Hi all,

Robin here. I'm from Lethbridge, friends with VolvoShredder. I drive an '87 240 wagon - my first Volvo. I've burned myself out on VWs and then more recently took an ill-fated side road into the crazy world of JDM Land Cruisers. I've always enjoyed wrenching on Greg's 240s, so when I found my wagon for a good price, I jumped at it.

The car is currently off the road as I look for a new 5-speed for it. Anyone have a 5-speed sitting around that they want to part with? My local shop found one on their satellite system for $1200 - a little more than I wanted to pay.

Anyway, I hope to have a chance to get to know folks on this forum as I learn about Volvos.

R

Hey, Robin

Welcome! A friend of Greg's is a friend of ours. Did I meet you in Greg's garage as he & I were sorting out a wiring harness, or was that someone else? Your story sounds so familiar, but that shouldn't come as a surprise: so many people get that same "there's one in BC, $1200" story.

When you say 5 speed, do you mean 4 speed plus overdrive (M46) or an actual 5 speed (M47). One of the things that tickle my failing synapses is the M47 wrinkle. They do show up at our local (Calgary) PNP from time to time, but not very often. Otherwise, they're not very common at all - the M46 is much more common. I think the M47 only came in '87-'89 naturally aspirated 240/740s, of which not many escaped automatics.

Best of luck!
Matt

Hi Robin welcome to CVC, soon to be renamed LVC...

Yes, the m47 doesn't seem to pop up much compared to the m46 as Matt alluded to. They were available to the bitter end (1993) in the 240 and I have seen them in the 740 as late as 1991 (there's one for sale in Calgary right now for $900 which gets you a car as well ). If you do find one try and get the m47II which is much improved over the gen1 unit's, I "think" the gen2 started in 89? I currently have 2 cars with m47's, and touch wood, both are going good. Once you find one change the oil to Amsoil Supershift which is a synthetic Type F ATF which these transmissions require, I have one switched over and it made a noticeable difference in shift quality.

Edit: I was going to post a link to the $900 740 with the m47 but it must have sold already as the ad is gone. It probably wouldn't be a bad idea to post a wanted ad on kijiji to try and flush one out.

I stand corrected!

Yes, I think we did meet in Greg's garage, Matt. Nice to see you again on this board!

The transmission is definitely a true 5 speed. I have noticed that most of the cars of that era (87-93) that are for sale on Kijiji, etc. are autos.

Thanks for the help, everyone. I'll keep looking around, either for a new gearbox or a new car.

Robin

Why not go with a dime a dozen M46? A few electrical bits, and a different drive shaft is all you'd need. Should last at least as long, if not longer than an M47!

That's an interesting idea! I'm certainly not married to the 5-speed. I just want a car that runs. I'm not that good with electrical, so I'm wondering if you could be more specific about the "electrical bits?"

I assume the new driveshaft is needed because the M47 is a different length?

Thanks for the great tip!

I'm pretty sure the lengths are different, but it's possible they are not. In any case, a different driveshaft is not a big deal.

The only wiring would be for the overdrive, a very simple circuit with a relay and switch.

Tons of threads on tbrix for m46 to m47 swaps, might be of some help in planning/doing the reverse?

http://www.google.ca/search?q=m46+m47+s ... 80&bih=645

Note: Use Google advanced search to search tbrix as the search function (among other things ) doesn't work...

Robin! Great to see you on here man!
I'm really bummed your car bit the dust, but hopefully someone on here will find an M47 somewhere out there. I had thought about the M46 swap a bit, but yeah, the electricals always scare me a bit too. I suppose we could pull the harness out of a wreck here easily enough. And would there be a different clutch and/or flywheel too? Hmmmm. I do have a spare M46 sitting around, but to me it kinda feels like a step backwards having the overdrive. We'll figure something out though Rob. Welcome here!

The wiring is seriously as easy as it gets.

Going into the relay: 12V from the fuse box, ground, wire to the switch, wire to the solenoid via the 4th gear switch (I think).

Not even worth getting a "harness" as there really isn't much of one. I'm not sure about the clutch/flywheel, but there are only two choices.