Are all Volvo High Pressure Turbos badged either T (T5,T6, etc) or R (850R, V70R, S60R, etc)?
Are all Volvo High Pressure Turbos badged either T (T5,T6, etc) or R (850R, V70R, S60R, etc)?
Big solid "it depends". The Tn is Volvo's weird descriptor for engine power, where the number signifies where the peak power is, regardless of engine size or number of cylinders.
The T-rating minimums are as follows:
T1 - 100hp
T2 - 125hp
T3 - 150hp
T4 - 175hp
T5 - 225hp
T6 - 275hp
T8 - 325hp
It gets confusing since the engine code for turbocharged engines ends with a T(n) but the number correlates with engine generation/series and not power. Which gets weird, because the B4204T3 in my S40 is 170hp (coincidentally making it a T3) but the HPT variant has the B4204T4, and those cars are also badged T4s. But some T4s had the B4204T2 engine, I think... err....
Thanks.
So...does B4204T3 mean: B(something), 4 (40 series), 204 (2.4 4 cylinder), T3?
Woody wrote: Thanks. So...does B4204T3 mean: B(something), 4 (40 series), 204 (2.4 4 cylinder), T3?
B = Bensin (Gasoline)
4 = 4 Cylinders
20 = 2.0l
4 = 4 Valves per cylinder
T = Turbo
If you're asking about the rear badge/emblem on the car, yes a T5, T6, R, etc. is HPT, the LPT are generally GLT ('97+) or AWD or something else.
Edit to add that Volvo's Modular Engines (White Block) numbering isn't always true to it's actual displacement, assuming a US S/V40, the engine in your example is actually badged as a 1.9L not a 2.0L.
Also, if you're shopping for an S40 I'd hold out for a 2004.5 or newer, much nicer car, and turbo 5 cylinder with AWD and a stick was available, rare, but it existed.
I'm thinking about an 850R or V70R. As much as I'd like a stick, they're so rare that I'm not even going to worry about it.
850 would require a transmission swap for a manual turbo in the US, they exist, and the swap is well documented, the N/A manual lives up to a lot of power and Quaife makes an LSD for it.
The later P2 V70R is in a slightly different animal, with the AWD and manual available from the factory. I think you could get the 1st gen V70R in FWD only too.
bigdaddylee82 wrote: Edit to add that Volvo's Modular Engines (White Block) numbering isn't always true to it's actual displacement, assuming a US S/V40, the engine in your example is actually badged as a 1.9L not a 2.0L.
Volvo calls it a 2-liter in every market but North America, where it's called a 1.9l. The displacement technically rounds to 1.9l, in much the same way that a Ford 5.0's displacement technically rounds to 4.9l.
The inline six was treated the same way, but more egregiously - 2922cc was rounded up to 3.0l.
Easy to make any of the T5's "high pressure" and then some so...
Woody wrote: I'm thinking about an 850R or V70R. As much as I'd like a stick, they're so rare that I'm not even going to worry about it.
The 850R autos are pretty reliable (it's a nearly bulletproof Aisin-Warner unit), but the early P2 V70R autos were extremely problematic. Supposedly they were dramatically improved halfway through production, though, so look for a later one.
So the idea of a hot wagon for my next daily has always had me looking at the various Volvo's turbo wagons. Really wanting rwd and turbo with manual which is probably rare and probably limits me to early 2000's.
Big question having not driven one - Do they handle?
kevlarcorolla wrote: Easy to make any of the T5's "high pressure" and then some so...
Is it, or are the bottom ends of the T5s beefed up too?
Woody wrote:kevlarcorolla wrote: Easy to make any of the T5's "high pressure" and then some so...Is it, or are the bottom ends of the T5s beefed up too?
AFAIK the rods are all the same, but the pistons are different. HPT has lower compression, which is what you want if you want to make lots of reliable turbo power.
