Volvo C30 T5 with go-faster bits

Volvo C30 T5 with go-faster bits

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Paul S4

1,183 posts

211 months

Sunday 24th March 2019
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Great photos of that last meeting...

I have recently bought a C30: I am considering fitting a set of Heko wind deflectors, as I like to have the windows open slightly for fresh air in the summer.

Do they actually work ?

and did you fit them or were they on the car before you got it ?

Thanks

TheVole

Original Poster:

535 posts

154 months

Monday 25th March 2019
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ZX10R NIN said:
I had a similar amount of work (by GGR who I can't recommend enough) carried out on my ST & it produced 323bhp, so get it mapped wink
That's the plan - the actuator and recirc valve need to go on, then it'll be time for a map. Unfortunately I have to wait until my mechanic friend has some free time! I'm aiming for around 320-330bhp, which I'm told is the limit of the standard turbo.

rayyan171 said:
Absolutely love these, would like one in the future. They seem the perfect package, and I like the look. The mods you have done are great too.
Thank you!

Paul S4 said:
Great photos of that last meeting...

I have recently bought a C30: I am considering fitting a set of Heko wind deflectors, as I like to have the windows open slightly for fresh air in the summer.

Do they actually work ?

and did you fit them or were they on the car before you got it ?

Thanks
Thanks! I didn't take them all, I kept an eye on Instagram and Facebook for the next few days after I went to see if the car cropped up anywhere.

The Team Heko wind deflectors do actually work, you get marginally more wind noise than normal when the windows are up, but when the window is slightly open there is a big reduction in noise compared to having the window open the same amount without the deflectors. I fitted them in about 20 minutes, they're fairly straightforward. It's important to leave the windows up for a few days after to let the tape stick.

Paul S4

1,183 posts

211 months

Monday 25th March 2019
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Thanks.

I shall get some Heko deflectors.

I had my windows tinted by GlobalTint just after I purchased the car; they come out to your car and the whole job takes about 90 min.

Very pleased with the result :







I have also had a tuning box fitted and that has made all the difference.

( My previous car was a remapped Alfa 156 JTD with about 180BHP....!). So I was accustomed to that power surge !

I bought the C30 ( a 1.6D Drive E R Design) to reduce my weekly diesel fuel bill, having a 70 mile round commute, but the standard tune was not really enough for the motorway etc, so it now has around 140BHP and still does around 46 mpg which is OK !
The Drive E also has the sports suspension so the C30 handles very well.

Apologies for the long post....but I really do like the c30, so much so that I do not miss my Alfa ( did about 100,000 milkes in that one !)

Could I also ask what tyres you have on your T5: mine will need replacing sometime.

TR09HY M

1 posts

90 months

Wednesday 17th April 2019
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Great write up.. considering getting one and this is making me want one even more

TheVole

Original Poster:

535 posts

154 months

Sunday 26th July 2020
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Right, it’s been too long since I updated this. I apologise in advance for the photo spam!

So, I left off just before the Volvo600 world record attempt. Below are some photos of my prep for it and the day itself - it was great to meet so many other people who are into these left-field alternatives to the Germans and others! Unfortunately for technicality reasons we didn’t break the record; something about the gaps between the cars being too large, but there’s another attempt scheduled for 2021 at Elvington airfield which I’m already signed up to attend.























After this, there was a small C30-only meet at Stoney Cove to round the day off nicely, a couple of photos:





After this, it was back to business as usual - show season 2019 looked like this; Fast Show at Santa Pod:



Modified Nationals at Stoneleigh Park:





The generic 100,000 mile shot on the way back from that show:



Various meets - I won’t post all the photos here, but there are plenty of my Instagram @mattyvole - mods, please let me know if posting that is allowed!



I had the headlights machine polished and ceramic coated, as the offside one in particular was starting to show its age:









I also had the carbon grille sanded back and re-lacquered, as the lacquer was starting to fail - you can see it here:









Then came Trax Donington, and the only time (so far) that I’ve broken the car on a track. Completely my fault, usually when I do the half-hour show track time sessions I do two or three hard laps, then ease off for a lap or two to give everything a chance to cool a bit, and then get back on it. This time, I went hell for leather for the whole session.

