I am restoring a "83 242 Turbo. The car is very rusty and due to the scarcity and high cost of 2 door body parts, I bought a super clean '84 242DL from Arkansas to use as a donor for the Turbo. The '84DL is a total "stripper", a base car with no sunroof, no A/C, no power anything, basic shabby cloth interior, etc, but has a super nice, virtually rust free body. Plan was to cut up the DL as needed. I now realize it would be much better to use the Turbo as a donor for the DL, swapping out A/C, suspension, sunroof roof panels, etc to the DL and start with a much nicer, more solid body for a rotisserie restoration. Once the Turbo started coming apart, the extent of the rust was much, much worse than thought. The Turbo has a lot of sentimental value to me, it's the car I had when my wife and I were dating, (the stories that car could tell!), but I think it just might be too far gone. The 70,000 tons of salt used in an average winter here in metro Detroit have taken their toll.
The car will have a Ford Mustang 5.0V8 engine/5 speed manual trans. driveline. I have some of these parts already.
My questions to the collected knowledge on this forum are;
I know struts, springs, etc are different on the Turbo. Will this all swap over from the Turbo to the DL? Are there additional reinforcements, gussets, body stiffeners? Welded in? Basic body shell is the same? What about rear axle assy? Steering? Is there a parts list available? DL is automatic, Turbo manual trans. Will be using manual trans with v8, will clutch pedal assy swap over to DL simply?
The Turbo was in running condition when parked. Wiring harness, etc, in good condition, power windows, mirrors, even a/C was working. All of this LOOKS like it should swap over. What am I not seeing?
This is going to be a serious resto-mod with big brakes, 300+hp, and my friend owns a trim shop for the interior. I know this is gonna be expensive, I'm prepared.
With a complete manual trans turbo car at hand, I should have a lot of the little bits that are hard to find, but there is always a "Catch 22" (The "catch" is there is always a "catch")
Any tips/experience/advice/horror stories, etc, will be greatly appreciated.

As the others have said, all the suspension stuff will swap over. So since you are going to use aftermarket suspension pieces, they will all work on the DL just fine.

The biggest thing that I would do is carry over the black trim from the turbo and remove the chrome trim from the DL. SEM Trim Black paint will make it look good as new, also (fill in any nicks). And the trim at the bottom of the side windows - well, I hate the bulky strip with the chome that is on the DL. I would find out how to remove that, and make it look like the Turbo.

Oh, and take the turbo steering wheel over and take out the bus wheel. Or use a nice aftermarket part.

And hey, you're lucky you have the 84 now, so you don't have to mess with the 85 mph speedo any more.

Greg
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My homepage:

Finding little things are different; shopping for Koni/Bilstein, there ARE listings for the DL, but NOT for the Turbo, and so on. Same with springs. DL brakes are Girling, Turbo are Girling/ATE.
Worst so far? Car came from Arkansas and is poster child for "Southern Engineering" Spaghetti/rats nest of wiring is horrible. Scotchloks, crimp on connectors, multiple wires of same color, live wires connected to nohting; hoo boy! what a mess. Maybe I can twist some one's arm at Painless or similar, to come up with something.
I absolutely suck at electrical stuff! Most other things I'm OK at, but not wiring. Easy for some, not for me. Like playing an instrument; you either "get it" or you don't
Still looking for motor/trans, concentrating on body/suspension/brakes, etc. Lots of abused, worn out, oil starved junk out there; price to rebuild used motor is darn near cost of crate motor!
Doing car while doing major surgery on my show bike Norton and a Triumph, garage expansion and old house re-hab. Bikes are sure a lot easier to work on than bloody cars! Have bike lift, sadly no car lift.

I do not know why you think the springs and struts are different. I do not think they are. Certainly not the springs and any new 240 strut will fit either car. The manual tranny car has a firewall plate through which the cable goes, you'll need that if the hybrid will have manual.

