"Mr Fredrickson" A B8444S swapped 240 from the UK

[liamcafs]

This is my humble 87' 240 Mr Fredrickson. I've owned it for 3 years sometime daily driver sometimes not.

It all started with a plan to fit a B6254 and M90. The engine came "free" with the donor 960. Its not a bad choice as once in it provdes a good upgrade path for the 6 cylinder.

HOWEVER

With my 40th birthday fast approaching (mid-life crisis anyone ??) I decided I wanted to abandon all my previous efforst and fit the B8444s V8 from the XC90.

The excellent "Fake Race Car" build thread has been a really positive influence, also those guys have already been enormously helpful. The big difference is the aim I suppose. I want a unassuming standard sleeper street car.

These are some of the pictures I've taken so far. I'll post more in the coming days.

Pulling out the B2300E and Slushbox

Trying the B6254 and M90 together.

But no they don't fit together so have to split them and fit the gearbox from the underside

The standard B6xxx sump fits lovely with the front crossmember.

Set up for welding the mounts

This is the amount of trimming i had to do to the right hand side engine mount for steering rack clearance

 

[liamcafs]

Here is a picture of the new arrival in the workshop.

20210509_193358 by Liam McCaffrey, on Flickr

 

[Broke4speed]

OOoh, nice. I'm very curious to see how this goes .

 

[liamcafs]

Measured up for some exhaust manifold flanges based on the gaskets.

My mate Carl drew it up in AutoCAD and printed some paper gasket templates. These turned out to fit perfectly!

Sent this off for waterjet cutting today. 10mm 304 im going for.

 

[liamcafs]

Initial measurements show the FWD sump on the B8444s wants to sit right through the middle of the front crossmember. With that in mind I took the sump off to have a look at the possibility of modifying the sump. ie shortening the front and adding back the volume at the rear.

Its surely possible but I feel less inclined to chop the sump about after having a look in there. Could be quite complicated, I couldn't cut that much without interfering with the oil filter and I would have to move or delete the oil/water heate exchanger (I will probably do this anyway). Going to have a look at how much I can "shave" the front crossmember.

I also took the sump into work and shot it with the xref gun to see what grade it was. Star trek stuff that thing.

 

[liamcafs]

Any advice on my crossmember clearance issue gratefully recieved.

 

[HiSPL]

I'm more interested in what transmission you'll use and the engine management. Those won't be small hurdles to jump, but man I like your style!

 

[liamcafs]

Good points both of which I've been considering at length over the last couple of weeks.

ECU is easyish I have an Emerald k6 ecu which will run everything but only the vvt on the inlets(not the exhausts). Looking for advice on locking the cam phasors if anyone knows anything!

Gearbox is interesting, I've found out the engine shares the crank nose with a number of Ford engines so I'm sourcing an off the shelf flywheel to test fit. Failing that I'm going to machine a flywheel. I'm planning to use a bmw gs6-53dz/bz gearbox with some sort adapter plate or I'll modify the bellhousing if I have to.

I'm more interested in what transmission you'll use and the engine management. Those won't be small hurdles to jump, but man I like your style!

 

[Harlard]

The nice thing about that GS6 box is that you can simply put a pilot bearing adapter pocket on the flywheel, which simplifies the installation somewhat as you would only need an adapter ring for the bellhousing instead of doing a cut n shut job.

 

[liamcafs]

Took out one of the exhaust solenoids and fed it some dc to see how it behaved

http://https://youtu.be/wv1AV39Fuks

 

[liamcafs]

That's a good point, they're pretty common and cheap over here too!

The nice thing about that GS6 box is that you can simply put a pilot bearing adapter pocket on the flywheel, which simplifies the installation somewhat as you would only need an adapter ring for the bellhousing instead of doing a cut n shut job.

 

[antz]

Looking good!!!!!!!!

 

[liamcafs]

Made a start replicating the engine mounting flange last night, it only a template out of 3mm aluminium. Full adapter plate will be 12mm (1/2") steel i imagine.

Jigsaw, centre punch, transfer punches and step drill.

If you don't have any transfer punches, buy some they are really cheap and I'm amazed how often I reach for them.

 

[Råda]

Cool stuff going on here

 

[MadDog_945]

I am stoked, looking forward for a bolt on swap kit

 

[liamcafs]

Cheers guys, I'm having a great time working on this.
Went to the scrap yard this morning to look for a gs6 gearbox but they didn't have anything. Also I bought a used Ford mondeo flywheel on ebay to try. I'll be picking it up when I go to London next week.

 

[Sander]

Good stuff, what are you going to do for engine mounts?

 

[liamcafs]

did a bit more work transfering the bolt flange to the template

Made a little shorty transfer punch and a transfer screw on the lathe

Template done

In the middle of making a centering jig this so I can find the crank centre line relative to the engine bolt flange dowels on or off the engine. Still some welding and trimming to do here but spot the "deliberate" mistake.

When I get the gearbox I'll do some thing similar to that flange. I've also ordered a chunk of steel to make an adapter to slide over the gearbox input shaft and bolt to the crank nose. I can then hold the gearbox accurately on the crank centre line when I mark out the gearbox bolt pattern.

 

[liamcafs]

To be honest I don't know yet. When I get the gearbox and engine mated I'm going to dangle the assembly in the engine bay and see where everything sits. I have my old Homer mounts but I'm consigned to chopping the front crossmember about now.

Good stuff, what are you going to do for engine mounts?

 

[liamcafs]

Welded up the centralising jig, this is really only to find the crank centre relative to the guide pins. Isn't strictly required but will help in marking/trimming the internal curve of the adapter plate. By the way "I am not a Welder". I get my welder friend to weld anything important.

Made a little boss to fit over the crank nose. This will be modified to fit over the gearbox input shaft and is for the purposes of keeping the input shaft concentric with the crank whilst I'm marking out the gearbox bolt pattern on the adapter plate.