NEWBIE! Fruity E30 project / worlds longest introduction!

rhubarb7 wrote: Nova propped up on bricks

It had a piece of wood on top of the concrete blocks, to not damage chassis rails!

Plus it only weighed peanuts - I could pick it up on my own without an engine in, and two of us could lift it up with the engine in!!

Yeh true, but the stands I've got didn't go high enough to get the engine under the car, as with the size of the engine & 6 speed box it has to slide under the car, not go in from above!

All irrelevant anyway now, as I don't own it anymore, and I'm sure I'll splash out on some new stands for the E30 to sit comfortably on!!

Aramil wrote: Ben O Brien wrote: Right, the engine your using if its a 5 cyl is the B5234T Also known as the T5 motor, thats the one you want, 225 out of the factory, With relatively simple mods like bigger turbo/injectors/strengthened rods and pistons 350-400 brake is easy enough to reach. The T5's were all front wheel drive, however Volvo put the whiteblock engine in the 960 albeit 6 cylinder but it was RWD and some were manual so theres your gearbox issue sorted, well if you can find one. (I have one but your not getting it :D) If tis 4 cylinder your after then itll be a B23ET red block out of a 740 Turbo Pre 85. Parts are easier to come by for the older red blocks esp in scandanavia and easier to get Gearboxes as they were all RWd anyway. However id be going for the T5 whiteblock if i were you purely for the rarity basis. I am building a Volvo 242 Coupe at the moment with the T5 engine fitted and M90 box, its never been done to a 240 in the uk or ireland and there is a few stateside and in scandanavia so it should be interesting. especially since its one of about 4-5 242's in Uk and Ireland. Its a 242 mind not the more common V6 262 with the chop top. If you need any advice pm me and ill give you my number, dont go down the Volvo road without getting some advice first anyway. Sten Parner is worth googling too, he supplies everything you could need for bleeding hp out of Volvo units! And go for it, Theres enough S50 engined and S38 engines E30's out there, be different! And if its anything like the Nova it should turn out fantastic. Thanks mate! Excellent info! It is the 225 5 cylinder engine I want (should have a fair bit of torque!) I did a bit of reading up on 'boxes before, and I'm sure I read that the BMW 635csi came with a Getrag 265 or 262 box (the 265 being the stronger of the two), and that box could handle up to 700bhp... Apparently it mates up to the Volvo block, but not 100% on that... (Whether or not a spacer / adapter needs to be used I don't know)

The whiteblock comes in 4, 5 and 6 cylinder versions, with the 4-cylinder in the S40/V40 etc. The 5 also comes in some versions of the Renault Safrane as well as the Focus ST a mentioned. Sometimes handy to mix and match parts.  Stock turbo 5s can be had quite cheaply now.

 The 6 is much less common though, and nearly all autos (the 2.5 litre 6 was dropped from production) and there aren't too many M90 gearboxes around, so a Getrag might be a better route.  KLRacing sell whiteblock -to-Getrag adaptor plates.

The early 5s have distributors mounted on the 'rear' of the cylinder head which might give some clearance problems.  Later versions and all 6s have coil on plug ignition.   The throttle bodies also tend to end up on the rear of the intake manifold as well which needs attention, as well as the exhaust reorientating.

The stock motor internals are of fairly good quality and safe to around the 350 bhp mark without any trouble on a 5 cylinder.

Redblocks and whiteblocks are like chalk and cheese, and share no similar components.

The FWD engines have full length sumps which tend to foul the crossmembers when transplanted into a RWD car.   The 6-cylinder was fitted to both FWD and RWD (and 4WD) cars, and the RWD versions such as in the 960 have a rear sump which might clear more easily.  

Shortening this cast alloy sump to fit a 5-cylinder engine is not as easy as it sounds, as even with good preparation and welding they tend to distort and leak if given half a chance. It might be better to make up a completely new sump in aluminium or steel, or cut the 5-cylinder sump to suit?

If you do happen across a 960 in a breakers yard for a sump, you could take the engine mounting brackets as well, but it is fairly easy to mount new fabricated brackets to this block anyway.  If you are lucky enough to find a rarer M90 manual equipped car have the gearbox, but if not get the auto bellhousing (the auto boxes are often goosed anyway) as it could be useful for a convertion.  It might also be worth having the whole 960 inlet manifold and cutting off one cylinder?

These engines do have a lot of untapped potential, and are readily available and inexpensive to buy (if not to put aftermarket parts into!)

You mentioned a Talbot Sunbeam fitted with a Mazda RX7 motor... in the January 2010 issue of Retro Car magazine there is a Talbot Sunbeam fitted with a 3-litre Volvo 24valve whiteblock 6 that is being twin turbocharged which might be of interest to you!


Good luck with your project!