The nose was extended 4" by making the grille surround longer to exaggerate the wedge shape. The grille itself is stock but painted graphite, and the valance below was cut away. A new wing was added which has adjustable planes to increase downforce like an F1 car.
Apparently, the license plate tub is about all that exists of the original rear bumper. They had to build something entirely new from two-pack urethane to meet the wider side panels and new arch contours.
It also incorporates a sheet metal rear diffuser that's about 30" deep under the car which will clean up the air around the new suspension arms.
The fuel filler was also relocated to the bumper because it could no longer sit on the rear fender, and the stock tank that's positioned under the rear seat was in the way of the new AWD driveshaft. So the entire tank assembly, complete with pump, return lines, sensors, etc was placed on the floor of the trunk and the filler located under the tailgate.
Finally, the stock rear wing was moved back and raised slightly. Aluminum end plates were then added and an adjustable "wickerbill" incorporated to give it a F1 feel.
507hp T5 motor
The factory C30 T5 gets a 218hp 2.5 liter five cylinder motor. Not a bad start, but "we wanted to be creative in every aspect," Don told us. So the team added sequential twin-turbos - a small one for instant spooling that runs up to 2800rpm, then a machined-barrel valve with its own Turbosmart wastegate operated by Turbosmart's e-boost controller switches over to the big turbo. There's a check valve on the "push" side of the turbos, and a Turbosmart BOV to prevent the turbos stalling each other.
Plenum chamber houses air-conditioning...
Plenum chamber houses air-conditioning coils to super-cool air before it enters the motor, negating need for an intercooler
Much of the ingenuity behind the Evolve C30 comes from project manager Mano Agulian. A full-time pastor, he assembled a team with little experience and taught them a skill on the job to give them a career path. Several have gone on to work in the industry. "Having novices learning a trade on the car certainly added pressure," Don conceded, "but it made the project more satisfying."
In addition to the turbos, Mano decided a regular intercooler wouldn't cut it. So he developed an idea from Don who studied top fuel dragsters as a boy. The result was the Charge Air Cooler; an air-conditioned plenum chamber that super-cools the pressurized air as it passes through. It does this with a second AC evaporator coil that should provide consistent coiling and is a neat packaging solution that definitely deserves closer investigation.
The motor also received bigger injectors, a 3" exhaust and Powerchip software. With the turbos spinning at 25psi, the motor is claimed to produce 507hp and 468 lb/ft.
All-Wheel Drive Conversion
At present, Volvo claims the C30 will only be FWD. However, that wouldn't work with 507hp, so Evolve incorporated the S40's six-speed manual and AWD components. To do so they built a rear subframe and brackets to mount the rear diff. They also relocated the fuel tank and built a custom exhaust that loops around it.
The AWD Haldex software was tuned in-house and the controller was wired into the car's main CAN-BUS network so it retains full DSTC traction control and ABS. "We did nothing to compromise the safety of this car," Don assured us.