Volvo 245 1UZ Swap: new products in development
LucaCarMods has made a great growth over the past year and partly due to this growth unfortunately had little time for the Volvo 245 1UZ V8 project and thus the swap kit.
Of course, we are very happy with this growth but it also causes certain projects to be on the back burner. Recently LucaCarMods is in possession of an advanced 3D Scanner which can scan objects to an accuracy of 0.02mm.
What does a 3D scanner have to do with the kit? At first you would think quite little but nothing could be further from the truth. The 3D scanner allows us to reverse engineer parts easily. Or making a 3D drawn copy of it on the computer in CAD (computer aided design) software.
Below is a photo series of what is possible with a 3D scanner. In this example, the engine bay of the LCM 242 was scanned and an OM606 Mercedes diesel engine block with the Einscan Pro 2X 3D Scanner.
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The huge advantage of this is that with this 3D drawing, it is already possible to see on the computer if the engine fits and the alignment can be made digitally in order. All this ensures that all exact measurements are clear and engine mounts or other products can be developed on the computer without being near the car.
Developing an engine mount
Another option chosen for the 1UZ is to make a solid engine mount by mounting 2 plates and welding a strip between them. These solid supports were then scanned for dimensions and from this the products were developed.
Below you can see the scan of such a solid support, as can be seen it is purely for size (don’t mind the “welds” these are welded without sight). The 3D scan can still be made in much higher detail and better finished but that is not necessary in this situation because we need purely the dimensions. (The holes are reference points that you should stick on the object).
In this scan, all bolt holes are mapped very clearly. With this scan alone you can do pretty little; a clever piece of software makes the scan useful for reverse engineering.
Here all cylindrical shapes, planes (surfaces you want to be able to draw on later in CAD) and other important things can be recognized and set. In this scan, the cylinders (bolt holes) have a deviation of 0.09mm in diameter between them; more than enough to work with.
We then export this file to an IGES file which contains the various cylinders and planes, the other items of the scan are not included in this case. These have no added value in developing the engine mounts.
Now that all bolt holes, distances and angles have been mapped, an engine mount can be developed that in all likelihood will require only 1 or no prototype. Drawing the supports is done in Autodesk Inventor or Fusion 360.
Below is an example of the final product (in mirror image)
This engine mount can be mounted directly to the original subframe points where the original engine is also attached and to the 1UZ. After checking the entire assembly, we also superimpose the 3D scan over the drawn product to see if the held dimensions do indeed match 100%. If this is the case, a 3D printed version can be made or directly the steel version.
The engine mounts will use shore 95A polyurethane rubbers which can well absorb the forces of the 1UZ 4.0 V8 engine in the Volvo 245.
The 1UZ Volvo 240 gearbox support
With the 1UZ V8 engine, the rubber of the automatic gearbox is located several inches further back than with the engine that came standard in the Volvo 240. Drilling new holes unfortunately does not offer the desired result, so it was decided to redesign a the gearbox support.
A design based on the original part was chosen. However, the new gearbox support is sturdier and thinner; the latter is important so that there is enough room for an exhaust system on both sides.
Volvo 240 1UZ Gearbox Mount
3D Scan Original Volvo 240 Gearbox Mount
Volvo 240 Mechanical Fan to Electric Conversion
Both the LS400 (from which the 1UZ engine comes) and the Volvo 240 both have a mechanical fan which is attached to the engine. This brings some drawbacks:
- Loss of power
- Takes up a lot of space
- Cools less at idle
- Looks
The main reason in this swap is that there is simply not enough room in the engine compartment to use a mechanical fan. To address this, the decision was made to develop a fan shroud on which to mount a high-power 330mm SPAL fan. Again, an important aspect was that it could be used with original Volvo parts. So this fan shroud just fits the original Volvo 240 Radiator.
Volvo 240 Fan Shroud for SPAL fan.
Again, a 3D scan was used to verify the fit of the drawn product. In all 4 corners there are spaces cleared where rubber flaps will be nailed to. This allows the driving wind to flow better through the radiator at high speeds; at low speeds, these rubber flaps are closed and the fan does all the work.
What’s left on the schedule
With the above products and those already developed such as a throttle cable kit and the GPS speedometer modification for the original instrument panel, the product range is already quite extensive. LucaCarMods’ goal with this swap does aim to make it as easy as possible for Volvo enthusiasts to fit their beloved Volvo 240 with a 1UZ 4.0 V8 engine. With this goal, there are a number of other products, most of which should be realized within a few weeks.
- Plug and Play wiring harness offering for the 1UZ engine
- Custom sump pan development for the 1UZ Volvo 240 swap
- Custom drive shaft or develop a drive shaft adapter
- Cooling lines
- Automatic shift mechanism where the original Volvo shift lever can be used on the 1UZ engine
With these items, we think we have a kit that will be about 95% plug and play where all the research has been done by us and the customer can easily fit his or her Volvo 240 with a beautiful 1UZ V8 himself!
Products already developed are expected to be in stock and ready to ship worldwide by February.
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