Volvo 850 Made from 1993 to 1997, this Volvo line was available in both a wagon and a sedan, both with were graced with several trim levels.

How to make your N/A (non-turbo) car go faster...

Old Oct 23, 2011 | 05:29 PM
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Cool How to make your N/A (non-turbo) car go faster...

SELL IT!!!

NOTICE TO ALL N/A (naturally aspired - non-turbo) 850 and S70 owners. Not trying to be mean, just trying to let you know that preformance upgrades to your car is a waste of money. The question is posted here over and over again and the answer is the same.

If your car is out of tune, go ahead and tune it. The car is a little peppy as designed. Just has little guts over 70 mph. Adding a cold air intake may add you a 3% gain. Adding bigger fuel injectors may add you a 3% gain. Adding a better ignition coil may give you a 1% gain, adding some preformance spark plugs may give you a 2% gain, adding some fancy exhaust may give you a 2% gain. Adding a turbo is not really an option, I would consider that a conversion which takes dozens of parts, likely a couple of thousand dollars to get it right, probably 100+ man hours and then you have an over compressed motor that will likely not last 10,000 miles.

Please get the hint and clean up your car and sell it to one of the 1,000 people in your area that would love to purchased a non-turbo Volvo for themselves or their child. Take that money and buy a turbo car straight up and gain 50% power over your current N/A car which will make it 30% faster to 70 mph.

I have seen decent turbo 850's with little wrong with them for sale for under $2,000. Yes you may have to take a little trip to get one and yes you will likely have to do a little to it to get it right (it is a 16 year old car), but you will have a good base to go preformance crazy on. Trying to make a cat do dog tricks is just to hard. GET A DOG. I do understand that you may be attached to your 1st love, your first car, however, it really is not worth trying to make it fast like a turbo car.

Yes there is a lot you can do to your car to make it look cool and nice. Have fun doing that. But if you don't want to add nitris to it, just enjoy what you have. Thanks!
 

Last edited by rspi; Oct 23, 2011 at 05:55 PM. Reason: moderation
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Old Oct 23, 2011 | 05:58 PM
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well put , boost is the way to go
 
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Old Oct 24, 2011 | 02:19 AM
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Again, +100000000000000
 
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Old Oct 24, 2011 | 10:17 AM
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I busted up laughing! That was great.
 
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Old Oct 24, 2011 | 03:26 PM
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Anything I can do to help.
 
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Old Dec 31, 2011 | 04:59 PM
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bout time there was a sticky for that hahaha
 
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Old Mar 2, 2012 | 10:28 AM
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I got a good laugh haha
 
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Old Mar 6, 2012 | 04:33 PM
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excellent reply to a question asked far too often around here...
 
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Old Mar 7, 2012 | 10:00 PM
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I wonder what happens if you put nitrous in it... I think that's what Top Gear did to the old Jaguar XJS.
 
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Old Mar 8, 2012 | 06:22 AM
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I'm sure there are several things that can be done, but if you're hear asking, you're likely not going to do much. But like I said in my last sentence, you would have to go extreme.
 
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Old Mar 8, 2012 | 07:34 AM
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Originally Posted by MC92
I wonder what happens if you put nitrous in it... I think that's what Top Gear did to the old Jaguar XJS.

Cracked cylinder walls and a blown head gasket. without a proper tune nothing will really happen.
 
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Old Sep 21, 2012 | 12:11 AM
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Originally Posted by rspi
SELL IT!!!

NOTICE TO ALL N/A (naturally aspired - non-turbo) 850 and S70 owners. Not trying to be mean, just trying to let you know that preformance upgrades to your car is a waste of money. The question is posted here over and over again and the answer is the same.

