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View Full Version : 1990 Volvo 745 wagon zr1 engine swap


klork
04-24-2019, 08:12 AM
Not sure if this is the correct spot for a build thread on this website but here it goes.

I picked up my 19090 Volvo 745 wagon 2 years ago as a cheap daily driver. I drove about 500 miles from northwest Ohio to west Virginia to pick it up because it was very clean and rust free and a 5 spd. Interior was trashed but I have a friend that has a ton of Volvo's and had a nice black cloth interior to put in it. I also replaced every bushing, ball joint and tie rod when I got the car along with doing hoses, timing belts, water pump and belts as preventative maintenance since the car had 240k on it. I purchased this car because it is rear wheel drive and has a large engine bay and I planned on an engine swap in the future.

My first plan was to swap in a twin turbo 2.9 straight six from a newer Volvo but the engine I bought from the junkyard ended up being extremely overheated and the cylinder head was warped almost 0.030 and was beyond saving.

My second plan was a 1994 LT1 and t56 I found for a decent price on facebook marketplace. I was about to send the cylinder heads out to Loyd Elliot for porting but a friend of mine sent me an ad for a very low mileage LT5 for a crazy low price I couldn't pass up. Luckily I was the first person to get a hold of the guy selling the engine and was able to pick it up the next day. Apparently I have a bunch of enablers as friends because I had 3 or 4 people send me the for sale add within an hour lol.

The first picture is the day I got the car. I left it like that for a little over a year. About a year ago I finally had time to powder coat the wheels the way I wanted to and the second pic show the wheels after I got done with them. 2 tone wheels are a pain to coat. Luckily I can do them my self otherwise they would have cost an arm and a leg to do.

The third pic is a parts car I picked up a little over a year ago. It came with a ford mustang V8 T5 and adapter plates to bolt to the Volvo I6 I was planning on using. When that plan fell through I was able to sell everything I got with the car and make a profit off of it. I was planning on using this car for my engine swap and keeping the blue car as a cheap daily driver but the kid I bought it from decided to leave to windows down and the floor started to rust out on it. He also ran off before notorizing the title basicly leaving me with a junk car. I am not too upset about it but it will make getting rid of the car when I am done with it a bigger pain in the *** then it should have been.

RussMcB
04-24-2019, 09:42 AM
Will be fun to watch this thread. Best of luck with the project. It will be a beast.

DRM500RUBYZR-1
04-24-2019, 10:18 AM
Check out this months Hemmings.
Picture of the Jeep with a Ferrari V-12 in it. That is what hot rodding is about! Best of luck with your project!!! ( and pretty cool )

spork2367
04-24-2019, 10:33 AM
How much does the Volvo weigh?

tgonyaw
04-24-2019, 10:34 AM
What happens to the rear axle when 500 hp is used?

Keep us posted!

Ccmano
04-24-2019, 10:41 AM
:happy1:

klork
04-24-2019, 12:14 PM
I havnt weighed the car to get an exact weight but it is right around 3000-3100 pounds. The stock axle would explode with this much power and sticky tires. I have a 31 spline 8.8 out of an explorer going into the car.

spork2367
04-24-2019, 12:39 PM
I havnt weighed the car to get an exact weight but it is right around 3000-3100 pounds. The stock axle would explode with this much power and sticky tires. I have a 31 spline 8.8 out of an explorer going into the car.

Not as heavy as I would have thought. You’ll gain a couple hundred pounds with the lt5, trans and rear end, but it shouldn’t be too bad. Probably 3500ish when you’re finished.

DRM500RUBYZR-1
04-24-2019, 01:32 PM
klork,
Wish you lived closer...……………
I would love to be there at the first Corvette show you take the car to!
Have mercy on the "factory correct crowd"!!!
Sure should be exciting!
Have fun with the build!!
Marty

klork
04-24-2019, 01:56 PM
I figured it will end up in the 34-3500 lb range.

klork
04-24-2019, 02:11 PM
I had to get rid of a 1984 Mercury capri I had before I could get the parts car in the garage to work on it. I hadn't done anything with the capri in the 3 years I had it so it needed to go to make room. That finally left in mid April of this year.

I finally got the parts car in the garage last Monday when a friend of mine stopped over to help get it in. The first test fit was with just the engine to see how much room I had by the brake booster. I figured the original booster would interfere with the head and it does. Luckily Volvo also had a 16 valve head that they used on this engine and the intake manifold on it interfered with the stock booster. The 16 valve booster is 2 inches larger in diameter but about half the thickness so it will gain me about 2 to 2.5 inches of room. My other option is to go hydroboost but I think this other booster will work. I should have it later this week and find out this weekend I hope.

I know the chains in the first couple of pics are putting pressure on the cam covers. I fixed that. Didn't think about it when I build the engine hoist brackets. This was the first time in a long time I had used my tig machine and I have a lot to learn but the mounts cam out decent. Too bad they don't work.

The second test fit was with the transmission installed. The stock oil pan is rather deep and interferes with the cross member badly so the trans wont come close to fitting in the tunnel.

klork
04-24-2019, 02:17 PM
On the third trial I installed some 1 inch spacers on the engine cross member to lower the engine down some. I also used some min sledge persuasion on the trans tunnel to make some extra clearance for the T56 since the tunnel was not designed for a transmission quit that large. All of this helped a lot but the engine still needs to sit a little lower to get the trans as far back as is needed so the shifter isn't popping out from under dash.

klork
04-24-2019, 02:22 PM
I removed the dash to get at the heater box and see what kind of clearance I can make and possibly make the trans tunnel larger. I might be able to do something here but the heater box sits right on the trans tunnel.

I also thought about doing some surgery to the oil pan but after I removed it I decided against that due to the complexity of the pan. I may consider a dry sump system to make a much smaller oil pan but that is a big expense I would much rather avoid.

My other thought is to make a tubular engine cross member to make more room but the steering rack is in the cross member right underneath the engine and I am not sure what kind of effect moving the rack 2 inches down would have on the steering system.

RussMcB
04-24-2019, 03:40 PM
I can tell this is going to be entertaining. :-)

Good, fast progress thus far. Please keep with the frequent posts. My hunch is plenty folks on ZR1.net will enjoy this project.

Heart of the Beast!

klork
04-24-2019, 03:57 PM
It is probably not going to be real fast progress. I have a 2 and 4 year old plus i changed jobs this year to teaching from working on airplanes so school and classes i have to do are taking up a lot of time also. Hopefully during summer vacation i will be able to get quite a bit done.

LGAFF
04-24-2019, 04:01 PM
So my dad has a 78k mile 89 240 5spd. I do an upgrade for him every year. Virgo Turbo wheels, sway bars, strut braces and last year a VX3 camshaft. Moving the car from 114hp to 135hp. Maybe it’s time to drop in an LT5 lol


Sent from my iPhone using ZR-1 Net Registry (http://r.tapatalk.com/byo?rid=90383)

klork
05-02-2019, 06:43 AM
Didn't get a chance to do much last weekend. I did get my thin brake booster in and did a real quick test fit. It might have worked but it would have been really close. I took it back and ordered a hydro-boost setup off of a 2004 svt cobra. Not sure about a master cylinder yet as I will have better calipers that should take more fluid then the stock cobra calipers. I have a set of wildwood 4 piston calipers and some 13 inch cobra rotors to go on the front of the car. The rears will be the stock explorer disc brake setup which is actually an upgrade from most of the mustang stuff. I believe it is what ford sells for the ford racing rear brake kit. I forgot to take any pics when I did the test fit so no pictures from last week.