Worth upgrading the intake and exhaust?

[Sweet Lew]

Morning and Happy New Year!

1 month owner of a 2007 XC70. Wanted to know from you all if it's worth it to do a DP, cat back, and intake upgrade. Not looking to reflash the ECU anytime soon.

Thanks,

Lew

[XLR82XS]

I made my own DP by modifying the stock unit. (It's easy due to it's location/shape) I also made an intake. Def. made a difference in spool-up and driveability.
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a273/XLR82XS/2006%20Volvo%20XC70/SIintake.jpg

[Sweet Lew]

Thanks for the reply! What did you do to the stock DP?

[acools]

You can fabricate your own 3" DP and exhaust but you need to have some decent skills and a mandrel bender along with some good 309 steel.

You can also get an exhaust and DP from TME (Viva Performance is the US distributor) or from Eurosport Tuning in Canada.

I put a performance exhaust on, but skipped the DP. The DP has a race cat and I need to pass emissions tests, I could fake the sensor reading or install the sensor with a spacer but you get a larger gain with the exhaust.

Hope that answers your question,

Andres

[Sweet Lew]

Thanks Andres!

I need to pass emissions too. Plus the exhaust is actually cheaper than the DP. [thumbup] Did you go with the EuroSport exhaust?

[acools]

Exactly, I waited for the X-mas sale and picked up the exhaust for $599.

Installed it over the holiday break, and I am pretty pleased.

Deeper note, no rice rocket drone, and great craftsmanship on the welding.

EST is importing the exhausts from Sweden and they work well.

Andres

[Sweet Lew]

Good to know! I'll add that to the wish list. [thumbup] Did you take a peek at EST's Power Packs??

http://www.eurosporttuning.ca/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=EST02&Category_Code=VL-S60-en-kit-25t

[acools]

I did.

I reviewed all the different tunes on the market and the reviews from Swedespeed and VolvoXc.com.

The consensus is the IPD/MTE tune is one of the best.

I planned a EST exhaust, and an IPD stage 1 later this year.

Andres

[JRL]

So you know
An exhaust does NOT give more hp gain that a DP.
In fact a DP will give you a decent 12-14 hp, an exhaust MAYBE all of 4-5 hp TOPS!
This is not speculation this has been dyno proven

[Sweet Lew]

Thanks! [thumbup]

[acools]

Jim,

I should have clarified.

The exhaust AND the stage one gives you most bang for your buck.

208 hp stock up to 245 hp with stage 1 and sport exhaust.
236 ft./lbs of torque stock goes up to 310 ft./lbs with stage 1 and sport exhaust.

After that, indeed a DP with race cat will provide another 7-14 HP, less turbo lag and quicker response.

This is the more complete answer.

Andres

[Sweet Lew]

Thanks guys.

[n00bkiller944]

My OBX catback is awesome, i see a serious increase in power and it was very cheap off ebay!

[gibbons]

How do you know how HP these are giving you?

[acools]

If the question is directed at me and my published numbers, it is based on proven and published numbers from IPD and MTE.

Best,

Andres

[gibbons]

Just curious. Sometimes people put on louder stuff and think a car feels faster. And some manufactures make claims that are just hard to believe, like Harland Sharp claiming their roller tip rocker arms add 40hp on a big block V8. I put some on one of my motors for their reduced wear benefits, but didn't notice any power difference.

I tend to believe dynos a little more than blanket claims. Currently there's a device in the Delta in-flight catalog that plugs into your cigarette lighter port and stabilizes your system voltage, resulting in 20% better fuel economy because your ECU is more stable. True story! :eek:

[Au_xc70_03]

Welcome to the site. As I too live in IL. I am looking to upgrade my air filter w/ one from eurosport sometime this month.

[Sweet Lew]

Welcome to the site. As I too live in IL. I am looking to upgrade my air filter w/ one from eurosport sometime this month.

Thanks! And thanks everyone for the replies. I've never owned a turbo car before, but from reading the posts, it seems that a DP will offer me the most power and torque, but it will also cost me the most. "Gotta pay to play" I guess. Seems the best thing to do is save up and just do the entire exhaust.Turbo-Back. The car still has some factory warranty left so I need to talk to the local dealer and see if they frown upon anything aftermarket.

[Q-ship]

Gibbons,

My understanding is that the bolt on MFG's claims are generally true. but they arrive at the differnce in HP in a deceptive way.
Let's look as some of the Fart Cannons that pass as performance exhaust,

First you start with a blance/blueprinted hot motor with all the performance goodies you can think of (hot motor), bolt on a stock exhaust. Then you Dyno. That's your baseline.
Now take off the stock exhaust, and bolt on a beautifully built low restriction exhaust . Now Dyno again. The difference in the Hot motor straining to expell it's waste gases using a stock exhaust versus a low restriction is the reported difference.

So the logic follows "if it showed 40% gains on a hot motor, you can expect the same" If they show you dyno results to prove it, they are not really lying.
There was a 40% increase.
You have to know how they arrived at the increase. (Sneaky B-turds huh?)

[JRL]

Jim,

I should have clarified.

The exhaust AND the stage one gives you most bang for your buck.




No it does NOT
Stage 1 ECU upgrade and a DP gives more hp
A DP alone (with or without a flash yields about 12-14 hp
An exhaust alone yields maybe all of 3-5 HP

[Ocean Racer]

Jim is correct,
The cliche "Bang for buck" is over used and anything these days can be considered bang for buck.

If it were me, first thing I would do is get the IPdUSA HD TCV. ~$60
This is of course after all other items are all in top condition first, such as filters and plugs.