Swap Ideas

[chevelle100]

Quite a while ago I was looking into 240's as possible cars, but I ended up buying a bmw 525, and now Im finding that I dont really want to use it as a ....fast driving type of car, and so Im kind of looking at beginning a huge project. Its sort of an engineering and design project, but mostly just for fun. Anyway what I want to do is buy an old pos beat up 240 (something under $800). Body isnt overly important. Ive drawn up designs for a body design I like, sketches, scaled, all that, and working on a model in rhino. I want to styro and clay model my design on the 240, mold my fiberglass, and retrofit everything, redo, the dash and everything, for sort of a sport/luxury appearance, and reupholster. Essentially Im redoing the car, so the shape its in is relatively unimportant, Ill also make some adjustments to suspension, frame, etc. I have plenty of access to paint shops machine shops, wood shops, and all that so thats not a problem.

Apart from everything aesthetic, I want it to have a good engine, but I dont want to spend a whole lot of money, and I dont particularly want to deal with **** loads of wiring, or tuning, so I kind of set my sight on either a ford 5.0 or a chevy 350. Id like to make...somewhere around 300hp to the rear wheels. I need to know what transmission to use, how all that will fit, and any other good ideas. I dont particularly need to hear anything saying the idea is rediculous or that I cant do it, so just dont bothe if thats all you have to contribute. Thanks

[WDRacing]

Do you want a manual or automatic transmission? Answer that and I'll toss suggestions at you.

WD

[Young_240_Guht]

anyone heard of swapping a Ford 5.0 into a s13... ive heard of the ls1, but nothin bout a blue oval swap.... i might try this, on mine, and i might as well stick with the manual, more challenge more fun that way.

[cnichols]

LS1 is a much better fit and a much better motor.

[chevelle100]

Well of course the ls1 is a better motor, but extremely expensive, and not so light either, hard to distribute the weight on a car like this id imagine anyway. Id be more inclined to go with a bmw s50 or something of that nature, but I dont want to spend a whole lot on the engine/transmission. Im thinking Id like to go manual, but Id go auto if I could rig up a paddle shifter. What manuals came with the 5.0 mustang? seems like manual possibilities are endless for 350's

[the_momo]

lsx engines weigh about......100 pounds less than any iron block v-8.

dont do a 5.0 imho its not really worth it. its also been done, actually it was documented in this here hybrids page.

[WDRacing]

The LQ series is the exact same motor as the LS series but in iron block. It weighs only 65lbs more then the LS.

They came in the trucks.