If your car is out of tune, go ahead and tune it. The car is a little peppy as designed. Just has little guts over 70 mph. Adding a cold air intake may add you a 3% gain. Adding bigger fuel injectors may add you a 3% gain. Adding a better ignition coil may give you a 1% gain, adding some preformance spark plugs may give you a 2% gain, adding some fancy exhaust may give you a 2% gain. Adding a turbo is not really an option, I would consider that a conversion which takes dozens of parts, likely a couple of thousand dollars to get it right, probably 100+ man hours and then you have an over compressed motor that will likely not last 10,000 miles.

Please get the hint and clean up your car and sell it to one of the 1,000 people in your area that would love to purchased a non-turbo Volvo for themselves or their child. Take that money and buy a turbo car straight up and gain 50% power over your current N/A car which will make it 30% faster to 70 mph.

I have seen decent turbo 850's with little wrong with them for sale for under $2,000. Yes you may have to take a little trip to get one and yes you will likely have to do a little to it to get it right (it is a 16 year old car), but you will have a good base to go preformance crazy on. Trying to make a cat do dog tricks is just to hard. GET A DOG. I do understand that you may be attached to your 1st love, your first car, however, it really is not worth trying to make it fast like a turbo car.

Yes there is a lot you can do to your car to make it look cool and nice. Have fun doing that. But if you don't want to add nitris to it, just enjoy what you have. Thanks!
I don't know.. have you seen this one?
Thunder of the Natural...

Ck out the engine link; he got an extra 60 HP out of his N/A w/o nitrous; not too shabby.
 
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Old Sep 21, 2012 | 08:24 AM
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Ahhhh, I vote for nitrous, seems like a lot less work. LOL
 
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Old Sep 21, 2012 | 08:27 AM
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rspi, You always hit the nail on the head!
 
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Old Nov 28, 2012 | 08:26 AM
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For all of those that are bent on a turbo swap, here you go:
Successful 850 N/a To Turbo Swap....yes, It Does Run And Drive, Quite Well I Might Add! - Performance Modifications - Volvospeed Forums
 
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Old May 12, 2014 | 06:39 PM
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I'm going to install a Eurosport Tuning Stainless Steel exhaust just because it's available, inexpensive and will outlast the car. The original exhaust is slowly degrading. Not expecting a stainless exhaust to turn this car into "The batmobile". I'm enjoying getting 31MPG in a high mileage/well maintained Volvo that's peppy enough, for what it is. ;-)
 

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Old May 12, 2014 | 06:52 PM
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Originally Posted by gdog
I don't know.. have you seen this one?
Thunder of the Natural...

Ck out the engine link; he got an extra 60 HP out of his N/A w/o nitrous; not too shabby.
WOW!!! Looks like one of us didn't get talked out of performance upgrades on these cars.
 
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Old May 13, 2014 | 01:39 AM
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Originally Posted by DARK_BLU
WOW!!! Looks like one of us didn't get talked out of performance upgrades on these cars.
Thats an awesome build but thats a whole lotta work for 0-100km/h in 7 seconds. Thats slower than a stock s70 GLT. I want the ITB's tho
 
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Old May 15, 2014 | 01:12 PM
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As high speed driving isn't really possible on American highways, all I'd really like is a bit of low end torque. It's not like anyone can drive 130MPH and up without attracting every City and County police agency in Atlanta, not to mention, Georgia State Patrol. The cops here have more power and torque in Dodge Chargers and Ford Taurus SHOs then I'll ever have in a Volvo.
 
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Old May 15, 2014 | 01:21 PM
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Originally Posted by Vone
That's an awesome build but that's a whole lotta work for 0-100km/h in 7 seconds.
That's the whole point of saying "Sell It". It's not to be cruel but you can make it much faster, cheaper if you start out with a turbo. Also most of the upgrades you spend $$$ on will produce more power on a turbo engine then they will on a NA.

If you go nitrous you really should open the engine and replace the connecting rods. For that much work why not upgrade to a turbo swap when it's time to put it back in if you can find a donor ??

But a fast NA is build-able and people have done it we are just trying to point out that it's so much cheaper to just buy a turbo 850 to start with.
 
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