Credit: Mangan2002 / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)
Pete’s 850 Volvo cold air intake mod
Pete did a pretty simple Volvo cold air intake mod on his Volvo 850, using 100-mm flexible hose. He removed the old intake hose that goes from above the radiator to the airbox, then installed the new hose onto the airbox. He routed the flexible hose down through the trans oil cooler pipes, and around to the front of the A/C condenser, where it gets the ram air effect under the bumper.
“I found my fuel economy increased to 10.5l/100km around town, with fuel consumption down from 12l/100km…”
[Read more and discuss this mod in my Volvo Mods Forum]
Volvo cold air intake mod
Step 1: Intake hose duct placement on front spoiler
Volvo cold air intake mod
Step 2: Hose attached to old intake piping position
Volvo cold air intake mod
Step 3: Under the car looking at the front spoiler/radiator/air-conditioning core
Volvo cold air intake mod
Step 4: Looking up under the car, note the trans cooler hose
5: The air conditioning pipe work is not disturbed
Step 6: Looking down over the L.H. headlight
How to increase the power of a Volvo 850 Turbo. One thing I noticed was that the engine was producing good torque, but it didn’t seem to rev like I thought it should. Based on my past experiences as a racer, I felt there was an intake restriction/restrictions hindering the engine’s revving ability. I set out to remove the intake restrictions. What I saw that needed to be addressed was: the small MAF, intake tube with changes in diameter and the accordion section in the intake tube.
Also, one interesting thing that I found was the new Volvo MAF’s are 3” instead of 2.5”, like in my 850. But, Volvo changed the mounting orientation of the actual meter by 90 degrees, so although you would think you could use a newer model Volvo’s MAF body…you can’t. My solution was to use 1994 BMW M60 3.0 MAF body, and install the Volvo meter into that MAF body. The BMW MAF meter is very similar, but since the BMW MAF body is bigger, the meter needs to stick into the body more, so the BMW meter has an added extension to the length of the meter.
Please enjoy the video, it’s not a lot of detail, but is interesting, and the power increase is quite impressive. The sounds coming from the engine are a really pleasure, with turbo sounds, recirculation valve and high pitched whining.
Last Updated on August 13, 2020
4 Comments
[…] had a bug in my head to do this ever since Pete in Australia posted his cold air intake modification years ago. Mine is really no different. Just better documented ;-). Want more power, more […]
Check amazon or ebay for a obd2 bluetooth adapter. If you have an android phone buy the app Torque its worth it, then you can get the codes and clear them yourself. The adapter is only like $30 and app I think is $4.
I have a 2000 Volvo S70 T5 and when replacing the radiator my friend took off the cold air inlet duct and we didn’t put it back on. He said I didn’t need it anyway. About a month or so after that, exhaust broke where the turbo meets the exhaust manifold. It looked like a clean break—almost like a factory weld gone bad. Have you heard of anything like this? Anyway, I’m just curious if by taking off that cold air duct could have anything to do with the exhaust busting.
Also, I can’t afford to take my auto the dealership every time a code had to be reset, and my service light and ets lights keep coming back on.
Thanks for you time.
help me if you can 🙂
dlab
Hey, put a connical shape on the end and acts like ram forced, worked great on S70 at 60 Km/h.