I personally use the Bosch 13913 on my own 240 and my wife's, and I've put them on 740 vehicles as well (non-Regina). It's a great cost effective 3-wire solution for about $50 (after a bit of shopping around for the lowest price). They were used on various Ford Mustang/Explorer/etc applications and the mass production numbers help drive the cost down for us aftermarket purchasers. The 13953 is identical to the 13913, except that it is about $10 more and has an extra 12 to 18 inches of wire before the connector. This makes the 13953 great for the B280 V-6 applications in allowing the splices to be held vertically farther up on the firewall rather than smacking the underside of the car.
You will have to cut, crimp-splice, and shrink tube the 3 wires as the sensor tip does require a tiny bit of "breathing" down the stranded wire for an outside air reference. If you solder the wires, the oxygen that's inside the sensor housing will slowly get consumed and the sensor voltage will drop. There is a chemical reaction going on and it's comparing the oxygen levels outside the sensor (the exhaust stream) versus the air inside the sensor (referenced to the outside world). It doesn't need much airflow, but soldering the wires will kill the sensor after driving a few thousand miles.
FYI: The two White wires are the internal heater within the sensor, and polarity doesn't matter. The Black wire is more or less the "positive" output from the sensor, and it's reciprocating ground path goes through the sensor case, through the exhaust manifold, and to the engine/chassis ground (thus completing the circuit). If you HAD to use a Bosch 4-wire sensor (in an emergency), you could ground the 4th wire to the chassis and complete the ground path and have a functional sensor.
Not to long ago, I grabbed the Ford female connector that mates to the 13913 from a salvage yard car, and I've been meaning to create an adapter to allow a Plug & Play compatibility without the need of cutting the sensor wires each time. The next time my car or my wife's is due, I'll finish the project.
Lastly, when purchasing an Oxygen Sensor like the 13913 for a retrofit like this, you don't need to be able to cross reference it against a vehicle (even if the guy behind the register thinks so). Simply ask them for "a Bosch 13913" and then wait patiently. If the guy has been there longer than two weeks, he'll know how to look up a part in the computer, or he'll just walk back to the stockroom and get it. If it's a new guy who's just been hired and only knows how to look up a part by using the vehicle application guide, tell him it's for a special application project and then he'll go get someone who knows what they're doing.
God bless,
Fitz Fitzgerald.
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