volvo 960 questions.

[Doherty_nova]

well hello again fellas, sorry i havn't been very active on this forum, been enjoyin the 340 too much over the past few months ...she's now currently in hibernation for the winter... anyways BTT,

my mates granda has a 960 2.3 turbo which im gonna try gettin off him for some winter fun, my 1st question is how exactly can i figure out if its HPT or LPT?? is the engine codes different or are they both b230ft with different turbo codes jus?? what are those codes??

secondly, depending on which turbo it is, how could i up the power?? ecu chip for feulling an up the boost?? will it take a boost increase ok?? can the boost be done via a bleed valve??

thirdly, cooling...will they overheat easily after a power increase?? can the intercooler be changed easily enough for a slightly larger 1, not too large as to decrease the performance tho...

forth, diff... how or where do i look to see if its already equipped with the sacred locker?? can get 1 anyway but would be nice if it came with 1 already...can they take abuse?? same question for gearbox an clutch.. can they take the power increase and some abuse with ease or are they a soft spot??

anythin else related please post...thanks fellas

[Tuke]

1. B230fk (LPT) an d b230ft (HPT). Engines are identical, only difference is turbo's wastegate.

2. You can use bleeding to increase boost to 0,7-0,8bar. For bigger boost you need chip and stock turbo works with 1,0-1,1bar max boost.

3. Cooling aint a problem. Cooler can be changed to some midsize chinese/ebay cooler, but aint necessary. You cant but too big without cutting front end body parts.

4. Testdrive or looking inside diff and it will hold on if aint broken already. Often those are never serviced. M90(from -95) geatbox is strong and will hold easily. Cluth wont slip with bigger boost if it is in good condition. But often older ones wont handle over 1,0 bar boost.

Sorry about my bad english. Hope you understand.

[Doherty_nova]

fantastic reply!! thank you very much i understood that easily, you type very good english..

only bit i dont understand fully is the diff answer, testdrive?? you mean if it should lock automatically like a LSD?? i thought they had to be manually locked via a lever or button of some sort??

this M90 gearbox, will that have the m90 stamped on it or does that come standard on all -95 960s??

clutch seems to be ok, my friend has told me he took the car a run to see how well it goes an said he had it spinning 1 wheel in 1st,2nd and 3rd gear so i cant see it being that bad for slipping..im more worried about how it would cope with me drifting it as iv been known to be sore on drivetrains with dumpin the clutch heavly/ shift lockin ( iv left 2 mercedes 190 diff internals in bits...an that was in my daily driver:lol: )

this chip you speak of, how much and where could that be bought?? will that work if its a b230fk engine?? is it a direct replacement for the 1 in the ecu??

any other cheapish mods you could reccommend?? any turbos out of other cars/lorrys/tractors that'd fit an how much boost could the engine take in stock form?? 1.1 bar?? or is that just whats safe to run via stock turbo??

again greatly apprechiated!! thanks.. :960:

[L14MNP]

Also, the easiest way to tell an LPT from and HPT is that the HPT has 'turbo' written on the airbox mate.

You can run 12/13psi on a standard LPT/HPT that's the max for the original management. The only other difference is the wategate (stiffer spring on HPT) but that goes out of the window when you fit a Dawes/MBC.

Baring in mind they run 4spi and 8psi respectably, then that is not a bad increase for the sake of a boost gauge and manual controller!

I recently fitted a 940 LPT, B230FK to my 360. Only on the standard boost atm and it is a riot. Get the boost up on your brick and you will have a great time. My mate runs a 960 at around 12psi as his daily, and he says apart from it liking to light the inside wheel it is great fun.

[Doherty_nova]

thanks for that post!

shall be lookin out for a dawes, tho if they can take another turbo found on another engine and can hold more boost internally then i may take that road...im liking the sound of the lightin the inside wheel, hence my need to know about the locker..

i should'ave mentioned in my previous post, can they take drifting abuse?? will they 1 wheel or once its locked its locked like a welded diff??

would love to change the 960 engine into my 340 but i doubt my 1.4 drivetrain would last, and finding another over here is next to impossible

[L14MNP]

I'm not that clued up on them, but chances are if it's a 95> it will have the 13mm rods with oil squirters for the piston crowns instead of the 9mm rods. I believe those engines are only good for around 200bhp, but the thicker rod versions closer to 300. I would assume that like the 700's the 900's from that era also came with M90 boxes for the most part. I gavet he one away from my donor 740, but can ask my mate for the codes on it if it will help?