The idea of the LPT engines is that they drive like nonturbo engines, high compression gets you good off-boost performance and small turbos running at low boost get you a moderate performance benefit while still working within the reliability constraints of a higher compression engine. You really don't notice that they are turbocharged, they muffle the intake so much that you can't even hear that they're turbocharged.
The HPT engines also, generally speaking, have larger turbos attached to them, one or two sizes higher than their LPT counterparts.
84FSP wrote: So the idea of a hot wagon for my next daily has always had me looking at the various Volvo's turbo wagons. Really wanting rwd and turbo with manual which is probably rare and probably limits me to early 2000's. Big question having not driven one - Do they handle?
Coincidentally, I watched this: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oNFGXsgQDMw this morning.
In reply to 84FSP:
Volvo has not made a RWD vehicle since the 90's. Everything from the 850 forward is FWD/AWD. Luckily, they can be made to handle quite well...
Also, the T5 cars do not need to be "made" into high pressure turbos - they already are. It's the 2.4T/2.5T/GLT-badges models that are low pressure.
Disclaimer: I own a 1997 850R and have looked at a few P2 cars. Everything I have read and been told by people that own P2 S60R/V70Rs is that the manual T5 models are the way to go. It's not that the Rs aren't wonderful vehicles, but the front-drivers have a lot less to go wrong and can be made just as quick with a few simple bolt-ons.
So with this interest all of a sudden what you guys are telling me is I sold mine two weeks two soon. 
In reply to Junkyard_Dog:
Damn. That would have been perfect.
Have you SEEN what goes into a Touring car? They're like 2 liter NASCAR vehicles. The rules are way open to interpretation.
There's a good group of people over at clubgti who pick over the tech in Touring Cars, namely the creative ways in which rules get interpreted.
On-topic(ish): http://www.supertouringregister.com/document/4/
Knurled wrote:Woody wrote:AFAIK the rods are all the same, but the pistons are different. HPT has lower compression, which is what you want if you want to make lots of reliable turbo power. The idea of the LPT engines is that they drive like nonturbo engines, high compression gets you good off-boost performance and small turbos running at low boost get you a moderate performance benefit while still working within the reliability constraints of a higher compression engine. You really don't notice that they are turbocharged, they muffle the intake so much that you can't even hear that they're turbocharged. The HPT engines also, generally speaking, have larger turbos attached to them, one or two sizes higher than their LPT counterparts.kevlarcorolla wrote: Easy to make any of the T5's "high pressure" and then some so...Is it, or are the bottom ends of the T5s beefed up too?
I was just meaning that bumping the LPT boost to the stock HPT boost level wouldn't be a disaster waiting to happen,tough engines.I miss my 850 T5wagon pretty often.
It's not a disaster waiting to happen, no, but at the same time you will have to be a bit more diligent than the lowest common denominator that the engineers were overengineering the car for.
I only vaguely paid attention to Volvos before getting this LPT 4-cyl (I thought they were neat cars that were surprisingly reliable and easy to work on) but from what I've seen now that I pay closer scrutiny, Volvo was pretty.... forgiving. Like, for instance, my 4psi boost LPT car won't go into limp in "OH E36 M3 WHAT'S WRONG DOGG" mode until boost hits 14psi, and it will still be able to physically provide the fuelling up to that point. And that is probably only because the MAP sensor is probably only a 2 bar unit so it can't physically read higher than that. It won't be able to make as much power as an HPT model (owing to being a smaller turbo and excessive compression) but still, that's awfully fascinating.
In reply to Knurled:
You have mail.
I can speak to the 850, as I have owned two and my dad had another...
"Thor" was a green '94 N/A 5 speed sedan with 145k on the clock, my first car. So named for the Norse god of thunder, since the exhaust totally rusted off after the cat and was subsequently disgarded. Sumbitch was loud! Stock other than the 'exhaust mods'. Beat the hell out of it, being the dumbass teenager I was at the time, and it never missed a beat. Put it into a curb and totaled it sliding around in the snow at like ~160k mi.