Aaaand I broke the car.

I braked for the final chicane, turned in dnd when I accelerated onto the straight, the car didn’t feel right and it pulled heavily to the right. Suspecting that I’d broken a driveshaft or pulled a tyre off the rim, I pulled off onto the grass. Some onlookers reported hearing a popping sound as I came out of the chicane, which supported this theory. I got towed back to the pits behind the tow truck of shame, and discovered when I pulled back up to our show stand, that the brake pedal went straight to the floor. I’d boiled the fluid - I’m still not sure what the popping sound was, my best guess is the brake fluid reservoir cap crying enough. The fluid has since been replaced with ATE Super200 (formerly SuperBlue) to hopefully stop this happening again, although the car hasn’t yet been back on a track to find out.

It still looked nice in the photos though, so not all was lost.





I tried to be a photographer with a borrowed camera, and came up with this - I’m on the lookout for a second hand camera to hopefully learn a bit more about this and to get some nicer photos of the car:



A rolling shot taken on the way to Donington by a friend:



That was about it for 2019, and so into 2020 the car was serviced again:





This was in preparation for the remap, which was done by Wayside Performance. The day didn’t exactly go to plan, with a CV boot deciding it didn’t want to have grease in it any more on the baseline run:





This was sorted, and the car came away making 302bhp with a 410lb/ft torque figure. Unfortunately it also came back with a boost cut issue, whereby the car would cut all boost at full throttle unless you slowly rolled the power on. A few months later (thanks to lockdown) it finally went back to have this and a few boost leaks sorted out, and it’s now feeling healthier, pulling more strongly and no longer hitting boost cut. Power went up slightly, to 307bhp. It’s now in a state where I wouldn’t want any more power in a front wheel drive car without an LSD, so that’s now on the list for the future along with a few other chassis-related upgrades like uprated Bilstein shocks and a fat rear anti-roll bar.

I had proper photoshoot done by a couple of people who know what they’re doing with a camera, so I’ll leave a few of the photos here - their Instagrams are @project_captures and @_imageb if you like the look of their work.











I’ve been wanting to do a few more subtle cosmetic changes here and there, while maintaining the sleeper look. So far I’ve wrapped the B-pillar trims in carbon vinyl, but I’m open to suggestions on what else to add. The splitter has now been removed as well - I smashed another one, and frankly I’m fed up of the car being too low to enjoy properly so I haven’t put another one on. I may put one on in the future, but it will have to be one that doesn’t hang quite as low as the old ones did.



That brings things up to date for the C30. My daily driver Civic finally gave up the ghost a few weeks ago, so what better to replace it than another Volvo? Even better, what about a high mileage Volvo bought sight unseen from Facebook? Enter, the S80:





A thread will be started shortly for this one - in the meantime, thanks for sticking with this post until the end! I’ll try to update the thread a bit more regularly going forward - but I said that last time, I think…

Shadow R1

3,800 posts

177 months

Sunday 26th July 2020
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Great update.

I would like to read some details on the S80, when you get round to starting a thread. smile

TheVole

Original Poster:

535 posts

154 months

Monday 27th July 2020
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As promised, the thread for the S80 has been posted:

Do a click

TheVole

Original Poster:

535 posts

154 months

Saturday 3rd October 2020
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Right then, update time as it's a rainy Saturday afternoon.

The C30 doesn't do too many miles these days, so it's nice to get it out for a blast every now and again. It's been totally faultless; largely because it doesn't get the chance to break. But that doesn't mean that nothing has happened since the last update.

It continues to drink super unleaded at roughly the same pace as Oliver Reed getting through booze:



Despite the current situation, a few car shows have managed to go ahead. The first one was Summer Action Day at Castle Combe - my first time doing a show at Combe with this car, despite owning it for just over four years now:



A couple of upgrades have been done over the last couple of months. The first one was to try and fix a small boost leak; the existing vacuum piping was complicated and with the new plenum, didn't really fit which created a leak:





This was replaced with a delete pipe - the vacuum pump isn't really needed, in fact the mk2 Focus RS does without it as standard to make room for its inlet setup.



