Greg's Gold 1991 240GLE wagon B230FT-to-be

Come to papa! Finally bringing my 88 740T engine and M46 back home after loooong term storage in Wayne's mum's shed. Will get stuck into this engine swap/manual conversion after I get the yellow 245 on the road.

Got the engine/trans back home. Need to reassemble my engine crane so I can unload it...job for tomorrow. The shed is starting to look like a tip shop again. Time for a clean-out!

Gave the gold wagon a wash the other day. Can't wait to get stuck into the turbo conversion...need to get the yellow 79 done first. Grrr.

I was telling @Andoria about this planned engine swap today...when he said his +T was the longest-running project, I went back thru my pics and realised I've had my turbo engine/trans since August 2004. Yikes! Maybe 2021 it will go into the wagon? Not if I keep pulling other cars apart. Need to get stuck into another one of MY projects one day LOL! In fact, looking at the pic below I can see that when I bought the 740T, I didn't even have the gold wagon yet (the supercharged 88 240 sedan and my long-gone Amazon wagon are sitting in the shed at our old house in Williamstown). Time flies when you're having fun! Wish I had kept those wheels!

Grrr...been accumulating parts for this swap for over 10 years. I had set aside an immaculate pedal box, but didn’t put it with the bits for the swap...just had it with my box of misc pedals. What do I do? Sell it to somebody in NZ. Now gunna have to look at the rather daggy one I accumulated with a large lot of parts last year and see if I can patch it up. Moral of the story: never sell anything - you might need it some day!

Well, the wagon was due for the brake fluid change so I put it up on the hoist and removed the wheels a few weeks ago, thinking maybe now’s the time to get started on the turbo swap. I am in need of motivation! The cold weather doesn’t help. I’m also struggling with the best way to get the engine out. I know you can get it out the top, but since I have the 2-post hoist, I was wondering about dropping the whole engine and crossmember. Seems like it wouldn’t be that hard if I make up a wood frame on some furniture dollies…I could let the car down onto the frame, undo the crossmember and other necessary bolts, then just raise the hoist and let everything sit on the floor on the framework. Thoughts? I guess it would mean disconnecting the 2x rear brake pipes from the junction block, as well as the master cylinder from the booster…and struts would come down too (would make up something to hold them in the vertical orientation so they don’t fly outward. Thoughts? My dad pulled the engine and trans out of his 240 turbo project using an engine hoist and balancer without removing the bonnet or the front end panels. Maybe that’s a lot easier. I could remove the bonnet…front end panels much harder to remove on the 91 as the whole nose cone would have to come off since the upper rad support is spot welded, so that’s a no-go. Damn, I forgot about the AC…it works fine (although compressor is leaking oil) so I don’t really want to de-gas it (has Hychill in it now).

Then, how far do I go on the 740T engine and gearbox that’s been sitting in the shed for about 18 years? Replace all gaskets and seals as a minimum…should I pull the head? Hmm…I don’t really feel like I could be bothered…

Back to my wine! :) Hope everyone is staying warm!

jamesinc

I did it that way one time, I think it is easier pulling out the top. I've had an engine and trans out in an hour that way, without a hoist. Disconnecting brake lines isn't hard I suppose but it is messy and you have to bleed them after, before you can enjoy your fresh turbo redblock - such a chore!

And then obviously you have removed the crossmember and the struts and you will probably have altered your wheel alignment

Yeah you’re probably right. I do need to bleed the brakes, but thinking about how massive it is to remove the whole suspension and crossmember, it does seem a bit crazy and possibly dangerous with all that weight etc. and centre of mass shifting on the hoist. I think I may pull the bonnet off as a precaution then I don’t have to worry as much about being able to get the engine up high enough. Every time I pull an engine out it seems like the top of the hoist wants to go thru the bonnet. One of the nice things about that 740 hinge design I guess! :)

Paul_Roodenrys

Makes me feel better knowing that your B230Ft swap is taking even longer than mine Greg. ?. I think most of us are afflicted with the same issues though: 1) we get distracted by other projects 2) scope creep.

For me I think it’s the fear that once I get into it, the hoist will be tied up for like 2 years, probably because of 1) and 2) above LOL!

OK, so I decided I'd finally get started on this project. Wayne had commandeered one of the shed bays for his work stuff...which meant I didn't have room as I was having to use the hoist bay for one of the everyday cars. That's not really a good excuse - to be honest I've had a bit of a lack of motivation lately. I had a pretty big push with all those cars I wrecked during COVID, and also the re-build of the yellow 245 "barn find" project, then I guess I just had enough. But now I feel like if I don't get started on this my brain is going to turn to mush and I'm going to forget how to do things.

We're about finished re-organising things to make room, so watch this space. I've had the turbo engine & manual gearbox sitting around since August 2004...in dry storage, so hopefully it'll be OK. Maybe the project will be complete by August 2024...and I can have a 20th anniversary celebration LOL!