[Oldman]

What can I say? I've had the worst service from BSR, when I finally got my stuff, I was more then happy with the performance, that has proven to be VERY inconsistent. I get about 250 BHP +/- 20 BHP due to unknown variables but mainly temp and fuel (both assumed).

Now after a blow clutch, and waiting 2.5 months for my stage III upgrade I'm just about fed up with BSR and the Volvo aftermarket in general, and S40 performance in specific. Gee 10 weeks, 20 emails, phone calls, 3 post on the BSR web site and no word on my upgrade, yah, nay, wait some more… nothing.

You think these clowns would last a second in Honda tuning? Nope, I pay a rape me price on inconsistent product and pay even more and get ZERO customer service, no product no nothing.

I don't mean to use a broad brush but I see the same thing for any other part or vendor, gang rape prices, ridiculous delay times, limited performance gains. Sorry after having a VW, Camaro, and GS-Rs I know what vendors can deliver and at what price, service etc. This is just plain BULL hookey, the whole "this is a limited market Volvo" so we can rape you, oversell, under deliver, under spec, under ship, under prove, any modification. So far I give the entire Volvo aftermarket a major F, http://********************/smile/emthdown.gif http://********************/smile/emthdown.gif http://********************/smile/emthdown.gif really takes any joy of owning the modding the car away. Buy a Volvo add some mods and just face a whole lot of grief.

Thank god my other two Volvos were bone stock.

BSR sucks and it looks like other vendors do too....

 

[Oldman]

Re: (Al Canuck)

Al, my clutch smoke on the first past down the 1/4 mile, that is means it was a POSomething from the factory. Even a Yugo clutch would of held up. I'm sure a BMW clutch would hold up for many many many passes down the 1/4 mile. A drag race is no harder on a clutch then a street fight, and um if you could never use the power why even have a turbo?

Yeh vendor bashing, I wish BSR would post here, I ordered my upgrade in early Febuary.. not one reply to any email, any phone call. The don't need to be bashed Bo needs a punch in the nose and BSR is no better. Their service does not suck, the don't have any.

Oh and Al I said Honda, VW, ANY vendor out side of Volvo's BSR vendor. I think they would at least send me an EMail, I sorry that you feel just because I own a Volvo I should have a rape me sticker pasted on my butt.

You have already said your keeping your car stock, so you don't even have a dog in the fight so why don't you just move on to another thread ah?

I glad your expectation is so low, great for you. I've paid BSR more then 1,000 bucks you think I should get an email?

I'm surprised you are in business

I'm sure your customers like hearing that they are lucky to pay huge bucks and get no service cause the own a BMW. Your luck somebody will even take your money

Your right there are performance issues with the car, my car from magazine test, OEM posted HP should be able to do a 14.9 1/4 mile, find me a single stock S40 that can get close...NOT. Oh and I'm a great no more then great 1/4 mile driver and OK on the autoX. You gotta get a chip to bust into the high 14s and even that is not consistent and yes my near stock with two home made mod GS-R did a 14.7 in the 1/4 mile at 170 OEM HP. There are a few STOCK RSX with 197 peaky VTEC HP that can do the same 14.7. A true turbo 218 HP with broad torque should easily cut a high 14.. but it can't. Meaning outside of a few ringers for mag testing which altitude correct the 1/4 mile time, which of course can't be done on a turbo car there is no stock 14 second S40 that I know of and my car bone stock is some where in the 15.3 range of life or about .4 seconds slower then a 198 HP FSI GTI of near the same weight. Yes a chip does give the S40 30+ HP problem is the S40 comes from the factory about 20 or more HP short. http://********************/smile/emthdown.gif All the while a STOCK regular gas Accord at 244 HP can do a mid 14 in the 1/4 mile

I should add that the R has the same issues at least in Texas 14.7 is all she wrote on a manual R, many many many 14.7s. A stock 325 BMW can do that with 225 HP.

Modified by Oldman at 6:01 AM 4-20-2006

 

[Oldman]

Re: My third Volvo but my first chipped or modded Volvo and guess what. (Gregd)

this is my current thoughts on S40 performance:

IMO the little turbo just runs too hard and too hot even stock and has hence the ecu has to yank a lot of timing out for any fuel (once again I'm on 93 octane). We know that small turbos driven hard produce lots of hot air which leads to detonation. The intercooler is small too, much smaller then my V40. So IMO only under optimal conditions with optimal fuel does an S40 see 218 HP stock, conditions that don't happen in Texas. Maybe in Sweden, but see I purchased the car in Texas, and I would expect the OEM to design enough size and efficiency in the turbo and intercooler to provide acceptable levels of performance all the way up to 110 degrees. As we have seen in the magazine test of the R under hot conditions, Volvo seems unable to do so, and I'm sure the S40 performance would be just as poor. I live in Texas and you can believe me, that there will be lots of chip guys complaining of performance in the next month or so..

