1973 Volvo P1800ES on MX5 chassis with Ford 5L V8 conversion

[vulgalour]

I puts the welds on the tin or it gets the grinder again.

[bjornagn]

Mar 9, 2016 1:44:16 GMT vulgalour said:

I puts the welds on the tin or it gets the grinder again.

[bjornagn]

OK, got that lot sorted.

Used a hole-saw to cut out a a circle in the rear and move the hole over 2.8 cm. In the front I cut the cap off and scabbed a piece of 1x2 on to the side to make a wider base. Bit chunky looking for my taste but certainly strong enough.







Burned in nice and hot



And cleaned up



On the front, the offset put the nut right on the edge of the tube. So I scabbed this lot up and burned a bunch of wire







And now I can move forward. A week lost to that lot. But a lot learned

[jimjimthehumanbin]

Amazing work and thanks for posting this up. Giving me ideas on what to do with my own project. Anythings possible...

[bjornagn]

Starting to feel like I am moving ahead again.


Polished my dirty pumpkin last night. Felt great to get that done!





Finished rebuilding the rear uprights with new bearings and seals. Putting the bearings in the freezer overnight makes installation a breeze.



The rear suspension cradle is POR coated and ready to go



Monster Miata rear axles and broached hubs are painted and ready to assemble.



This wraps up the rear end fabrication. I will set this lot aside until it is time to install on the shell. Moving on to finalizing the engine and gearbox mounts and building the driveshaft.

[bjornagn]

Moving to the front of the car. This is a nice change.

Tossed the plastic block and gutted gearbox into the car. The engine is now located front to rear and up to down sitting on its mounts. Might still move over a bit to the PS if it helps resolve a minor interference with he steering column. Darn steering columns and exhaust NEVER seem to get along with these projects!

The burgundy bracket on the right is an AC compressor mount that might make my life easier. Remains to be seen as part of the current 3D jigsaw effort is to figure out all the accessories Alternator, Power steering and  AC.




At the same time I need to fabricate a mount for the AOD gearbox. Going to slip the two custom make channels over the Miata chassis rails and weld them on. The crossmember will bolt to this heavier structure.



The other advantage of covering the Miata frame rails with 1/8" wall channel is that now I can use the frame rails to put a jack under; the factory ones were not up to this task as many MX5 owners have discovered.

Shooting for something like this when done:

[bjornagn]

The engine mounts got a solid tack welding into the chassis last night. The good news is that the engine position is established and pushing and pulling on the engine block has a very solid feel. I can now spin the car on the rotisserie and the engine wont fall out!

The good/bad news is that it also steers. Good because it now steers, but bad because I had to eliminate steering or header as a variable in what was a spatial conflict of interest. I chose steering to be fixed and hence am either in the market for a new DS header or about to learn the finer points of building a header. The cost of buying sets of headers on speculation that they might fit, means that I am going to end up making a header for the DS. The good news is that there is actually a reasonable volume of space to build said header.

[dw1603]

Brilliant save on the pumpkin mounts, I'm impressed. Looking at what you have achieved so far, I don't imagine that the drivers side header is going to be too big a problem for you. Just regard it as an opportunity to acquire more skills.

[bjornagn]

Got a bit further down the road. Fabbed up the gearbox cross-member with the exhaust pass-troughs. The drive-train is now mounted where it is going to be.

Fabricating the exhaust with the rotisserie is going to be so much easier than laying under the car!

Next I need to mount the rear differential so I can order a driveshaft.

[vulgalour]

That crossmember-exhaust interface is nice. Very neat and tidy.

[bjornagn]

Apr 3, 2016 22:05:57 GMT vulgalour said:

That crossmember-exhaust interface is nice. Very neat and tidy.

Thank you. Still need to clean and paint stuff.

[bjornagn]

Figuring that a driveshaft might come in handy someday soon, I went and hung the rear differential. Also stuck and axle in to see where the exhaust might want to go.

Not sure exactly how to go about specifying the driveshaft length, but I measure 36.25 inches from the transmission tail-stock to the flange on the differential. Might just take the picture up to the driveshaft guys and ask them what they need to see?

Also had a gander on where the exhaust might want to run. Seems straightforward enough from this angle.



Did I mention that car rotisseries are brilliant?!

[bjornagn]

Why the one axle wont go in:

[glenanderson]

Took me a minute.

How do you suppose that happened?

[bjornagn]

Apr 11, 2016 1:13:07 GMT glenanderson said:

Took me a minute.

How do you suppose that happened?

don't feel bad....Took me a whole lot longer than a "Minute" to figure out why this axle would not go in to the differential and the other one did?

Research indicates that in a previous life, the axle was run with only the outer end of the splines engaged in the differential drive splines. While I cant imagine how this could be, it is the only plausible explanation.

[bjornagn]

Good news is new part is on the way already.

[glenanderson]

Cool.

Do the exhaust scallops in the gearbox crossmember have any filleting or bracing over the top?

[bjornagn]

Apr 11, 2016 23:26:17 GMT glenanderson said:

Cool.

Do the exhaust scallops in the gearbox crossmember have any filleting or bracing over the top?

Good eye.

They will, because they must.... or it might just get a different design. Part of the fun if you can afford the time and cost, is to look at your work, admire for a while as you have a beer, and declare "I can do better than that". 

[glenanderson]

Apr 11, 2016 23:44:08 GMT bjornagn said:

Good eye. 

They will, because they must.... or it might just get a different design. Part of the fun if you can afford the time and cost, is to look at your work, admire for a while as you have a beer, and declare "I can do better than that". 

I'm a bit detail obsessed. That's why it takes me so long to finish stuff! 

I'm enjoying your build immensely. Shame I've not got room for a rotisserie for my lorry, I'm very jealous of your access!  

[bjornagn]

Apr 12, 2016 9:56:53 GMT glenanderson said:

Apr 11, 2016 23:44:08 GMT bjornagn said:

Good eye. 

They will, because they must.... or it might just get a different design. Part of the fun if you can afford the time and cost, is to look at your work, admire for a while as you have a beer, and declare "I can do better than that". 

I'm a bit detail obsessed. That's why it takes me so long to finish stuff! 

I'm enjoying your build immensely. Shame I've not got room for a rotisserie for my lorry, I'm very jealous of your access!  





I would love to build a rotisserie for your truck project. The bigger they are the more you don't want to be working on your back! Plus it would be cool to spin that truck once you got it balanced around the CG.