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Assembly continues. The rear suspension cradle and differential is there to stay. A-arms are installed with the new camber bolts. View you don't often see of the 8.8 conversion.  More good news in the front: My estimation of steering shaft clearance seems to pan out. This should be plenty:  |
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Last Edit: Jan 2, 2017 23:19:30 GMT by bjornagn
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Good to see parts now going on that are there to stay
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14 Audi A3 Sportback - Easy driver
05 Audi TT MK1 3.2 DSG - Damn quick
73 Triumph 2000 - Needs work
03 Range Rover 4.4 V8 petrol. Had to get it out of my system.
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Good to see parts now going on that are there to stay That and the steering column -to-exhaust clearance was one of the last roadblocks on the list. I still need to do a proper lengthening of the column, but that is a detail matter. Fuel tank, Exhaust, Wipers and dash fabrication are the remaining fabrication challenges on the project map. Happy new years to everyone following along. 2017 should be a good year for this project. 168 days until first drive. |
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mattiwagon
Part of things
Just got a work truck
Posts: 445 
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Happy new year dude, Home stretch now!
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If they cant be nice f**k em!
84 low t25 panel 1.9td beige and rust combo
97 Goped Bigfoot G260RC with clutch conversion
97 Impreza turbo 2000 builders wagon 76k sold
04 Fabia vRs 50mpg pocket rocket
04 battered T5 pickup in blue!
Chainsaws lotsa Chainsaws
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Reality sucks. Since I figure you guys area getting as fed up with rust repair as I am, I will give you the abbreviated version of the job. The task was to repair the bottom of the front wings. Does not look too bad at fist glance.  Of course, by the time you hack back to clean tin, things escalate  First thing I realized (after making a mess of the first attempt to fit a patch) is that I had to make a pinch-weld emulator to hold the floppy wings in the right position. Had not put that into the plan when I started.  Using my cheap sheet-metal brake and the E-Wheel with the soft upper as decribed previously, I managed to finagle a decent fit to the repair panel.  Touch of etch primer just so that bare metal is not exposed, and call it a day. All told this took about six hours including the aborted first attempt and the time to realize and build the sill emulator. Hopefully the second side will go faster tomorrow!  The good news here is that I am moving towards re-attaching the front clip to the rest of the shell. That will be a huge emotional milestone as the car will be a complete shell once again. |
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Better now then later  |
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162 days to go. Bit more progress. Got the other lower fender done: Like to say it was easier, but it still put up a fight. <img src=" ![]() " alt="" style="max-width:100%;"><img src=" ![]() " alt="" style="max-width:100%;"> ![]() " alt="" style="max-width:100%;">  Got a good run at sealing off the space between the Volvo and the Miata engine compartments. I had thought about leaving this open for cooling reasons, but figure that it will be easier to control fumes if I close it off. It is about to get tricky as I now have to make this work with the front sheetmetal on the Volvo front clip where the rad resides. I am sure that will be easy(  )   And for those sheet-metal working fans out there, I will mention what might be my most used application of the E-wheel. Normally, an E-wheel does it's thing by squishing the tin and forcing it to rise in a dome shape. So, if you feed in a long narrow piece of tin, you end up with a curved bicycle fender shape. What if you just wanted to put a simple curve in the sheet? You could try and bend it over a pipe, and we have all done that with various degrees of success. What I do is use a soft face on the upper wheel. A thick piece of inner tube would work, but I had a piece of foam and used that. The way it works is that the soft surface cant squeeze the steel so no shape is put into the metal. What it does instead is force the steel into the shape of the lower wheel. This is a very controllable way to put a curve into a piece of tin.  It is getting to the point where I need to start fitting the front clip so I can attend to the details. |
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Last Edit: Jan 9, 2017 15:34:18 GMT by bjornagn
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Now that I have cut out all the bad metal on the front clip, it is time to cut some good non-rusty metal out of the nose of the Volvo. Knowing how rusty most of them get up in the nose area, I almost felt guilty cutting this lot out:  Course that leaves me with a nice big hole up front:  And that big hole is good for stuffing these parts in place: 24" by 19" radiator and stock Miata AC condenser  And I made a decision on the AC condenser. Going with the Miata unit since size-wise it pretty much matched what vintage air recommends for their application.  So now I have a new metal-shaping opportunity in front of me. Wonder how I am going to make this look good? Oh..and I did paint the underside of the front clip before I tossed it back on the car.  |
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Jan 17, 2017 21:17:22 GMT
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Once in a blue moon you find a thread that's 15 pages long, full of wonder, brilliance and outstanding workmanship, and you simply didn't see it. You sit there reading and wondering "how on God's green earth did I miss this?"
