Photo: distortography/c30crew.com
Manufactured from 2006 to 2013 on the same platform as the second-generation Ford Focus, the Volvo C30 looks great to this very day thanks to the three-door design and P1800 ES-inspired frameless glass hatchback. Available with a choice of four- and five-cylinder engines, the C30 was never offered with all-wheel-drive.
Travis Morgan, the owner of the black-painted car in the featured photo, didn’t want to leave it at that. So he hit up his friend Rich, talked about what it would take to convert his C30 from front- to all-wheel-drive, and both parties came to the conclusion that the mechanical part wouldn’t pose a problem.
“I found a nice S40 donor car,” Travis writes on c30crew.com, then he “purchased an AWD Quaife LSD, aluminum single-mass flywheel, and a SPEC 6-puck racing clutch.” The drive shaft sourced from the S40 AWD proved to be a perfect fit considering that both cars have similar wheelbases. The C30 even had the holes for the center bearing support, “almost as if they wanted to make it AWD but didn’t.”
To make a long story short, the rear section of the C30 “is now entirely an S40.” But on the other hand, wiring the electrics and electronics up took a lot of brainpower and elbow grease. When Travis started the car up to check if the front and rear wheels turned, an error for traction control showed up on the dashboard.
Because the S40 AWD makes use of second-generation Haldex coupling, the differential has to register front spin before activating the rear axle. But after a little bit of research, Rich discovered “that the Gen 3 is instant by priming the rear pump as soon as the key on signal is seen by the DEM [differential electronic module]. Easy swap from an XC90 and we now have instant AWD on the rear of the C30.”
And voila, the conversion from front- to all-wheel-drive comes to a close, using OEM parts with no fabrication, programming, and support from Volvo or Haldex. On the flipside, the fuel tank and rear part of the exhaust are in close proximity to each other, which is why titanium heat wrap was used to keep things under control.
“I found a nice S40 donor car,” Travis writes on c30crew.com, then he “purchased an AWD Quaife LSD, aluminum single-mass flywheel, and a SPEC 6-puck racing clutch.” The drive shaft sourced from the S40 AWD proved to be a perfect fit considering that both cars have similar wheelbases. The C30 even had the holes for the center bearing support, “almost as if they wanted to make it AWD but didn’t.”
To make a long story short, the rear section of the C30 “is now entirely an S40.” But on the other hand, wiring the electrics and electronics up took a lot of brainpower and elbow grease. When Travis started the car up to check if the front and rear wheels turned, an error for traction control showed up on the dashboard.
Because the S40 AWD makes use of second-generation Haldex coupling, the differential has to register front spin before activating the rear axle. But after a little bit of research, Rich discovered “that the Gen 3 is instant by priming the rear pump as soon as the key on signal is seen by the DEM [differential electronic module]. Easy swap from an XC90 and we now have instant AWD on the rear of the C30.”
And voila, the conversion from front- to all-wheel-drive comes to a close, using OEM parts with no fabrication, programming, and support from Volvo or Haldex. On the flipside, the fuel tank and rear part of the exhaust are in close proximity to each other, which is why titanium heat wrap was used to keep things under control.
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