Craving Boost | Volvo 240 Performance



Phil's incredible Volvo 245. Phil contacted us with the desire for more power. He already had the car completely stripped, painted and rebuilt, but the shop just put in a stock turbo engine that, with a bit more boost, made 169whp/217tq. It's his daily driver so he didn't want anything crazy, just a bit more punch and a better powerband. We sat down over lunch and figured out the perfect build plan to achieve his goals. The plan consisted of upgrading from the mitsu 13c turbo to a garrett 60/63, porting the stock 90+ manifold for improved flow, cleaning and rebuilding the cylinder head, cleaning the intake manifold and intercooler, and getting everything powdercoated gloss black. All fasteners were replaced with our stainless steel upgrades, and the engine mounts were upgraded to RSI stage II polyurethane mounts. We even installed circuitry and a solenoid so that his Megasquirt ECU would have full control over the boost level. Phil was a great customer to us, he is very picky and likes things done right the first time around, which is exactly what we do. Once the engine work was completed Phil wasn't able to pick it up for another few days, so he let me drive it for a little while and get the Megasquirt roughly tuned on the street for the new turbo combination. All I can say is WOW! This is one of the most complete Volvos I've ever driven. The suspension consists of IPD swaybars with EST lowering springs and Bilstein HD shocks all around, his tires were some performance oriented 205/40/17's, and the brakes have cross drilled rotors and PBR pads. With that relatively simple combination of parts, this car handles phenomenally well. Steering response is instant, it's flat through the turns, and with the Momo steering wheel it even "feels" sporty while you're just sitting there. The stock brakes do their job perfectly with his upgraded parts, and the sticky tires give you that "face in the windshield" feeling under braking. Then we got it on the dyno. The first pull made around 187hp at the wheels, roughly 20 more than before. After a dozen pulls we really got the fuel and spark maps nailed down, and ended the day with 219whp and 268 ft/lbs of torque. What a difference! We drove it around the block a few times with 3 people in the car it was a blast to drive. Phil was VERY happy, especially since this is his daily driver. The car is nearly perfect, comfortable, safe, smokin hot, and fast enough to put a grin on his face every time he drives it.