I had started a full resto on the '83 Turbo 242, but once it was apart; interior gone, glass out, engine/trans/ out, etc, and it was being prepped for soda blast to uncover filler and repairs from 1st restoration about 15 years ago, it just became clear that it would be better to use the car I had bought as a donor. It was solid, virtually rust free and so on but the idea was to re-do the car I had owned when my wife and I were dating. I have owned this car for 27 years and it has enormous sentimental value. I hope that by switching to "Plan B" and using as many parts as possible to build the other car that it's spirit will live on. Kind of like that Neil Young song "Long May You Run"
The suspension is Bilstein/IPD and hopefully is still usable. I do know from when I replaced this stuff that the Turbo stuff is shorter and stiffer than a DL sedan or wagon. I'll use what is still good.
My concern was whether mounting points, gussets, brackets, geometry, etc, of the body were the same and whether things like the steering rack was the same. The DL feels slower steering.
I realize that installing all of the wiring, A/C, (DL is a non A/C car), power windows, mirrors, etc, etc, will be lot of work, but most of this stuff will be removed for soda blast/body work/paint, anyway.
As for the sunroof, plan is to cut applicable panel(s) out of one car and swap into other car.
As for V8 swap; I live in Dearborn, Mich. ground zero for the Ford empire. Crashed and broken Mustangs are plentiful and cheap. Besides, as a Ford retiree, I get a pretty good discount on Ford parts, including Ford Racing and other performance stuff, not to mention that a lot of the engineers, dyno operators, Product Development mechanics and so on, live right in the neighborhood. I would gladly stay with a mofified Volvo engine, but have absolutely no idea where to buy Volvo hot rod parts or find build info. There is NO "tuner car" scene here; no euro car, no asian car, no Subaru AWD, no hot rod BMW, nothing around here. My priority is the body work first on this project, driveline parts second, but before I get involved with the V8 aspects, I would love to do research on Volvo engine performance mods, but have no idea where to look. Can someone steer me to books, articles, etc? I see postings about 250hp red blocks, but if all the parts are in Sweden and it costs me $3,000, $4,000, $5,000 or more to get a high strung, fragile red block boosted to the ragged edge of it's life with 225-250hp with not a lot of torque, and I have to go 80 miles round trip to get a part from the snotty, sniffing bad attitude Volvo dealer who smirked and said, "We don't really carry parts for such OLD cars, our customers drive NEW cars". All of this while I can WALK to the Ford dealer for parts and get a discount, too, on my driveline from a $1,000 wrecked Mustang. So, I'm looking at the Ford swap, but still curious about hot rodding the red block.
What I could really use at this point is a parts list of Turbo only items to compare with the DL. That would be a big help. Where to source parts lists for a 242?

Oh, one more thing; I do have a diesel front stabilizer bar which has been recommended as the one needed for the V8 swap.
Also, 2 door body parts are available from sources in Germany, but just think what it costs to ship a door from Deutschland to Dearborn, USA! Gonna be a lot of fabrication work on this!

There is a world of Red Block information out there and with a turbo 250hp seems like just the first step. I find this forum difficult to search and limited in time frame. Perhaps I am just more familiar with the Vbulletin software that most forums use.

Take a look here for research material: http://forums.turbobricks.com/forumdisplay.php?f=13

