V8 swapped Volvo 740

I have an 1989 Volvo 740.

Either I rebuild the turbo and replace the rear main or V8 swap it. I'm thinking the latter.
Is there anyone on here that can point me in the right direction for V8 swapping it on a budget? $1000+/- is the budget I have.

I envy Paul Newmans 95 940 with the 302.

Are you doing all the work yourself? Do you have a motor and transmission already? You could spend 1000.00 just on all the ancillary stuff easily

Having just performed a Ford 5.0 with a T5 trans swap, I can attest to the costs (LS cheaper?)
Dan is spot on asking how much of it you already own. I would be leery of the reliability of a $1000 swap. Lots of little items will add up, and you may not be any better off than what you have now if no preventative items are replaced during the procedure .I would say at least double costs AND be prepared to fabricate lots of components. LS swap will require a $300 oil pan and some type of exhaust manifold work around- many buy new manifolds- more $$. I am at what half the budget already? There are many swaps here. Searching on the forum will provide many results. However, for best results use Google like this:
https://www.google.com/search?q=ls+swap+site%3A+turbobricks&oq=ls+swap+site%3A+turbobricks&aqs=chrome..69i57.20046j0j9&client=ms-android-a1-motorola&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8

Not getting done for a grand, but you can prove me wrong and do it. Score an sbf pullout or gamble on a junkyard 4.gr8, 4L60E and a stock PCM, but then you still need mounts, fuel lines, etc.

Just rebuild/replace the turbo, do the rear main, and keep driving it.

MDVLN said:

Not getting done for a grand, but you can prove me wrong and do it. Score an sbf pullout or gamble on a junkyard 4.gr8, 4L60E and a stock PCM, but then you still need mounts, fuel lines, etc.

Just rebuild/replace the turbo, do the rear main, and keep driving it.

Click to expand...

If I have to, I have more than $1000... I'm new to perfomance/swaps in general but I do have access to a 351 Cleveland with a 5 speed hooked to it. I have a few friends who can help me out and know in the long run Chevy is cheaper than Ford but everyone Chevy swaps it. I'm into Fords. The AC is out of the car so thats one less thing to worry about.

A reliable v8 swap will be $3,000 to $5,000 depending on how cheap you buy a motor and how much work you do yourself. Cheap out and suffer with a cantankerous pile of garbage.

But if you have the coin, do it!

To install a Cleveland, one would at minimum need the swap parts to put the 351C into a fox body. Depending on how the engine is dressed out, the 351C is about 100-150 pounds heavier than a 5.0 which in turn is 150ish pounds heavier than the redblock. That will need to be addressed in suspension and brakes too in order to have a well mannered vehicle. YMMV.

I'm in the process of swapping a v8 into my 91 940. I will retain ac. I will have my swap done for less than 1k. the majority of the cost is a custom driveshaft and smaller extension housing for my 4R70W. I'm using a engine i built for a customer about 10 years ago. its a 347 stroker. I have the explorer harness out and stripped out down to the essentials and modified the aux relay box for my fuel pump and pcm relay. I made mounts out of some 1/4in steel i bent in a brake. I already tested my harness and it runs the engine (retained the pats antitheft to avoid needing programming at this point) and retained most of the emissions including egr, canister purge.

For what its worth, when it was turbo charged with the 19t in it. My car was QUICK. If i didn't have this powertrain already i would have built a B230FT.

Here is the manual for a Ford 302 into a 240. Every swap is different. Lots of things you cannot avoid spending money on. A thousand is a very aggressive objective even with an engine and transmission in hand.

Can't respond without knowing more --- intended use of car (DD, dedicated racer, etc.) and some 'scope' guidelines about how many of the systems you need to be workable. You want the stock gauges to work? Heat? A/C? You need a street-able exhaust system all the way out the back or drag racing dumps? Putting a manual trans into an automatic car? Modding the 2 piece driveshaft or going with a new one piece? Will it have to pass a stringent emissions inspection? Are you replacing the rear end with something more stout? Are brakes and suspension being upgraded (rear torque arm/cradle upgrade highly recommended)? There a bunch of other questions/answers needed before you can establish a realistic budget for the swap.

TestPoint said:

Here is the manual for a Ford 302 into a 240. Every swap is different. Lots of things you cannot avoid spending money on. A thousand is a very aggressive objective even with an engine and transmission in hand.

Click to expand...

Nice to see you still post around on TB Tom! Ive read every bit of your swap and used it as somewhat of a guide. Lucikly the 7/9 cars are easier to swap a ford V8 in. Only slight massaging of the passenger side firewall is needed. I retained the factory ford explorer tubular manifolds and auto trans. Using a mustang radiator and electric fan.

So far i have
175 in custom driveshaft and balancing
300 in new gaskets and oil pan, new starter (preventive maintenance), plugs and wires, oil pump, water pump and stat.
11 dollars for new volvo solid mounts, retained volvo transmission mount.
85 dollars for a new mustang radiator, i had the electric fan from a crown victoria already.
40 bucks for new heater hoses, upper and lower coolant hose.

Just ordered another 100 dollars in misc parts and fittings to make up the fuel lines from the volvo m14 to ford quick disconnect and the ac fittings. I have a ac hose crimper tool so it saves me a few bucks there too.

I have a y pipe, just need to connect the downpipes to my 3in exhaust from when it was upgraded as part of the turbo upgrades.

I have my standalone harness built, retained pats and purge functions. waiting for my fuse block to show up to finish it up and decide where to stick the Ford ecu without having to extend that section of the harness.

