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Mounting a T5 in an early 240 (Paging Mr. Bill)

propav8r

propav8r

F*ck Edgar
Joined
Jan 17, 2010
Location
Franklin, NC
Ok. so Derrick and I got my motor installed today. The only stumper I ran into was the mounting for the transmission.

When I bought the swap package from Vince, he included the crossmember he had used in his car-it's just a piece of 1/4 steel welded to the stock crossmember. With the way the holes to bolt the trans mount to my car are, I can't get the right position,and when I get the holes close (about 1/2" or so) from lining up, the mount only bolts in with 2 bolts, one in each side. I could drill 2 more holes in the bottom plate to bolt the mount down, but that still leaves the problem that the crossmember is only held by 2 bolts.

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If I move the mount forward, and bolt it to holes 1 and 2, the crossmember hits the transmission, and it won't work. My old M46 mounted on holes 3 and 4.

Text2.jpg


I'm thinking that the later cars had holes in the frame in slightly different locations, and that's why the crossmember worked for Vince.
 
My x-member is definitely mounted at holes 1 and "0" if it was in the picture. On my '83, they were there but gunked over with undercoating and years of grime...so I had to open them up again with a 10 x 1.5 tap I had.

I think you're going to have to drill holes in the same locations (where "0" would be for the rear-most bolts on the x-member. No way I'd trust it with just 2 bolts holding it.
 
My only concern drilling the frame is how thick it is...I don't think the frame is thick enough to tap. It looks like the nut is welded on the inside of the rail. I don't have a hole a the 0 location...I looked.
 
Is the frame that different in the earlier models? I don't have a nut in there (though it was threaded from the factory). You sure you couldn't get enough threads out of a frame tap?

Or, perhaps you can fab up a 90 degree bracket that you can bolt through the frame rails above the rear most hole and then bolt that to the x-member (up into a frame tap as well)?

Or, you may have to modify the x-member by cutting out the center section (which would probably weaken it) allowing the T5 mount to slot into the cut-out and bolt through the bottom of the x-member, allowing to use holes 1 and 2?

Just throwing some ideas out there...
 
Dakar09 said:
Is the frame that different in the earlier models? I don't have a nut in there (though it was threaded from the factory). You sure you couldn't get enough threads out of a frame tap?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I think the frame must be a tad different, because this crossmember worked for Vince in his 89.

And I mean that there is a nut welded inside the frame rail. The frame rail itself is just two pieces of sheet metal bent together. No way there's enough thickness to tap.

I'm kinda interested to see how Ian mounted his. His car is a '78, mines a '79.
 
Yeah, i wouldn't tap that either. Drilling into my frame rail to mount clamps for my speedo cable was a chore due to it's thickness, so it must be different.

I would lean towards a bracket idea now...90 degree bend of steel (maybe 1/8" if you can find it) bolted through the frame above the crossmember and then into the crossmember/frame from below. The thread on the frame itself wouldn't really hold the crossmember up, so much as help secure it to the bracket bolted through above it (which you could easily put a nut and some fender washers on).

Let's see if Ian chimes in...i'm curious now too.
 
The holes should be there. clean some of the crap off the framerails. If the holes aren't there theres no way I'd reccomend drilling the framerails.. But I'm pretty sure the holes are there. If they arent I'd suggest you make another crossmember before you go drilling into the car.
 
I know my car is a later car (92), but when I put my T5 in I had to move the crossmember from holes 3&4 in your picture where my stock M47 would have been to 0&1 in your pic. The holes should all be tapped, mine just had a ton of undercoating I had to clean off first.
 
No problem in drilling your frame rail, if you do it right and fasten the x-member right.

It's what's standard in plenty of hitch installations, you and I trust everyday.

If you bolt that xmember to the 1st hole, and use the x-member as your template, to find the "0" hole, you can drill it to 3/4", fishwire a square hole spacer, with a 1/2" carriage bolt, and tighten with a flare nut.

I don't think there'll be any concern with strength, with the xmember or the chassis.

I've got all the parts you'll need, if you're interested.
 
Im not a fan of drilling anything or cutting anything on a clean volvo. My 80 has enough threaded holes worst case just use two bolts one on each side
 
2fast242gt said:
Im not a fan of drilling anything or cutting anything on a clean volvo. My 80 has enough threaded holes worst case just use two bolts one on each side
Click to expand...

Yup...that sounds smrtr....

We must preserve the body like a museum show piece, and compromise structural integrity of the trany brace? :wtf:

Worst case, you could fab something that does work with the existing holes....but in the interest of reusing the stock x-member, which is what the OP is doing, simplest and strongest solution...fishwire a carriage bolt.

Seriously, Subaru Outbacks use four of them to hold a Class III hitch on...and that's it. I drill those holes and mount them several times per week.
 
Whelp, I came up with a temporary solution. It's plenty strong to be permanent, but it looks ugly.

I'll wind up making some sort of crossmember out of 1" square steel when I can get my hands on a welder. In the meantime, I just sliced some material out of the stock crossmember, and drilled 2 holes in it, and though the 1/4 steel plate welded to the bottom. Works like a charm, and doesn't flex with my 270lb ass standing on each side, so I'm not worried about 50-75lb of transmission resting on it.

I scraped away the undercoating...my car does not have any more threaded holes than what I pictured. Dunno why.

Anyway, here's pics of the hackage. Gotta get hooptie cred somewhere I guess.

IMG_3679.JPG


IMG_3680.JPG


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That beefy one piece driveshaft fits in the tunnel nicely. No need to massage anything with a BFH.

IMG_3688.JPG


And the shifter's right where it's supposed to be.

IMG_3692.JPG
 
balls - I missed my cue..

Your holes arent there just like mine arent there. I suspect they added the holes when the aw70/71 showed up, which was ~81?

Just like towery, I have only the front holes in use. So far, 308whp/280torques and no failure.

Josh over at yoshifab is making a crossmember for the t5 swap, which I decided I'd just wait on.
Now I read he's using scottyd's 240, which will have the extra bolt holes - hopefully he doesn't use them :nod:

My 82 242 had the extra holes - so I'm pretty sure it's a change that came with the major 81 revision.
 
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