The MOOSE - Kevin's '11 Volvo C30

[kcdehart]

Suppose I should go ahead and make a build thread instead of just posting things in my intro thread...

On 12/31/16 I sold my TT-swapped 3000GT and picked up a bike. Unable to go a full year without a sporty car, I picked up this '11 Volvo C30 R-Design on 12/30/2017

I'd looked around at C30s and Mk6 GTIs for a while. What sold me on the C30 was their styling and fun out of the box. The GTI is a bit more of a tuner platform, but as a stock daily, the C30's 2.5L T5 has more power/torque and turns a few more heads. Plus I've always wanted to have a few prancing moose badges.

I found this one at a dealer in Townsend, DE in early December and inquired about it before she'd had a chance to upload pictures of the car. It was the closest of four 6-speed manual R-Designs for sale in the country at the time - so I didn't wanna pass it up. I ended up putting a (refundable) deposit on it and driving up in a friend's Mk7 Performance Pack GTI (relevant) on the 30th.

Man, was I glad I did. The car was in pristine condition on the inside, with only a few scrapes on the lip from shitty driving/parking on the outside. We did feel a vibration when test-driving, though. Both during acceleration and while cruising. Ended up making a deal with the dealer that she'd pay for a new wheel since we believe that to be the problem.

 

Naturally, I did a few pulls against the GTI on the way home - and ended up being faster! Odd, since the performance pack Mk7's apparently make a good bit more power to the wheels than C30s generally do.

Got the car home, did some research into the vibrations, and ended up replacing 2 engine mounts (should probably do the third, as well). I also used this as a chance to do a common Volvo upgrade to the 'e-focus' torque mount that's much stiffer than stock, and to replace a cracked/leaking coolant reservoir. 

Unfortunately, not all vibrations were cured by the new mounts. So I took the car to a shop and got the news that all 4 wheels were fairly bent -_- And that it would be ~$3,000 for OEM Volvo wheels. Mmmmmmmmm NAH.

Ordered a set of Enkei TY-5's in Pearl Black and slightly larger 235/40-18 BFG Comp-2 A/S tires instead and love em! Much better fitment and I love the look. Needs maybe a tad more low though...

   


My end goal for the car was originally gonna be a stockish daily. Oops. I'm now planning to go stage 3 and shoot for a bit over 300whp/340wtq (which is about maxxed out for the stock turbo). The next mod will likely be exhaust, because I really need some more 5-cylinder moose-noise

Ash she sits right now - 
 

I'll possibly start threads for the CBR & 4Runner when I've got time. But at least wanted to get this one out there!

[Sijray21]

very cool. I've always like the aesthetics of the c30, but I don't know much about them.

[Senor_Taylor]

Such a unique car. Good job for bucjing the trend! Can't wait to see it in person!

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

[Evan]

nice car. Ive always liked these, especially in white

[Jake]

I love these. Glad someone in the club finally has one, they are funky as hell.

[kcdehart]

Removed the T H I C C foam prefilter (seriously, imagine a memory foam mattress in front of my air filter) and am getting much better boost noises and lots of placebo effect power!

[Sijray21]

Removed the T H I C C foam prefilter (seriously, imagine a memory foam mattress in front of my air filter) and am getting much better boost noises and lots of placebo effect power!

lol - nice

i love those kinds of mods. i did something similar in my gti. they had intake piping actual intake air to a diaphragm in the dashboard (probably 1-2 ft^3 worth). now i hear the turbo and have better throttle response.

[kcdehart]

Well, had her dyno'd at the CCVT carshow this weekend. Looks like it's tuned after all stock power figures are around 225/236 at the CRANK. And it's making 225/271 at the WHEELS.

Needless to say, I'm pretty happy about it. Would like to see a graph with smoothing set to 5 though. Just so everyone stops telling me to do so...

[ScottyB]

that's a hell of a torque curve, whoa

[Senor_Taylor]

How the hell is the torque immediately so high?

Edit: Ah, I see where the engine speed starts.

That pretty neat to see torque hold out so high. Seems like a fun car.

[kcdehart]

Yeah, the T5 in these cars does dirty things when it comes to torque. Not the most powerful car in the world, but it's killer when you wanna have fun.

[Jester53]

It's lovely!

[kcdehart]

Added a downpipe last week...



 

Sounds pretty great so far! Mainly notice the difference from the outside. Also definitely a bump in power

[Senor_Taylor]

Wow, there's so much space in there!

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

[kcdehart]

Wow, there's so much space in there!

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

Right?? I'm assuming this was also the trans tunnel for the AWD S40 that was on the same body. 

I'm just gonna use it for my 5" exhaust down the road ?

/s

[ScottyB]

yeah that's a comically large amount of trans tunnel to work in. beautiful exhaust, those v-bands look super nice. bring dat sound clip!

[kcdehart]

Fun fact...it was $130 shipped. Fit beautifully and the quality is great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZQ6EEXEY9Q

https://youtu.be/zYrRdwlyWYw

Shitty clip, but you can hear some cool 5-cylinder noises at points.

[Senor_Taylor]

Wow, that's a good price. I wish GTI exhaust parts were that cheap.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

[kcdehart]

Wow, that's a good price. I wish GTI exhaust parts were that cheap.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

A catted downpipe starts at $800 for this car and non-eBay catbacks around $750 lol. No clue how they were able to keep this one decent quality with that cheap of a price, but it's *not* typical for the car

[kcdehart]

That downpipe made her run lean as HELL.



Replaced the plugs and got it on a proper stage 2 tune and it feels awesome now. 

Also completed my 4th Tail of the Dragon trip in it at the beginning of November which killed off the BFGs I got at the beginning of the year.....oops They made it 15k miles