Does anyone have any information or suggestions about swaping a B23ft or B21ft motor into an old 142 volvo. My friend gave me a ride in his modified 1985 745ti. The car is damn fast, and ever since I've been dreaming about doing an engine swap into my lighter and better handling 142e. If anyone has any information about this, I would really appreciate it. Thank you


-Bryan

Thanks for all the help everyone. Volvobub, Thanks for all of the information. I would love to talk to you more about the swap. You seem to have a lot of experience with this certain project. thanks again,

Bryan Roberts

I just hosted pictures at Http://members.aol.com/suessin

It can be done.
Where's volvobub?

Bryan,

A guy named Eric brought hsi 145 with a B21FT to the VCOA Davis meet last month. He is on here under Volvobub I believe...search the archives...

Mike

Such swaps are not impossible. You'll want to either convert to
carbs or you'll want to retain the motor's original wire harness
and computer and such.

I understand that you can do this with custom motor mounts and
using the B20 oil pan and oil pump. There are other web sites that
describe how to do this.

You'll also want to make your own exhaust and intake manifolds
since the stock ones likely are not going to fit or at least they
will poke out of the hood of the car (in the 740/240 the motor sits
at a slant. This will include all custom turbo plumbing...

For your effort, you'll get 1/3rd of a liter of added displacement,
an aluminum head and overhead cam.

I'd suggest that an alternative would be to retain the B20 in
your car and buy a kit that allows either a turbo or supercharger.
I believe that kgtrimning can sell you a complete turbo kit, or
at least sell you a head and point you in the direction of a where
to get the manifold and such. John Parker of v-performance can
probably sell you a supercharger that will give you 175-220 real
horsepower without a whole lot of added weight.

I don't want to throw a wet blanket on things but it is no small
undertaking to make this swap.
chris

The B23FT into a 140 is possible.I put a B21ft into my 145 last summer and then a B230FT in November.Your on the right track going with a B23.There were several issues changing to the B230 that made it more complex than anticipated.
You will NOT need to make custom manifolds.I used stock volvo intake and exhaust.I also used all stock volvo intake plumbing except my air filter,airfilter mount and a 3" peice of plastic pipe from the hardware store.All the cooling system hoses are stock volvo with the exception one of the heater hoses,(a piece of bulk 3/4" heater hose).You'll need to deal with: Master cylander mount,motor mounts,alternator and of course fuel system plumbing and wiring.
Some people seem to be down on the swap and will try to scare you with speculation about what you'll need to fabricate or change.Having done 4 V8 swaps on volvos as well as other chevy swaps (jeeps and stuff) I can tell you it was easier than those and it gets more looks at the shows.The V8's seem to handle like dump trucks even when set up right (especially the big blocks).
You could gain more horse power supercharging the B20 but my experience has been that when they that souped up they get tempermental,also try finding parts just anywhere!You'll get better gas mileage,cleaner emissions and better reliability with the B23ft.You'll love how you suprise people in your smooth running quiet volvo when you blow their doors off! It will be quieter cruising down the road at 130 (done that).Parts will be more available.You won't get tempermental running with severe altitude changes.I can think of more benefits given time.I have had several souped volvos and like my B230 145 the most.
Cameron claims 155 rear wheel horse power with his supercharger.the 740 with a B230ft claims 160 stock (probably crankshaft horsepower though).As I've told several people the most impressive aspect of the car is the pick up you'll have when cruising.It's awesome! You can coast down to 50-55 in overdrive and step on it and it picks and goes,right now!
I drove my car 1800 miles last weekend to the IPD garage sale and never popped the hood except to show the car.I also drove from Redding to the Oregon border without coming out of overdrive! It steers well and stops great.I say go for it! I will try to host some pictures on line.

So what did you do for engine mounts? I was looking at your car at the iPd garage sale, and I was very impressed. My friend's 145 will hopefully be recieving a b21ft next month. What did you do for the master cylinder? We have a 240 turbo parts car that the engine is coming out of... other components could also easily be put in if possible... For engine management we are planning on using megasquirt fuel injection, and ? for ignition... (no K-jet for us),,, Any info would be incredibly helpful... The only problem is I'm starting to want to trade my 745ti in for a 140...

You couldn't see the megasquirt on my car only because it's not done! I DO plan on going megasquirt and with an aftermarket ignition but it seemed easiest to get the car up and running with stock components.My car isn't even intercooled and is only running (a very wimpy) 9 pounds of boost right now.I havn't had a lot of problems with the K jet system both on my own cars and customer cars over the last 15 years.It has a wider range of adjustability than alot of other stock fuel systems but admitedly not enough once you start going agro.(Save that for another thread)
The motor mounts on my car were fabricated.The rubber part is just 164 motor mounts.The master cylander bracket is simply a chopped off booster bracket,piece of pipe and a flat piece of steel cut to the right shape to mount the MC.I used a 140 mc but you can cut the flange to any size and use whatever master you likeI will toss a picture of it up where I hosted the others.
I hope to have my car intercooled,suspension done,limited slip etc for Thunder Hill next year.
I have a 745Ti and it doesn't compare to driving the 145.The 145 is the most fun volvo I've had to drive (there have been over 25 volvos for me!),and I've only driven 3 or 4 customer cars that were more "fun".They were all modified 850's,S40's and such.

Sorry for the shadow

Hey Bub -

Your 145 is just plain cool. Glad to finally get a chance to see it in person; and it was certainly one of my favorites at the sale. Good to see you again, too!

Best,

Cameron
Rose City

Cameron.Hope you didn't misunderstand my post .Your car is WAY cool also.Ideally I'd like one of each! Sorry I didn't get to the gathering afterwards.My better half wasn't feeling so good so we headed back down to Cottage Grove,Maybe next time! Erik

If you can use the stock manifolds that makes a *huge*
difference in the complexity of the project. I didn't
realize that you could continue with so much of the stock
stuff.

Thanks for the information that's the fruits of real
experience instead of my WAG (wild assed guesses)
thx,
chris