(sounds like the start of a porno )

Put my Volvo XC70 D5 into a RICA authorised supplier today. Going in with (roughly) 163 bhp & 250 ft/lb and coming back tomorrow with 195 bhp and 320 ft/lb

Thennnn

I'm off to Ireland for Xmas & that means a nightime road-trip up the A1, A66 & ultimately A75 over to Stranraer for the ferry. There are lots of roundabouts and overtaking opportunities to test out its new grunt and I can't wait

Its by no means a sluggish car and sees off any 2.0 diesel and many petrol cars the same but now there'll be a bit more of roll on effortless acceleration as well, so perhaps might be able to embarass some of the more expensive vehicles that think off-road Volvos should be consigned to the inside lane

Top (indicated) speed of 125 (115 true?) with revs to go (in a suitable place of course) so wonder how that might increase next time I go there

AND

Fuel consumption will decrease

(not that I gaf as I have a fuel card really...)

Can't wait

 

fuel econ tends to get better with rempas on diesels, no idea y but know a few mates with vauxhall diesels and all the ones who have had box's put in runn better power, toque and get better MPG, which is a nice added bonus and also justifies having one to the mrs

 

Dont forget to price up a clutch as well, unless its an auto of course.

 

I have had a Skoda Fabia vRS, two Volvo T5's and a Volvo P1 V70R remapped with RICA software. I have never been disappointed yet! The Fabia was mental - I was timed at Donnington doing consistent sub 7 second 0-60 sprints, the quickest being 6.6 seconds, some 3 seconds quicker than standard!!!

I have a lot of love for RICA

 

I really should of got a Fabia VRS instead of the Saab, I think in the real world a mapped VRS is probably as quick as the Saab even when mapped, or very little in it, probably quite a bit quicker now its detuned to protect whats left of the clutch and running on Normal Unleaded.

 

J4CKO, I had a run in with a tuned Fabia at the weekend and it was properly quick but very smoky, I suspect tuned more than just a remap and exhaust. It looked a lot of fun, though.

 

Quick report is that so far it is awesome

Overtaking is a breeze, roll-on acceleration is there too and torque steer coming out of sharp corners - never thought I'd see that in my XC

 

Wifey's V70 D5 could do with a bit of that. It's so slowww, yet still manages to torque steer.

 

Any idea if you can remap a rav 4 diesel ?

 

You should be able to remap any diesel turbo - look on the RICA website.

Car is certainly smoother - less diesel-like on startup and smoother when moving away & generally all-round smooth (I like smooth, goes with the slippers/cap of volvo ownership ).

However, its when you need a bit of go that it really comes into its own - 40-60 is despatched with a real kick in the back in 4th, 60-80 the same in 5th, it is seriously like being in the scoob again when mid-range acceleration is needed. It makes overtaking an absolute breeze and considering that this is a 4WD tank like vehicle then it is even more the impressive. I've certainly surprised a few cars in the last couple of days with the sheer grunt of it's ability. For instance the car who decided I wasn't going to pass on a climber lane then kept close to the car in front so I couldn't leap-frog him - at an opportune moment just dropped a cog and blasted him, the car in front & the one in front of that completely safely. I think its the fact that no-one expects you to overtake so rapidly in a large volvo! There's an Integra Type R that realised too late that it couldn't hope to out accelerate it either!

The only downside to me at the moment is a seeming grumble/shudder when I put the foot down (but not all the way) at around 1900 rpm. Not sure if it's something to worry about or not as it goes away and is apparent in all gears, but will get it looked into when I get back to the UK. In the meantime, can't wait for the return trip & wish I had done this before - the car is now so much more driveable.

 

thats your gearbox/clutch trying to tell you it aint happy with extra torque!

good luck

 

My old man seems keen to do this to his '06 S80 D5 Auto... it all seems great, apart from the grumbling noise, keep us updated on that please.


Cheers,
Grant

 

Yep, only a matter of time before the gearbox dumps a load of cogs on the floor

I had a Montego GTI that had its gearbox left go, metal everywhere, funnily enough the box was the only non Rover bit, was a VW unit !

 

Dual Mass Flywheels vibrate when the torque gets too much. 1900rpm will be when the torque peak starts I bet. Fabia vRS have the same problem if you wind up the torque too much. You can usually drive around the problem by avoiding full throttle from low boost in high gears. My old Fabia (54-reg, 65k miles) would vibe sometimes but you quickly learn how to avoid it, 40,000 miles after I put a tuning box on, its still going strong with 318lbs ft going through the original clutch and DMF.

 

That makes sense... when I had a VW years back I was told that a Montego gearbox would fit and would be cheaper

 

A good tuner would not heave up the torque at 1900rpm if it's causing judder... All too easy to up the boost everywhere to try and 'impress'

All the nicest and fastest tunes bring the boost in smooth and let the engine rev with a flatish boost curve - Much nicer to drive, just as fast and much kinder to transmission.
Issue with a lot of these diesels is the small turbo is stuffed for flow after about 3k so it's a loosing battle for peak power.

 

Remap turns the EGR down or off depending on the system. This means the exhaust contains more NOx but you burn less fuel overall and the inlet and exhuast and turbo get less choked over time...

A combination of re-ingested soot plus oil-mist from the breathers makes a great bake on gunge for the inlet tract.

J.