I'm new to Volvo. In the past I've owned a few turbo cars; a Saab 9-3, a Buick Grand National, years ago I had a Shelby Charger, etc. My most recent car was a BMW M3, but i wanted to try something different this time and I've always loved wagons, and as wagons go I've always loved the looks of the Volvo wagons.
So I recently purchased a 99 V70 R. The car is in pretty good shape, but it does have some miles (160k). No rust, decent interior, and it looks like the cylinder head was gone through. While I know this is a no-no, I purchased the car from a guy that bought it from a dealer's auction so I didn't get any history. I got the car for what I think is a great price.
All that said, I would like to do some mods to it, but don't know where to begin. I have read the mod thread here, and I've additionally been emailing iPd about doing some different things.
I plan on getting a cat back exhaust first. Right now it just has the single outlet, I want the dual. iPd has a dual exhaust for about $560. They said its a great sounding exhaust. I definitely don't want anything that sounds ricey, and I don't want a lot drone at highway speeds; just looking for that great, throaty accelleration sound.
The car already has a CAI. Unfortunately, while the CAI looks pretty good, I hate the weak sounding BOV whoosh from it. Is there any way to keep the CAI and quiet this down or make it sound better?
I've read (and been told by iPd) that these cars are capable of around 300hp w/ the stock auto trans by doing some exhaust/tune mods w/out changing any internals. I was told that to get there I should consider an aftermarket downpipe, an 06 or newer exhaust manifold, an aftermarket intercooler, a tune, and an exhuast. Just some quick math on those parts puts me at around $3k.
Right now I don't have that much to invest. I may eventually be able to get to that, but not right away. I plan on doing the exhaust first, but just curious if there are ways to save some money there, and what you guys would or have done to get to the 300hp mark and how much you've invested along the way. For now I probably have about $2k I can put into it.
Thanks for any help!! Looking forward to building this car up!!