B230e to b230ft

[JDW3696]

Hello all.
I have a lovely 1988 740 2.3gle with the b230e engine. It is a great engine but I am considering putting a b230ft engine in it that I'll hopefully find in a 940.
I have been looking around for advice but can't seem to find anyone who is knowledgeable in doing this conversion. I am in Hertfordshire but don't mind travelling. Could anyone recommend someone please.
Many thanks.
All the best
Joe

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by JDW3696

Hello all.
I have a lovely 1988 740 2.3gle with the b230e engine. It is a great engine but I am considering putting a b230ft engine in it that I'll hopefully find in a 940.
I have been looking around for advice but can't seem to find anyone who is knowledgeable in doing this conversion. I am in Hertfordshire but don't mind travelling. Could anyone recommend someone please.
Many thanks.
All the best
Joe

You need much more than the engine! You need the fuel injection loom, ECU, EZK (ignition ECU), intercooler and some other bits i can't bring to mind just now.
Do you have ABS on your 740? Even with ABS there is still a minor problem for the fuel ECU as it uses the speed sensor in the back axle that drives the speedo (and ABS) to determine road speed and decide whether to keep the idle high or not - it defaults to high if it doesn't get the right signal. Also bear in mind that if you do have ABS, the reluctor rings in the back axle and on the front hubs have 96 teeth each. The 940 uses 48 teeth on the same components so you may have to change the back axle to a 940 axle and the reluctor rings to 940 spec. I'm assuming here you have the later front wheel bearings that are integral with the hub, there are ways of recovering reluctor rings from dead 940 hubs and fitting them to the 740 hubs but if you decide you'll fit new hubs with new bearings at the same time it gets expensive.

I know of someone that can do it but also that he's pretty busy, i'll get in touch and get him to have a look at this thread and make any comments/offers if he's able to.

[JDW3696]

Hello.
Thankyou for that. I thought it might be quite involved. To be honest I probably won't bother in that case. My b230e has only got 75000 miles on it I just wanted a bit more go. Maybe I'll look down the tuning route. I've got a decent stainless steel exhaust. Maybe headwork, manifold etc. If you could ask the person you know or give any advice then that would be great.
Thankyou once again.
All the best
Joe

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by JDW3696

Hello.
Thankyou for that. I thought it might be quite involved. To be honest I probably won't bother in that case. My b230e has only got 75000 miles on it I just wanted a bit more go. Maybe I'll look down the tuning route. I've got a decent stainless steel exhaust. Maybe headwork, manifold etc. If you could ask the person you know or give any advice then that would be great.
Thankyou once again.
All the best
Joe

If you're going down the tuning route, that would make more sense than trying to convert mechanical injection to EFi + turbo in terms of cost and complexity.

With the B230E you should already have a V cam as standard so you might gain a bit more with a VX cam but either way, a bit of porting on the head and a general clean up of the inlet and exhaust ports with a 4 branch exhaust manifold would yield results. Also consider changing the viscous fan for an electric one, not only will it not sap power (many viscous clutches are partially siezed) all the time but will make the car much quieter too and give a faster warm-up which is especially useful in winter!

Running it on 98RON petrol will also bring benefits in terms of power and economy (not necessarily at the same time though!) but given the weight of the car and the engine power, it's never going to be terrifically quick although i get the idea you're just looking to make it a bit livelier. I daresay changing the cooling fan for an electric one, some head work, 98RON fuel and a 4-ranch manifold will yield an easy 20-25bhp or maybe a little more which will have you close to the power of a B230FT anyway.

Also worth considering adding a rear ARB if yours doesn't have one, improves the handling a lot!

