Looking for Ford 5.0 V8 swap parts for Volvo 240. Do you have an unfinished/abandoned Converse Engineering kit/project? Spare parts? Any info, recommendations, tips, horror stories, etc to pass on? New/used, any and all will be greatly appreciated.
I have started the body restoration end of this project, still gathering engine/5 speed trans parts, suspension, etc. Salt rotted Mustangs are dirt cheap here in Detroit area, but I don't have space in my garage/shop (or patient neighbors!) to strip hulk in driveway. I've been looking at this for 10+ years, time to GET TO IT!!
Will have many spares from very clean 1984 242 donor car; non turbo motor, auto trans, interior, chassis for sale/swap.

 

Given the age of the 242, I guess you're going carb'd on the SBF? I dropped a 347 into my 90 740 3 years ago. Currently slowly doing the same on an 81 242. The 740 is new enough it has to pass emissions so I went efi but the 242 will be carb'd...much much simpler. The difficulty in the swap depends greatly on what final product you want. I wanted my 740 to have all the goodies such as power steering and a/c functional so, combined with the fuel injection it was necessary to do some serious wiring. Simply dropping a carb'd motor in just means motor mount adapters, swapping drive shaft couplings, moving the shifter around a bit (240's are easier than 740's), clearancing headers...I purchased Ross's $1000 kit and was seriously underwhelmed. I had to modify the transmission mount, the m/m adapters were simply drilled angle iron and the adapted clutch cable failed in 3 months. Frankly, the best thing about the kit was the color photos of various exhaust system set ups.
740...

240 V8 mount adapter suggestions...




My friend's 242 350 V8

 

Hmmm, let's try this again.
Nice job! Simple, effective, elegant, I love it!
I 've phoned Ross and he is firm on not selling individual parts of the kit. I too, have heard the comments about his kit, and hey, a thousand bucks is a fair piece of change to spend, so until I actually had a donor car in hand, I held off on buying Ross's kit.
Your mount adapter looks great, ever think of selling them? Maybe sell photos? Parts list? Electrical tips/recommendations?
I have a well studied copy of "Jags That Run" Chevy swap book, but since I am a Ford retiree and get a discount on Ford parts, 5.0 Mustang driveline is the choice. Ford hot rod guys say '88 and later roller motor is way to go with '91-'93 preferred.
Those are two VERY clean bodies in the photos, you must be in California? I am in Dearborn, Mich., (Detroit area), where we use 70,000 tons avg. of road salt per winter. Makes car bodies foam away to rust before your eyes, so no used body parts. Volvo dealer won't sell 242 body parts! Volvos were never big sellers around here until Ford takeover and Volvo became available to Ford "suits" as company cars. Post Ford Volvos are seldom seen. I found a place in Germany that has 242 sheet metal but shipping cost is deal breaker, so I bought a super clean stripper '84 242 from Arkansas to use as donor for my '83 242 Turbo that I've owned since '86. A cracked exhaust manifold and other priorities saw it pushed to a back corner of the shop, covered up, where it sat decaying for 15 years. I decided to concentrate on body resto first while gathering Mustang driveline parts as they came my way.
I'd be interested in buying a copy of your mount adapter, or any info; wiring tips, photos, parts lists, exhaust mounting info, accessory drive/mounting, suspension mods/tips, etc, in addition to any parts. Knowing the dead ends and grief others have explored, the problems solved, and the advice they can offer is worth money, too. Contact me off site.
Thanks, Doug

 

Well, first of all, I can't claim the adapters pictured. I just posted those as the cleanest I've seen. My 740 is a bit different. Somewhere I have actual pics of my 242's home made adapters...not finding them at the moment. Your turbo is kjet so wiring is no big issue at all. Also, 240's have separate harnesses for the lighting/accessories and engine so that's a plus. 740's have all of it in one harness so it all has to come apart!

 

Ok, it's been awhile since I last was here. Major surgery and other health problems, plus a move put EVERYTHING on hold.
In the meantime, out of nowhere, a guy from Chicago contacted me with a never installed Converse 200 Volvo Ford Mustang V8 auto trans kit. Price was right, but as many have said-there sure ain't much in the box!
Kit is for auto trans, but I have a T5 and wanted to go with manual trans. I have a manual trans '83 242 Turbo, (way rusty!), and a pristine, zero rust, auto trans. '84 242 DL stripper. Now that I have healed a bit, I'm back at it as $$$ allows.
One big problem- NO ROSS CONVERSE!! Web site "under construction", no phone, etc, IPD says they haven't spoken to him in years, rumor is he moved to California or Florida, some say he is out of business, or maybe passed away.
Need info for manual trans install; cross member fab, clutch, (cable or juice?), etc, etc,
Can anybody help?
Thanks in advance,
Doug

 

Hey, Swiftjustice44, The unused and abandoned, but cheap! Converse kit I bought for my 242 swap is for auto trans. I'm going with a T5 manual. I just watched a TV show "Chasing Classic Cars" with Wayne Carini and he bought the 960 Volvo wagon with a Kenne Bell blown 5.0 Ford. In the show, the car is on a lift and they are adjusting the clutch which is clearly a CABLE operated unit. You said here that your clutch was cable operated. Any chance you could pass along the manual trans/clutch info from your kit? I've looked over some crossmember/trans mount info on this and other sites, what did you do for this?
It's been so darn cold here, (Detroit area), and everything is buried in ice/snow, just waiting for the thaw to get busy again.