cunningham HiI am thinking of putting an old Ford Windsor 260 V8 into a 240 wagon I don't want a power beast just a good driver with a bit of power to tow. I have the 260 but asking for help selecting a gearbox 4 or 5 speed that would suit. Is the Volvo manual box strong enough to handle a low powered V8.thanks
nugget_940 Probably if you don't thrash it but the time and effort needed to make an adaptor plate for a volvo gearbox to a 260 would not be worth it at all. Why not just find a 260+factory trans and work out your shifter length/driveshaft from there?
Dauntless Is the bellhousing pattern of a 260 the same as later Windsors? If so, I'd just go with a T5.
Beelzeboss It's definitely going to be easier to use a gearbox that already bolts to the engine, rather than messing around the adapter plates and custom clutches.
volvodriverman I vaguely recall the 260/early 289 being a 5 bolt bellhousing and the later 289/302 etc being 6 bolt. The manual option for the 260 being a 3 speed or BW T-10 if I'm remembering that correctly. There is bound to be someone like Mal Wood or Dellow offering conversions to T5 boxes.
carnut1100 It's not the power, it's the torque. You'll break it unless you drive it gently. I knew a guy who put a 308 on an M46 and didn't break it, but he was a literal grandpa and drove accordingly. He just wanted the V8 noise.
volvodriverman carnut1100 It's not the power, it's the torque. You'll break it unless you drive it gently. I knew a guy who put a 308 on an M46 and didn't break it, but he was a literal grandpa and drove accordingly. He just wanted the V8 noise.The old Matt Hamilton chevolvo with 350 Chev had an m45 behind it for a surprisingly long time before it stripped third gear too.