I find the Turbobricks forum extremely hard to use. I have sent at least 5-10 messages to moderator asking why can't I access for sale/wanted listings, why can't I post or reply and I never get a reply. I'm sure I'm doing something incorrectly, my computer skills are average at best for an old geezer, but jeez, the courtesy of a reply to my questions would be nice. I seem to log in OK, but can't get things to work.
Since I have so much trouble with that forum, I've given up on looking for info there. This is a common problem with many of the forums for cars, bikes, etc; they are not user friendly for those with limited computer skills. There always seem to be those who like to show off their superior skills by using ever more arcane, obscure and "insider" abbreviations and jargon and delight in sneeringly ridiculing those of us who struggle. It was my, (mistaken, it seems), understanding that these forums were to be welcoming, inclusive, friendly places where folks could ask questions, seek advice, share horror stories, give advice, share info, recommend parts suppliers, and so on, but often that is not how it works.
I've tried to find the "Volvo Performance Handbook" but it is out of print and can't locate one for sale. (Amazon, Ebay, etc) Anybody have a spare? Is that a good starting point for info on red block performance options? From my limited inquiries so far, 200-225hp seems to be about the limit using readily available parts for a B21FT-cam, header, increased boost, etc. This is why I was going the V8 route. With the Mustang 5.0, (or the Chev), you're starting with 225hp or more and upping that with the vast amount of parts and detailed info out there is a realistic thing to consider.
With the B21FT, hot rod parts and info on how to build it and what to use is a lot more difficult to come by. And as for swapping out the B21FT for another Volvo motor with different head, turbo, etc, well that's an engine swap, too, with it's own set of problems.
As I said, i live in the Detroit area. I've gone to hundreds of car shows, cruise nights, I've shown (and won!) stuff at the Detroit Autorama and dozens of other shows and I've NEVER laid eyes on a hot rodded Volvo engine. I've seen Volvos with V8s, V6s, GM Quad 4s, even a Viper motor. Particularly interesting was a PV with a supercharged Buick 3.8V6 converted to RWD with a 5 speed manual trans. But NEVER seen a modified Volvo motor. So, build one of those? Ok, but where to begin?
By the way, If I remember correctly from the last strut replacement on the Turbo car, the Turbo struts are shorter and the springs are shorter and stiffer than the DL items. Compare the "stance" of a DL vs a Turbo car.
Don't know about steering rack, etc.

In my opinion, the biggest benefit of going the Ford V8 route isn't the potential for HP. It's the low rpm torque that makes the car an entirely different animal - even compared to 4 cyl with similar turbo HP.
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82 242 5.0L; '00 Accord; '08 Mini Clubman

Your claim with other web sites is true for the most part. This board and Matthews have honest, hard working people who enjoy helping others. We don't try to 'out' people with rude answers. That's why I live here! It is a good neighborhood.

Too bad there is too much rust on your 242T. The hardest part will be to install a sun roof. The cut has to be exact so it will never leak.

The suspension mountings are the same in both cars, the Turbo has shorter springs and shocks. But if you put the heavier V8 in the front, those springs will not be enough.

Move the rear end to the new car if you keep the clutch. You will need to drill a hole in the firewall, but no big deal with the clutch assembly swap.

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My back feels better when I sit in a Volvo seat

Local junkyard offers a complete roof with sunroof and good crank/winder thingy and nice headliner for $50, sawed off at bottom of pillars. Works, too! Gonna buy it to experiment and see if I can successfully cut spotwelds without buggering it up. No butchering parts car either! I can do decent plug welds, swapping entire roof may not be do-able if I can keep it from twisting/warping.

There is no real difference in the body structures of the two cars so swap away. The rear end ratio is most likely different and you could choose based on your intended use of the finished vehicle. There is a chart around with the ratios. I'll try to find it and post back if someone else doesn't. The clutch setup will swap as everything is just bolt on.

The sunroof may be the most difficult issue if the '84 plain Jane didn't have one.

Installing the 5.0 V8 is going to be the most fun. Check this link out for some of the fine details: http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=250257

Struts and shocks etc... all work. The turbo will have larger swaybars, stiffer springs, uprated deCarbon shocks, etc... The rear end, if it's a locking rear end (optional) is preferential, dealer-installed. Manual and auto trans are all different rear ratios as well. Swapping the pedal box over is pretty simple, really, and those cars are old enough that they aren't a wet clutch, they're cable-activated, that makes life a little more simple.
Having said all this, what are your goals? It sounds like this isn't a tight budget build, so why are you reusing old shocks and springs? Get a pair of diesel springs for the front of your V8 swap car, go on turbobreicks and wait for a V8 deep-drop iPd front swaybar (needed to clear the oilpan) and get a set of new bilstein or koni struts. If you're going this far why use old parts?
iPd also offers a bolt-on S60R brake kit now, too - requires 17" rims. would be a good place to start. Alternatively, you could also go to r-sportinternational.com or kaplhenke.com and browse their coilover & big brake kits...