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LM7/T56 into a '82 245

connerkuhns

Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2017
Location
San Jose, CA
Hey guys, I've been meaning to start this awhile ago before i had a **** load of catchup to do, but here goes!

Here it is when I got it from Pat (pat244ti)

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It's a 1982 Volvo 240 wagon, started life with a D24 diesel motor, horribly slow, but having the "D" on the title was the important part, living in CA.

The plan was going to be swapping in a turbo Volvo motor, so the D24 was pulled and engine pay cleaned up!

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I had purchased a motor from someone in the North Bay with the intention of refreshing it and putting that with a T5 behind it in the wagon. The motor i bought ended up being way too far gone, Pat suggested we put the motor from his Rally car project in the wagon while I sorted out what I was going to do longterm.

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/151411101@N07/36400777536/in/dateposted-public/" title="1982 Volvo 245. LM7/T56"><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4333/36400777536_c575854f1f_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="1982 Volvo 245. LM7/T56"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


we got as far as installing the rally car motor before the plan changed again for a variety of reasons...

In the meantime I got some 16x8" BBS wheels of craigslist for the car. Pat threw the 1031 that was originally on his rally car in the wagon, as well as Bilstein HD's, TME springs and IPD sway bars. I've also added IPD adjustable torque rods.
 
Change of plans..

Plans ended up changing and I went with the stupid option.

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A LM7 from a 2001 Silverado with 110k on it, and a T56 from a 2000 Firebird, the guy also threw in a Spec stage 2 clutch, bellhousing and flywheel.

Now some important things to note. I've never owned a Volvo, and my only experience driving a 240 was driving the wagon a couple times while it still had a D24 in it. Further, my experience working on cars is the 2 months or so I'd been working at a auto shop as a rookie when I started this project 2 months ago, and the little bit of work I've done on my '70 Bug. I've never done engine swaps, hate wiring etc. So in retrospect, taking this on was kinda silly, especially being that I had purchased the wagon to be my daily driver, and I wasn't planning on it being this big of a project.


After I got the LM7 I proceeded to strip it down and clean it up. After that I started mocking up the engine to build motor mounts.

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/151411101@N07/36446392375/in/dateposted-public/" title="1982 Volvo 245. LM7/T56"><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4434/36446392375_98943d44e7_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="1982 Volvo 245. LM7/T56"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I don't have photo's of them, but with the help of a friend of my dad, we built motor mounts that utilize the stock Volvo motor mount holes on the crossmember. On a lathe we machined out where the bushing on the motor mount goes so that we could press the bushings in, they're stock rubber 240 trailing arm bushings. While the motor mounts work, I'm not entirely happy with them, the motor sits a little crooked, not enough to cause issues, but enough to annoy me. Also, I'm not quite sure how long I expect the rubber trailing arm bushings to last as motor mount bushings. I will likely build new ones at a later time.

On evenings and whenever I had time, I also started working on the wiring harness. I didn't yet have a LS intake manifold to drape the harness over and shorten things to make it look clean, but it'll work. slowly over time I'll work on it bit by bit to actually look clean and not be super ugly.

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I know it's super ugly, but I did it myself, saved $700 buying a harness, and learned a TON in the process. I can clean it up over time.

For the fuel system, I have a Deatschwerks DW200 in tank fuel pump

I had someone at a local shop braze on barbs on the sending unit for the correct size hoses.

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I'm using the Corvette fuel filter/regulator unit. I took a piece of aluminum and using tin snips, a hammer and a piece of wood, bent it into a bracket to go in the stock main fuel pump/filter location.

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The photo shows it not quite complete, when it was finished, it mounts to all the stock mounting holes.

This photo shows the car as it sat at that point. Also shows the wheels.

