hey there
i just bought a volvo 850 recently and am very happy with it. it is currently stock. and i have planned to buy a black mesh grille and black jewel head lights.
what other upgrades do you think i should get to improve performance and looks
MY 850 is a 1996 850S
and i live in australia which make its a pain to import parts but im building money slowly

thanks
phil
p.s. be nice. im new

 

Welcome to the forum.

1. What is your budget?

2. What is your Hp goal?

3. Take a look at these two threads, they will help you out a lot.
https://volvoforums.com/m_65537/tm.htm
https://volvoforums.com/m_38606/tm.htm

Also what I think you should do and what you can do are two different things.

4. Are you turboed or N/A? This will determine if you can do many or any engine upgrades. Also what year are you?

If Yor Turboed

1. STAGE ZERO, read about it in the second link above. Also get a boost gauge. Yours might have one but it isn't these bet get a real boost gauge one that can read 25 In Hg and 25 PSI. Or possibly in your case it will read BAR.

2. 3" mandrel bent downpipe

3. 2.5" mandrel bent catback system, with a free flowing muffler such as Magnaflow or BORLA. If you cannot find these over there try any Straight through design muffler. That means one that has no baffles in it. Why not 3" like the downpipe? Unless you plan to upgrade your turbo to something bigger then you don't need to go a full 3" on the catback system, you can but most people go with 2.5".

4. Panel filter (K&N, etc...) Or try one of the various short ram intakes on the market. IPD USA and EuroSportTuning both sell one and you can find their links in the second link provided above.

5. ECU tuning. This by far the most important part of the process. IPD USA, RICA are the two best companies out there for Volvo tuning. Viva Performance sells RICA.

You will see the most gains with the downpipe and ECU tune.

If Your N/A (Naturally Aspirated)

1. Stage zero, minus the turbo parts you would buy in STAGE ZERO above. Check the list too.

2. Catback system with a baffled muffler such as a Flowmaster. You wanted baffled now because you want back pressure and I would only go up to 2.5" piping on this catback system. 2.25" is better suited.

3. Panel filter (K&N, etc...) No shortram intakes available for the N/A models unless you build your own.

You cannot do much to an N/A and you wont gain much power either. Stick to exterior, interior, suspension parts if your N/A.

 

yeah im driving a volvo 850S non turbo.
and i thnk im going to stick onto exterior and interior ugrades.
what do you recommend i get apart from the grill and lights that can be shipped towards australia

 

OK.

It depends how much you have to spend and what you want more.

 

a few thousand budget and if engine upgrades arent the way to go, then very nice exteriors would be nice. any nice parts i could get to australia would be good