I have a 1997 850 5speed hatch (non turbo) and I am considering putting a turbo in. Should I just find an engine from a R or turbo? Or is it more cost/ time effective to turbo the engine I have now?

Any advice and suggestions are appreciated! Thanks!

 

There are several threads that discourage what you are planning to do. It's great to have a turbo, awsome to have a 5 speed and the ultimate to have both. However, converting your car to a turbo is likely a task to avoid.

 

I'd like to buy your car to make my turbo a 5speed!! Haha...... Lol! An engine swap would be the best way! But an R would be better to get and use parts from your car to fix it up! You can't just put a turbo on the 2.4 n/a.. Some work needed not to mention internal engine parts that won't withstand the power difference!

An R with 5speed, N/A cams, and N/A throttle body........ Hell yeah!!!!!!! I'm working to get there one of these days!

 

Yeah the best way to make a non-turbo car into a turbo is to put a for sale sign in your non turbo, then once you sell, go buy a turbo. You'll be FAR ahead on both time and money. Much easier to swap a 5 speed into a turbo car than it is to swap a turbo into a 5 speed n/a.

 

I agree with the above unless this is a toy and you have lots of time and want to play. If you want the challenge it can be done but you need to put in all the turbo mechanicals and then add wiring or swap out the engine harness. Depending on your ability, tools, space, time available and amount of or lack of patience it's just easier to put a sign on it and try to pick one up with a turbo already installed.
For a quick kick in the pants you could always do nitrous.
Just my 2 cents

 

Yeah in the long run that might be better for me. I didn't even think about swapping an R. I'll probably just focus on improving the na without a turbo in the mean time. Either way i love the 850!

 

You should play with your car for now but dont spend too much on it if your ultimate goal is a turbo. Keep your eye on the prize and watch for a good sale of someone getting rid of theirs for cheap. Often times the owners think their car is dead and worth nothing when usually its pretty simple to repair and you benefit. Example, I have purchased the following:
95 T-5R for $800 - clattering lifters - Fixed with a quart of ATF(engine in my car now)
93 N/A - $250 - Head off - Just had to put the head back on.
95 N/A - $280 - Not running - replaced a relay

Done!

 

bastard!! Lol! I'm going to looking for one with blown head gasket stip it and get rid of it! Someday!!

 

Yeah thats probably what I will do. I bought my 97 850 for $600 because the torque mount bushing needed replacing and the body needed some work, so hopefully I can find an R for cheap too!

 

I am looking to do this for my 94 NA wagon. I love my car and WILL NOT sell it. I would buy a wreaked turbo car for cheap or just a turbo engine to put in. What I want to know is if I swap the engine itself what other electrical and/or mechanical parts do I need? I assume the engine computers and oil routing but would the NA transmission handle the turbo engine or would I have to swap that as well? I wouldn't want to take a perfect condition turbo car off the road but instead find a wrecked one with a good motor and trans. The turbo cars in the junkyard usually have already blown motors near me so I would look at just buying the engine and everything out of a parted out car or a wrecked car. I repeat I am NOT selling my car for a turbo car. I would do it if I have the money and time or if my current motor blows.

 

The transmissions are different, and the wiring for engine and transmission controls is significantly different. A 94 Turbo will be OBDII and Motronic 4.3, your car is neither. You could certainly do this if you start with a whole car and look at the wiring diagrams. It's not easy, though. The wiring harness doesn't just pop apart where you really want it to. But it's possible. You just need a turbo car and your time. I would not buy an engine and then start asking "how do I install this". Much better to have the whole car.

 

Are all 94 turbos OBDII? My NA was made in 12/93 and only has OBDI

 

Can you? Sure. Should you? No. You'll be spending a lot of time and effort trying to get it going. You will need a second car for months. Plus, you'll be pretty much on your own since so few people attempt or did the swap.

I think his guy sums it up for us.

http://forums.swedespeed.com/showthr...rbo-conversion

850 N/a To Turbo Motor Swap__ Whodunit ? - Performance Modifications - Volvospeed Forums

 

Gosh, I don't know. I've only got one. I figured the odds are they would be all the same. The important thing is my Turbo only has one computer running the engine, and your car (I think) has two. So that part of the wiring is totally different.

 

If selling your current NA is off the table then your best bet IMHO is to read up on the articles on different Volvo sites on adding a turbo to or swapping in a turbo engine to get an idea of what's involved and what you'll need and might run into.

I would try to find a complete car for the engine, wiring harness, ECMs and misc parts you might find you need to do the swap.

 

just wondering has anyone tried to swap the stock turbo for an eco boost turbo out of a Ford Focus st?

 

better to start a new thread vs adding on to a unrelated topic. Just sayin...

Anyways - when you say replacing a stock turbo for an eco boost turbo - are you asking about just the turbo or the whole engine?

As to the whole engine - which ecoboost? they came in all different sizes including the 2.0 Turbo which in 2010/2011 was shared with Volvo as a B4204T6/7.

If you have an 850 and you want to swap, why not stick with the I5 turbos - you can make silly horsepower (ie 400+) with a stage 2+ kit or stay around 300 and have a high reliability version such as was stock in the V70 and S60R models (2004-2007 vintage). As with any swap, you'll need to be good at wiring since you'd need to bring over the wiring harnesses and computers from the donor car which is why most people simply say go buy a new car that's already a turbo. Swapping in a manual transmission is more practical as the bit wiring required is to fool the PNP signal to the computer etc but not the whole set up.