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At this point I had a MAJOR setback, I started taking a look at the transmission I had got bought. Turned out it was stuck in 4th gear. Took it to a shop to look at, and it turned out the transmission needed so much work, that you could buy a brand new transmission for the cost of making the transmission right. This was a huge blow, that almost killed the whole project, as money was tight. Luckily I was able to find a good transmisssion for not too much money, and just barely without my wife killing me for having to buy another transmission..
 
Damn, you got bit by the bug BAD, knocking off a lot of firsts for yourself too, nice going. :-P

Getting a bum trans sucks, sad to hear you experienced that.

Looking solid so far, hope to see it running soon enough.
 
Gotta get it done!

I used brackets made by ICT Billet to relocate the alternator and power steering pump. I ordered the correct kit per their website and still had issues! First off, the alternator brackets had the alternator sitting about 3mm forward of the crank pulley, a few photos and emails later, ICT sent me the correct spacers. I went to install the LS1 power steering pump and yet again it was off, this time it was a whole 8mm forward!

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After a few days of radio silence from ICT on the latest issue I took the bracket over to a machine shop and had them machine 8mm off of it, and the pulleys lined up perfect!

For the transmission mount, I cut out 3 pieces of 1/4" steel, taught myself to use the MIG welder at work and welded up a transmission mount, I was in a hurry, and being that it would be under the car, I didn't take the time to grind down all the edges of the mount smooth. For a bushing I'm using a stock 164 motor mount bushing.

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Being that I was using a T56, I needed to convert my clutch pedal to work for a hydraulic clutch, If I remember the measurement correctly, the difference was that the pedal needed to be extended by 70mm. A few cuts with a cutoff wheel and some time with the welder, I had cut and extended the pedal, and added the arm to actuate the master cylinder.

I used a .750 bore, 1.2" stroke Wilwood master, and used a remote reservoir mounted to the firewall braces.

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I took stock Volvo trim pieces, drilled holes in them and mounted by oil pressure and coolant temp gauges. since I first started using them in my '70 Bug, I've always loved the simple no frills look of VDO gauges.

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With the gauges in, dual cooling fans and the wiring needed I fired the motor up for the first time, sounded strong and had great oil pressure! No exhaust at this point so it was LOUD!

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For the cooling system I'm using 2 10" Spal fans, wired for the first to kick on at 201 degrees, and the 2nd at 210. The radiator is a stock NA 940 unit, stock 240 expansion tank.

After measuring the driveshaft length, having one built and installing it, it was time for the first drive! this was a few days ago, starting to get up to speed..
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Still no exhaust, so it was crazy loud. Learned a few things on the first drive. The hydraulic clutch had a leaking fitting, so i had to pump to clutch a ton to shift. Under throttle, the rear end squatted enough that the lip of the wheel well rubbed and tore into the tire, the tires came with the wheels and are a little old, so I was planning on replacing them anyways, just not this soon! Also over bumps the driveshaft was hitting the tunnel.

Next day I threw the car back up on the lift and hammered the hell out of the tunnel

For the wheel wells I cut about 1/4" into the lip that extends into the wheel well in 3" intervals, then using a hammer bent the lip in. Gives me tons of clearance, and from the outside, you can't really tell. I did this rather than drilling out the spot welds and then rolling them, as I felt it would give me more structural integrity.

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After those fixes, I test drove it again, no rubbing, driveshaft didn't hit, all good! Even drove to the gas station to fill the tank as I was down to fumes! Man did I get some funny looks. Still no exhaust, so it sounds SO gnarly.

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Exhausted

Now that things are a little more up to speed..

Today the exhaust was finished up, 2.5" tubing from the headers, that join into a single 3" tube just past the transmission. from there I have a resonator, than up and over the rear axle and into a turbo muffler I had bought for cheap when I still thought a turbo Volvo motor was going into the car

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Other than that it's been reassembly, getting the crusty coffin hood back on and headlight surrounds. I don't have any trim for the commando bumpers, which sucks, they look pretty bad just silver. I will likely end up going to pick n pull and pulling off some small bumpers of a later car to put on.

