Making an old Volvo fuel efficient

[Joris]

I recently signed up here after reading the efficiency and hypermiling tips. I wanted to share the mods I did to my car and hope to get some good tips to further improve the MPG, or actually the kilometers per liter. Because I live in the Netherlands.

I drive a 1985 Volvo 360 sedan. I have the car for four years now, bought it as a first car when I just got my license. From there on I did what every 18 year old wants, I wanted to go faster! So after a while I started modding the car, for more power and better handeling.

Now four years later I'm sort of growing up and have developed an interest for better fuel economy instead of speed and power.


I don't know if I am allowed to post pictures of the car and the mods done on it so far, if I may then I will post them up!

Cheers!

[Frank Lee]

Make 5 posts, then you can post pics.

[Joris]

I better start posting then!

[RedDevil]

Hi Joris, welcome.

You've set yourself a nice challenge. The Volvo 360 has some room for improvement on the economy side, to put it mildly
Especially since you have a 2.3 liter engine under the bonnet! That's not OEM, right?

One pic from Volvo 300 Series - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia to show what we're talking about:



I'd say:
- raise tire pressure,
- smooth hubcaps,
- partial grill block except in summer,
- raise the back of the hood (does it hinge there?)
- Front 'splitter', basically anything that moves the lower end of the bumper forward.

It is nearly 30 years old, is it still in reasonable condition? Was it kept in a garage?

If you put your pictures somewhere on the WWW just paste the URL and a mod will turn it into a working picture link. Or post 4 more times and do it yourself

[UltArc]

Look forward to seeing it continue to develop. Welcome aboard!

[Joris]

Thank you, I thought it was time for another Dutchie to sign up. I just found the original EPA-numbers stated by Volvo, claiming 39 MPG at 55 MPH. Which is quite optimistic. I will try to beat those numbers though.

The next post I will tell some more about the changes to the car!

[Joris]

I will copy some pictures from another topic I have on the dutch Volvo forum. I guess many of you have never seen a Volvo 360 before.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

In spite of the FWD plaftorms becoming mainstream nowadays, these good old RWD ones still provide lots of room for improvements. But I've seen at Wikipedia that the stock gearing is a limiting factor on the Volvo 300-series due to its kinda unusual setup.

[Superfuelgero]

Welcome. I used to be heavy into red and white blocks, so I might be help. What engine and transmission do you have.

[Sjoegerd]

Welcome! The Volvo 300 series, our Dutch pride