My dyno run at 27X engine HP was done at about 50 degrees. It's been in the 100 degree range here and my car with chip is maybe doing 240 engine HP….

A LP turbo, chip, small intercooler, Texas heat, your going to be lucky to see much gain. I think that is acceptable given the nice linear driving behavior of the car and the good MPG.

To sum it up we are where the 150 HP 1.8T guys were in 1998, the turbo is aready too small, given the right fuel, right temps, there can be HP, change anything from optimal and you are just a little ahead of stock.. reality bites.

BSR has responded and I have my stage III after this post, ain't the internet a great place.

 

[Oldman]

Re: (TFS)

My port loader for my Camaro was like $300.00 and I got it in a couple of days. Sorry I did not know that Volvo vendors such as BSR work on 6 to 12 week delivery times, with no further response. It ain't like I'm looking for a turbo kit, we're talking chip tune a stage one mod.

Coilovers: well one I do race my car and please high school coil overs is not what I consider a performance mod, and the Focus, Mazda 3 both have the same suspension so there is a HUGE market for that stuff.

No I did not look into the Volvo aftermarket, my other two Volvos are stock. Like I said chip tune, is a stage 1 mod.

I don't consider spark plugs, tires or oil Volvo aftermarket, cause that stuff fits all cars. Now Volvo rims with the right bore center and offset.. ya can't get them either, or you can but they cost 2x as much for a limited selection, you see me crying, no I'll just keep the stock rims. But please chip tune for $1100 and a total of 16 weeks turn around time.. yeah what does limited market etc have to do with no email response for what must be $900 or more of profit?

 

[Oldman]

Re: (TFS)

yes coil overs are high shcool mods, I'll see you at the race track with your high school coil overs. LOL children toys. There are some "racers" that have all the theory, fact is the CO is useless, you show up with your CO on autoX day and you will then get spanked by any and all other guys with just plain near stock height HD springs and dampers, in fact I'll just say that most CO can't even give you stock performance

. CO

wow real race stuff there....

Yeah well on my Camaro I can get dozens of heads, cams, superchargers, turbo kits, clutchs etc, once again we are talking stage 1 mods, the "simple mods" . I can understand 12 weeks for a one off turbo kit, but that long for off the shelf unit, a stage 1 mod NOT

It ain't like I'm saying hey where is the new head, cams, turbo kit, aftermarket intercooler, setup. We're talking chip, you know simple device that uploads software to the port, yeah the one that has already been develped and is now 90% straight profit.

Modified by Oldman at 9:54 AM 4-21-2006

 

[Oldman]

Re: (ukmatt)

I said it is already developed which it is, so it is straight profit minus the cost for a cheap digital upload unit, I said nothing about recouping investment etc which I bet ain't that hard. Oh and I'm a digital engineer, design lots of logic and translation circuits. So I MAY have some clue about ROM decoding and you?

 

[Oldman]

Re: (swedishiron)

Direct inject works better for sure, but really at WOT the differences are not that great as the lion's share of the charge is done during the intake stroke. For VW in America the DI is completely unfunctional, it works as a conventional fuel injection unit FYI.

Look ALL mag testers use NHRA correction factors on their test, most of the test are in LA you can search I've posted the link before. Turbo / supercharged cars and in general ANY street car can't use drag racing correction factors which are based on perfect drag slick traction and NA engines. So in reality the 14.6 you see posted for the R is really a 14.8 or slower actual time, the 15.0 for the S40 is really a 15.2 or 15.3 real time and since the turbo car and maybe even slower for a FWD due to wheel slip. Like I've said IMO a S40 T5, normal track, normal temperature, good driver low 15s. This is a small turbo for drivable torque and great MPG but don't ask it to put out boost through the gears for 15 second cause things get hot very quickly…

 

[Oldman]

Re: (Nebor)

my T5 does 8.5 PSI and drops to about 6 PSI at 6000 RPM
with stage 1 chip it does 13 PSI and drops to about 7 PSI at 6000 RPM

Looks like the tuner knows that the car is turbo flow limited and only keeps the boost up till about 5700 RPM and it falls from there.

Yeh I know this is a LP, I don't expect to take down LS1 Camaros here, I do expect reasonable service for crazy prices. Outside the really really poor BSR service I''m now happy with the performance, and yes I have learned that you can't expect much from this car add in a little heat say 80 degree at night now and there goes the performance, don't even think about it when it is over 100 degrees like for the next 6 months.

