Volvo V60 Tuning

"Thanks for reading my V60 tuning guide."

We review V60 tuning and outline the optimum mods that work.

Volvo V60's make a good tuning project and with a few sensible motorsport modifications you can dramatically maximize your driving experience.

The only thing holding you back in your V60 project is time, money and your imagination The key to V60 tuning is getting your choice of modification right - a lot of money can be wasted if you do it wrong.

Handling/Suspension upgrades

Improving the handling for loads of people first priority in your V60 tuning project.

Good suspension tweaks that greatly enhance handling for the V60 include a couple of degrees negative camber and 1-1.5 degrees of toe out on the front wheels.

We suggest that you fit performance suspension and lower the car by 28mm - 38 mm. Larger drops require arch work - especially on models already equipped with uprated suspension.

Turning our attention to the engine we need to get a bit more power out of the top end.

The best power gains come from larger engine sizes. The more you start with the bigger the return on investment so engine swaps are good value mods for small engined cars.

Tuning modifications.

2010 -2018 model range engine options.

Petrol:(110kW–257kW)

• 1.6–2.0L I4
• 2.0–2.5L I5
• 3.0L I6

Diesel:(85kW–158kW)

• 1.6–2.0L I4
• 2.0–2.4L I5

Diesel-Hybrid: (171kW–213kW)

• 2.4L I5

In the more recent 2018 model range the engine options were simplified a little with only a 2.0 liter being offered but in various states of tune.

Petrol:

• 2.0L I4 140kW-228kW

Diesel:

• 2.0L 110kW-140kW

Hybrid:

• 2.0L I4 186kW–223kW

These mods kits are usually fitted by our members, decide how far you wish to go in your tuning project before you begin.

Getting the best modified mods for your planned usage of the car is essential. Stage 3 motor sport mods just don't work well on the road difficult in stop start traffic.

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Modifying to Stage 1:

 Suspension upgrade (drop 30-40mm), Sports exhaust, Panel air filter, Lighter flywheel, Remap, Alloy wheels.

Modifying to Stage 2:

 Power/Sport clutch, Fast road cam, Ported and polished head, high flow fuel injector, fuel pump upgrades.

Modifying to Stage 3:

 Sports gearbox, Internal engine upgrades (pistons/head/valves), Engine balancing, Adding or upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Competition cam.

Peak power is good on competition cars but for a drivable and fun car you need a long torque band and perhaps extending the rev range.

In this article we shall give a little insight into the world to the best mods for your car, but we'd encourage you to spend some time on the site looking into the details of each type of performance upgrade.A fast road camshaft usually proves to be one of the best NASP power modifications you can do from a single upgrade to your engine.

The exhaust and intake durations play a large part in your cars power band, but be careful here, getting this wrong can upset the idle and make the car difficult to drive in traffic. You'd need to follow a camshaft upgrade with other mods and finish with a performance chip to fully realise your gains.

When pushing up the power you will need to uprate to the fuelling. More power needs more fuel.

If you find you suffer from flat spots and power surges after your sports kits you should check the fuelling and try a higher octane fuel as well. Upgrading the injectors is another beneficial modification and will deliver sufficient fuel.

Uprate the fuel pump to cope with the extra fuel requirements of your tuned V60s uprated injectors.

Intake and Exhaust Tuning.

The next area for modification is the intake and exhaust. Induction kits only help to add power if the air intake is struggling! Adding an induction kit to most standard engines will see NO POWER GAIN AT ALL. If you have heavily modified your engine and it's need for air INCREASES DRAMATICALLY then an induction kit is the answer and will help remove this restriction.

Induction kits can work well on turbo engines and larger engines (if supplied with a suitable cold air feed or air box), generally though we'd just recommend for V60 engines you should settle for a sports panel air filter preferably made from cotton.

Sports exhausts can usually air flow out of the engine but do not go too wide or you may end up will reduce the flow rate. Stick to 1.5 to 2.5 inches for best results.

Head work including a gas flow (ported and polished) and 3 or 5 angle valve job will really help to release the potential of the engine. A good fast road uprated clutch will help to keep that power going where it should. Never make false economies or ask the standard OEM clutch to cope. The best mods we recommend for your V60 are a remap especially on a turbo, a fast road camshaft and sports exhaust, with a good air intakeRemaps offer big power gains on all turbo charged cars. On NASP engines the benefits are doubtful. However a flashed ecu on a NASP engine will help unleash the potential if you have done a lot of mods.

We've also seen some tuners toying with twincharged conversions and making some impressively high power hikes.

Despite the large cost involved adding forced induction to a NASP engine will give large power gains. Turbos are generally harder to add than a supercharger. Turbos provide boost in increasing proportion to increasing engine speed and this can make mapping difficult.

Superchargers, however will give a boost which is proportional to engine speed so is simpler. Adding forced induction will generally require a lower compression ratio or water injection.

Alloy wheel upgrades.

As alloy wheels are lighter they improve performance and they can help to cool the brake disks. Pay attention to your choice of tyres (tires) for your car, a good directional tread pattern tire can really enhance your cars handling. The drawback to large alloys on your V60 is that you're changing your effective final drive ratio so this will have a detrimental effect on acceleration.

Although some people have gone larger than this we would stick to a 16 inch rim size as the maximum.

For more information on Tuning your car please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss V60 options in more detail with our V60 owners. It would also be worth reading our unbiased Volvo tuning articles to get a full grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each modification.

Please help us improve these tips by sending us your feedback in the comments box below. We love to hear what our visitors have got up to and which mods work best for them on each model of car. Comments are used to improve the accuracy of these articles which are continually updated.

This article was written by Waynne Smith on TorqueCars, and I appreciate your feedback and suggestions. This entry was filed under Volvo. You can leave a response below or join TorqueCars forum to discuss this article and car modification in detail with our members.

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