Well that's me at the moment.
Bookmarked - keep up the good work!
James
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Once in a blue moon you find a thread that's 15 pages long, full of wonder, brilliance and outstanding workmanship, and you simply didn't see it. You sit there reading and wondering "how on God's green earth did I miss this?" Well that's me at the moment. Bookmarked - keep up the good work! James James: Thank you for the kind words. I don't know about brilliance, but I am paddling about in the deep end as well as I can and wondering where this will all end up! It has been serious fun figuring this all out so far. I have followed your MR2 project, and having done a couple of " rustorations" of my own, I would say that I am getting off easy this time. I also know what you mean about "How did I miss this one" Just today I started to read the Roverpolicecar thread and was late to work because of it. Pete |
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Again, this is why I like the thread nominations. It points you in all sorts of directions you may have missed.
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Jan 18, 2017 21:16:16 GMT
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Thank you for the kind words. Richly deserved as far as I can see. I also know what you mean about "How did I miss this one" Just today I started to read the Roverpolicecar thread and was late to work because of it. Yup, that's on my reading list too. It's never made me late for work though... Although, as it becomes a complete car again I might have to warn the boss. Again, this is why I like the thread nominations. It points you in all sorts of directions you may have missed. George old chap, I couldn't agree more. |
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Jan 19, 2017 16:21:59 GMT
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tristanh
Part of things
Routinely bewildered
Posts: 990
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Sometimes you read a thread, and realise just how poor your skills are compared to the guy (re)building the car you're drooling over.
I'm very jealous of your talent, commitment and fearlessness and wish you continued success sir.
Come the Volvo / Mazda meets, there will be a lot of headscratching! It's looking genuinely difficult to see where one starts and ends. It'd be hilarious if there was a combined Volvo and Mazda meet, to see them disagreeing over where Miata bits finish and Volvo starts! 😂
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Whether you believe you can, or you cannot, you're probably right.
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Jan 29, 2017 22:51:17 GMT
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Tristahn, thank you for the encouragement. Not been doing much worthy of photos lately what with rebuilding calipers and some brackets and bits. Lots of effort, but not much to show for the effort. My buddy walks in today with a box of wood flooring that is surplus to his remodeling requirements. So we opened a beer and did this:   Not the product that I am going to use, so this was just for curse word and giggles, but I do like where it points to! |
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,287
Club RR Member Number: 146
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Jan 29, 2017 23:44:45 GMT
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That laminate flooring makes it look much more hearse-like, which seems appropriate since these Volvos have the nickname of Snow White's Coffin in some parts of Europe.
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jpsmit
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,274
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That laminate flooring makes it look much more hearse-like, which seems appropriate since these Volvos have the nickname of Snow White's Coffin in some parts of Europe. +1 to my eyes, laminate makes it look like a home van conversion. Carpet on the other hand.... |
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I like the wood idea, but it needs to be Riva style!  |
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Where do the hours go?! Been procrastinating on doing the tinwork around the nose.So as a distraction, I have been working on the "Get calipers on each corner" task. Rears were easy enough as they just bolt on where they belong.  The front on the other hand, was a bit different since I had moved the front axle up by 7". This means that my nice braided lines had no place to call home on the chassis side. Simple right, just move the brackets from where they were, up by 7"? As it turned out, it took about 3 hours to find a sweet-spot where the bracket could anchor the inboard side of the brake-line and then get the brackets painted and welded in place. The fiddly bit was locating the bracket in such a way that the flex line would clear the suspension in its full range of motion and the Wheel/tire from lock to lock while not putting any stress on the flex line.   Next up is to get the hard lines bent up so I can plumb this thing. Between having mixed year braking system, ( 1991 brakes 1996 chassis) elimination of the ABS and the wheelbase stretch, I have a feeling there is adventures ahead. 137 days to go. |
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Last Edit: Feb 3, 2017 12:40:51 GMT by bjornagn
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funkyhunk
Part of things
Old Ford's R Us
Posts: 265
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)