 

[Oldman]

Re: (ukmatt)

I'm sure the $700 of profit on each unit sold paid for the intial code cracking a LONG time ago, like I said it is all gravy from here on out.

 

[Oldman]

Re: (ukmatt)

Matt, you're the one that jumps in about development cost, and gee I'm a digital engineer, then you start spouting off how no statement can be made about the cost or profit unless I have access to secret proprietary data. What a free internet post and you want thousands of dollars of investigative work and gee I said profit, not NET operating profit. The company's gross profit is what the product sells for NOW minus the cost to make NOW. How the company pays for the previous investment, the cost of heat or the pretty blonde secretary to give the CEO a personal massage is meaningless. If BSR makes a sale I said they make a huge profit period, if they don't then that entire gross profit never hits the books, and you know what the BSR's operating cost remain the same. So argue all you like, Matt's never wrong and I can come in any post saying where is your irrefutable data ala Matt's favorite ploy, what the last post, I only got, butt dyno, real dyno, GTEC and ¼ mile and years of racing experience and Matt has to chime in and say hey that is all subjective where is your NASA funding unequivocal proof? Matt, for you just put IMO on any of my post cause I tired of stock car owner, a non racer, a died in the wool anti street fighter, speculating on performance subjects.

Modified by Oldman at 4:40 PM 4-23-2006

 

[Oldman]

Re: (quick)

Iquick wrote

Quote »

Additionally, there are many more Corvettes which the R&D costs can be amortized over. This is a corollary to Matt's point.

There were 34,000 Vettes made in 2004 last figure, Vette change frequently, different engines, drivetrains and electronics, and even variation within the production run. The 2005 is completely different and then the C6 is a completely new model. How many S40 / V50 with a whole two engine options in the US are made? Let's say 100,000 units of which 75% are 5 bangers that share the same ECU.
Once again gross profit is what you sell it for - what you paid to make it. If and when BSR loses a customer their loss is in potential revenue is GROSS PROFIT period.

quick wrote

Quote »

The variable I'm highlighting here is the number of potential customers (let's assume that there are 10x more Corvettes in the USA than applicable Volvos).

Let's not assume, there are 34,000 2004 Vettes, there are 100,000 S40 / V50 world wide a good chunk of them with a 5 banger the new style ECU which I assume is shared thru out the Volvo line.

quick wrote

Quote »

...can you see why the price is higher?

I can't see why the BSR price is 3x higher with car that has 3x the production and we all know people are far more prone to chip turbo cars, meaning few Vette owners chip. But thanks for asking.

Modified by Oldman at 10:54 AM 4-24-2006

 

[Oldman]

Re: (quick)

Look I work on Vettes, I owned a LS1 Camaro, What you say about the LS Vette is bogus, the RWD LS Vette is unique and shares NOTHING with any other GM car, the closest you get is the GTO which uses a completely different platform and uptill 2004 used a LS1 unlike the C5's LS1 LS2 /LS6 and the C6's LS2 / LS7 What is probably true is the S40 uses the same ECU as all other Volvo 2005 and newer or 450,000 units world wide vs 35,000 Vette units and OK I'll throw you a bone 6,700 GTOs too.

 

[Oldman]

Re: (quick)

quick wrote

Quote »

Net profit is why you charge what you charge. You have to keep the business in business otherwise why produce the product? There must be a value proposition for both the seller and buyer

Great and your point is? Is this a MBA board? I've said it above I'll say it here, you can put IMO on any internet post I make. Secondly I made a statement about gross profit a one liner and you can either accept it or not. I don't care, never posted, about the profitability of a Volvo chipper now, past or future. IF BSR sells a S40 chip today they make a huge GROSS profit and if the don't their initial R&D is still spent and they don't make a huge GROSS profit. Net results are: the more chips sold the more money the company makes period and it is mostly gravy, and how can the sell chips if they have ZERO customer service?

 

[Oldman]

Re: (quick)

Quick, I'm saying there are not 10x more Vettes, as you have stated. All the 2004 (last year there was data posted) Vettes and all US sales of GTO are about 42,000 units which is NOT 10X more then the S40 / V50 which sells 100,000 units world wide, and I'm saying that GM makes few RWD cars while Volvo makes almost all their cars on the same FWD or AWD setup.