My last volvo wagon had a factory locker in the rear. This turbo wagon seems like its an open diff when i spin it in the air and when ive driven it on the road. I havent decided if i want to swap in the explorer 8.8 in after having the one side narrowed. Still thinking about that one.

Still a rear main is much easier and cheaper than a motor swap. After blowing up 2 B230ft's and having this v8 powertrain i was ready to make the move.

Thanks for the mention! Yeah, still hanging around.

With the use of a lot of JY solutions and starting with a functional drivetrain you might just make the target dollars.

Since you mention PATS I have a question or two; What model year PCM are you using and what did you do to overcome the PATS switch?

I only saw a custom tune for several hundred dollars or an equal or greater amount on fuel injection conversion and aftermarket ignition system which would leave transmission management in question.

In addition to the simple software switch to turn off PATS the custom tune was intended to disable the number of OBDII codes that were not solved in the conversion. My tuner left a number unresolved and that has always remained a nagging problem in truly finishing this effort. Without the three remaining fuel evaporative control codes disabled I do not have a true dash check engine light.

It maybe good to note in these "feeler" threads that
YOU HAVE A FREE DRIVETRAIN.
When costs are involved this is a large part of the investment. I will argue free, as in somebody paid for it, but it didn't just fall from the sky and wham a swappable drivetrain. Even buying a Craigslist junker has a cost as well as additional monies to bring the "junk" drivetrain up to snuff- gaskets, hoses, sensors, exhaust, driveshaft, wiring harness, relays, fuses, software/tunes, etc.
For those reading these threads for input, the budget is skewed. Seems to be a bragging point to "I did it this cheap" which is ludicrous. So many of these cheap swaps are constantly fed by additional cheap engines that give up the ghosts once pushed.
Test Point took years to do his swap watching his budget (and it is a great article to boot). So there is a trade off of money versus time, but he did make an initial, substantial investment in a reliable (read not worn out) drivetrain purchase (and he was honest with the costs too).
Now back to the original OP, the answers of will you get it done for a $1000? No, not unless you skew the numbers with "free items".

I'm using a 98 harness and ecu.

My pats module and transceiver are wired together as would be from factory, then tied into the canbus. When the PCM is first powered up, it looks for the handshake to acknowledge fuel and starter function. In this trucks case, it does not allow starter engagement OR fuel injector operation. I do not have evaporative codes as i've wired in a resistor (2ohm total 1/4 watt) to mimick a fuel level low condition to the PCM which will not run evap monitors. Fuel tank pressure sensor is retained but hanging under the car. Retained the factory explorer purge valve. Without a fuel level input, purge circuit and vent valve it will set a CEL. Rear o2 sensors are present but catalytic converters arent. I'm a little old school and have a superchips burned for this ecu (i had a blank chip and software) to disable catalyst monitor. also bumps the transmission line pressure to firm the shifts up even though the transmission has its valve body modified. I'm currently building a stainless enclosure that will wrap around the ecu to fit in the wiper cowl of my 940. It'll be weatherproof and allow ecu cooling. Ive done this in the past with these ford pcm with no ill effects.

I built the motor and modded the trans in the truck about 10 years ago for a customer. It was wrecked and i ended up buying it from the insurance company for a few hundred dollars a few years ago and sold off almost everything but the drivetrain (i kept the 8.8) to eventually run in the wagon. The result was actually about a 100 bucks profit from parting out the truck. I did not factor this into my cost. It was just what i would have to "buy" or "trade" to make it work in the wagon. Initally this powertrain was for my blue 740 wagon but i chose another route. I was seriously on the fence about even doing this to my red wagon. I was ready to buy a set of h beam rods for the B230FT and megasquirt for controls. I was at the outer limit of the stock ecu capabilities. Detonation from the ecu unable to cope with the massive rapid change in airflow resulted in detonation and i bent 2 rods. This would have been motor #3. I was running a 19T, in hindsight i should have bought another 15g instead of upgrading. The car was perfectly happy at 16psi with the 15G.

But at the end of the day when i added up a set of rods, megasquirt and the machine work needed to build the b230 i would be ahead of the game dropping the v8 in. btw, a crown victoria police driveshaft fits right in the explorer tail housing. I happened to have one from my panther car days and it'll fit my wagon with a little shortening and the yoshifab adapter but i chose a different route.

My V8 volvo wagon is offically roadworthy. Surprisingly only issue was getting driveline angle right to get rid of the shakes. The only thing left is calibrating the tachometer. It reads double what it actually is. CEL, OD lamp, OD switch is all functional.

The car is an absolute RIOT!

The original 4 cylinder tach vs the V8 complicates the tach connection. There is a custom electronic solution but see one solution here:

http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=272683

itsacrazyasian said:

My V8 volvo wagon is offically roadworthy. Surprisingly only issue was getting driveline angle right to get rid of the shakes. The only thing left is calibrating the tachometer. It reads double what it actually is. CEL, OD lamp, OD switch is all functional.

The car is an absolute RIOT!

Click to expand...

They are definitely worth the effort. Lots of fun without being flashy. My boys love riding in ours.

TestPoint said:

The original 4 cylinder tach vs the V8 complicates the tach connection. There is a custom electronic solution but see one solution here:

http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=272683

Click to expand...

For anyone looking in the future. On the 7/9 series cars, the tach adjustment pot has 3 pins but if you look closely only two are used that goes to the ic chip. i intercepted it by clipping the closest pin and soldering a 220ohm resistor in place so the pot is still in use just the circuit sees added resistance. So far it reads pretty close at idle if not spot on with the pot maxed out but its 1am so i can't rev it up to check the rpm range. I'll report back later today when its light out.