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Apr 18, 2022 16:48:39 GMT
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Last Edit: Apr 18, 2022 16:55:19 GMT by bjornagn
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Today was a long time coming. The car-show world shut down two years ago and this winter did not want to let go. But tonight was the first car show of the season for me. Next to the Molvo is a friend's 740 with a Ford Cobra modular engine. We were the only Volvos in attendance.  |
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The Healey is coming along. The footwells and frame are fettled and moved on to the rear bulkhead and torque boxes, The torque boxes did not fit worth a darn, so extra fettling was required. The steel bar acts as a jig to make sure the torque boxes are the same side-side and will later serve as a datum point when I replace the entire wheeltub on each side.  To say that the torque box panels were not accurate reproductions would be an understatement. The bolt hole had to be moved quite a bit on both parts.  |
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Last Edit: May 4, 2022 2:51:16 GMT by bjornagn
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May 18, 2022 12:59:35 GMT
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Got a bunch of dismantelation done on the PS of the Healey. The angle bracing is holding a bracket steady in 3D space so that it can be used as a datum for the new wheel-tub. The replacement wheel tub is not perfect and will require some alteration to make fit, but not bad compared to other panels from this vendor. That is a good thing because the shape could make it hard to modify if the arch or shape did not fit in the space where the original was.  |
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May 19, 2022 12:55:00 GMT
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Starting to go in the right direction as I am done dismantling and now into remantleing some of the inner panels on to the tub. What you see might look installed, but the nature or fitting panels on these cars is that everything needs to be loose and adjustable until all of the shrouds and outer panels are installed and aligned. Clecos and sheetmetal screws will be in play for a long time before the welder gets to do its job.  |
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Good day today. As the new wheel tub does not come with the recessed pressing for the torque arm pocket , had to locate and fab that bit on a curved surface just for fun. One side done.  Then headed out to a local show as an excuse to go for a drive in the Molvo. Ran into one of the Molvo's distant cousins. So far this year it has been more driving than wrenching on this hot rod and I have been enjoying it a lot.  |
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Moving right along in project world. The engine for the hot rod is pretty much ready. Still need an oil pickup tube for the low profile pan, but then it gets buttoned up and installed.  The Healy had a first test fit of the shrouds today. It looks promising if not perfect.  The front fits like a glove. Will proceed to hang some fenders and doors and see where we are.  |
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The Healey is getting some clothes on for the first time since the mid-70s. I would like to say that they fit like a glove, with razor-sharp panel gaps, but that would be a huge lie. They will eventually, but not today.  |
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The Healey is being a problem child insofar as the new parts wanting to fit nicely and the Hot Rod needs a firewall painted that I am deeply into procrastination about, so I headed off to a local cars and coffee with the Molvo. I am happy to report that the Molvo experience this year has been nothing but driving and very little wrenching. Yes there is always stuff to tweak, but nothing crying for attention so the car can be enjoyed. This picture was found on the FB page of the London Auto Modifiers. They are a local club that host a cars and coffee at their clubhouse every Saturday morning. The whole car club thing is new to me and it was nice to learn about how they have been making it work since like 1947 . Photo courtesy of Dave Cook.  |
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In preparation for the LS engine to go in this week, I had to have the firewall painted since once the engine is in it will be impossible to do a good job. That was today's task. The temp and humidity was on the borderline for the medium reducer that I had, but since there is no such thing as "cant" when you have to, it got done.  |
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Jul 11, 2022 14:41:57 GMT
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So the time has come to slide the engine into the bay. Some of you will note that the engine is attached to a very old-school powerglide gearbox. The use of these older auto boxes is one way to keep the cost of Ls swaps in reason, since the newer boxes auto or manual, end up costing a lot of $$$ by the time you are done. As is always the case, never as simple as the internet would make it seen and when done you will know a better way! As a sidenote, the pictured gearbox is not stock, it has been modified to handle much more power and was last run in a 9 sec drag car. Also has a trans-brake making it much more fun to launch the car from stationary.  |
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Last Edit: Jul 11, 2022 14:47:06 GMT by bjornagn
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Just a silly grin to ad here.
Volvo continues to be a beauty.
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Walked into the shop this morning and the engine seems to have jumped into the bay. Good news is that it fits well and clears the radiator up front    |
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Jul 24, 2022 22:39:15 GMT
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Another nice day of driving the Molvo. Snuck into the Canadian Volvo show and hung out with the "Straight" side of the family! They seemed to be quite accepting.   |
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Jul 24, 2022 23:01:52 GMT
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Beautiful,
She looks as good as any there,
(And was probably better than a lot of them !!)
Nigel
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BMW E39 525i Sport
BMW E46 320d Sport Touring (now sold on.)
BMW E30 325 Touring (now sold on.)
BMW E30 320 Cabriolet (Project car - currently for sale.)
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Beautiful, She looks as good as any there, (And was probably better than a lot of them !!) Nigel Thank you for the compliment. What was good to see at this show was a lot of young people. I spoke with a lot of young people who's interest covered both the Miata and the Volvo parts of the car. When I was more into the MG scene, there were few young people to be found at the gatherings. |
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There is good news on the Healey front in that it is going to gether with molten steel and not just sheet metal screws. I literaly gave up counting the number of hours it took to get the inner and outer panels to fall into place so that they all did their job. While the flat outer panel is starting to get spot welded to the wheeltub, there is still a challenge in that the two opening profiles do not match. The yellow tape shows where the outer flat panel will have to be reshape to meet the wheeltub. Overall things are starting to look good. Doors open and close with reasonable gaps and latch as they should. The car is also starting to "Feel" solid again if that makes sense. Not sure what is going to happen with the outer bodywork/finish. I am advocating to leave the paint as it is and just restore the undersides and mechanical bits. The world has enough shiny over-restored Healeys.  |
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Last Edit: Jul 27, 2022 2:23:58 GMT by bjornagn
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The task at hand was to replace the back seat pan. It was quite scabby and the patches on the corners were really ugly.  The bit below was not pretty. You can see where the previous restoration expert had just slapped a piece of tin over the rot and bubblegum welded a scab over the rot. That got cut out and a flush repair was let in.  The big news of the day is that the new seat pan actually fits. Every other panel that I received from the supplier might as well have arrived as a flat piece of tin based on the amount of rework it took to make anything fit. Six hours later and it is ready to weld in for good. I think it looks a lot better.  |
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And done and welded and seam-sealed. Pretty happy with how it came out. I considered doing one long but t-weld along the backside to make it loo more original, but that would have entailed a couple of hours of making the weld seam invisible. Not in the budget so this will have to do.  |
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Last Edit: Aug 9, 2022 23:55:22 GMT by bjornagn
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The project has been moving from front to rear and the front bit is done up to the back of the cockpit. Not unhappy with the results. The doors swing and latch as there are reasonable gaps all around. In my experience there is little point in getting Healey gaps perfect at this pont since it will all start over again when the outer panels come off for paint. If need be I am perfectly comforatable using the grinder and or welder to create the finished panel gaps regardless of where they might want to land. Healey gaps from the factory were far from good by todays standards.  This thing has consumed 10 tubes of seam sealer so far. The number of panel edges is insane and goes a long way to explain why they rusted so bad. ie the factory had never heard of seam sealer. |
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