240V wiring with a counter top electric range?

I just replaced the old counter top electric range with a new one. Here is the problem the house was built before the grounding codes took affect. The old wiring that comes out of the wall for the electric range has 3 wires RED, Black, White, I know the Red and Black are HOT and the white is neutral. The new range has RED and Black and Green only. I read back in the day they used the neutral as a ground. Would it be safe to connect the ground from the stove to the neutral wire and connect that neutral wire to the ground bar in the breaker panel and color them green to indicate that the white wire was reassign to ground? Since the stove does not have a neutral wire I thought it would make sense to use the white wire as ground and color it green or would that violate code or is it grand-fathered in?

Replacing the wire is out of question since its not my house. The wife would complain about it. The husband does not want to spend the money for the new wire or have a professional come out to run the new wire.

Other than the grounding issue the stove top works great. But its not totally safe yet without the ground.

Whoever installed the original counter top did a half *** job there was no wire nuts. The wire was just twisted together and held with electrical tape that crumbled when it was removed. The junction box had no cover on it also.