before the turbo.

I myself will be going along that route myself when I get back from this deployment. The 19T conversion, and 11 blade hot side wheel, new tune ect. ect. but I do have a decent base as of now and will incorporate a few other odds and ends.

Overall it's best to speak to Lucky himself and tell him your plans/goals and see if he thinks he can support you through the build and also if his opinion with the 19T conversion on the LPT will be a good idea. He can probably answer everything and more for you to either give you a plan of parts to save up for and which supporting mods he thinks a setup like that will require.

Yeah I have been talking to him, but I am also interested in the communities feedback. Especially now that you are going pretty much the same route on the same car/year/model as mine.

The stock heads are gonna limit the output to about 425 at the crank if you can make that without bending a rod first. To make more than that you will be cracking the motor open and doing some work to the hard parts like port and polish the head, upgrading the rods, etc...

I'll talk to Lucky more and see if he has some ballpark prices on new rods and if he does port and polishing or if there is a shop around him that would. However I might just stay at the 400 bhp mark if it isn't realistically possible as far as money and time goes.

You should be fine with a 19T and those mods, the trans will appreciate some toque limiting but that's handled by the tune.

This is another thing I have been considering. I can either trust Lucky to tune it so there is torque limiting, or maybe get his 19T wheel with spool control. Or I can get the 11 blade billet wheel in a K24 turbo and have boost/power in the higher rpm range. If I'm not mistaken that would help from bending rods since high boost wouldn't be developed at low rpms.

 

The stock heads are gonna limit the output to about 425 at the crank if you can make that without bending a rod first. To make more than that you will be cracking the motor open and doing some work to the hard parts like port and polish the head, upgrading the rods, etc...

You should be fine with a 19T and those mods, the trans will appreciate some toque limiting but that's handled by the tune.

 

well, when i was searching/building my S60, i did a research for all kind of setups, honestly the best setup that i found and Lucky agree with that is K24. Great turbo, smooth boost curve and a lot more easy to tune than a 18T and 19T. Also for the price of a 19T you can get the hole package(manifold, lines, charge pipe, turbo, etc).

This engine can hold aprox 400 hp to the crank without a problem, the problem will be the rods and the cylinder walls above that power level. But believe me, having more than 330whp is a lot of fun. I dont know how much power my car should have wit the K24, but with stock 16T turboback and BSR remap i did 278 whp and 320 tq, really good numbers considering the age of the car and turbo. With the K24 i belive we should made a lot more power than that. The acceleration of the car was crazy and i love how this setup build boost at any speed/rpms.

You will not need fuel pump upgrade but you can do it if you want, the same with injectors, the only thing that can be affected and corrected at the same time is idle.

 

18T, 19T and K24 are all great turbos, within 40cfm of each other and all easy to have tunes created for them for these motors. I would consider the price and condition of the turbo, I grabbed my 18T for $400 and that was rebuilt and balanced by Spanky on VS so no hesitation there. Yes Erie sells K24 setups for about $700 but they are all used, they do warranty them though, also be aware that the K24 requires the extra parts to make it fit and some work done to the coolant pipe and lines, easy to do if you are having other major work done. Also considering the upgrades being done with ARDs new compressor and turbine wheels for the TD04 series you can up a 18T or 19T to the output of the K24 no problem, since you will be rebuilding anyways you can save by buying a used one from the classifieds section here.

You really can't go wrong as long as you follow Lucky's advice, I am very happy with his ARD Blue tune on a '02 LPT motor with 18T and supporting mods.

 

http://www.ardtuning.com/ARD-TD04HL-Billet-19T_p_124.html

$845 + $110 for the new housing, billet wheel, forge cbv, and 11 blade turbine blade. That's new and seems like it's the best option if a K24 is $700 used or a 18/19T is $400 used. I ran billet turbos on my truck before and loved the difference vs cast wheels.

I'm sure Lucky will guide me right, I have never heard/seen a bad thing about his work

 

Ninja, i paid aprox $700 but i got lines, R manifold, shield, tcv, charge pipe and the k24:


What i mean is really easy to get this setu used in a good condition than a 19T, well maybe when i was looking it thats what i saw, i spent about 2 months looking for a 19T in great condition or new.

 

That's a good point, and in this time of saving and research I will keep an eye out for a great condition 19T or K24. No reason I shouldn't keep that option open, thanks!

 

Exactly, good luck and keep us informed!!! Love how a car is tranformed to high power car with the correct parts!

 

Guys you never talked about the auto transmission. Isn't that going to be a limiting factor as well?

 

It will for sure but a good tune will control the boost curve to protect the tranny

 

Do correct trans flushes and a quality trans fluid cooler to keep temps down and should be fine...

I hear speculation that the tranny does have a factor/or limit and won't surpass XXX ft/lbs of torque and HP but with frequent flushes and a trans oil cooler I've yet to read about any AW 55 getting blown up or toasted. I mean I won't be naive and say they are bullet proof but I do think they can take more than what people say they can as I've heard far more stories about bent rods and cracked cylinder walls and hardly any trans. problems. I'd say a lot has to do with how your style of driving is and the maintenance you put in to the car and power/drive train is what will keep most parts alive and not in need of constant attention and replacement.

 

Do correct trans flushes and a quality trans fluid cooler to keep temps down and should be fine...

I hear speculation that the tranny does have a factor/or limit and won't surpass XXX ft/lbs of torque and HP but with frequent flushes and a trans oil cooler I've yet to read about any AW 55 getting blown up or toasted.

