Bertone powered by Ford

[nonhog]

Start of this story begins with my wifes love for Volvo's. She drove a 940 Turbo when we meet and soon told me of her "collector Volvo" (I had hopes of a P1800) when she said 1980 Bertone coupe I knew what car she was refering to. I recall reading about that car in Car and Driver magazine when it came out. The article was not flattering. Her car was stuffed in an old rickety garage as it had blown head gasket driving home from a Volvo Club of America meet.
After we got married I got the car running and it ran o.k. but the milkshake looking oil ended any chance of me or almost any tech wanting to repair that engine.
Me being a hot rodder at heart recalled the Converse engineering 5.0 Ford engine swap kits. I decided that was the route I would take.
And so the journey begins........

[nonhog]

After waiting a couple of years I ordered the Ford Explorer 5.0/4RW70 kit from Converse.
After shelling out many hundreds of dollars for a kit I received a wire harness
patch some hoses and motor mount adapters along with around 8 pages of instructions.
As I jumped in removing the old and preparing the way for the new. I found
(the hard way) that it does not go in smoothly and many steps and details were missing from the instructions and a few were plane wrong.
So far the engine has been in and out and back in 5 times.
Converse has been good with answering questions and any swapper should plan on taking engine in and out a number of times.

[nonhog]

I'll try not to bounce around too much but no promises.
After locating a engine at a local wrecking yard I found a transmission at another location.
I got the wire harness from the same Explorer that I found the transmission.
Long list of items that should be sourced from the donor vehicle.
Alt., P/S pump, ECU, O2 sensors, mass airflow sensor, cruise cable, coils,alternator,starter, throttle cable and something I forgot the VIN#.
I thought buying ceramic coated headers would be a good idea and I lucked out after denting the tubes in a couple of spots the coating seems to be in tact.
A Mustang style twin sump oil pan is needed as well as Mustang convertible engine mounts.

I installed the engine with headers attached and left the intake complete on the 5.0. Looking back I really don't know how that worked.(?)

[nonhog]

After denting the RH frame rail to a softball size dent. I soon found that my idea of softball size was not enough. This would be a regular happening as is normal on any swap I would imagine.
My goal is not a step by step instruction but what to be ready for is someone were to decide to install a V8 with or w/o a kit. I'm way over a year on the process. I'm sure I'll edit a few times as I post more.

[nonhog]

I am convinced if I were to do this again I would remove the interior and cut out the transmission tunnel and a small portion of the firewall as well as the area on the RH frame rail (softball size dent). That way the engine could be installed more easily and new (modified) sheetmetal welded in for a quicker (IMO) and much more proffesional looking install.
The amount of time fighting the linkage, wiring, exhaust clearance etc. would make a less frustrating install.
I ended up modifying the RH rear lower control arm mount for extra exhaust clearance. Also modified the motor mount adaptor on the LH side.

[nonhog]

I stole some ideas from other engine swappers from various forums.
One idea was too add room for a bigger exhaust by thinning the transmission crossmember as well as adding attachment arms to use the factory threaded
holes which I trust more than the lag bolt attachment suggested by Converse. Another couple of pics of the LH mount plate mods.

[nonhog]

The 4RW70 is a good sized tranny and as I have found out it needs modified
(untold in my instructions) and as the Explorer use electronics to signal the speedo the Bertone of course does not. Converse told me there are options
well one at least that I can recall. A signal adaptor of sorts that IIRC sends a signal to a box which drives a cable all of this I learned after buying the kit and engine and trans. In comes TestPoint a friend who I met on TurboBricks website. Who after doing much research decided to replace the 4RW70 tailshaft with a AOD tailshaft. I did the same. Now I will be able to add a speedo driven gear and use a cable.

Foolishly (one of many times) I installed the transmission 2 or 3 times before taking the sawsall to the case and ridding any bosses not needed.
Also belt sanded some ribs down a bit.

[68EFIvert]

That sounds like a pretty interesting project. I converted an old Mustang to fuel injection and it is a lot more work than I initially thought it would be. Great now that it is done but took longer than I thought I should. You are right in that many small things poke their heads up and lead to other modifications.

[nonhog]

Been many weeks since I touched the 5.0 swap project. Shop is almost clean enough to get back at it. Hope to have updates soon.

[nonhog]

Still at it slow and steady. Heavy on the slow and light on the steady. LOL
Been trying to hook up exhaust and its fighting me the whole way.
No challenge=no fun, right?

Yet to get very far. Hope to have updates soon.