Rica upgrade and general mods

[johnbaker]

Hello.

I've a '94 855 T5 manual with 164k on the clock. It's had a fvsh up to 2 years ago. I'm seriously considering a RICA job on it. Is it worth while for a car with this sort of mileage? Things are bound to get a bit tired after going round the world nearly 6 times. However, the car is clean under the bonnet and I look after it. The clutch is very heavy though. Will I need anything uprated with the upgrade (brakes, clutch etc..)?

At the mo, I'm averaging 23 mpg (mainly motorway). Would the upgrade drastically reduce the mpg? Is the quoted mpg increase just due to acceleration sense and the less need to rag it through lower gears, or just to do with the ecu mapping? Am I rambling? Yes.


Overall, I really love the car, but I'd be its bitch if it went faster.

Cheers

Baker

[sholtby]

Increasing the performance of a car will make things wear out quicker and show up any weak spots. Its up to you really. I had my car Rica'd and the performance is stunning it is so much fun to drive that I dont worry about the reliability.
The secret to a long clutch life is to only accelerate when you have taken your foot off the pedal ie not when its slipping. If your clutch is about knackered then yes more power will finish it off quicker.
Improved braking is helpful with more power but the only big upgrade is to fit AP brakes which are over a grand. As long as you use the extra power sensibly you'll be OK with the stock brakes.
I used to average about 27 mpg with my T5 driving it hard. After the Rica upgrade its almost the same possibly very slightly less. However this is using the extra performance. If you drove the car the same as before the upgrade I'd expect your mpg to improve as the ignition timing is more advanced I'm told. The downside is you'll need to use higher octane fuel ie Shell Optimax which is about 6p (7%) a litre more.
If you go for the upgrade I'd highly recommend that you replace your plugs, leads, dizzy cap and rotor arm before doing so. The last 2 items must be Bosch. I got my parts from www.fcpgroton.com/volvo.htm

Simon

[don kalmar union]

With one of these original T5's, maybe have a look at the TME upgrade which I supply in this country at a very keen price with a similar outcome to those of my competitors.

On the question of mpg... it seems to be a function pricipally of your right foot, whatever you have done to the car.

With my old S70 T5, which is heavily reworked for racing, but still on the road, I can get 28mpg on a run out of town, but arround 8mpg in a race.

I do keep in stock a competition paddle clutch for your car which matches with a diesel cover..it is pretty fierce for the road though. The AP kit that Simon mentions is £1240 plus VAT plus fitting. The problem with the stock 280mm front discs on your car is that they are far too small for the weight and power unless you are gentle with them; fierce and repeated braking will warp them, drilled and/or grooved standard sized discs help a bit but will still warp.

Don.Norchi.

www.kalmar-union.com

TME engineered software UK distributor.

TME's site www.tme.se