I've seen two AW55 blow locally. Both on RICA chipped 2.5T AWD cars (2003 and 2004). These were not even that modded either (i.e. just stock turbo, big down pipe).

not sure if either car had regular flushes (pretty certain the one did not).
not sure if either had torque limit removed in 1st and 2nd, but I don't think so since no one had bent rods.

 

What were the miles and how was each car driven? If they weren't heavily modded I wouldn't blame it on any modifications as I have all of the above and more and my car has been beaten up on as well as hit all the required maintenance and haven't had any issues at all. I'm not trying to start a thread jack about what could've caused either of them to blow up nor will I say such a person mistreated their car without hearing their story of what happened. But I can vouch for the AW55 as it has been used too 100% of it's capabilities and again have no doubts it will continue to do so once I fit the ARD 19T housing/wheel and 11 blade wheel and new tune.

 

The first one was send owner, couple months after he bought it. Original owner was a grandma, so probably not driven hard.

The second one was original owner since new. Standard around town driving.

No idea if they had anything in common other than the RICA tune, and the Volvo BS recommendation about lifetime trams fluid.

 

It would also help to know if the '03s still got the neutral stop software from the factory. I'm pretty sure no '04s got it. I know all '01s had it and many '02s not sure sure exactly when Volvo stopped using it. ninja's got an '05 so nothing to worry about there. But it would be wise for you to call the dealer and make sure you car is up to date software and recall wise before beginning mods. Good luck and have fun!

 

No 03s never had that. Only 01s and super early 02s.

 

Forgot to make any calls, as of right now I'm pissed at my car for still sticking a 0 lbs boost. Whenever it's hot out (104 right now) my car doesn't like to hit boost. I can floor it and after a few seconds it decides to finally boost like no other... I think I want to replace the CBV now instead of waiting for when I get out to ARD a few months out. This car is just so annoying hah, makes me wish I hadn't bought a Volvo. All it does is feel and sound like it's going to break 24/7, not to mention it sucks at actual braking lol.

/rant

 

Man, sounds like you have a lot of work to do just to Stage 0 before doing any mods..... You need to figure out why it's not boosting to the stock specs and make sure your brakes are up to spec before trying to take the engine to it's limit.

 

What octane are you running. I'm running a 91 tune but in the hot weather it begins to detonate so the ecu pulls timing (and subsequently boost).Have you checked that out, if its pulling timing?
When I use 94 it cures the problem

 

Yeah you need to thoroughly go over that engine bay and check and double check everything and replace things that need to be replaced. Putting an extra 150HP does you no good if you're not driving it and instead chasing down trouble after troubled items. Just think if things aren't working now with stock conditions the possible damage that could be done when you raise the boost and hp levels over stock, things will break easier and quicker.

Take some time and do all and every maintenance require per stage 0 as said above and save yourself the time now and not have those kinds of headaches later on.

 

I have new brakes, new vacuum lines, new oem plugs, new rims and tires, new tcv, fluids, etc. It just has the ominous feeling that it wants to break, but maybe I'm just nervous having a more expensive car for once. I do have a spare (used) oem cbv laying around. I could start with swapping that in to see if it fixes the boost issue.

 

'05 w/ 44k about to break? Not likely unless you are doing some crazy **** with the car. As long as you've done stage 0 and have no leaks and no CELs you should be good to go!

That being said, if you're not boosting (hot or not) something is definitely up.

 

Yeah, I guess I was a little misleading on that one... No CELs at all, only one was from the rear O2 sensor and that's since been fixed.

I have the engine bay torn apart right now, doesn't seem like I'm going to get the CBV off without taking the turbo off. I might try and tackle that tomorrow if it's not too hard.

 

CBV is easy without removing the turbo, remove the upper mount and unbolt the three bolts that holds the cbv to the housing. But the point was you need to make sure it's running to OEM spec before moddding it. Even a bone stock car will boost in hot weather......that's no excuse.

 

No way?! I had everything off trying to get to my CBV. My upper mount, OTE pipe, upper sway bar, etc. Unless you are talking about the actual upper mount itself? I didn't take that off. I couldn't get to every bolt, even after taking off the wastegate or trying from underneath. I couldn't get my turbo off either as there is one nut above my angle gear I can't get to.

 

Yeah I meant the mount itself. A flex head ratcheting wrench goes a long way. And the turbo is easiest to remove by pulling the chra out of the exhaust housing, no need to remove the angle gear. I've been there myself doing these repairs and found its best to look for alternative routes if your current one seems too complicated.

 

Oh man, I almost tried that! I can't believe I didn't, I'll let my engine cool down and try again tonight. I was thinking about pulling out the chra and over off, just ended up running out of time before work and had to put everything back together.

 

Took everything off again, this time including the upper mount. I still couldn't get to it lol. The turbo manifold is in the way of one, the bottom one I don't even know how to get at.

 

I tried removing the chra on my S60 without removing angle gear first, but the oil drain tube was making it impossible to remove completely without damaging anything. If you can get that out the way first then I think it would be possible to remove it. Those two torx bolts are in a real tight spot though.

After you separate the chra from exhaust housing it will give you a bit more room to get wrenches in there.

You may just need something like this "Straight Ratcheting Bit Wrench"

Good luck.

 

Yeah I don't know man, it's three 10mm bolts, you reach down and take them off, granted two out of three are harder but they are certainly able to be removed from above.

And you can lift the CHRA out with the oil drain still bolted to it, then just stick it back in the bottom of the block when you reinstall, watch out for the o-ring though, don't tear it or push it down into the hole.

And chances are the CBV is perfect, I have never came across one that was actually damaged or causing problems. Unless you are hearing some extremely weird fluttering sounds under boost than I don't think it's your problem, wouldn't hurt to upgrade to a higher rated spring or Forge unit if you really want to.