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Is the 960's 3.0 reliable and respond to mods

B

brusk

New member
Joined
Mar 10, 2009
Looking at a 96 960 3.0 I6 and wondering if it's a reliable enough car and how the engine is. Currently it's got a bad engine but the guy has another engine to put in it. I was originally thinking of putting a Toyota Supra 1JZ-GTTE 2.5 I6 in instead of the stock engine but not sure I really need to waste that kind of money right now. I was thinking about redoing the exhaust and intake if the engine typically responds well to that but I've seen a few old style "tank" like cars that just don't make much of a difference afterward leaving you wonder why you wasted the time and money doing the exhaust.
 
they are reliable as long as you keep up with maintenance. IE regular oil changes and scheduled timing belt changes 70k
 
With a chip or aftermaket engine management + extractor pipes + big and tuned exhaust + good intake you can get up to around 270HP on it.

With bigger cams, at least 300HP.

With head work etc. quite a bit beyond 300HP beleive it or not.
 
frpe82 said:
With a chip or aftermaket engine management + extractor pipes + big and tuned exhaust + good intake you can get up to around 270HP on it.

With bigger cams, at least 300HP.

With head work etc. quite a bit beyond 300HP beleive it or not.
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chip, I/H/E and even cams is not going to increase an N/A car by 90 HP. It typically won't make those numbers by adding a turbo (again to a block that was NA). I'm not looking for crazy numbers but was hoping maybe another 20HP with some basic bolt ons and chip.
 
have you seen the tiny exahust and collectors on a 960? its a 3L motor with like a 1" exhaust...Those Swedes (Frpe82)/Norwegians (dabucher) have done it, and they have dynos to prove it. Dabucher gained like 40hp just going to a full 3" exhaust...
 
brusk said:
chip, I/H/E and even cams is not going to increase an N/A car by 90 HP. It typically won't make those numbers by adding a turbo (again to a block that was NA). I'm not looking for crazy numbers but was hoping maybe another 20HP with some basic bolt ons and chip.
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Good thing you showed up to tell it like it is.

Oh wait you posted the thread and said you don't know jack **** about these motors.
 
the poi said:
the 960's 3.0 responds to snuggling and cheap romance novels
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yes, I use scented oils for murrr power.

Seriously though:
Even in N/A form, there are many limiting factors on the stock b6304:
Manifoils are crap
Front pipe W/ cat is CRAP (pipe in pipe, tiny diametre!)
Also, the cat robs some power (but this I have to have on my current car).

The b6304 is also limited in the ECU, since Volvo wanted the 960 to be a "mercedes like car".
I never tried chipping the b6304, but with new exhaust from the OEM manifoils, down to 3" N/A JT Superflow exhaust (and cat removal) I got 242Hp on the dyno.
Ironically enough, the engine resided in a Volvo 242.

This was running on regular fuel.. The b6304 is also not mapped for premium fuel, from factory.

Powerchip amongst others (also frpe82) offers tuning for the software too.
Ps. I also had a conical filter, but this does not give a gain :-) I just had to have it, due to space limitations in my engine compartment.

Read the file I posted above, it's about turbocharging with unleaded 95 octane (european standard, the best octane here is 98), it also tests M85 (E85) on the lower displacement engine b6254. 200Kw was easy, they say.

I've read some nice posts lately, where some board members here have figured out that bmw m50/m52 manifoils fit, with a little custom work.. This means you can have headers for the b6304 too, with just modding the flange (klracing sells flanges for b6304).

If I cant get the "PCP" engine approved, which I have, I'll either go for the B6304 N/A w/ the earlier cams (204hp version) and tune it, or I'll go for a T5 engine.

An N/A engine with power, is very fun to drive.. it responds much faster than a turbo lagged car. (ps. that is comparing the b6304 vs the b230ft, both cars auto and ~~same weight, as well as ~~same power levels).

If you where to turbocharge the b6304 w/ lower comp. you would easy attain 400++nm and 200++Kw on NON PREMIUM fuel :O That must be a loco drive..
Volvo tested this on the 760, 1560kg.. 0-100 km/h (0-60mph) 6.8 seconds. With traction control: 6.5 and with perfect grip, even lower (6.25 or so).

I hope this gives you some inspiration/goals/ideas.
N/A tuning for the b6304 wont be very expensive and it will give your engine a nice ROAR, like a sportscar.
 
you can't really ask a question then say thats not possible when someone from a country where it's done often tells you what you get from mods
 
ravennexus said:
you can't really ask a question then say thats not possible when someone from a country where it's done often tells you what you get from mods
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When Fredrik claims 300hp from a "untouched" longblock, apart from the cams, I'm skeptic too. But I'm smart enough to STFU since I don't know **** about the engines, really.

Would be interesting to test the car before and after mods on the same dyno, not comparing OEM data to new dyno-numbers. Also keep in mind that there are two ways measuring is done on dynos - dynamic and static. Dynamic numbers are usually a little bit higher - vehicle manufacturers mostly use static measuring.
 
ravennexus said:
but 2.5 960 are common enough over here to steal a 4.1 from
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yes, the 3.0 has 3.91 on auto, while the 2.5 auto has 4.1:1, as you state.
At least this is the case for 95+ (when the 2.5 arrived)

The 2.5 960 therefore is not very much slower than the 3.0, since it has 4.1 vs the 3.91 (less than a second slower). I know less than a second is "some power", but still :-P

the 4.1 uses more fuel though, due to higher rpm..
but the auto has a very low ratio in the final drive, so it's all ok for highway too.
 
The U.S. Canada models have 3.73 rear gears. You can order 3.90 and 4.10 gears from your dealer. Be prepared to get raped for those gears. I'm still trying to find out who makes the rear ends in the 95-98's.

And I have to agree a bigger exhaust system, cams and ECM mods you should be able to easily pull 35 to 40 hp more with this engine. It is really detuned for old people driving and fuel mileage on the highway.
 
Al said:
The U.S. Canada models have 3.73 rear gears. You can order 3.90 and 4.10 gears from your dealer. Be prepared to get raped for those gears. I'm still trying to find out who makes the rear ends in the 95-98's.
Click to expand...

According to the part number the crown gear and pinion are identical to the live axle, at least as far as I remember.
 
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