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I drove the car for a bit this afternoon to get it hot and see how it faired. the cooling fans did their job and it seems pretty happy. just quiet enough with the exhaust, but it rewards you with good sounds when you really get on it. we'll see how I feel about it long term. I plan on redoing all the sound deadening in the car, and hope to make it comfortable (noise wise) inside for long road trips etc.

Ended the day by driving the car home! All good aside from a super leaky steering rack, seems to be making the pump whine even though it has plenty of fluid.

Tomorrow I'm going to try and figure out the power steering pump whine so that it's not super annoying, as well as finish up getting the instrument cluster installed and operating correctly.
 
Drove the car into work this morning. Power steering pump only whines once it gets hot, which is super annoying, plenty of fluid in it, but the rack leaks a bunch. Working theory is that it's sucking air in once things get hot. Otherwise everything else feels pretty good. Axle might be bumping the exhaust a little on large bumps, so I need to try and make a little more room there.

The replacement transmission for the bad one I got seems to be working okay, though I have no shift knob yet, so finding the gears can be a little hard. Finally figuring out how to slip the Spec stage 2 clutch.

Today I'll be trying to get the instrument cluster all sorted ski have a tach, speedo and fuel gauge. Will try and post photos tonight.
 
Good things that happened today:
Got the instrument cluster wired up and in, though the GPS speedo seems off by about 10mph.

The bad:
In trying to get the trans shifting a little smoother, I adjusted the clutch pedal through, as I wasn't sure if the master was being compressed all the way. I screwed up and made it so the master could be compressed too much, and caused the seal on the pushrod side to fail, leaking fluid into the footwell and therefore, no fully functioning clutch! I was able to limp home by shifting without the clutch and turning the engine off and starting it in gear at stoplights.
 
Bummer about the clutch. What GPS speedo are you using?

Good things that happened today:
Got the instrument cluster wired up and in, though the GPS speedo seems off by about 10mph.

The bad:
In trying to get the trans shifting a little smoother, I adjusted the clutch pedal through, as I wasn't sure if the master was being compressed all the way. I screwed up and made it so the master could be compressed too much, and caused the seal on the pushrod side to fail, leaking fluid into the footwell and therefore, no fully functioning clutch! I was able to limp home by shifting without the clutch and turning the engine off and starting it in gear at stoplights.
 
My power steering pump does the same thing - whines when warm. Wonder if it doesn't like the fluid we're running, I'm running D/M per OG Volvo spec, you? No leaks on mine.
 
I've got a 2000 Camaro pump, stock volvo hoses. Seems like it's getting a little better though.

Tyler, using a VDO speedometer and VDO gps sending unit.
 
Im using generic power steering fluid from pep boys in my 2004 lm7 avalanche pump. No squeals other then leaky high pressure hose. I'll be switching to the volvo valve soon when I find the time.
 
Gen II small pump on mine, remanufactured ZF rack with Jegs (edit - sorry) 2 gpm flow limiter on the pump. More steering feel than ever, less boost and everything dry as a bone and quiet. Running
Type F as spec'd (I think) in original saginaw pump/Volvo rack.
 
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My power steering pump does the same thing - whines when warm. Wonder if it doesn't like the fluid we're running, I'm running D/M per OG Volvo spec, you? No leaks on mine.

Mine whines a bit, but it actually seems to get a little quieter when warm. But it also may be quieting down over time a little bit. I think it was much louder when new.

Gen II small pump on mine, remanufactured ZF rack with Summit 2 gpm flow limiter on the pump. More steering feel than ever, less boost and everything dry as a bone and quiet. Running
Type F as spec'd in original saginaw pump/Volvo rack (I think...).

I have a POS leaking original ZF rack, and plan to install a rebuilt one soon. What's this flow limiter you speak of? I wouldn't mind having a little heavier steering feel.
 
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