Introduction
My 1982 Volvo 245 Diesel, that I purchased new, quit running in 1995 after 13 years and 180,000 miles despite very detailed and regular maintenance. The car had always been garage kept and the paint and the interior were in great shape. Due to its failing health I had already begun to explore an engine/transmission swap back then. Found the JTR books but the process seemed beyond my time and interest at the time. I put the car in storage with the intent of getting to it one day. Sixteen years later, retired and looking for something to do, I began this restoration project. The objective is to restore the car for use as a reliable daily driver with no intent at high performance. No turbo’s, moving from 83 horsepower, more likely 50 near the end, to 240 hp seems adequate for me. I will evaluate future enhancements sometime in the future.
The internet had arrived in that period and I began a year long education process. The intent of this build thread is to summarize the information I have collected from web searches, input from great folks that responded to my questions and my personal experience during the swap. It is intended to answer the many questions I started with for those similarly situated in terms of experience and capabilities. While written in first person, it is not my original work but the sum of many, many people that helped me through this project. It also contains not only my personal opinions but my do over’s which, perhaps, you can avoid. Hopefully, this will encourage others, like me, who want to do this but do not feel comfortable starting on their own. Special attention is paid to all the little details without published solutions, at least that I found.
Before starting on the swap I spent a lot of time on the car completely rebuilding the brake system, new master cylinder, calipers, rubber hoses, rotors and pads. I also completely rebuilt the suspension, including all bushings, ball joints, shocks, upper strut bearings and mounts. After 30 years it just seemed the correct thing to do. Used about a gallon of Leathereque leather conditioner and got the interior about as soft as it was new, but that was never really soft.
The 240 series Diesel is really the most perfect car to begin this conversion with as the springs, torsion bar, radiator, exhaust system and rear end ratio are just about what you would select if building from scratch. You do have to add the gas fuel system as the diesel relied on injector pump suction without any fuel pump.
It should be noted that this discussion is very specific to the 240 series Volvo Diesel and a 1996 through 2001 Explorer 302 V8 with the 4R70W transmission. There are a great number of deviations, in all directions from that combination. Some of this discussion may apply to other combinations, some may not. For some this is more than you need, for others not enough. It is hoped, by separating the chapters into separate threads that there will be many comments and experiences on how to do it better and the community will end up with a complete reference source for such conversions.
I should have taken more pictures before taking everything apart.
Index
1. Selecting a drive train
http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?p=4005709#post4005709
2. Removing and installing the engine and transmission
http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=250516
3. Engine Exhaust
http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=250576
4. Transmission Clearance and Shift Linkage
http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=250597
5. Motor Mount Brackets and Motor Mounts
http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=250266
6. Transmission Cross Member, Bracket and Mounts
http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=250273
7. Drive Shaft and Differential
http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=250316
8. Front Suspension Springs / Torsion Bar
http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=250526
9. Speedometer and Tachometer Connections
http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=272683
10. Throttle Connection and Cruise Control
http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=250408
11. Power Steering
http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?p=4010100#post4010100
12. Electrical, Wiring Harness, Fuses and PCM
http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=250604
13. Battery Relocation
http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?p=4006928#post4006928
14. Fuel System
http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?p=4007159#post4007159
15. Air Filter MAFS and throttle body duct
http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?p=4010650#post4010650
16. Tuning the Power Train Control Module
http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=276718
17. Interior Restoration
http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=299459
18. Radiator, Hoses, Fan and Heater Hoses
http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?p=4014411#post4014411
19. Transmission ATF Coolant Lines
http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=253112
20. Air Conditioning
http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=255984
21. Financial
http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=259819
Attachments
http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=250746
Internet Links:
http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?p=4008762#post4008762