B200 -> B230FT Conversion

[EvilRacer329]

Hi Guys,

At some point I'll actually assemble a proper build thread for my beloved 360, but I'm getting to the point now where the only thing stopping me from doing the physical swap is the lack of a crane! That aside, I also have some questions. I've never done an engine swap before - this is very much an educational project for me as much as anything - and I've got a fuel injected '89 360 GLT with the 2-litre NA engine. I've also got a '94 940 2.3 Turbo engine that I've been painstakingly tearing down, cleaning, painting, renewing and reassembling, ready to do the swap.

I understand that I will need the mounts and sump from the old engine, as well as some of the ancillaries (starter primarily). I'm gonna have to figure out some of the vaccuum hoses and water piping as I go, because I never had a chance to see the 2.3 in it's original vehicle, and the Haynes manuals are pretty useless in this department. But the big question right now is the loom...

Now, I've been comparing the loom in the car right now to the loom I have with the new engine. It's a two-part thing, the first bit wrapping around the block with the connections for the knock sensor, idle air control valve, injectors etc. on it, and terminating in a set if huge block connectors for the second loom. Thing is, I can't find a similar set of connectors on the existing loom, and the secondary part (the bit with the ECU connectors on in 2.3 flavour) seems to be pretty tightly wound around the engine bay, snaking through the firewall and connecting up to the existing digital ignition and vacuum advance modules.

So, long tim getting here I know, but here's my question. I know these swaps have been done before so I'm hoping someone will know the answers!

1) Do I need to tear out the dash and ditch the entirety of the old wiring?

2) Are there any technical resources out there beyond assorted Haynes manuals to help me with vaccuum and water/oil hose routing?

3) Anyone with previous experience/advice on fitting a dedicated air-oil cooler to these turbo units? I understand that default item is a water-cooling system, seems like a bad idea...

4) Anyone know how the ECU on these things responds to simple boost control, such as a dawes device? I'm only talking a few extra PSI, nothing epic (yet!)

5) Anyone whose done this before - or indeed any engine swaps at all - any general advice/pitfalls to avoid?

I've spent a lot of time making this new engine shiny and awesome, and with all the other work I've done to the car I don't wanna ruin it now!

Thanks guys!
Nick

[340GLT]

Thats looking really clean mate. I will get round to sorting an air flow meter out for it.....
Adam

[Ride_on]

well this is a pretty standard set of questions and been answered many times before. try this thread;

http://www.volvo300mania.com/forum-uk/v ... 13&t=10269

I don't think the 360 starter will fit the 940 turbo, some pipes there and I think its a smaller starter in the 940 (lower compression).

The 940 loom is a bit of a nightmare, but the 360 injection loom is relatively simple to remove, and there is not much to the 360 ignition side. You don't mention what management you are using. LH2.4 is the one that normally comes with the 940 and you should have that otherwise you into programmable territory. Extracting the loom from a 940 is tricky. The 360 injection system is a dinosaur compared with the 940 one, there is no reason or much possibility to use the 360 loom IMO, however you only need to remove the engine stuff and put in the 940 engine stuff, starter you can probably wire using the 360 stuff, also water temp, alternator, rev counter wired to the 360 loom.

You can get away without changing the engine mounts of you re-route the turbo oil return pipe but may have some knocking problems. Nothing wrong the water-oil heat exchanger on the 940, the engine is very reliable. LH2.4 management system can cope with extra boost, I've run 11psi for about a year in my 940, just don't use it for extended periods eg top speed test.

I'd also recommend swapping the intermediate shaft and putting in the 360 distributor.

You will also need a compatible solid flywheel and not the dual mass thing fitted to the 940, and not the 360 one.

[EvilRacer329]

Right!

I knew this sort of thing had been done before, but I couldn't turn up anything on the search for some reason. Thanks Ride_on, I appreciate it.

Naturally, I've read the whole post, which has accomplished two things:

1) Scaring the crap out of me with regards to the loom and

2) Raising a whole bunch more questions!

I do have the original ECU, so I guess it's the LH2.4 everybody seems to have, and the loom is already out - I bought the engine from Adam, so at least I don't have to tear it out myself. The downside of this is I can't do the trial/error testing that L14MNP did. Just to clarify - I should strip down the engine-bay section of the 940 loom and splice it into the rest of the 360 loom? Or should I replace the 360 loom wholesale?

I'm a little confused with all the talk about the flywheels as well. My understanding is that there's some sort of special one mounted on the 940 (the dual-mass thing I've heard people mention) and although this had the right trigger holes for the ECU it's too big for the 360 bell housing? If I've got that right, which whywheel and clutch should I be using?

And I'm sure this is gonna sound dumb to some of you guys, but what's the intermediate shaft in the context of the distributor? On the 230FT block there's no hole for the distributor to mount on the block, so without doing major surgery to the block itself I'm not sure how I'd use that. What's wrong with the built-in one?

