I picked up this old 240 (nicknamed Ernie by the previous owners) in Denver a little over a year ago to be a daily driver valley car. It had been beaten up by one of the previous owners who tried to turn it into a drift car but seemingly failed to do so. The Diff was poorly welded, rear quarter smashed in and partial interior stripped out. I told myself I would fix some stuff but not go too in depth on it, just keep it running. Less than 5 months into owning it I had the itch to make it faster and better. I found an LS drivetrain on eBay for a reasonable price shipped to my door and I gave in. I spent the winter rebuilding an LR4 4.8L and 4l80e transmission. There has been so many LS swapped 240's out there that I figured I would have plenty of resources to get the job done. I drove the car stock all winter and had a blast. Eventually spring rolled around and the engine was about ready to drop in, and then a blessing in disguise hit: the COVID-19 pandemic. it shut my work down and gave me all the time I needed to figure this thing out. I spent a month straight 5-7 hours a day working on my first ever engine swap and had it running within 30 days of starting the teardown. I am still battling lean issues and random leaks currently, but it does run and drive and it is a blast!
Update: lots of things updated/changed to make it run better and smoother. Runs like a top now and is super fun to drive anywhere!
The current Mod list Includes:
2005 Express van LR4 4.8L engine and 4L80e Transmission
stripped oem harness to standalone
hardened rocker trunions
LS1 style intake manifold with holley sniper 102mm throttle body
Accel 32lb injectors
Holley sniper 340lph fuel pump
corvette regulator/filter
Cast headers to dual 2.25"-single 3" exhaust
Vibrant 1794 resonator
electronic dump valve
IPD volvo muffler
Giffin Performance Engine mounts and transmission crossmember
single piece 3" driveshaft
stock Volvo rearend with Volvo 940 LSD
Volvo 940 radiator
camaro style accessory drive
IPD strut brace
Custom built coilover suspension (375# front/ 300# rear)
IPD adjustable rear panhard bar
1970's 240 front end (hood/lights/grill)
1993 850 front valance
Watanabe type R wheels 16x8.5 front 16x9 rear re-drilled for 5x108
transam trunk lid spoiler with custom end caps to fit
I hope to force induct it eventually after I learn more about it and make it run better than it does. Preferably supercharged or pro-charged over turbocharged. A new rearend is in the works as well. Fix all of the random leaks of course and figure out why it still claims to be running lean.
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Comments
Ry
04/22/2021Jake
11/21/2024