Volvo P1800ES...kinda

and your wife is the ginger???

getting weird up in here.

50 pages and you just figured that out!?

Anyone remember this, about a year ago (page 31) I built the crossmember for this thing?

Well, truth be told, I was never really happy with the design. Did not have the look I wanted that said "Factory made it this way". But it was done and good enough at the time.

But then I got to the exhaust. Yeah, I could have fit the exhaust under the crossmember, but it was cutting into my design freedom for the exhaust and I was not really happy, so I decided to lay out the exhaust and revisit the crossmember to fit whatever space was left.

This is what I had to work with. Pretty happy with the exhaust routing, clearance and tuck. However when it comes to a gearbox mount, no room to sneak over to the frame rails and use the mounts that I made.

Starting from the nearest, Plan A, Plan B, Plan C and Plan D

Plan C was looking pretty OK. It was based on making re-enforcement plates to weld on the tunnel and using the tube to span between the plates and fab a mounting plate for the transmission. Kinda the same deal as the square one, only with round tube.

Plates in place:

That is when, on a walk over to the beer fridge, I tripped over Plan D. It was in a pile of parts the minion keeps dropping off in case they might be useful. Did I mention he has A LOT of stuff. Just for fun, I stuck it on the tailstock. It fit and it had the look I was after.

Just had to figure out the mount. So I carved two of these out of a chunk of 3x 2 from the scrap pile.

Located Plan D on the tailshaft and put the mounts in place to see if I had measured right.

I like it.

Still need to weld the plates and mounts in place, but I ran out of night.

I really liked Plan A, but you're right this one looks more "factory". I am totally stealing Plan A design for the Rice Rod though. What are the exhaust half-hoops made out of? Some kind of large diameter 1/4" thick pipe?

maschinenbau wrote: I really liked Plan A, but you're right this one looks more "factory". I am totally stealing Plan A design for the Rice Rod though. What are the exhaust half-hoops made out of? Some kind of large diameter 1/4" thick pipe?

Yup. As I was kicking Plan A to the scrapheap, the Minion uttered his mantra "Guess that was too easy eh". He is much more practical than I.

Dont scoff at a factory piece if you have time to shop at the scrapyard. Pretty much all transmission cross members from a RWD vehicle have the same design requirement to make room for the exhaust and anchor somewhere on the sides.

I have one of these in the spares pile and I racked my brain trying to make it work cause it looks cool.

In reply to NOHOME:

I still have the Lexus trans cross-member which looks almost exactly like that picture, but it bolts to the body and is only half as wide as my frame. I want my trans member to bridge the frame without attaching to the body, so I can take the body (cab) on and off without disturbing the drivetrain. Also I only have one exhaust pipe to clear, because straight-six I can at least salvage the OEM rubber isolator and bolt it to my piece.

Exhaust routing is a royal PITA!

It is hung.

Nicely tucked. I can run my hand all around the exhaust pipe from front to rear. Will still maybe make up some heat shields just to be safe and make the AC's life easier.

The Minion swaped the shift lever over to the DS of the car and made a heim joint linkage.

bit out of the box for the transmission cooler. rather than tuck it up in the nose, I decided that it would fit nicely in this void.

Need to figure out a fuel tank, run some fuel lines and then the project goes back to horizontal for the last time.

85 days to go.

NOHOME wrote: Exhaust routing is a royal PITA! It is hung. Nicely tucked. I can run my hand all around the exhaust pipe from front to rear. Will still maybe make up some heat shields just to be safe and make the AC's life easier. The Minion swaped the shift lever over to the DS of the car and made a heim joint linkage. bit out of the box for the transmission cooler. rather than tuck it up in the nose, I decided that it would fit nicely in this void. Need to figure out a fuel tank, run some fuel lines and then the project goes back to horizontal for the last time. 85 days to go.

Shouldn't that cooler run longitudinally? I would imagine transversely the back side would not see much air flow.

Looks good! I would have tried to get the cats closer to the engine (I understand they work better the faster they can heat up), but it does look tidy.

I know I've been somewhat critical of this exercise (cats-go/no go),but your execution at this juncture is BINKYish...and I'm truly in awe of your skills.

vwcorvette said: Shouldn't that cooler run longitudinally? I would imagine transversely the back side would not see much air flow.

The way the mount is designed, the mount side is always going to be somewhat shrouded, so I am going to hope this is works. Besides, this was just a cool ( pun intended) place to mount it!

Ian said: Looks good! I would have tried to get the cats closer to the engine (I understand they work better the faster they can heat up), but it does look tidy.

Amen, I am well aware that the cats are further back than ideal. Figure worst case scenario they don't scrub the exhaust smell

759NRG said: your execution at this juncture is BINKYish...and I'm truly in awe of your skills.

Thanks for the kind words, but trust me, the Skills are a work in progress. If there is one "Skill" that I have learned, it is to stop and do things over if they are not right. You should see the scrap-pile!

Nik B has a scarp pile too we just don't see it all that often , Nik may be a witch at brackets, mounting plates, switch assembly's, etc., but your skillz at that which you despise the MOST....RUST REPAIR....are far and above those of Nik B & R Brunning IMHO.....late

First, been following your project and binky for a while and your fab skills are outstanding!

