• Hello Guest, welcome to the initial stages of our new platform!
    You can find some additional information about where we are in the process of migrating the board and setting up our new software here

    Thank you for being a part of our community!

What to do?

Sam b

New member
Joined
Dec 3, 2016
Location
Fort wort
I'm the only Volvo fan in my family, I own a 1991 Regina 740, and im searching for power. Now I'm putting in subs new tires and ipd lowering springs. My options for power are nitrous, cam, and exhaust. Or b230ft swap. Or 5.3 4L60 swap. Or micro squirt +t. My family is trying to convince me to save money and do the 5.3 swap. What would y'all do and why?
 
What is your "family" smoking that makes them think an LS swap is cheaper?

Also a MicroSquirt is a poor choice, a MS2v3.0 is what you want. And crank trigger it, not some wobbly ass distributor.

Lots of guys buy the MicroSquirt then bang their head trying to make it do all the stuff a MS2 does easily.
 
What are your goals?

Different goals suggest different ways to get there.

For example, if you wanted to get 600 hp under the hood, the 5.3 would be the cheapest way to make that happen.

If you want 300 hp, it's probably not the cheapest way.
 
When I first started getting into cars, the first "mod" I did was added a pair of 12's to whatever pile of crap I was driving at the time (Not implying your car is crap btw). The second thing I did was take them out. Why? Because it added SO MUCH WEIGHT!

If you're going to do a swap anyway this is my 2 cents.

If you go +t, to make any power you either need to stay auto (which sucks for me) or go with a T5 (or other) transmission.
If you are inclined to deal with manuals only, and you go with T5 and decide to do a swap... the 302 makes a lot of sense since that's it's transmission.
If you go with a V8, specifically an LS (which is a decidedly better engine than a 302) the T5 is probably going to struggle a bit. So now you're back to auto or trying to cram a T56 into the trans hole.

That's the general logic.

I don't really know much about the Regina cars... it might make sense to sell it and get into the LH/EZK computers?

You'd be surprised at how happy you can be with a micro +t though. And nothing on that would really preclude you from going V8 either... but going V8 will be much much much much faster than a +t setup.
 
What is your "family" smoking that makes them think an LS swap is cheaper?

Also a MicroSquirt is a poor choice, a MS2v3.0 is what you want. And crank trigger it, not some wobbly ass distributor.

Lots of guys buy the MicroSquirt then bang their head trying to make it do all the stuff a MS2 does easily.

I meant save up my money and do the swap.
 
When I first started getting into cars, the first "mod" I did was added a pair of 12's to whatever pile of crap I was driving at the time (Not implying your car is crap btw). The second thing I did was take them out. Why? Because it added SO MUCH WEIGHT!

If you're going to do a swap anyway this is my 2 cents.

If you go +t, to make any power you either need to stay auto (which sucks for me) or go with a T5 (or other) transmission.
If you are inclined to deal with manuals only, and you go with T5 and decide to do a swap... the 302 makes a lot of sense since that's it's transmission.
If you go with a V8, specifically an LS (which is a decidedly better engine than a 302) the T5 is probably going to struggle a bit. So now you're back to auto or trying to cram a T56 into the trans hole.

That's the general logic.

I don't really know much about the Regina cars... it might make sense to sell it and get into the LH/EZK computers?

You'd be surprised at how happy you can be with a micro +t though. And nothing on that would really preclude you from going V8 either... but going V8 will be much much much much faster than a +t setup.
Do you by any chance of the top of your head know how much power I could safely get through an aw71?
 
depends, how you drive it, acc mod, sticky tires, etc... you really should read up on this. all has been done over and over and it will give you thoughts to define your goals... around 300 hp if you want this to last??
 
I mean it's so much more than one specific number. It's how you plan to use the car.

What I would suggest is to actually start pricing crap out. You could probably put a Viper engine in for $15k, but it might not get you any further down the road than an LS swap. So if your goal is to put a Viper engine in, then you wouldn't be interested in ANY money towards LS.

The HP number is mostly for bench racing. If you jump onto a track, there's a bunch more that'll matter. What type of track is it, what's your driving style etc. A 300hp semi will do a slower lap than a 300hp go kart. etc etc etc etc etc etc
 
I mean it's so much more than one specific number. It's how you plan to use the car.