[JDW3696]

Hi Dave,
As always that's brilliant. Thankyou ever so much. That's the route I will take. I don't suppose you can recommend anyone who can carry out headwork etc?
Thanks again.
I'll let you know the results. As you said I'm not looking for a sports car just want to wake it up a bit.
Thanks
Joe

[panda529e699]

Hi
I should have my B230E turbo upgrade finished complete in the next week, so will post some pics if that helps. I've done it in 2 stages.
I can't go mad with the boost being the high compression engine, but already it's a lot more responsive.

Andrew

[Forrest]

I've always thought these substantial modifications were a bit of an acquired taste. Having to transplant all the wiring, sensors and so on to convert between different types of fuel injection seems a PITA to achieve a few extra horsepower which is of limited use on our overcrowded and unmaintained roads.

Better generally to sell a good, unmolested example and buy a car with the spec/power you want as standard.

Unless, of course, you're going to go the whole hog and build something like this. 5.7ltr twin turbo V8 in a 740 estate! Nice.

+ YouTube Video

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by JDW3696

Hi Dave,
As always that's brilliant. Thankyou ever so much. That's the route I will take. I don't suppose you can recommend anyone who can carry out headwork etc?
Thanks again.
I'll let you know the results. As you said I'm not looking for a sports car just want to wake it up a bit.
Thanks
Joe

If you have a few tools you could do it yourself Joe. Have a look on YouTube for videos on DIY head porting, here's one i watched recently and it covers pretty much all you need to know. Admittedly it's just one head from a Pontiac (i think it was) V8 engine so some things won't apply. Have a watch of it and see if that fits in your skill-set, if so, get the various tools and give it a go. Most of it is common sense as you'll see.

https://youtu.be/As36dt7waBw

Originally Posted by panda529e699

Hi
I should have my B230E turbo upgrade finished complete in the next week, so will post some pics if that helps. I've done it in 2 stages.
I can't go mad with the boost being the high compression engine, but already it's a lot more responsive.

Andrew

I forgot you were doing a K-Jet turbo conversion Andrew, i'm guessing you're limiting the boost to ~4psi max?

[360beast]

I definitely wouldn't bother with the engine swap, Dave has outlined most of the reasons why already.

I wouldn't bother with a 4 branch manifold, Colton on drifts and lifts did a dyno run, then fitted a 4 branch and went back on the dyno and it made no power gains at all just made the exhaust note sound nicer.

The V cam if that's what you have fitted is very good as is but you would be better off with an aftermarket camshaft that's very aggressive to make more power and doing a lot of head work, you would need ITB's and aftermarket engine management.

So basically to tune an N/A redblock requires a lot of money throwing at it to get the same power as a B230FT with a bit more boost thrown at it.

There is a guy in Sweden who makes crazy redblock heads, his name I belive is Dennis Blom, it would be worth trying to get in contact with him to see if he would able to build one for you.

My advice would be to buy a 940 turbo though

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by 360beast

I definitely wouldn't bother with the engine swap, Dave has outlined most of the reasons why already.

I wouldn't bother with a 4 branch manifold, Colton on drifts and lifts did a dyno run, then fitted a 4 branch and went back on the dyno and it made no power gains at all just made the exhaust note sound nicer.

The V cam if that's what you have fitted is very good as is but you would be better off with an aftermarket camshaft that's very aggressive to make more power and doing a lot of head work, you would need ITB's and aftermarket engine management.

So basically to tune an N/A redblock requires a lot of money throwing at it to get the same power as a B230FT with a bit more boost thrown at it.

There is a guy in Sweden who makes crazy redblock heads, his name I belive is Dennis Blom, it would be worth trying to get in contact with him to see if he would able to build one for you.

My advice would be to buy a 940 turbo though

Out of curiosity Luke, when they did those dyno runs, did they have an exhaust system attached or just the manifold?

Your last line though takes the cake - buy a 940 HPT instead! In many ways, that's probably the best advice, it would save a rare 740GLE from being molested but if Joe really wants to keep it and just make it a bit livelier between our suggestions he should have something along those lines.
BTW, you have a What'sApp about the ATF cooler pipes!