I know I have asked about the Merc Axor now its time for the Volvo FM 
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I was told on Sat whilst filling up with diesel “down South” that at an auction recently alot of “Jeffries of Otley” 2003 I-shift Volvo 420 6x2 Globbey FM12’s went for around 14 grand
Now here is my ideal truck for the quarry work with a decent cab and the VEB but not too tall as I have to get under bins to load the stone,at the minute I sometimes have to get the shovel to scrape out below them for me to get the Foden XL cab under.
Now the only thing is 420hp I feel is not enough “poke” for 44t max weight work and decent used 460 6x2 Fm’s are rare as hens teeth but there are any amount of 420’s not with I-shift granted.
Have any of you guy’s “chipped” a 420 Volvo engine to around 480/500 horse and do you think that the fact that the one I would like could well have an I-shift box would effect its performance in any way 
i know NSH when he got his 460 had a 500 electronics pack put on the engine also the I-shift is available up 500bhp so it would appear that he engine can be upgrade whether you need the the gearbox ecu upgrading aswell i wouldnt know
have you tried speaking to some one like powerchips
You’ll kill the engine chipping it up to 500 (if that amount is actually possible from a 420). 460 you might be alright.
Personally I can’t see what’s wrong with a 420 for 44 tonne work. It’ll do the job just fine as the Volvo engines are good pullers.
Rob K:
You’ll kill the engine chipping it up to 500 (if that amount is actually possible from a 420). 460 you might be alright.
Plenty of 420’s have been chipped to 520 and have been fine, dont know if the i-shift would cope though
Karl:
Rob K:
You’ll kill the engine chipping it up to 500 (if that amount is actually possible from a 420). 460 you might be alright.Plenty of 420’s have been chipped to 520 and have been fine, dont know if the i-shift would cope though
Yeah, fine for 6 or 12 months until the engine dies from the strain then it’s worth about £2.50.
Rob K:
Karl:
Rob K:
You’ll kill the engine chipping it up to 500 (if that amount is actually possible from a 420). 460 you might be alright.Plenty of 420’s have been chipped to 520 and have been fine, dont know if the i-shift would cope though
Yeah, fine for 6 or 12 months until the engine dies from the strain then it’s worth about £2.50.
No no they still go alright.
You will never take my word for anything, will ya?
Karl:
:lol: You will never take my word for anything, will ya?
No disrespect to you Karl but you don’t hold a licence to drive a car, never mind a wagon, so your argument is only based on what you’ve heard others say.
I’ve driven 3 motors which had been chipped up substantially many years prior to me driving them and all of them used to belch out smoke like there was no tomorrow and couldn’t pull the skin off a rice pudding. Each place that looked at them said basically the same thing - “that’s what happens when you chip them up; they’re alright for 12 months but then quickly die a death” and judging by the performance of the 3 I had, they weren’t lying.
Oh well, fair enough then…
What happened to V8_.~‘^’~.KARL.~‘^’~._V8 anyway?
God dont remind me.
Gave off the wrong impression.
The guy who told me about the Otleys FM’s was actually an O/D driving a FM 420 chipped to 500hp,I know this truck as I’ve seen it about alot and he says that its been chipped for the past 3 years and it has helped the power and mpg of the unit alot.There is a medium haulier here called A.F Davidson+son and his fleet of Daf CF 430’s are all chipped to 500hp with no major problems to report.An Agri Contractor friend of mine has a fleet of J.Deere 6820 130hp tractors all chipped to be the same as a 160hp J.Deere 6920s by his JD dealer, to chip them cost £1000,the difference in price between the two models is £8000 
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At the end of the day is there any difference between the engine specs of a Volvo 420 and 460 apart from the ECU and what harm would chipping it up another 80 horse do if your stuck rigorously to the service schedule
Rob,
I don’t know but 420hp at 44t is stretching it abit especially as we can “usually” get away with 45t by the DOE (our version of VOSA) before they come down on us 
. The old Foden with the 440hp ■■■■■■■ m11 can get it tight on the hills and if I could get a 480/500hp donkey I am of the opinion that mpg/round trip times will improve as well.
not really gened up on it but as i understand it, you can remap an engine to an option already available ie 420 to 460 on the volvo without any detriment what so ever and volvo dealers will do this without it effecting any warranty, re chipping is different again, costs two or three times as much and is carried out by independent firms such as powerchips and i don’t think anyone can really predict what effect it will have on the longevity of the engine but there’s a hell of a lot of people that have it done so maybe engines going bang after twelve months is just another urban myth?
I think you can get an FM2 460 as standard, well I’ve seen one. Possibly a badge swap job though.
As the standard 12 litres come up to 460 I would’ve thought it would go a little more say 480 or 500.
Rob that Volvo you had was originally a 340 weren’t it ? 
big truck, something you may want to be aware of is the 460 with i shift returns very low mpg when off of the big roads, the ones running out of the steelworks on what they call local work i.e twenty mile or so drops, manage little over 6mpg at around 42t.
DAFMAD:
I think you can get an FM2 460 as standard, well I’ve seen one. Possibly a badge swap job though.
As the standard 12 litres come up to 460 I would’ve thought it would go a little more say 480 or 500.Rob that Volvo you had was originally a 340 weren’t it ?
I know the DAF CF comes as a 480 if you want, but didn’t know there was an FM 460 .
The Volvo was a 340 Steve, but still the same 12 litre lump that the 380, 420 and 460 have in them. It was meant to have been chipped up to a 440 but couldn’t pull you out of bed. Same with a 580 Scania which had supposedly been chipped up to 700 by Scott’s of Derbyshire but again, all smoke and no puff. Had a 530 Scania which was supposed to be a 600 with the chip and that was dead on its knees as well. With the exception of the 580 Scania, I’ve driven all of them in standard form and they all went a lot better without any tinkering. However, if Big T thinks that it’s an “urban myth” then I say go for it. I won’t laugh too much in months/years to come when it goes pop and he’s sat there with his head in his hands wondering where the ££££k is going to come from for a new engine… 
i thibk it was the D12c that was the same stock lump on early fh’s that were the same it was then just an ecu change to up the bhp. not so sure with the newer ones though
the fh 500 is 12 litre with turbo compunding (im talking pre 13litre engine here)
is also available with i shift so what you proposing could be possible.
our 480 was chipped 2 years ago still pulls better than it did before. and doesnt belch black smoke. the scania 164 480 with chipped 3 years ago does kick out some smoke but then it always did from new taking the stacks off help the smoke for some reason, but it still pull like a steam train and both units get better mpg as a result.
Rob, I aint no expert 
The Volvo 12 litre engines are all the same - block, but, I would’ve thought there must be some differences apart from the ECU mapping. maybe the intercoolers, turbos, injectors and injection pumps are different. If that is the case, then, I would guess re-chipping for a smallish gain is easily possible, but trying to make a 340 a 460 would be a different matter - if you see what I mean.
BTW ther 610 is spose to be tunable to over 1000. 
Nice. 
i know on a bench allegidly scania got 700 or so out of the 11 litre it was done just to see what they could get it to before it died as i said this was on a bench
re the volvo the early 340 could go to 420 with out a porblem just change the ecu and open the pump up a bit the later ones could be much different
i know for fact NSH’s 460 has the 500 electronics pack on it and it does get better feul and has more tourque on the hills