This Is My Brain...

[Commander Riker]

Very cool! Hope you get it done in time for Carlisle, Darnell!

[S8ET6]

Admit it.

You’ve lusted over the Heico S80 and its drop dead gorgeous looks.

You’ve watched every YOUTUBE video of the Polestar T6 that you’ve come across – not quite able to reconcile the visceral images of raw power with your existing perception of the T6 drivetrain.

Then, after you’ve closed your browser and shutdown your computer, you sat still for a moment… stared at your reflection in the blackened monitor… and thought to yourself – “Too bad S80T6’s are a piece of SHIT!”

There seems to be no gray areas with this model. You either love ‘em or hate ‘em – but whichever side of the fence that you find yourself on – this thread is for you.

I’ve been championing the S80T6 as a viable platform with plenty of untapped performance potential for years. I’ve heard over and over throughout those same years that I don’t know what I’m talking about.

I think that it’s time for me to put up, or shut up.

It’s time, once and for all, to find out who’s right.

You or me.

It’s time for this thread.

Welcome to Project SOGOTT

The purpose of this thread is twofold:

• Publically document my efforts (both the pain and triumphs) to expand the performance envelope of my S80T6 and provide clear paths of staged modifications to those who are interested in reading about and/or modifying their S80T6
• Leave a legacy for future generations.

The Car: a 2000 Volvo S80T6 (so nondescript at the time of purchase that I didn’t even bother to take pictures of it. So, if you’re genuinely curious about how the car looked back then Google “black 2000 S80T6” and pick ANY picture that you want to represent this car – cause they all look the same)

The Specs: These are some important specifications that I had to search for when I was considering my initial modifications. I’m placing them here (as well as a link to the owner’s manual that I found online) for your convenience too.

The modifications: Modifications (and thread documentation) will be done in the following phases:

Phase 1: Custom 3" DP, 3" exhaust into magnaflow muffler: baseline dyno and ¼ mile slips

Phase 2: Skid plate, ECU stage 1 (torque limiter removed), anti-sway bars, Eibach springs, Bilstein HD shocks, iPd Upper Engine Mount, iPd Front and Rear brake pads, iPd CAI, Ronal R41 18" rims with Falken RT-615: updated dyno and ¼ mile slips

Phase 3: FMIC, WI, built transmission w/stall: 294whp/312wtq with dyno results

Phase 4: in search of 80-100whp (Proof of Concept)

Phase 5: “The Build” Time to get serious

Phase 6: The end. Parting this sucka out

As I type this introduction, the car is currently sitting at Phase 3. There are archived threads for the modifications that I did in phase 1 and phase 2, but they were more along the lines your typical Show Room filler - as opposed to being “epic project thread” worthy. Honestly, I even had my doubts about the thread worthiness of phase 3 (until I went to a group dyno session with members of the MWC – more on that later). Don’t get me wrong – the information WAS good, but the relevance of each thread was lost on the majority. Separately, they just lacked the necessary - sizzle…

… and dammit, I want SIZZLE!

As such, I’ve got some catching up to do from a content perspective. I don’t have a lot of sizzling photo content from the first two phases, but I do have solid, helpful information for the S80T6 owner who’s interested in the best bang for their performance buck. Going forward, no more steak without the sizzle… I’m in it to win it. And I promise to photowhore with the best of them.

So, I plan to merge information from my prior threads into this one, and add internal hype-links. Then, as this thread grows, you can jump straight to the information relevant to the phase that you are interested reading about, as opposed to fishing for it throughout the entire thread.

I will be the first to admit that I am still somewhat of a noob to turbos and fabricating things, and I’m still learning. So I invite your advice and commentary (whether positive or negative) as I move forward. It’ll make the thread more of an interesting read.

With all of that being said, welcome to my thread. I am currently in the final stages of sourcing parts for Phase 4. The objectives for Phase 4 of this project are simple:

• 375-400whp and 108mph or faster in the 1/4 mile, while retaining all of the creature comforts offered in the S80T6 (i.e. air conditioning, cruise control, etc..)
• Fail EPICALLY and eat crow - or succeed and gloat. Either way, it should be interesting (and fun).

edit: the middle of this post has nice little tables that were lost in transition. Can someone can kindly tell me how to post tables? thnx

Phase 1

So, in the fall of 2007, after being neutered stuck driving a minivan since 2003, I had been itching for a new project car and was planning to get a 335i. Around the same time, my daughter had convinced me to buy her a car for college. She had found this specific S80 and she wanted it – BAD. Being the loving dad that I am, I selfishly decided to purchase the car for myself. I then took it directly to my local stealership and had the pcv/flametrap, timing belt and coils/plugs all replaced.

