so im going to be buying my first volvo soon, i want an 850 turbo.
I have a lot of experience with turbo's and audi's vw's ( i had a 300 hp audi and a 200whp
vw scirocco that i built myself) and i was just wondering what advice/ tips you guys have as i head out
there to buy my 850. how do the auto trannys hold up to some HP? any things i should be aware of?.....background info....i was nearly killed in a car wreck in may and now i want a safe/fun car.
any advice would be great!!!!


this is the 850 im thinking of getting ( or trying to get)
http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...O&distance=300
〈=&max_price=4000&model=850&end_year=2006&min_pr ice=1&certified=&address=33909&search_type=both&ad vanced=&start_year=
1981&isp=y&cardist=138

 

That looks like a nice car for a good price and has good mileage. Make sure you pull a carfax or autocheck report on it. I tried to pull one for you, but my subscription expired yesterday. Try and get all the service records you can find on the car. Make sure the timing belt has been changed. It was due ant 70K so it probably has been done. If not make them get it done before you buy it. Make sure the a/c is blowing cold. Ask them if it's ever been charged. It they say they have to charge it every year, don't buy it unless you are willing to spend $1,000 on having it repaired. This would be worse case scenario. They are known to have evaporator problems.

If you buy it, you should try and find the rear spoiler for it. I think they look much better with the spoiler, and most 94 Turbo's had the spoiler. Another smart thing to do if you think you want the car after finding out all these things is to pay $60 +/- for a pre-purchase inspection at an independent Volvo shop. I think Tech (the main man on this board) is in the Orlando area where this car is located. You might be able to get him to look it over for you. Good luck.

 

thanks for the info. I hope to check it out later this weekend.......

 

Keep us posted on how the car is.

 

i will certainly keep you guys up to date....i hope my first volvo experience will be a good one!!!! planning on bringing whatever car i end up with up to spec first then probably just a chip/intake/exhaust/ suspension to make it a bit more fun.....

 

how much HP can i realisticly put out to the wheels w/o having lots of stuff break???? it is of course an auto tranny and i want to keep it pretty reliable and not touch any of the internals of the engine....does the turbo 5cly have forged internals? which turbo would it have? how much boost can you put to the stock motor?

thanks
bill

 

You search around this board and volvospeed.com and you will find answers to these questions. A standard 850 Turbo has 222 HP from the factory. You can put the T5R chip in and that takes it to 240 HP. There is an upgrade you can get from IPD that will take it to 270 HP. From what you are saying, you might be better off looking for an R, either a 95 T5R or a 96/97 850 R. They have the 240 HP.

 

right now im thinking of the IPD chip/ intake/ exhaust.....will the auto tranny handle the assoiciated HP? Id like an R but i just cant afford one right now ( I also cant find one for sale near me) But as long as i can do that IPD chip and have it still be reliable i will be excited!!! thanks for all your help guys!!

 

Regarding our automatic transmission, like any other automatic, it's not the horse power that breaks it -- but how the driver abuses it.

From what I've read so far, the potential of the VIN S57 engine (DOHC 2.3L with TD04-15G at 9.6 psi) has not been explored. The 2.3L internals appear to be strong enough.

I have not found anyone that has installed a wide-band O2 Air/Fuel Mixture Gauge. Without that gauge, people are just asking to break something inside their engine. At least a fuel pressure guage could be mounted under the hood to monitor fuel pressure at idle and monitor maximum fuel pressure reached while driving. Also, an exhaust temp gauge would be nice.

After the wide-band O2 Air/Fule Mixture Gauge has been installed, the next thing that is required is a good 3 inch exhaust with free-flow cat and muffler -- Catco and/or Dynamax. We can talk about changing the computer chip, but without a good 3 inch exhaust, those computer chip mods are just being smothered by a poor restrictive exhaust.

I don't know how the wastegate of the VIN S57 turbo is regulated. I would guess that it is controlled by the ECU. Whenever the ECU sees boost above a pre-determined limit, my guess is that it would kick out a check engine error code. If that issue could be worked out, then a quality electronic boost controller (Greddy Profec-B) would be very helpful. With proper fuel pressure, I don't see why boost couldn't be raised to 12 or even 15 psi. My educated guess is that, our fuel pump could not keep up. An upgraded HD Walbro or Bosch fuel pump would be needed.

Our TD04-15G is matched perfectly for 7.5 to 9.6 psi of boost. With fuel system upgrades, I think that our cars -- equiped with a TD05H-17C pushing out between 12 and 15 psi -- would surprise the drivers of most other cars on the road -- including Corvettes and new supercharged Mustangs.

I don't believe that anyone has really tapped into the potential of the VIN S57 850-Turbo.

 

lets say i blow up the tranny, how much to fix it??? any chance of getting a manual in there?

 

I have only seen 5-speed manual transmissions used VIN S55 and S56 engines -- the DOHC 2.4L I5. The 850-Turbo has a VIN S57 engine -- the DOHC 2.3L I5.

I doubt that a 5-speed trans from a 2.4L would work with a 2.3L block.

I have seen several 5-speed manual transmission used with VIN 53 engines -- also a DOHC 2.3L I5 -- found in MY98-2001 S70 T5. You would probably have better luck putting in a transmission from a S70 T5. But I don't know for certain. This is just an educated guess.