The next show was Fast Show Lite at Santa Pod - not my favourite venue, it must be said, but a show is a show and the C30 can function as a reasonable camper:











I also saw this frankly insane lifted 940 - I loved it:





The main change that has been made to the car over the last couple of months has been fitting an Elevate rear anti-roll bar in place of the rusting 12 year old item. This has transformed the handling, I should have fitted one years ago and to be honest, this is how the car should have come as standard. The ride at the back is slightly firmer, but that is far outweighed by the sharper turn-in, total lack of any understeer unless I'm being especially ham-fisted and increased confidence in the chassis. Pricey, but worth it.







I've also made an attempt to modernise the interior ever so slightly. As standard, the stereo/climate display is black and green, very similar to a 90s Nokia:



There's a green filter inside the screen that gives this effect, so after some minor surgery:





The result is a nice white glow, which I much prefer to the old green lighting. Ideally I'd like to replace all the lights in the dash with white LEDs so that it all matches, but that will require some investigation as I'm not sure my abilities can stretch that far.



Going forward, the list of parts to buy is getting smaller. I'd like some new suspension as the shocks are very tired, but I'm not sure whether to go for some Bilstein B8 shocks and keep my existing springs, change to Bilstein B16 adjustable coilovers, or perhaps go for BC coilovers - I'm not fussed about the car being any lower (although closing up the rear arch gap would be nice), but maintaining a comfortable ride is important to me. I'd also like to change the seats, but again finding the right ones is proving difficult. I'm told that Toyota GT86 seats fit with minimal modification, so that may be something I'll look into.

Hopefully this isn't too boring! I'll finish off the update with a nice photo that was taken by a couple of friends at a recent meet:



And a bold claim from the Screen of Lies™



Until next time!

ZX10R NIN

27,635 posts

126 months

Saturday 3rd October 2020
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Nice updates

TheVole

Original Poster:

535 posts

154 months

Saturday 6th August 2022
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Been a while...

Nothing much to report, so I'll let the photos tell most of the story. More outings:





Bambi decided to see how strong a Volvo is. Turns out, stronger than a deer. One new (to me) bumper and a trip to the bodyshop later...







The old bumper was covered in cracks like this all over the number plate area, and most of the mounting clips were broken. I did consider having it plastic welded, but an eBay bumper was cheaper and easier.



This is how it looked upon collection - my carbon grille was damaged by Bambi, so a new one was purchased.



Over the next couple of weeks, some stuff happened:





New SPR strut brace and the original:



Bilstein B8 shocks:





I should buy shares in Swedish Boost Mafia, I've certainly got enough of their keyrings. This isn't all of them...



All of the above work, along with a Volvo Penta oil cooler, new top mounts and a service, was in preparation for another attempt at the Volvo600 world record:





Just a few Volvos at the hotel car park...



But quite a few more the following day at Elvington airfield:















It was a great weekend, and always nice to meet up with fellow Volvo people. We did get the record this time, with somewhere north of 800 Volvos in the end. Hopefully it won't be the only big Volvo event in the UK.

Mod Nats 2021:



Another Volvo joined the fleet, in the form of my dad's V70:



One of the Action Days at Castle Combe, I can't quite remember which one:



Swedish Takeover at Beaulieu:



TorqueVolvo at Gaydon:



A small meet at Kemble airfield - I'd never seen a 747 that close up before.





Proof that sometimes it does get used for more than going to shows:



More outrageous claims from the Screen of Lies (tm)



That brings things pretty much up to date! It still needs another map to sort the boost cut issues, but that can wait as I'm doing the NC500 with some friends next month and there are more pressing matters to attend to, like a service and new tyres. I'll try not to leave it 2 years before the next update...

ZX10R NIN

27,635 posts

126 months

Sunday 7th August 2022
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Nice update OP glad it's still running well & you're enjoying it.

