New to the Forum, longtime Volvo User
 

Hello Everyone,

First let me start out by saying the only cars I have ever owned have been volvo's. I mostly do aftermarket lighting and sound modifications, but now since I am looking to start some performance mods, I decided to join this forum.

My first car was a 1984 240 DL

And on that car I had put Neon Underbody lights, strobes in the headlights, neons into the interior, and even subs, capacitors, amps, and brand new speakers in the interior.


But one day this past summer I was up with some friends in Santa Barbara, CA. I woke up to find my car had been stolen.:( It was awful. i never thought that this could happen to a 20 year old car. All that time and work I had put into it had vanished. When they finally found my car (in Compton of all places) it had been stripped to the bone. And fighting to get money from the insurance company was a nightmare....sigh

Well since then I have adopted my sisters car, a 1994 850 station wagon (finally a car that is not older than me), and slowly but surely I have been building it up to greatness. Right now i have a color changing underbody light kit, blue washer nozzles, new sound system (2000 watts in the trunk), HID headlights, and tinted windows (5% in the back and rear, 50% in the front).

Over Christmas I will be putting in a shaved door kit and a remote start kit.


I joined this fourm because i think that i want to start doing some actual performance modifications, not just lights and sound.
What is the best place to start? Air Intake? Exhaust? I will be sure to search around the forum before I ask anymore questions.


If your still reading, thanks...thats pretty much the story of my life.
Thats all
for now...


Here are some pictures of my ride.

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k1...4/IMG_0036.jpg

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k1...4/IMG_0033.jpg

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k1...4/IMG_0020.jpg

RE: New to the Forum, longtime Volvo User
 

Welcome. In the 850 forum there are numerous posts about mods and upgrades. Enjoy your stay.

RE: New to the Forum, longtime Volvo User
 

Welcome to the forum. Your pictures wont load.

1. Is the 1994 you have N/A or turboed?

- N/A? Don't even worry about modding the engine. Stick to suspension, interior, exterior and audio mods.

- Turbo? Now were talking and you will want to do a few things to get some more ponies from the car. Also add to that suspension, interior, exterior mods too. And it sounds like you already have the audio setup.

2. What is your budget?

3. If you are turboed what is your Hp goal?

Here are some ideas for you...

If your N/A:

1. I believe the 1994 850's had the single bulb headlights. Why not upgrade to the dual bulb headlights. There is a writeup about it on this forum.

2. You got the HID's, why not HID fog lights. 3000K would be great.

3. 17"-18" rims and tires

4. Rear spoiler if you don't have one already.

5. Lowering springs

6. IPD USA sway bars

7. Strut brace

8. IPD USA HD endlinks or QBM extreme endlinks

9. Bilstein HD's or KONI's and possibly KONI FSD's (shocks/struts)

10. 850R front bumper or make a custom lip of some kind

11. Eyebrows

12. If you upgrade to the dual bulb you could get E-code headlights lenes and turn signals. Or you could upgrade to the dual bulb setup with the Chrome and or Black Jewel headlights and turn signals.

*See N/A vehicles aren't really worth modding the engines unless you got big bucks and really want to do something awesome. You wont see the gains you will with a turbo model. Examples...

- 2.25" catback system with a baffled muffler such as a Flowmaster. May gain 5-10 Hp.

- Custom intake. No one makes them for the N/A's. You could try to fit a turbo model aftermarket intake it might fit. May gain 2-5 Hp.

- N/A ecu upgrade. Some are available. May gain 5-20 Hp.

- QBM Cam Timing Tool. Only use this if you know what your doing. If you don't and you want to try it, have a local performance shop do it for you.

If your turboed:

*All of the above (1-12 that is.). Then....

1. 3" mandrel bent downpipe.

2. 2.5" mandrel bent catback system with a Hi-Flow CAT and a free flowing muffler such as BORLA or Magnaflow.

3. An ECU upgrade.

4. Create your own intake and or purchase a IPD USA or EST short ram intake system.

5. QBM Cam Timing Tool. Only use this if you know what your doing. If you don't and you want to try it, have a local performance shop do it for you.

*You will see the most gains from the downpipe and the ECU upgrade.

RE: New to the Forum, longtime Volvo User
 

Unfortunately I do not have the Turbo. My car Does have seperate lamps for the Low and Hi-beams though, so there's no fun there. But I've been wanted to put a projector lens on my HIDs. Any idea how to go about doing that?

But wow, thanks for all of the ideas. I guess I could do something on the suspension, although I would have absolutely no Idea where to start. What would be the Easiest mod to start with out of all those there? (I think lowering is out of the questoin though, b/c my 850 practically bottoms out with every bump that i take).

RE: New to the Forum, longtime Volvo User
 

Well with the suspension if you don't plan on doing the lowering springs then do the other items. If you can install yourself do it, you will save money. However if your not comfortable have a local shop do it for you and get a re-alignment afterwards. Out of those the strut brace is the easiest to install yourself but wont give you the biggest wow factor in the suspension upgrades.

Since you have the dual bulb setup then I suggest you either get E-code headlight lenses and turn signals and or the 850 Jewel Chrome and or black headlights and turn signals. Both are easy to install.

If you want to do custom projectors, and this is what it will have to be, because no one makes a projector setup for the 850's like they do for the 70 series models. Go over to Volvospeed I know some members have done this to their 850's and should have writeups over there about it.

RE: New to the Forum, longtime Volvo User
 

Welcome to the forum.

Since I'm more of a scheduled maintenance reminder guy and not into mods, I may not be much of help. However, others would be able to help you.

As to lighting, another alternative, though currently available only on Lexus LS600hL (those x3 on each side projectors), would be LEDs. In the next 1-2 years, I would expect to see more LED headlights used in automobiles.

Best of luck to you,


JPN

RE: New to the Forum, longtime Volvo User
 

Alright everyone, thanks for the help. Looks like I have my work cut out for me.

RE: New to the Forum, longtime Volvo User
 

Yes but it is fun work.