Well finally car is back in the shed... ready to fit up. Bellhousing is drilled ready to be picked up now.
have come across a Ford Explorer diff for $0 Out of a mates wreck. anyone have experience here with converting them into a 240?
244DL 308 conversion
- Edited
watkinshttps://cdn.ozvolvo.org/uploads/425/GA73FIW1FCMZ.jpeg
Well finally car is back in the shed... ready to fit up. Bellhousing is drilled ready to be picked up now.
have come across a Ford Explorer diff for $0 Out of a mates wreck. anyone have experience here with converting them into a 240?
Nice work! Great car and shed!
I did the 8.8 install on my 240. What I did with a mate was roughly this:
Make a jig that replicates the position of the Volvo suspension arm brackets.
Cut brackets off Volvo diff.
Cut brackets off Ford diff.
Shorten long side of Ford diff to make same as short side (using 2 x short axles).
Weld Volvo brackets to shortened Ford housing using jig you made.
Modify hand brake cables.
Tailshaft.
Find/Make rear brake caliper hoses that don't hit rear spring.
Make new hard lines to adapt Volvo to Ford.
Reinforce trailing arms
Adjustable panhard rod with spacers as will hit 8.8 rear cover.
If you do the math you will find the Explorer calipers are almost as powerful as the Volvo fronts, so the front brakes will need upgrading along with the master cylinder or you could find a less powerful caliper perhaps for the Explorer diff.
At the end of all this, you still have an old diff in an old car, so may as well replace the LSD components, put new seals in, brakes etc. Also need to decide how you will handle two different stud patterns front vs. rear in terms of wheel and offset of wheel. The 8.8 widens the rear by 20mm or so, so you can use common +36 to +40 wheels on rear but these will no longer match the front.
It's a fair mount of work and impacts a number of areas of the car, but is still a great way to get into a strong 3.73 LSD.
https://youtu.be/mayYpK_aPgM
I found these youtube videos by The Fabrication Series quite good
Bloody hell, wish he had learned about PPE in all his years......
Thanks for the info!! Bit to think about...
i might consider welding in the short term... a lot less work that way
So an 8.8 should slot under a 140 without changing the wheelbase?
I meant after shortening.
When shortened I think it's like an inch wider than a stock 240 diff or so, so goes a way to correct the track width difference inherent in them. Unsure how that translates to 140s, but they might be narrower than a 240?
140 is wider than the 240.
8 days later
So I was that bloody close to engine fit day. Waited 3 weeks for a radiator to turn up From NSW that wasn’t what I was told. Removed the top piece from the radiator support and will make new one to suit commodore radiator, hopefully weld in during the week.
engineer has ok the brakes and k frame so next inspection when engine is dummy fitted
still unsure about fuel line routing as I’m retaining the 308 mech pump. Maybe along the rad support
15 days later
Got the front setup now to fit commodore radiator... took a bit of stuffing around, the flat hoods have significantly less room for radiator. Had to gain an additional 60mm of height.
at least it’s gonna be easy to replace radiator down the track being commodore fit and not a custom built unit
not to sound odd but you dont own a skoda with the plate watkins do ya?
ahh i helped him with it at vw in traralgon, i was the service dude. good to see a volvo in gippsland. im in yallourn north.
yeah thats right. hes a top bloke. well into motorbikes and does engine machining if i remember correctly. will have to see yours at somepoint when its done.
11 days later
So I got this far over the weekend. Had a bit of trouble getting rocker covers to fit, had to chase down a set of standard 308 ones (they’re actually hard to source) so they could clear the clutch master.
at the moment the clutch fork is also hard against the firewall, although a bit of cutting, a bit of bashing, and it should be okay..
shifter doesn’t quite lineup but the supra box has a number of options available apparently. Just need find the correct one to suit as I have the most rearward one available.
Next step get the engineer around.. he wanted to see engine “just resting in place” with nothing hooked up. The engineering thing is new to me, hoping he has some good advice for a few bits I’m not sure how I’m going to finish (where to run fuel to the mechanical pump)
- Edited
Yes the supra box has a number of gear stick positions and ratios, I got a rebuilt one from a company in West Sydney, Google the available ratios and top plate stick positions.