Stedman

7,225 posts

193 months

Sunday 7th August 2022
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Nice. How are the B8s?

TheVole

Original Poster:

535 posts

154 months

Thursday 10th August 2023
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Right - after telling myself that I'll be better at keeping this up to date, here we are... another year later. Thought I should update the thread, seeing as the car will be on display at PH25 this weekend.

More C&M trips:





Here alongside a friend's K24 Frankenstein turbo Civic - to say that it's nuts would be putting it mildly.

We left off just before the NC500 - I'd urge everyone to do it at least once, it was great fun and some of the roads are incredible. Others are less so, but we don't talk about those. Gratuitous photos and a video from the trip:









The shores of Loch Ness:







I don't look too impressed here, but in my defence it was a bit cold and windy.







The trip took a bit of a toll on the front tyres in particular, so they were swapped front to rear in a car park in (I think) Inverness:





Now replaced with a set of Michelin PS5s.











Halloween Action Day 2022 at Castle Combe:





Yes, the wonky exhaust tip placement is on the list of things to fix...

Got the car (and myself, but the car is the star here) a new home:



A few trips to Kingsley Refuel cafe:







Not sure on the ride height with the B8s - the handling and ride is great, but it could do with being a little lower. Tempted to look into ST or KW coilovers.



A set of new wheels is next on the list - I'm thinking BBS SRs.

Never one to miss a photo op:



Leaving a local motor show:



To finish, the only real change to the car since the last update.





All this, in order to remove the fogs and spend 10 minutes a side applying some yellow tint film to them:





If you made it to the end of the latest round of photo spam, well done! As previously mentioned, the car will be on display at PH25 this Saturday (in the Reader's Cars section) so feel free to say hi. There'll be a couple of QR codes in the windscreen to link to this thread for those interested, as well as to my Instagram as I'm much more active on there.

Plans for the car now are a set of wheels, having the map tweaked to fix a rather annoying boost cut issue, and possibly lowering the ride height a little bit. It will also be doing the SC500 in September, followed by the TorqueVolvo Volvo600 meet at Elvington airfield.

TheVole

Original Poster:

535 posts

154 months

Saturday 12th August 2023
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So, PH25... what an amazing day, and a great opportunity to see the cars that I've followed for years on these hallowed pages. I'd been looking forward to this more than most other shows, to be honest; and I certainly wasn't disappointed. Excellent organisation, good planning, and a far better turnout than I was expecting considering the so-called summer we're having.

As usual, a rushed clean was the limit of the prep I could get done beforehand:



Parked up after a short drive to Bicester; not sure how I managed to get into the hangar amongst the infinitely more interesting legends of PH like the 911T, PPBB's 996 et al, but I'll take it!



Gratuitous photo under a banner:



Another thing this event has done is motivated me to get my backside in gear and carry out some of the plans I've been talking about. Wheels are being ordered Monday, once I've spoken with the supplier to make sure that what I'm thinking will definitely fit (this is after using WillTheyFit.com and I'm 95% sure it'll be fine), and I'm exploring the idea of coilovers to bring the ride height down.

Until next time...


ZX10R NIN

27,635 posts

126 months

Saturday 12th August 2023
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Great update glad you're still enjoying the car beer

MrTouring

453 posts

96 months

Saturday 12th August 2023
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Great meeting you and loved the ovlov!

Sf_Manta

2,193 posts

192 months

Sunday 13th August 2023
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Saw the volvo, but don't think I had a chance to talk given it looked like you were heading off.

Did get a pic though




ric p

573 posts

270 months

Sunday 13th August 2023
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Enjoying this thread and your adventures. I need to take some ideas from you, probably the suspension bit, currently on Eibach springs but the standard shocks. The other the iPolestar upgrade.

But they are great cars and a very comfy daily driver.


pistolpete12

422 posts

154 months

Sunday 13th August 2023
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Didn't get a chance to say hi.
But I did get to have a look around the car (I was in the hanger in to monaro too somehow)

The car looked lovely . Good work