Before you take this on you should read the Converse manual I sent you and see if you still want to do it. Really take your time making the decision to rip into two cars--there's lots of stuff, like frame modifications on both sides of the engine, motor mount installation, etc, that you will have to take care of. Plus, some things have to be built for individual cars--like the driveline and exhaust system--and might have to be modified for a second swap, and there are adjustments like motor height and angle that you'd have to perform. Not to mention the whole wiring deal--removing Volvo harness, running Ford harness thru firewall, installing Ford ECU behind dash, wiring up fuel system, etc, etc, it's pretty huge. Also, CAREFULLY check your '88 for rust--since it's an east coast car you might have some, whereas the platform you have now was, at least as it left me, totally rust-free.

It took me three years to make your car work like it does, and I'm not no idiot when it comes to cars...think about that before you get too deep into things. A carbureted conversion is one thing, but these EFI cars are more complex. Really, really nice when you get them working right, but for two years that motor ran like piss, and it was not fun to use it or to try to fix it. Extremely frustrating.

There are lots of little things--shift linkage, clutch engineering, tachometer mod, etc--that you would have to do. In addition you would probably want to swap some of the new parts off my old car onto your new project, like the IPD sways, new steering rack, etc, which is more work on top of the V8 conversion, and you might also want the nice stuff like cruise control, etc, which I rigged up myself using what my car had (a Turbo might be different, and making cruise transfer from auto to manual is even more stuff to do in the tranny swap area). That said, your Turbo probably has a good heater core (though that does eventually go and you do already have a new one) and the nice interior, and some parts of the conversion like the bellhousing mod and motor mount installation would be done already. There's pluses and minuses, but again let me caution you that, at least in my experience, this is not a plug and play kind of thing. You have to do a lot of work to get it right, and that work has all been done--which, as you told me a while back, is why you bought a converted car in the first place (besides price). I had that engine in and out twice, bored through every bit of the EFI wiring, and got it tuned just right. It might not be that way if you swap it out (in fact it definitely won't--remind me to tell you how to fix one particular wiring problem in your Converse kit if you do end up doing the swap).

Don't let me put words in your mouth. If it was me, I'd steal the Turbo interior, wheels, black trim, etc, and that would make me happy. Then again, I already made my perfect V8 Volvo, and your perfect V8 Volvo might be something else entirely. Either job (interior swap or drivetrain swap) will be a lot of work, for different reasons, and either one will make you happy in the long run. Just thought you might want input from the guy who has been through it ALL with your exact car, so you know what kind of a job you're looking at here; sorry that was so long.