Earlier in the thread, there were several suggestions for other swaps - one was a Corvette. I am in an 1800 group and this was posted from Bring a Trailer http://bringatrailer.com/2015/05/22/unusual-mashup-volvo-1800s-bodied-c4-corvette/

One of the guys in the group knows the car and says that they had to split the 1800 to make it work.

Thought there might be interest...

CJ wrote: First, been following your project and binky for a while and your fab skills are outstanding! Earlier in the thread, there were several suggestions for other swaps - one was a Corvette. I am in an 1800 group and this was posted from Bring a Trailer http://bringatrailer.com/2015/05/22/unusual-mashup-volvo-1800s-bodied-c4-corvette/ One of the guys in the group knows the car and says that they had to split the 1800 to make it work. Thought there might be interest...

Seen that one. Mixed feeling about the final style. Kudos for having the balls to pull it off.

I am drawn to a classic car because the style hits home with me. It is the old school mechanicals that don't resonate with me. Judging by the fact that most of the activity on the P1800 forum on Sweedspeed seems to be resto-mod related, I guess I am not the only one.

Volvo called the P1800 a "Souped Down Ferrari". Lets ee what we can do to fix that.

Agree - the old BAT piece was just a Corvette (you can see the roof/windshield/rear glass/interior) with some extensive p1800 look alike bodywork (front end, rear end) grafted on. What the OP has done here is entirely different and, from where I'm sitting, 2 or 3 cuts above.

In reply to MichaelYount:

I've seen that car in person. The builder brought it to Carlisle a number of years ago shortly after completion. It's definitely an odd bird in person, but the build quality isn't that bad.

Two bank account relieving items on the way to Port Huron as we type...

85 days to go.

Nice work getting the exhaust routed and tucked.. very clean.. (that rotisserie easily earned it's keep on that job!)..

So cool to watch this morph from concept to completion.. and it is edging ever closer to completion, isn't it

--ccrunner

I think I have solved the conundrum with the lower steering column needing to be 7 inches longer.

Company by the name of Woodward Precision Steering Components, makes adapter U-joints for crazy people like us. http://www.woodwardsteering.com/catalog2017.html

You can get the U-joint with a specified spline on one end and another specified spline of interface on the other side. Just so happens that they make one that will slide on to the Miata rack input spline and accept their standard splined shaft on the other. (or a 3/4" double D shaft a-la-Ford)

So the plan is to junk the two stock Miata U-joints (circled) and replace with two of the Woodward units with Miata splines on one side and the Woodward standard spline in the middle to replace my "Too short" of an intermediate shaft.

Wow, those look nice. I may look into using those rather than the crap they are selling for Triumphs these days. Nice solution.

NOHOME wrote: 3/4" between the fuel lines and the exhaust pipe.

I realize I'm super late to the party on this but I do not like that at all! Distance shmistance, what you have there is an arrangement in which a leaky line can drip directly onto the exhaust, and bottoming out can force the exhaust into the fuel lines. Maybe I spend too much time looking at cars that I plan to run over stumps and rocks with, but I would try to avoid this routing if at all possible- if you have to use it, a big heat shield and sturdy exhaust mounts would be good.

To ¯_(ツ)_/¯:

Not to worry. I also have an inner voice that tries to save me from myself, plus an MGB that drips fuel from the float-bowl overflow vents on to the exhaust header.

What I discovered is that I can route the plumbing inside the frame rail and up the front of the firewall without ever surfacing to expose the plumbing. The stock frame rail has been plated with 1/8" steel so if I need to do some rock crawling, I should be good.

plumbing for brakes and fuel should terminate in the red square where I will make a plate with bulkhead fittings.

In reply to NOHOME:

Glad you thought of it already, it seemed like a bigger oversight than you would allow based on the rest of this build.

I did not want to do this. Seriously, I have been telling myself for a year that 1/8" clearance between the transmission bell-housing and the tunnel was clearance and that should be good enough. But as I was taking the foam lock out for what might be the last time, I decided that the clearance at the lower sides of the block might just come back to haunt me. Would suck to do this when the car was assembled.

Martin at Monster Miata tells you to use a BFH and just beat some space into the tunnel on each side. I dont like the look of bashed-in tin and I don't seem to be able to pass up the opportunity to use the death wheel, so I made big holes.

Hopefully me and the E-wheel will come to an agreement as to what the filler pieces will look like for the big holes.

On the positive side, I should be able to get at and remove all the transmission to engine bolts when done.

The Minion and I were out last night and had a weldfest. I made up some filler pieces on the E-wheel to make those holes at the side of the transmission tunnel go away. By running the panels through the E-wheel, I get a concave panel that gives me more room behind the bolt and hopefully enough room to remove the transmission without pulling the engine.

While I was between doing my welding gig and prepping the passenger panel, (OK, I was having a Beer) the Minion wrapped up the final welding on the front K member. It was decided that a bit of reinforcement of the engine mount stands would not be a bad thing either.

According to my to-do list, a paint-fest needs to happen soon.

In other news, the fuel tank arrives tomorrow, so I will either be pretty clear on that path by Sunday or on the lookout for a different solution.