$1500 budget To increase power

[Forkster]

Performance mods:

1. Shorten your turbo wastegate by one turn.
2. Softloader tune from IPDUSA.COM - turns a 100K miles car intpo a brand new vehicle and then some. 35+ hourspower.

But to gain benefit from 1 and 2, your car needs to be in tip-top shape.

[johnnybass]

So shortening the waste gate rod one full turn doesnt seem like an exact type of thing to me .what does this put the boost pressure at approximately? I know IPD sells a gauge and have watched a couple of videos from them on setting the waste gate to spec , but havent really found anything on what it should be set at for an xc70.

[Reverend]

Stage zero first. Plugs, PCV, coils, TCV, filters, fluids, maybe MAF.

What's the scoop on TCV and coils? I was under the impression that either they work or they don't. As in, if the coils ohm out within spec, they're good. If the TCV holds boost steady, it's good.

Is that not the case?

[Astro14]

Reverend - agree completely, but those are common failure items, so I wouldn't go modifying the car until I verified that everything was within spec and working perfectly.

[johnnybass]

Definitely check the coils.I had 2 that were bad and actually the car didnt throw a code , it felt like the trans was slipping under hard acceleration. Since 2 were bad I replaced all 5 with IPD coils and fresh stock volvo plugs.its amazing what getting the car back to stage zero can feel like. my biggest improvement came from the silicone TCV tubing. Over time the stock rubber tubing gets week and tends to collapse. I still have one to replace its real hard to get to but just doing the top 2 was a big difference. I might get an IPD TCV but I really dont know what more I will get out of it. When I did my oil change I also added lubrimoly anti friction addative to the synthetic castrol I put in this I also got at IPD. With all I have done so far my fuel economy went up .I did a trip to san Francisco from reno nv and averaged 27 mpg at 75mph with the cruise control on.I freaking love my xc now.And let me tell you my car was a problem from the time I bought it.it had a bad tranny (loosing reverse) that was resolved with a low milage 2004 trans, along with finding out it didnt even have the original motor. After doing research on the car I have the history.all said and done I have 6800.00 into mine and it feels like a brand new car and I have the confidence it will last me a long time.other things you should do as a new owner should be to check and change fluids in the angle gear, the AOC HALDEX unit and the rear differential.I was getting a code for no communication with the haldex unit so I removed itand cleaned it, it was gunked up with junk.I used contact cleaner, changed the filter and fluid.rechecked everything with vida dice and all is good.other things to look for are strut top bearings and bushings along with lower control arm bushing and sway bar end links.I just did all this on mine along with adding an IPD subframe bushing kit my car is tight.adding power is one thing , but first things first check all these items out first.and get a vida dice setup you really can't own one of these cars without it.you can even change the heated seat temp settings with vida.a standard code reader won't let you know what is really going on.

[Antherzoll]

Keep or replace the TCV with OEM. If you really want the "HD" version there are DIY instructions on how to make one for half the price. There are many reports of the "HD" versions not working so well on a tuned setup. In fact most, if not all of the high powered builds that I've come across are using the OE TCV.

http://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/bui...r-own-tcv.html

[sanfelice]

Good advice on changing over some of the spaghetti from rubber to silicone. I just got a P0420 code today that is sort of inexplicable, but was reading that even the vacuum lines can be suspects. Start with the easy stuff.

Speaking of MPG, I just got 28.8 on a trip recently. Wow, best mpg by quite a bit for me.

[johnnybass]

I think my mpg went up do to all the fresh fliuds , the AOC and rear diff fluid were really bad .

[sjonnie]

I have a 2003 xc70 with 156k miles. Bought used last week.
With only $1500 budget, what is the recommended upgrade to increase power? Thanks fellas

Fill up with premium gas, that should spend your $1500 nicely and do about as much for your hp as anything else you're contemplating.