I started lurking around here and on SS doing research on potential modifications. In November, I decided to dyno it in order to establish a baseline. This was the result - bone stock, stage zero, premium gas):

Undeterred, I spent the winter researching and dreaming. At some point, to satiate my need for additional horsepower, I decided to paint assorted pieces of plastic within the engine compartment red – WTF was I thinking??

Once it was warm enough the following spring, I took the car to get some baseline ¼ mile runs in.

These were the results (bone stock, stage zero, more than likely I used race gas):

Pig slow, but on par with the hp numbers that I had from the dyno session.

My initial mod was to have the resonator removed because the car was just too quiet. Afterwards, the car was still so quiet that I had to literally crawl under the car and verify that the resonator had been removed. It was – so I ordered a magnaflow muffler online, and had a local shop install it along with a “custom” 3” DP and “custom” cat-back exhaust. Then, I went back to the dragstrip. I lost most of those slips, but the times were basically similar to those posted above.

However, I did save this slip – because it was one of the first races where I beat a car that, on paper, I wasn’t supposed to:

Phase 2

On May 20^th, I ordered springs/sways/shocks from IPD and I had a local shop install them (Didn’t take any photos – sorry).

I gotta be honest (and I think that it’s safe to do so now that the statute of limitation in my household has expired) … I loved the louder exhaust and new-found handling so much, that 2 weeks later I spent another $1295 and purchased the softloader. My logic was that I needed more performance to compliment the new exhaust note and handling. I loaded the tune and was immediately rewarded with better performance. So naturally, thinking that the car would now have better traction off the line and perform better with the larger exhaust, I drove the car straight to the drag strip, put some race gas in, and ran the ¼ mile to see just how deep into the 13s I was.

Yes, I was disappointed… but I was also hopeful – because each of those runs was accompanied by loads of wheelspin. So, in an attempt to get better traction (and as a way to mask my disappointment) I took advantage of IPD’s clearance sale and purchased a set of Ronals R41s and Azenis RT-615s.

OMG!! The car drove like it was on rails. From a handling perspective, this was now BMW-esque. And it looked sooo much better. My bank account however, took a serious hit and looked a lot worse… so I shut down the spending and began planning for Phase 2.

[fischmama]

Looks like I'm at phase 6 for my S70.

[Aequitas_Veritas]

Looks like I'm at phase 6 for my S70.

Why do all sick cars have to end this way? Just makes me sad to think about all the members cars lost.

[Modman]

Looks like I'm at phase 6 for my S70.

Do I sense a Sti coming Justus lol

[fischmama]

Why do all sick cars have to end this way? Just makes me sad to think about all the members cars lost.

Do I sense a Sti coming Justus lol

No, converting to RWD...motor is coming along with it.

[Piston Slapper]

Removing the torque limiter?

Phase 6: GM slushbox explodes.

[Commander Riker]

I am looking forward to this build, even if the transmission gives out. Breaking things is often when we get the most creative about fixing them. If a strengthening solution is found and identified, it will be really good for the Volvo community.

[S8ET6]

(slow Friday at work. more content)

Phase 3

That November I took the car back to the same place for another dyno session. Needless to admit, the numbers still weren’t impressive:

Later, I determined that I had some boost leaks during this session. Repaired them and the car ran really well- especially in colder weather. According to my IPD datalogger, I was regularly hitting boost in the 16-18lb range with spikes up to 21lbs. Looking back, I don’t know why I didn't bend a rod. Maybe it was because of the exhaust work, or because ME7 saved me, or I was just lucky.

Anyway, while reviewing my datalogs from the summer I also noticed how high my IATs were getting (110-130 degree temps in the summer)

The following spring, I decided to try and do something about the heatsoak.

First I got one of these from Phuz:

I hoped that it would fit the S80 since it fit the S60, but at the time nobody had ever tried installing a FMIC on the S80 so I wasn't sure if it would.
So, just in case I couldn't use the FMIC, I also picked up one of these from an old VS member:

And other misc. parts such as these:

After confirming that I was going to be able to install both items, one of my objectives became to see which gave more bang for the buck on a S80T6 - aquamist or FMIC.

I wrote a thread about it too. Wanna see it? Me too – but something is going on with the archive and I can’t pull it up.

Here is what I copied from my thread on SS:

<quote>

So I installed the a-mist like so:

And took the car to the strip.

I wasn't worried about 1/4 mile times, just the mph...

At the track, I did about 5 passes. The first 2 were to establish the baseline mph of 94 and 95 mph.