What I would suggest is to actually start pricing crap out. You could probably put a Viper engine in for $15k, but it might not get you any further down the road than an LS swap. So if your goal is to put a Viper engine in, then you wouldn't be interested in ANY money towards LS.

The HP number is mostly for bench racing. If you jump onto a track, there's a bunch more that'll matter. What type of track is it, what's your driving style etc. A 300hp semi will do a slower lap than a 300hp go kart. etc etc etc etc etc etc
I'm going to continue using it as a daily, I just want more power than the tiny amount it has now. I also want something to take to car meets and talk to people about, I'm in high school so spending a ton money isn't super great but I have a pretty good job so I could save and do whatever. But I just want the cheapest and most reliable way to 300. I'm also not super mechanically experienced so i think the microsquirt +t would be a good amount simpler than a swap
 
Cheapest and most reliable way would be to sell your car and buy something with 300hp.

300hp and reliability doesn't come on a high school budget with a redblock.

Really, the best thing you can do right now is stage zero and start reading.
 
You should probably just start with a basic +t. 225 - 250 hp.

MS setups, in general, take a lot of tuning and tweaking to get right (heh) so you might be better served at this point by going with a chipped Bosch ECU approach.

Although that's made a little trickier by the Regina stuffs on your car.
 
You should probably just start with a basic +t. 225 - 250 hp.

MS setups, in general, take a lot of tuning and tweaking to get right (heh) so you might be better served at this point by going with a chipped Bosch ECU approach.

Although that's made a little trickier by the Regina stuffs on your car.

Would you suggest just a cam and an exhaust and call it a day?
 
Cam and an exhaust on a N/A car is going to net +15 butt-dyno HP, less on a real dyno. Is it an automatic? Manual trans cars can be made a little more fun by letting the engine rev more, but the automatic doesn't like to let the engine rev anyhow, so it's moot.
 
Cam and an exhaust on a N/A car is going to net +15 butt-dyno HP, less on a real dyno. Is it an automatic? Manual trans cars can be made a little more fun by letting the engine rev more, but the automatic doesn't like to let the engine rev anyhow, so it's moot.
Yep it's an automatic.
 
Listen Sam... we get it man, we've all been there. You have some car that you've acquired, and you want it to be better than it is, but the funding isn't there.

I'd argue that's how every single one of us started out. The thing is... with this wisdom we've collected we know it doesn't make sense.

Since Volvo's can be had for pennies on the dollar depending on area/time of year... I might suggest your path of least resistance is one of two things.

1. Spend your time and energy now on learning basic wrenching skills, and detailing. Spending some money on tools now and building skills will pay dividends in the future.
2. Buy a different car... even if it's another Volvo... but also, learn what features you might want to have on said Volvo/other car.

We're happy to answer questions that have answers... but questions we can't answer are what will make you happy, or what you'll like. People seem to be cranky on the board lately... take some of the feedback with a grain of salt.
 
A basic +t is still your best bet, best hp/$ deal you're going to get.

N/A hp is harder to come by, Volvo didn't really gimp these engines in easily fixed ways that other cars sometimes are.

+T involves all junkyard parts, nothing shiny or new, Volvo already did the work of figuring out how to put a turbo on the engine, just go get those parts.

+T with a little boost will take you from 115-ish hp to 170 - 200 maybe 225.
 
Listen Sam... we get it man, we've all been there. You have some car that you've acquired, and you want it to be better than it is, but the funding isn't there.

I'd argue that's how every single one of us started out. The thing is... with this wisdom we've collected we know it doesn't make sense.

Since Volvo's can be had for pennies on the dollar depending on area/time of year... I might suggest your path of least resistance is one of two things.

1. Spend your time and energy now on learning basic wrenching skills, and detailing. Spending some money on tools now and building skills will pay dividends in the future.
2. Buy a different car... even if it's another Volvo... but also, learn what features you might want to have on said Volvo/other car.

We're happy to answer questions that have answers... but questions we can't answer are what will make you happy, or what you'll like. People seem to be cranky on the board lately... take some of the feedback with a grain of salt.

I am the youngest son in my family with 2 very mechanically inclined older brothers and a whole garage of tools, I think I'll just keep my slow 74O and save up and then keep an eye out for a Bosch hopefully turbo wagon. Buy it and fix it up then sell the current 740
 
Back
Top