Newie to Volvo's

[DavieC]

Hi there.

I'm new to the forum and have found it of great use in diagnosing a couple of small faults in my car.

Now, I'm hooked on the five cylinder thrum of my car, my dad has a 1995 850 2.5 20v. The exhaust note is superb, but mine is quite muted next to his. What can I do to change this. Is a performance exhaust the way forward, I don't want the car to sound like something off the local cruise scene.

I have looked upon various websites but no one seems to cater for my lowly 2.4 140 bhp model (I couldn't afford to run the T5, too young, new house, demanding missus, anyway we run them at work, yes I'm plod!)

Can anyone give me some suggestions?

DavieC

[Simon Linton]

If you do a search on the performance and modified forum, you will find that there are a lot of performance exhaust suppliers BUT most supply the turbo models with a different downpipe - and it's the downpipe that really makes the difference.

You will however get the deeper thrum from a simple cat-back rear end addition which of course will fit on NA cars as well as turbos.

It's really a question of whether you want show or show plus go - and how deep your pockets are, the downpipe plus sports cat is the expensive item.

As a policeman you will be well aware that any modification should be communicated to your insurers, otherwise you will be meeting your colleagues in a completely different way....

[Rbphot]

Hi Dave, welcome to the forum, maybe fitting a poly top mount will sound better in the inside, exhausts for the cost are not really worth it(£500), unless you drive with the windows down everywhere, other option is to remove one of the suitcases fitted to the undernieth of your car and put a straight through pipe in.

I would install the following mods

Poly top engine mount - transmits more engine noise to the cabin -£25
Strut brace - will tighten up the steering and handling - £80
Remove the middle box and fit a straight through pipe - will change the sound of the exhaust most modded exhausts use smaller boxes, that what makes them sound sporty( some people have done this on there T5's) - unsure of cost - you would need to check.
Maybe check if your car can be remapped/chipped cost - £250 - £350, MTE/Rica/Upsolute/superchips.

I know it's not a turbo but you should be able to make it more fun to drive.

Ray

[DavieC]

Cheers Ray,

I've read a few things about those poly bushes, how do they work?

DC

[Aeroresh]

You dont really need a downpipe unless you want to extract more serious performance, in which case you may aswell have started with a T5 regardless of running costs because your insurance is going to go up and your mpg will go down anyway as soon as you start tinkering!

Plenty of aftermarket exhausts on offer. In fact from memory I think most 850 /V/S70 exhausts are the same from the cat back, I know Jetex certainly do one. Just do the back box for around £250 if funds are tight. The sound will be pretty much similar.

[Rbphot]

Originally Posted by DavieC

Cheers Ray,

I've read a few things about those poly bushes, how do they work?

DC

Hi Dave, they are a bit stiffer and stop the engine rotating backwards under torgue when you accelerate, this help put the power down to the wheels better too, the volvo standard is a bit softer to keep the noise down in the cabin.

Cheap Mod but worth it

Ray

[Ren]

Dave,

The poly bush is a must if you like the sound of the our great 5cyl engines. I put one on my V70R during the week - wow!

I now have a full complement of noises when driving inside and out - it goes something like......... air filter suction, grrrrrrrrrrrrunt from the engine (bush), turbo spool, all whilst accompanied by the deep cat-back dual exhaust system. A head turner without the BOV!

There are a number of threads on here that will give you ideas an you can spend hours like I did browsing through, but you will end up catching the modifying bug!

Dave

[dodgyken]

How easy is it to the Polybush engine mount job on a classic V70.

I know the engine sounds great when you are outside the car - and also brilliant on full throttle with the windows down - but it is very quiet in the car - and lacking emotion

[Ren]

IMO it is as good as an air filter for the money. £20 ish and the sound in the car is great. I know people have mentioned having vibration problems, but to be honest I haven't.

There are a few threads on how to replace the bush. I did mine in under half an hour last week.

1.I placed a trolly jack under the engine to support the weight (don't jack it up or there is a possability of splitting CV's etc etc)
2.Undo the bolt with socket and spanner.
3.Used a blade to cut the majority of the bush inner out and used brut force to push it out (but mine was really gone!) You may need to prise it out. The joining support brace to the firewall has enough movement to allow you access.
4.Insert the two halfs of the new one and lubricate and insert the new bolt shaft
5.Re-tighten nut and bolt.
6. Lower jack and all done.

It is as simple as it sounds, unless you replace the bush with an original Volvo one. I beleive you need some kind of press to do that.

Dave

being from scotland, it shouldnt be to hard for you to get to prestwick airport, theres a place in an ind est at the airport called RMS engineering(sorry, dont know the name of the ind est) they'll build you an exhaust from the manifold to the tailpipe to your spec, from what i hear, theyre quite good, theres also MMV in stirling who also do exhausts, or failing that, why not get two 12" subs in the boot(ha ha) happy ploddin