Also, you would need a 360 drivetrain for the B230 block anyway mate, so don't worry too much about it!

I'm unsure how the 960 will perform. Get some weight out of it and it should be good, even with an open diff. I have no experience of RWD LSD's. Just the welder in my 360. Loads of people skid 7 and 900's so the must be alright! Here's my mates http://iainel.co.uk/files/Volvo.avi stock HPT.

Bigger turbos go on, I think the 15G from a T5 is the most straight forward, I have a guide somewhere as you need to rotate the housing.

[Doherty_nova]

well going by that post your alot more clued up than me

hmmm il have to do more homework on the car as a haven't a clue what year it is to give any info as to what rods it may have.. 200bhp should be more than enough to street slide with a locked diff..tho 300 would be mighty!!

the only knowledge i have on LSD diffs is to look for the small "clutches" that engage the 2 wheels together. an thats for ford sierras, iv never had a back plate off any other LSD to know what else to look for..

thanks for that post mate, if your ever near my city il get ye a pint

must trek the bay of e now for these chips an see what monies they're costing.

PS that link to your mates is a song...i can hear reving an tyre squeal but sadly no images of whats goin on

[volvosneverdie]

Will a six cylinder even go in a 300?
Or am I just being shtoopid?
I thought they were physically too large?
(well, without major work.)

[Ride_on]

I'm guessing its a B230 Turbo 960 not the 6 cylinder. Although I must admit I thought 960's where all 6 cylinder.

Anyway I have a 1995 B230FT 940 Estate running 11psi, no other mods apart from suspension. Its actually only around 200kg heavier than the 360, and is quite mental on a low tank and driver only. Full boost from 2500rpm, 0-60 in about 7.5s.

No overheating problems unless you do 140mph, then the water cooled turbo can't stand the heat build up and cracks, but not catastrophically. I also have some problems with my dual mass flywheel now, possibly brought on by the extra boost. Should convert to solid but I will have a spare dual mass soon. 11psi does put everything under more stress so should be used sparingly if you want the car to last.

Where abouts are you? you should visit.

[Doherty_nova]

thanks for that post! im from derry/londonderry what ever suits lol

think il up the boost to 10 or so psi then, tho this talk of turbos overheating is worrying as i plan on givin it a fair bitta stick, was hopin it bein a volvo it'd do it no problem....maybe using motorbike coolant might help keep it cool, thats what we all use in our track sierras an it def helps those keep their cool wile gettin serious abuse

there's a big cruise planned for next month in derry/londonderry id love to see your 940 there

[Ride_on]

I don't think its a cooling problems as such. The Mitsubishi Turbo is water cooled so the oil doesn't cook when you switch it off (AFAIK), but just around the bearing, making the casing weak. I believe the Garret version is not water cooled so needs a cool down period, but is stronger.

How well it would stand up to a constant thrashing I don't know, I suggest having a spare turbo on the shelf.

Bit of a distance to go with petrol as it is, and no job at the mo.

[volvodspec]

all turbo's need a cool-down period after a bit of hard driving even with watercooled turbo's you risk burning the oil in the oil-casing, eventually blocking the oil-feed or return. upping the boost on a stock turbo is allways possible, but if you get close to the maximum of boost the stock turbo can produce, it's life will be drastically shortened..

[SteveP]

Bear in mind that B230FT 940 sports ran about 10psi and boosted to around 12-14psi with Turbo++ and super unleaded. You'll have no problems running similar figures with a decent MBC.

[L14MNP]

My mates 940 has Turbo+ but he reckons it was knackered, so he bypassed it with an MBC. I told him it's a Volvo part and will probably be fine lol.

Are they prone to failure? It struck me as the kind of thing that someone may want to buy if it was functional?

As a sidenote, my B230FK doesn''t have the watercooled housing - it's meant too. I just haven't plumbed it in yet.

[SteveP]

Yeah, actually I think the Turbo+ isn't the most reliable of systems - I've heard of a few cases where it doesn't work or work properly, so may as well just use an MBC! I think the only thing really to watch out for is boost spiking, so a calibrated boost gauge is essential.