Then I turned on the a-mist, and I saw consistent 99 mph trap speeds (back to back runs with little to no cool down time in between)

As a point of reference, last year I trapped 99 mph with basically the same setup on race gas - so it seems that the a-mist is as beneficial as adding race gas to the tank. I didn't try running with race gas too because that track had a 5 gallon minimum and I wasn't buying 5 gallons

After-wards, I took the car home and began to disassemble it.

Not knowing if it would fit since I had no other point of reference, I took a chance and purchased a 2.5" piping kit from Cxracing:

For those of you with S80s, you can see here, there is no way that 2.5" piping is going to fit if you plan to use the "traditional" route for most FMIC installs:

So I ordered some 2" pipe and 2 2.25" -> 2" elbow reducer and considered a different route for the piping.

Once the front end was completely apart, I struggled with myself over the placement of the intercooler. The lower grill is smaller on the S80 than it is on the R, and it really made more sense to install the front mount above the bumper brace instead of below it. As you can see in this picture, there is a relatively small debris field on the A/C condenser (which is the same size as the lower grill), and the Intercooler is almost twice as tall:

decided to bite the bullet and install the FMIC below the bumper brace:

I also took the time to relocate my a-mist to the inner fender wall behind the driver's head light and I ran the feed line from the WW tank through the bumper to the pump.

Finally, I competed the trial fitting, and it looked like this:

FYI fellow S80 owners: you're not going to do a FMIC install using 2.5" piping without ALOT of effort!
I call this my hybrid installation, because I started out with 2.5" piping (the black pipe), then I used a 2" pipe on top because there wasn't enough room to route it down below, and finally I used 2.25" on the cold side to connect the intercooler to the stock pipe going to the throttle body. I kept that stock pipe in place because it has both the IAT and Boost sensors in it.

If I were to do this install again, I'd use 2.25" piping, mount the intercooler above the bumper brace to take advantage of the larger grill opening, and use the same route as the stock hoses.
If you're lazy, and are going to do this just like I did, then you'll need:

1 - Intercooler ( I used the one from Phuz)
2 - 2" 90 degree pipe
1 - U pipe (2.5" pictured)
1 - 2.25" 90 degree pipe that you'll need to cut
1- 2.25" -> 90 degree 2' silicon reducer
1 - 2.5" -> 2" straight reducer
1 - 2.5" -> 2.25 90 degree reducer
and the appropriate number of clamps, lock tight, and zip ties

I also had to relocate my CAI from behind the bumper, because the elbow from the intercooler was in the way. Here is a shot of the current location, as well as the placstic air guide after the install was completed:

Finally, here is the money shot:

Talk about sleeper status... you can't even see the FMIC unless you get up close:

Total installation time took about 25 hours, but that includes the time necessary to relocate the a-mist and move my boost gauge sending unit

</quote>

[S8ET6]

NOW I was getting somewhere! The car was really pulling strong and IAT temps were much lower.

When I installed the a-mist I initially used the .7 jet because that was what was on the IPD installation instructions. But in July it occurred to me that I could quite possibly move up a jet size (or two).

So I started experimenting with different jet sizes and in early August I posted the results of that decision:

The car sat for a while as I researched my options. In Dec. I started a thread about my transmission rebuild. Here are my old posts (again from from SS):

<quote>

I finally got around to having the transmission pulled. It'll be dropped off on Tuedsay for a complete overhaul consisting of a high performance street/strip rebuild (clutches/bands,valve body, shift kit, etc...), upgrading the input shaft to a stronger unit, upgrading the chain to a 7/8 single chain, and (drum roll please ...)

Changing the stock convertor's stall speed to approx 3K.

The transmission rebuild is being done by this guy:
http://www.tripleedgeperformance.com/
Expected turn around is about 2 weeks due to the custom convertor work.

I've asked him to provide a post mortem analysis so others can benefit from my transmission's death.

That is all.

</endquote>

<quote>

I dropped the transmission off with Dave from TripleEdge Performanance.

We chatted for about 30 minutes. He said the he does rebuilds for the 4T65E units about 150 times a year. Also said that GM's version of the diff can't b be easily swapped with the Volvo version - and that it really wouldn't matter because he has never seen a reliable limited slip differential for these transmissions

</quote>

<quote>

T minus 5 days.
The transmission is complete.
We are waiting on the torque convertor.
It's caught up in the holiday shipping surge.

