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Different Take on a V8 Swap - Duder's 4.6L Twin Turbo 245

Duder said:
:cheers: Thanks dude. I'm a bit envious of how quickly you got your long-dormant project car on the road. I need to take a page from whatever book you're smoking!

Mixing metaphors is always fun.
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Well there was a big ol push with a bunch of people over a long weekend, then it just sat for another year after that.

Plus I had an entire car with the swap already in it to work from, so that helps.
 
Scope creep is a thing. And self-inflicted complexity due to using an oddball engine. Ain't nothin' wrong with a good old straightforward LS-swapped 240 though! And I've always liked your car Jared, something about it just vibes right.
 
aidanahunter said:
Time to bring this thread into 2022. How's it going, Chris??
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Hey man, good to hear from you! Damn you're really keeping me honest here, LOL. How's the XJS going?

Not much progress to report on this one sadly, although I'm doing well and keeping busy. Working on the 242 again now and in the past year I got heavily into both mountain bikes and typewriters. Go figure... mechanical distractions!

My new goal that I set a couple months ago is to get the 245 to roller status by the time Davis 2023 rolls around. Engine & trans mounted and suspension & steering done. I still need to make some time to pull the front end parts off of my E36 race car to take mounting points measurements and to make a "negative suspension jig...thing" like the Binky guys did.
 
Nice! Jag is almost done. Started it for the first time last week with no exhaust manifolds - that video will go up on my YT channel Friday. Right now the engine is out again one last time so stuff can get buttoned up. Hoping to drive it by the end of the month and take it on a road trip over Labor day!
 
Let's pretend that it hasn't been more than 3 years since my last relevant post about this car. The positive news is I have been able to make progress here & there - and now following a long period of apathy about car projects, I'm back at it on several of them at once.

I decided it was best for me to de-scope this project so I could get it running before getting it "right," to borrow a Freiburger phrase. The BMW suspension, wheels, and brakes were shelved in the interest of completing the drivetrain swap. If it doesn't run and drive, it doesn't matter how well it handles, stops, or looks!

The current target is making the '75 a roller again, with driveline hard mounted, functional steering, and at the least a functional handbrake. This way I can move it out of my home garage and take it to the shared workshop and work on all of the systems there with the benefit of a lift, welders, machine tools, shop air, extra helping hands when needed, and so on.

This was all spurred by Ian @hiperfauto asking if I'd be interested in a 245 parts car he needed to move quickly in late 2023, specifically for the rear axle. It was an '86 wagon that had formerly been converted to 5.0 / AOD from a Fox body Mustang. The engine & trans were long gone and the shell had significant rust issues, but was sitting on a Ford 8.8 rear axle and some decent coilovers up front. Whoever built the 8.8 did things a bit differently than we're used to on TB - the axle tubes and shafts were cut, and the Volvo outer tubes and axles were spliced in. From the wheel well it looks like a stock 240, still has 240 brakes, 5 x 108 flanges, and all the stock mounting brackets. Another sad thing about this car is it still had a CA BAR certification sticker for the swap, so it would've been legal to put another 5.0 into this thing and rip around - but this shell was too far gone to be remotely worth fixing IMO.

So I figured since I was most likely leaning towards an 8.8 anyway, and this car came with a bolt-in solution plus decent upgrades for the front end, I'd plan to start off with more Volvo / less BMW content vs. previous plans.

I harvested what I needed from the blue '86 and moved it along to @go240go who was able to scrounge even more parts for one of his cars.








When harvesting the parts I brought the old stock '75 rear axle and front struts to the shop and swapped them in to the blue shell, to keep it roll-able.



The 8.8 in situ:





With the converted 8.8 back home, I cleaned it up and got a close look. Check out the splice joint in the tubes. It looks like everything was done by someone competent. The remaining parts of the Ford tubes are welded to the carrier, the stock mounting ears were nicely cut off, and everything spins as it should.

Gears are 3.73s and it has a Ford Traction-Lok clutch style limited slip installed. I haven't pulled an axle shaft yet to see what those splices look like!







Last year I gave it a fresh lick of black paint then stashed it away. Then just this month I cleaned up all of the old '75 lower arms, upper torque rods, panhard bar, etc and finally got the 8.8 bolted into the '75. So now it's a half roller!





 
I’m fully expecting that the axle shafts were cut and sleeved. Will pull them out to inspect before sending mega torques through them!
 
Duder said:
Let's pretend that it hasn't been more than 3 years since my last relevant post about this car. The positive news is I have been able to make progress here & there - and now following a long period of apathy about car projects, I'm back at it on several of them at once.
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Same here. Thank goodness I'm not the only one. I'm embarrassed to admit how long it took to get around to a simple water pump job that got derailed spectacularly when two studs broke. Really took the wind out of my sails.

Duder said:
I’m fully expecting that the axle shafts were cut and sleeved.
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But... but... aren't the axle shafts in a 1031 a known weakness? Which is why some racers have a pair cryo treated and/or custom made?

In which case, if a builder would go to that much trouble, wouldn't it be straightforward to specify all the Volvo fittings on one end and a Ford spline on the other? I never even considered that until now, but those pics of welded tubes really opened my eyes to the possibility.
 
Toybox said:
Same here. Thank goodness I'm not the only one. I'm embarrassed to admit how long it took to get around to a simple water pump job that got derailed spectacularly when two studs broke. Really took the wind out of my sails.
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No need to be embarrassed - it happens!

Toybox said:
But... but... aren't the axle shafts in a 1031 a known weakness? Which is why some racers have a pair cryo treated and/or custom made?

In which case, if a builder would go to that much trouble, wouldn't it be straightforward to specify all the Volvo fittings on one end and a Ford spline on the other? I never even considered that until now, but those pics of welded tubes really opened my eyes to the possibility.
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I'm sure that is possible and it would be the better way to do it in this case. On this 8.8 the outer flanges do appear to be original Volvo, so at the moment I'm just assuming they cut and sleeved and welded the shafts together. Would be nice if they used the old flanges on all new axles though...
 
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