1983 240 6.0L GEN IV LS V8 conversion

alphax · 2016-06-25T19:53:58+00:00

Going to leave the L98 stock or mod it as well?

robv

Nice work, thanks for sharing! Very interested in how u go with that transmission tunnel.
I recently talked someone into doing a different conversion because of the gearbox. Hope you don't make me eat humble pie.

alphax

A piece of pressed tin in the middle of the car is not going to stop me :)

sucksqueezebangblow

I put timber in between the gearbox and tunnel and used a jack on the box. Rough, but worked out fine for the little extra size I needed.

alphax

sucksqueezebangblow;79362 wroteI put timber in between the gearbox and tunnel and used a jack on the box. Rough, but worked out fine for the little extra size I needed.

Sounds good to me

Vee_Que

Was it Andy, not Daniel in Geelong that actually is doing the work on the other car?

alphax

Not sure

Andy

Nice build! Don't use a piece of timber on the box to force open the tunnel omg.

Take your time and tap it open if you don't want to make a mess. Adam and I had the tunnel expanded in about 10 mins but we were practically sledging it...

Make sure that the bellhousing doesn't touch the tunnel as it's very weak so clearance out the sheet metal. Good box choice anyway, the 6060 will be a squeeze but at least you can mod the remote shifter to suit the shifter hole.

alphax

It's been an awesome weekend. Hard work and long days but a great result. The engine and trans fits in very well. Interestingly, the car sits about 3 inches higher on the front springs with the LS! Granted no accessories are fitted yet, but even with 89kg's of me jumping all over the front rad support, it still doesn't come close to sitting down as low as the Volvo combo.

The tunnel needs massaging around the opening, a few small areas on the sides and a small piece cut out around the shifter/floor. The stock Volvo transmission cross member will be used, but slid back to the third set of holes on the rails and modified in the center to accept the Commodore rubber isolater. It lines up just right with the TR6060 transmission.

Engine is now tightened up on the mounts in it's final position which means integration of all systems can begin. Everything will be mocked up and made to fit with the engine where it is, after which i'll pull the engine out for the last time, finish the tunnel up and reassemble for the final time. Big thanks to Stuart and Matt this weekend for all the help.

SirNemesis

Awesome stuff!

GingerNinja

Looks tidy in there. Nice work.

Philia_Bear

Dam thats tight bro

robv

The engine fits nicely, hard to tell from the pictures but will the clutch master cylinder fit?

alphax

robv;79809 wroteThe engine fits nicely, hard to tell from the pictures but will the clutch master cylinder fit?

Yes it does. There is about 20mm of clearance to the valve cover, depending on engine angle. Will probably have to relocate one ignition coil to make it fit, but that's about it.

alphax

Andy;79785 wroteNice build! Don't use a piece of timber on the box to force open the tunnel omg.

Take your time and tap it open if you don't want to make a mess. Adam and I had the tunnel expanded in about 10 mins but we were practically sledging it...

Make sure that the bellhousing doesn't touch the tunnel as it's very weak so clearance out the sheet metal. Good box choice anyway, the 6060 will be a squeeze but at least you can mod the remote shifter to suit the shifter hole.

Yes, agreed, the tunnel metal actually moves around pretty easily. I also cut some small, unused cast tabs away from the transmission. Spot on with the remote shifter... Will end up making a shortened remote shifter assembly with the goal of positioning it to use the original Volvo shifter boot.

Had I used a T-56 VT-VZ box the shifter would be about 2" too far back, and a Ford style Tremec extension housing is even worse. Having good engine mounts helped centre everything up ;-)

Andy

Yeh the only gearbox tail housings that will fit are the 6060 remote shift or the t56 cobra housing. You'll have to stack up the coils where the booster is or relocate them to where the engine mounts are.

I've given Adam my old d585 Yukon coils, I reckon they could be mounted higher up where the fuel rails are to give more clearance. We'll have to check this once his manifold is back on.

Samman88

Looking great @alphax! Quick progress and the engine is sitting really nicely in the bay.

alphax

Thanks Sam, yes it's coming along pretty quick.

Had another big week of work on and off. Have started mocking up all the accessories and plumbing while the engine is in situ.

Found that the BF Falcon radiator fits very well. Had to relieve a small area of the battery tray support bracket, battery tray, cut about 6mm strip from the top radiator support bracket and a few other minor tweaks to the radiator itself and surround parts.

Took a couple hours of tweaking, but now the radiator and factory Falcon fan assembly can be lifted in and out of the car as a unit, and it even bottoms out on the factory Volvo rubber mounts! I found that a VY V6 Commodore top radiator hose will fit the bill nicely as a top hose on this car. Bottom hose.. still looking for a candidate. There is about 20mm clearance between the engine and thermo fans.. more than enough.

Bolted on the accessories... A/C compressor, alternator, P/S pump... all has at least 1 inch clearance around the chassis rails in the stock position. Perfect. It confirmed to me that the battery is best run in the stock location and that the intake will need to run on the drivers side, as opposed to the passenger side in a VE SS Commodore.

Will be using a Falcon header tank. You can see it's now mocked up roughly in position to work out hose routing and clearances etc. Works out best with the Falcon radiator and I wasn't confident about re-using the 'vintage' Volvo plastic tank.

picture uploader

Have also completed most of the trans mount. The stock 240 mount is strong and has been shortened in terms of height across the middle, reinforced with steel plate and welded ground smooth. Just waiting on the transmission rubber mount in the mail now. Using a late 80's Commodore mount. From there can fine tune engine/transmision angle.

This is the VE Carbon canister from a VE SS Commodore now mounted in the 240. It sits just behind the bumper where the stock carbon canister used to sit.

upload foto

No pics, but 8.8 diff is almost finished. All welding of suspension pick-up points and brake pipe mounts is now complete. Painted it today and installed a new Ford Motorsport LSD rebuild kit. Went to install the bearings and seals but found they were wrong... Grrrr... shit happens.

deleted_user_332

In respect to your radiator, the BF Falcon you fitted is that from a V8 Auto or was it from a six cylinder?

1uzvolvo

Can I just say what a cool project. That motor is so narrow it gives you plenty of room for all the accessories and exhaust. I was also interested in the use of the Ford radiator. Using as many stock items in a build makes finding replacements down the track a lot easier.

When finished this car will be a rocket. An upgrade of the brakes should be a serious consideration and might make the engineers a bit happier too.

Keep the updates coming.

alphax

fg1631;80903 wroteIn respect to your radiator, the BF Falcon you fitted is that from a V8 Auto or was it from a six cylinder?

It suits BF Falcon 6 cyl, V8, 6 cyl turbo. Same part number. These are heavier duty than the stock items and are said to have about 40% additional cooling capacity. Quality on it looks to be pretty reasonable.

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