"The Red Rocket" was a '96 T5 sedan that I got fo free when I was in college from a family my buddy knew with like 155k mi. It liked roasting the front tires alot (one at a time of course.) Added a real boost gauge and a manual boost controller and cranked the boost up to 15 psi, which is as high as you can get on the stock tune before the ecu stops the party. It was was more than quick enough to be entertaining at the time. I put about 35k on it in a couple years, spent minimal money while abusing the hell out of it and it never left me stranded (did try to kill me once, but thats another story for another day.) Eventually too many nickles and dimes added up to make it worth inspecting.
Dad had a black '95 wagon that he put many trouble free miles on before trading it on an s2k.
The handling is pretty decent for what it is, a relatively large fwd sedan/wagon. Has a "european feel" to it, if you know what i mean. Cushier than a bimmer, but not quite so much so as a Merc. I imagine they are pretty fun with a proper suspension, but I have no firsthand experience. They can withstand being jumped over railroad xings in stock form.
The rear suspension is a bit of a funky design called the delta link, where lateral forces are transfered by one long leg on each lower control arm to the opposite side, where a bushing offers some passive rear steering through compliance. This bushing is a major bitch to replace without the unobtainium factory tool. If the rear end sort of snaps into turns, the bushing is on its way out.
Plan on a full "Stage 0" (cap, rotor, pcv, vac hoses, silicone intake couplers ect).Oil in the intake plumbing generally means servicing the pcv system, which can be a bit finicky, not necesarily the turbo. Vac lines have lots of rubber elbows that crack and cause boost leaks. There are like 4 or 5 engine and tranny mounts iirc and if any go bad, the 5 banger likes to shake the whole car. They are stout engines though, for the most part, and can run reasonbly well even in poor repair.
Tune, manual boost controller, and a turbo back exhaust should be good for 230+ whp through a 5 speed. After that, turbo, injectors, ect and you're pretty much good until the rods bend. 400 hp I think is about the limit of the stock block, from what I remember.
The auto is reliable until you get much over 300hp, but you want to swap a 5 speed anyways. The auto really kills the fun factor to a large extent, imho.
Best seats ever. Seriously. Lots of space inside, even the sedans can haul about 1.5 dirtbikes, if completely disassembled in basket case state. Excellent long distance cruiser, too.
I think thats enough for now...
The only Volvo that I have had any experience with thus far has been the 1996 850 GLT non-turbo sedan that my father bought new. It was incredibly solid, had amazing seats and the easiest brakes that I've ever worked on. Unfortunately, it also had a check engine light that could have been replaced with a light that said "$800", because that's what it seemed to cost every time that it lit up. I'm better equipped to handle that kind of thing these days.
I'm going to look at a car this afternoon. I think its an LPT (the seller doesn't know), but it looks good and has a price that I can live with if it turns out to be a disaster.
Don't forget to pull the the dipstick while its running to check for blocked pcv system.Look for oil out the timing belt cover as a sure sign its plugged and pressured oil past a cam/crank seal.Also receipts to prove timing belt change.Its old so all the intercooler hoses will need replacing.
Oh and have a look underneath at the rad and intercooler,they hang low and basically unprotected from hitting curbs and the road.The bottom of my i/c was worn thru and the rad bounced off a bump one day and starting leaking....we parted company shortly afterwards.
I went to look at this car. I like the C70 and it had no rust, but there was power steering fluid absolutely pouring out of the rack and was being sold by 2014 Chain Smoker of the Year. There was no saving the interior. The engine didn't sound too bad, though. It's too bad, it was a nice car at some point.
The search continues...
http://hartford.craigslist.org/cto/4814151170.html
So out of a sample size of two, the rack is a common problem
Shame about the interior. You oughta see some of the things we get in at work sometimes, like a thick sticky film over everything. Carpeting a sea of ash with MAYBE some fibers poking up here and there. I used to chainsmoke while driving and I never had anything nearly as nasty.
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