Adam - thanks, I appreciate you checking that out for me. Which locking tool do you use for the flywheel? I can't find a Volvo one anywhere!

Thanks for all your help guys, I'm learning this stuff one piece at a time and I'd already have given up if it weren't for your support.

Thanks!
Nick

[340GLT]

There is a hole in the block for the distributer mate its got a core plug tapped in it to block it off. Look at the engine from the front and look to the right side of teh cam cover looking down.
Adam

[Ride_on]

The intermediate shaft drives the 360 distributor, I think the 940 shaft doesn't have the drive gear on it. The 940 distributor does not really fit into the 360, but some have modified the ventilation intake housing on the 360 to make space. I find problems with the 940 one anyway due to oil leaking in and its very hard to clean+service in the 940 as it is. If you compare the engines you can see the core plug that needs removed for the disty, its not difficult, just punch carefully in the middle with a screwdriver and lever it out.

Flywheel - you need to find a solid LH2.4 compatible flywheel from an older 900/700/200. I don't know which ones exactly, you should be able to find references on here. I got one on volvoforums.org.uk.

The loom issues are more about getting out the parts you need and knowing whats what. Most of the ignition and injection systems are independent of the rest of the car and you should not use the 360 loom, but as I said earlier that only means pulling out the 360 injection loom, which I think is on its own, but I did scrap the car when I removed one so I'm not entirely sure, my project 360 is a carb model anyway. Some of the other simpler electrics will have to be wired to the 360 loom (starter etc, but this should mostly be a reversal of removal on the 360).

[OppositeLock]

Has anybody documented this in the past?

Ill be attacking the same project around x-mas but unfortunatly I wont have the luxury of time. I cant be without the car for more than a few days. So for thought is essentail.

[Ride_on]

I doubt you can do it in a couple of days, there are many ways depending on the quality of the result you want. The last guy did it in a record 3 weeks from identifying and removing the loom to driving off, and he had a exhaust downpipe already prepared aswell as a fair bit of manpower.

The threads above are the best documentation we have.

If you had the engine running off the car with all the 360 bits fitted + new flywheel, exhaust downpipe ready already you might manage it in a days. You'd need a spare 360 engine aswell though.

[OppositeLock]

Geez you make an engine change sound like a right mission.

There is no reason why it should take 3 weeks if everything was preped and ready to go. I know some parts need to be altered, but if I already know what I'm doing there really isnt all that many man hours in it.

[volvodspec]

how much or less time any engine conversion will take depends on your preperation and own skill level.

you can have all the skill in the world, when you strike a problem that you didn't think of before you're in trouble since ordering parts takes a few days and finding a proper solution simply takes time.
a problem for a road-side engineer is peanuts for a engineer with his own toolshop etc.

yes, if we had a manual this conversion can be done in a matter of days, only real "build" aspects are welding an exhaust line behind the turbo and fabricating intercooler mounting/piping. however, the loom will be the biggest piece of the puzzle; wiring isn't hard to do but you definatly don't want to rush it, it takes a special technique in sorting out wrong wires rather than electrical faults from damaged parts like most of us are used to.

i'd rent/get a spare car to use while you're doing that conversion, just in case

[L14MNP]

Wow. I'm being pwnd lol.

It wouldn't take 3 weeks, if you could work on it all day every day i agree. Mine was built just taking time TBH. 1 week on the 940, from collecting it to stripping/weighing it in, but you're talking mostly 2/3 hr days with the odd full day thrown in. The 360 was over two weeks, with mostly 4/5/6 hour days with a few 10's thrown in. As said though, there isn't a lot of information going about on this conversion, plus I ran into a couple of annoyingly simple but hard to find/fix problems which slowed me down by a good 4 days.

There are different ways of doing a few things, you may choose your own route. When you get to that stage you will know what I mean, plus if you have an injection car already you don't have to run new lines, mount the pump etc. All this crap takes more time than expected IMO. Not to mention moifying the heater box, making a bracket for the acclelerator cable, awaiting parts etc.

I like to think I'm fairly organised, but if I was to do this again I am confident it could be done much sooner. As with anything the first time you do it is the hardest. Thanks to the lads on here for parts/info or I would never have attempted it.

If you overcome your fear of wiring the 940 loom isn't too bad. It's surprising how many people run a mile from electrics.

[EvilRacer329]

/me cowers at the sight of wires

Not much of an update here, I've taken the plunge and SORN'd the beast ready to start tearing it apart for reals. Time to tackle that loom...


Wish me luck!

[wiganer31]

hi there how are you getting on with this? im undertakeing the same conversion soon so any info or advice would be good, also if theres anyone on here that you know of who can sort out parts like the fly wheel etc could you let me know who they are? goold luck with the conversion and let us know how you get on

cheers mate,