• Hello Guest, welcome to the initial stages of our new platform!
    You can find some additional information about where we are in the process of migrating the board and setting up our new software here

    Thank you for being a part of our community!

1983 242 Turbo B230FT Swap

Brautigansbus

New member
Joined
Sep 21, 2021
Location
PNW
242840045_1372142253182510_334891898579842289_n.jpg


242851425_1372142209849181_7053130772795275955_n.jpg


Hello all,
This is, erm, my first post and my first Volvo and my first engine swap to boot. I am in over my head to say the least but so far so good. Enter the 2 door 240 turbo that had a blown B21FT as well as the '89 745 with a decent B230FT that will be going into the 242.
So far I have bought a conversion wiring harness from Prancing Moose and am awaiting it in the post, making an inventory of parts needed and removing the original drive train from both vehicles.

My most dismaying discovery was finding that the wiring harness from the grey plug into the firewall on the passenger side has completely crumbled apart (I guess I got lucky and got one of the several years where Volvo used Czech bleu cheese for wiring sheathing). I will be rewiring that shortly and refreshing the B230FT out of the 740 once it's out of the vehicle (hopefully by tomorrow).
 
Last edited:
Nice! I am excited to be doing the swap simultaneous to you! The harness got lost in the post so looks like I am moving ahead with other bits. I found a distributor, intermediate shaft and camshaft plug today at a local junkyard. Was a very happy day for parts scrounging.

Now awaiting all the parts I ordered to freshen up the motor i.e. timing belt, water pump, various gaskets and seals.

I also found a speedo in MPH as the car currently has a Kilometers per hour speedo.
 
Updates

249385254_1393601707703231_9202937602137599993_n.jpg


249320064_1393601351036600_7780438233627090889_n.jpg


249194372_1393601267703275_3863904744404386013_n.jpg


249190403_1393601377703264_5011623734407269314_n.jpg


Sorry for the recent radio silence- I've been hard at work I swear! :oops:

Current state of affairs: I have refreshed the motor including timing belt, seals, water pump, head gasket, several new exhaust studs (don't ask why), oil pan gasket, turbo drain pipe, rear main seal and some other things I am forgetting.

Cylinder #1 has a little bit of play in the block and I hope that doesn't become an issue too quickly- it sounded great when running it in the 760 before I pulled the motor.

The engine and trans are currently back in the car and hooked up, it's beginning to look and feel more like a car! The wiring is a bit of a mess and here are the TO DO's:

-Oil cooler drain lines (original hard lines don't fit due to 240 motor mounts)
-Power steering lines
- Figure out why the clutch pedal is stuck to the floor
-Modifying the brackets for the inter-cooler and radiator
-Figure out wiring to turbo gauge pod as I somehow disconnected it when wiring in the new LH 2.2 harness...
-Exhaust
-A million and one other things

For now I am happy that the engine is back in now that the rains, damp weather and darkness have settled over western Washington.

p.s. also still trying to figure out photos on this platform, seems my resizing of images still left them jumbo.
 
May I recommend using something other than facebook for image hosting? I use flickr. Works pretty well. At this point, all I see are broken image links.

Re: the intercooler brackets, I think swedishiron.com here on TB has a set for a 240. He's just east of Everett, so only a ferry ride away.

With respect to the clutch, you're using the 240 fork and cable setup, or did you go to hydraulic? If the latter, you will need the 260 series style pedal with a spring that holds the pedal upward. If not, make sure the cable is connected to both the pedal and the fork and you have about 3-4mm free play toward the engine when it's adjusted - Volvo recommends 1-3mm toward the back of the car, but, I find that the release bearing wears out faster when it's constantly touching the pressure plate.

The play in the piston is probably the usual B230 piston slap. They can be that way for years and never get worse.
 
You can use the 740 IC brackets if you have them without any modification really. Just need to space them up off the rad support with some sort of spacer and longer bolts. I found old/spare accessory bushings were perfect for this.
 
Thank you John242Ti and Alan29, I will do my best to resolve the images- thank you for letting me know. I am working with the original cable clutch and am going to attempt to adjust it the next time I'm back at it. I believe it is just really out of calibration and thank you for the specs!
And I currently have the 740 IC brackets that I will be adapting with a spacer and a bolt per your suggestion. Really excited to move on to the plugging things in stage. Seems like the most immediate challenge will be to fabricate new oil cooler lines to accommodate the stock 240 motor mounts.
Thank you for your recommendations, cheers!
 
Back
Top