Discover "B200 Modifications"

How to modify and upgrade the Volvo B200

"Comprehensive guide to performance tuning the Volvo B200 engine!"

Our friends at TorqueCars are frequently getting posts requesting information on how to improve the B200 from people inquiring about getting more power from the B200 and wanting to know what are the greatest B200 modifications. So let us look into Volvo B200 parts and outline the best modifications on this great engine and point out some frequent tuning mistakes along the way.

The Volvo B200 great bases for a tuning project and with the ultimate parts like remaps, turbo improvements and camshafts you will substantially maximize your driving pleasure.

In this article we review B200 tuning and provide tips on the greatest modifications.

When talking about the ultimate parts for your B200 engine, we are going to concentrate on the mods that give the best power gain for you spend.

Improving air intake on the B200

You need air matched to fuel for an engine to work. If there is insufficient fuel then it will run lean, if there is too little air it runs rich losing power and potentially damaging the engine. We'll pick up on fuelling later in this article but for now we shall look at air supply.

So Pulling more fuel and air into the B200 engine is the primary aim to any car tuning task.

It is not unusual that there's a limitation in the air flow sensor AFM/MAF on the B200 when a lot more air is being pulled into the engine.

When tuning you may well find you need to get an air sensor or flow meter capable of upto 4 bars to cope with quite large power gains, whereas the OEM air sensor limited bhp at a much lower level.

Intake headers flow the during the engines suck phase from the filter and allow it to be sucked into the engine cylinders.

Design and flow rate of the Intake can make a big effect on to fuel atomisation on the B200.

Most intake headers are in desperate need of performance upgrades, although a few car makers provide decently flowing intake headers.

Big valve conversions on the B200, doing some B200 port enlargement and head flowing will also increase torque, & more importantly will afford you a greater torque increase on other mods.

B200 performance cam tips.

Different B200 engines respond better to less aggressive cam durations so view each engine as unique.

The map and injectors and fuel pump also have a large bearing on the bhp gains you'll get.

Longer valve durations can alter the bhp band and on most engines the exhaust and intake durations do not need to match, although most cams and tuners use matched pairs there are some advantages to extending the intake or exhaust durations.

The cam profile plays a big part in the engines power output so cam upgrades make quite a large difference. The intake and exhaust durations will alter depending on the chosen cam profile, so large power band gains are on offer for cam upgrades.

NB: Fast road cams usually boost the torque throughout the rev range, you could sacrifice a little bottom end power but top end will be better.

Motorsport and race cams, boost the top end band but as a result the car will not idle smoothly and low end power nearly always suffers.

A Race camshaft won't do well if in heavy traffic.

You should ideally match your torque band to your preferences so for a road car stick with a mild fast road B200 camshaft

Stage 1, 2 and 3 mods for the B200

Before we break the best tuning upgrades down into stages of tune, let's list the most effective tuning upgrades for you.

1. Suspension Upgrades - always improve your cars handling
2. Brake Upgrades - Even before adding power improve those brakes
3. Intake - make sure the intake is not restricted, use filters and intake upgrades to improve this
4. Exhaust - as with 3 ensure there is not restriction in the exhaust, cats are the usual bottleneck
5. Tunes - remapping, piggyback ECU's and aftermarket ECU's can all make decent gains
6. Fuelling - when you've increased power you'll need to match this with more fuel
7. Turbo upgrades - Improving the intake with a large turbo and better flowing intercooler will be the biggest power gain you'll see (but one of the most complex).

This video guide to tuning cars is a great starting point to work from in your project.

Stage 1 B200 parts:

Intake headers, Remaps/piggy back ECU, Drilled & smoothed airbox, Fast road camshaft, Panel air filters, Sports exhaust manifold.

Stage 2 B200 parts:

induction kit, fuel pump upgrades, Fast road cam, Sports catalyst & performance exhaust, Ported and polished head, high flow fuel injectors.

Stage 3 B200 parts:

Crank and Piston upgrades to alter compression, Engine balancing & blueprinting, Internal engine upgrades (head flowing porting/bigger valves), Twin charging conversions, Competition cam, Adding or Upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger).

A remap helps unlock the full potential of all the parts you've done to your B200.

You will typically expect to see gains of approximately 20-30% more power on turbocharged vehicles and you can expect to see around 15% on NASP engines, but the end result will vary depending on the parts you've done and the condition of your engine.

Turbo modifications on the B200

To get a turbo working on a NASP engine there is a lot involved, from lowering compression ratio to improved fuel supply and mapping, so we have found a great guide to helpavoid the common pitfalls or end up with an unfinished project because you were not told what you were getting into by doing this on the B200.

The more air you can get into an engine, the more fuel it can burn and uprating the induction with a turbocharger upgrade makes massive power gains.

If a car has a turbocharger tuning parts are giving better power gains and you will discover turbo engines are made using uprated components.

However most engines have limits

It is important to find these limitations and fit stronger pistons, crank and engine components to survive the power.

We've seen drivers spending a lot of money on turbocharger upgrades on the B200 only to have the B200 go up in smoke soon after it's finished.

Big capacity turbo chargers will usually experience low end lag, and low capacity turbo chargers spool up quickly but do not have the peak end power band gains.

We are pleased that the selection of turbos is always improving and we now see variable vane turbos, permitting the vane angle is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end performance.

Twin scroll turbos divert the exhaust gases into two channels and direct these at differently designed vanes in the turbo charger. They also boost the scavenging effect of the engine.

Beefing up the air intake by adding a supercharger or additional turbo will help you achieve very large torque gains, although harder to get working. We have this feature on twinchargers if you want to read more.

Tips about fuel supply on the B200

You will need to ensure that the engine is not starved of fuel so will need to increase the fuelling when you start going beyond 20% of a bhp and torque hike. We strongly recommend you to be generous with your injectors flow rate.

The rule of thumb is to add 20% when specifying an injector, this accounts for injector deterioration and affords some spare capacity should the engine need more fuel.

Don't forget that different fuel grades will usually require different settings, a high octane fuel will burn more efficiently than lower octane fuel for example. A car will trim fuel supply to keep within the ideal air fuel mix but at the extreme ends you may need to adjust your injector capacity, or the mapping or you'll get flat spots and potential lean or rich fuel issues..

Recommended B200 performance exhaust upgrades

You only need to to boost your exhaust system with an upgraded one is if your current exhaust is creating a flow problem.

On most factory exhausts you'll see the exhaust flow rate is ok even on modest power gains, but on a serious tuning project with a big boost in power you will certainly need to get a better flowing exhaust.

Sports exhausts can help equal out the flow of air through the engine.

But if your exhaust pipe is too large, ie: over two and a half inches diameter, you will lose much of your flow rate and end up lacking power and torque.

Typically exhaust restrictions can be located the emissions filters installed, so adding a freer flowing high performance alternative will help avoid this restriction.

Decats (NB:catalysts reduce harmful engine emissions) is illegal in most countries and regions.

Faults issues and things to look out for on the B200

Like most engines an B200, should have few issues if it gets properly serviced and looked after.

We cannot stress enough the need for oil changes with the correct grade of oil on the B200, failure to do this will exacerbate engine wear, on a tuned B200 this is more important than ever and close attention should be paid to your maintenance schedule.

If you are interested in learning more or getting impartial tuning advice for your B200 why not pop over to the forums at TorqueCars where you can chat about B200 tuning options and read about others projects who may be planning to do similar modifications on their B200.

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This entry was posted under Makes and Models. Tags: engine, Volvo
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