Yes, economy of scale I'm sure most new Volvos use the same type of ECU control and hence there is much lower R&D for the S40 as these chip tuners are already making stuff, and I know the S40 uses a new ECU but I'm not sure if that ECU is used in ALL or most new Volvos. So once again once the code is cracked it becomes dirt cheap across all 400,000 Volvos many of which are turbo, and people know that turbo cars and chips work. There maybe more of XYZ cars but off the top of my head I can't think of any car maker that puts out more turbo cars, so one would assume that there is more demand per production unit for Volvo chips.

 

[Oldman]

Re: (quick)

There is more chance of the Mazda 3 or the Focus II having same ECU and or connects since they share the same chassis as the S40 (one Focus has the same T5 engine

), then a Geo Metro (made by Susuki) having the same ECU as a Vette. LIke I've already said the only car close to the Vette is the GTO and that is from across the world, different platform. Most Vette guys I know are older and there car is a midlife or post midlife crisis car and they are bone stock. Vette's are expensive and very hard to wrok on, which I do and most owners theses cars are visual toys. I don't know too many Volvo guys, but gee out of the one I do know, well he's has already ordered a chip... go figure.

Worldwide chipping is a 1st mod for a turbo car. What is the price of a BSR chip in Poland? My gut feeling it is 1/2 what it is in the US and do you think BSR is doing that cause they love Poles? I think it would be because even at $500 bucks there is $400 of gross profit.

 

[Oldman]

Re: (quick)

I thought about going piggy back, unlike your Toys, a boost controller would just put the ECU into limp home mode.

 

[Oldman]

Re: (dali)

thanks, I figure it would expensive in Sweden, and in Japan too, that's why I asked for some place like Poland or other East Euro.

Upsolute chips lots of cars, my VW was like $330.00 don't know about the S40 but I can send a email to Renee Valois the UPs USA president and ask. I was really happy with my UPs BTW.

http://www.upsolute.com/eng/index.html

Looks like UPs does not have a S40 yet but they have one price for every car $300 + $70 install if you need it.

 

[Oldman]

Re: (TFS)

thanks, when I talked to my chipper, he has an R, he said that all Ups stuff was now done through the ODBCII port. I could have saved $$$$$ over BSR.

As posted way above BSR Sweden is working on my chip and have given me satus every few days, so somebody must be reading my post.

 

[Oldman]

Re: My third Volvo but my first chipped or modded Volvo and guess what. (Oldman)

OK so I go racing tonight, low 90s underhood temps say 110... this is Texas. I have 3/4 tank of 93 + 1 gallon of 104 unleaded, K&N filter, stage III program and sticky tires

First run agains an 2004 SRT-4
Me 15.0475 @ 92.6 MPH with a 2.4 60 foot time
him 14.8342 @ 93.07 MPH with a 2.453 60 foot time he has a LSD and KDWs

he was power shifting thru the gears and gained almost all of the .2 that way.

Like I said in an other post I've done SRT-4 and with chip the S40 is about the same speed . I have also done last month a 14.8 @95 MPH BTW.

Next race a Mustang 4.6 manual with mods
Me 15.0520 @91.60 with a 2.337 60 foot time
Him 15.0979 @93.54 MPH with a 2.319 60 foot time,

Who said a S40 can't take down a manual Mustang with mods.

I take out the programing put the stock rims on, so now the car is stock except for the filter and oil, about 100 lbs of junk in the trunk.
Me 15.7176 @ 89.48 MPH 60 foot time 2.4587

Conclusion chip + texas heat = stock performance and the 3 SRT-4 running tonight were in the same boat.

Stock + heat = don't race the GF's stock V6 Accord.

You will all note I'm a great driver, last time out I bracket raced a field of 36 cars and place 3rd. 2.3 and 2.4 are atually good times for a heavy FWD car and a poor track, this ain't Houston after all.

The R Iwas with saw the best of 14.8 @95 MPH... about equal to my best last month with stage 1 chip.

Audi S4 V6 with every mod in the world 14.2, the ownder said when it was cooler he ran a 13.4...

Very disapointed in the car's 1/4 mile but really it falls within what other turbo cars are doing saying night same temps same race track, I mean hey me and the R were racing V8 and SRT and were within .2 or even winning a few.

I got 34.7 MPG on the 60 mile trip home with speeds from 55 to 65 MPH and a few stops, I went by my work place just to police the area.

Oh and the R clutch with really some minimal abuse was smoking

 

[Oldman]

Re: (quick)

drag racing an AWD is a ticket to big bucks breakage, the guy I was talking to with an evo is on his 3rd diff. It is all hype that 4WD is good for drag racing... The "fast" EVO are what 12 second machine lots of breakage, my Camaro near stock did 12s and broke ZERO drivetrain parts.