1975 Volvo 240 Hides Twin-Turbo Lambo V10, Keeps AWD
Peter Bjorck just put a number on the absurd build he’s been teasing for months. His 1975 Volvo 240, gutted and rebuilt around a mid-mounted, twin-turbo Lamborghini V10, ran a 5.3-second eighth-mile at 137 mph at the drag strip, complete with a front-wheel-lifting launch that proved the all-wheel-drive system is doing exactly what it’s supposed to.
That’s the kind of number that turns a wild internet project into a validated machine. A boxy Swedish wagon that most people associate with Volvo’s reputation for safety and sensible transportation just posted drag-strip numbers that would embarrass plenty of factory supercars, and it did it while still sending power to all four corners.
The Ultimate Sleeper Build Just Proved Itself
Bjorck has spent several months building and refining the car he calls the Volvoghini, and this latest episode in his build series was about chasing down the gremlins rather than chasing a number. The eighth-mile pass happened almost as a byproduct of testing, and the car still managed to lift its front wheels off the line, a sign of serious power getting to the ground through all four wheels rather than just the rear axle.
That’s the detail that separates this build from a typical engine swap. Plenty of builders have dropped a big V8 or V10 into something unexpected. Keeping the Volvo‘s factory-style all-wheel-drive character intact while running a mid-engine Lamborghini powerplant is the harder engineering problem, and it’s the one Bjorck has been quietly solving.
Sorting Out The All-Wheel-Drive Wiring
Getting there required rewiring the MoTec ECU to properly control the AWD system, along with chasing down ABS and electrical issues that had been plaguing the build. By the look of the latest testing, the front wheels are now getting usable traction rather than just spinning along for the ride, which is the whole point of going through the hassle of a mid-engine AWD conversion instead of a simpler rear-drive swap.
A mid-engine layout complicates power delivery to the front axle in ways a conventional front-engine AWD car doesn’t have to deal with, since the driveline has to route forward past the engine and transmission rather than simply splitting off a transfer case up front. Getting that sorted on a twin-turbo V10 swap, in a chassis never designed for any of it, is the real achievement behind the drag-strip number.
Chasing 1,000 Kilos And A History Of Lambo-Swapped Volvos
The car currently weighs 1,437 kilos, or roughly 3,167 pounds, with most of that mass coming from the frame and the twin-turbo V10 itself. Bjorck’s next phase involves swapping in more carbon-fiber components to push the Volvoghini closer to a 1,000-kilo target, a reduction that would make the existing power figures even more devastating on the strip.
This isn’t Bjorck’s first rodeo with this exact formula. His Instagram and YouTube history show he’s owned both a Lamborghini Gallardo and an Audi R8, the two cars that originally shared this V10 architecture, and he’s built more than one mid-engine, Lambo-powered Volvo 240 before this one. The pattern makes sense once you see it: he knows the V10 platform intimately, and he keeps coming back to the 240 as the perfect boxy, unassuming shell to hide it in.
A 5.3-second eighth-mile at 137 mph is a real number from a real drag strip, not a dyno estimate or a simulated run, and it comes from a car that still looks like it should be hauling lumber to a job site. As Bjorck keeps shedding weight and sorting out the electronics, the Volvoghini is positioned to get only faster, which should be a fun thing to watch unfold.
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