</quote>

<quote>

The rebuilt transmission is back in my garage.
The official cause of death was the clutch/bands, but he said that 4th gear would 've died in another 1000 miles or so. There also was evidence of extreme heat inside the transfer case
( I wonder why )

In addition to the HD Input Shaft, converting to a 7/8th single chain, and getting a street/strip rebuild the case was cleaned and painted. (just like on his website)

The torque convertor was sent to Precision Industries (http://www.converter.com) to have the stall speed changed. Apparently, each convertor they touch has to leave the shop dipped in fuchsia. Thank goodness it's hidden by the belhousing

I was surprised to receive a gallon of this:

He said something about transmission fluid having the viscosity of water, and that this transmission/drive train oil from Catapiller will help to break in the transmission and extend the life of the unit.
Instructions said to pour this in the trans before starting the car along with 2 quarts of Dextron3, start the motor and top off the transmission with more Dextron 3.
I'm not sure if he wants me to use this each time I flush the trans or just this once.

I also picked up a new transmission cooler.

Break in consists of 50 -100 miles of city driving which will give the kevlar material inside the convertor time to bed correctly, while also allowing the pcm time to adjust to the new transmission

<quote>

<quote>

Thread epilogue:
Well, the transmission is in the car, my 100 mile break in period is over and I thought that I’d add a final update and some closure to this thread.

Let me preface this by saying that right now, the car is limiting boost to 10-12 lbs. Why? I don’t know yet. Could it be because the “Service Transmission” message is still on? (My code reader won’t reset TCM codes so I’ll need to visit the dealer to have it reset). Maybe it’s because I also have a CEL. I didn’t bother to pull the CEL code(s) because I figured I’ll deal with it later this week.

Also note the tires were changed to my winter set which are 17” Potenza’s. Weather wise, the high temp was around 25 degrees today – which meant cold street surfaces (less traction).
Finally, consider that fact that I’ve been driving the 05 Odyssey for 5 months – so my butt dyno needs to be re-calibrated.

And with those disclosures, here are my initial impressions:

Around town driving has definitely changed. The transmission feels “tighter” and shifts firmly. When leaving from a light, the stall feels similar to driving with the transmission in winter mode. The TCM still seems to be learning the transmission because the up-shifts aren’t as hard as they initially were, but the down shifts are pretty violent when in GT mode. Brake torquing the stall results in 2800 rpm launches which totally over-power the current tires.

At highway speeds, this car really shines now. Passing gear is wicked - compared to stock. With the fmic, the car doesn’t seem to run out of breath up top during 40-120mph pulls like it did in the past.

Over all, I am pleased. After I clear all codes and change the plugs I’ll see about posting a video or two.

</quote>

<quote>

in the interest of full disclosure, I've got good news and so-so news to report: Yes, I did get the service transmission light issue resolved. The problem causing it was that during the reinstallation, the speed sensor wasn't plugged in. I plugged it in, and the light went away almost immediately. The trans work complimented the other mods really well, and other than the slight increase in rpms when moving from a stop due to the new convertor, the car drove normally. However, in August the transmission began to make a whine. I called Dave, and he told me to bring it in - any repair work needed was covered under his warranty. Upon inspection, he found that a plastic washer had broken and plugged the valve body. He said that everything looked great, except for the 3-4 clutch, which was showing signs of overheating. Since I'm running the car at the dragstrip so often, he felt that we should increase the line pressure to alleviate the 3-4 clutch slippage. The are several software tools available which can be used to reprogram the TCM in GMs with the 4T65E, but none will work with volvo's TCM. We both looked high and low for something to read/reprogram the Volvo's TCM parameters. (He even called and spoke with IPD to see what, if anything, their tune does to modify the TCM.) He eventually used mechanical means to raise the line pressure.

</quote>

I posted that last quote in Nov. 2010. In December 2010, I picked up the car from Fort Wayne and drove it home. I don’t remember the exact date – what I do remember was that the next day was the coldest of the year… and I was driving the car to work when the FUCKING END TANK ruptured and immediately leaked all of my coolant onto the highway. By the time I could get over to the shoulder of the highway the motor had overheated and blown the head gasket.

[Burn-E]

Removing the torque limiter?

Phase 6: GM slushbox explodes.

Give it a rest Deimos. We all know there are issues. This thread is about pushing the limits of the S80.

[Piston Slapper]

Give it a rest Deimos. We all know there are issues. This thread is about pushing the limits of the S80.

I am actually somewhat surprised by the parts availability to upgrade the trans itself... although somewhat confused by why someone would go to all that trouble and not get the one with the M59 style visco clutch "LSD"

[S8ET6]

Car came with the visco clutch

[Commander Riker]

Very specific. Well documented. Interested to see where things go from here!

I'm still trying to see how one could put a manual transmission in there.

[TIZIO AKA 1 HND MEC]

Very specific. Well documented. Interested to see where things go from here!

I'm still trying to see how one could put a manual transmission in there.

You have to get the manual tranny from Europe, or swap engine to 5 cyl and M66 (04-05 S80 are 5 cyl FWD and AWD)