93 Volvo 240 Pickup Build

In reply to therealpinto :

Thanks for the pictures. It's awesome to have someone who has seen more of these types of conversions giving input. 

I like it!

I got a bit more done today before running out of shielding gas. The bottom cross brace is in and tailgate is tacked on. 

I'm going to have to finish welding this on and grind it down along with filling in the middle gap. I bought a nibbler today so that should make cutting the sheet metal filler pieces easier. 

It lines up pretty well but there will be some filler before paint. 

Overall shot of the progress so far. 

I'll go get a refill on my gas bottle tomorrow at lunch and start filling in the missing pieces.

Looking good!

Are you going to have to touch any mechanicals in the conversion, or is it 100% body work?

Just body work at this point, no mechanical work is needed for the conversion but I'll do something eventually. 

That's looking great!

What were you thinking of doing for a tailgate? Finding another liftgate and making it into a fold down/swing out gate?

MulletTruck said:

What were you thinking of doing for a tailgate? Finding another liftgate and making it into a fold down/swing out gate?

The plan is to find another hatch and use it to make a fold down gate. I am still trying to decide how to do the latch. 

This is so cool! I cant wait to see how it turns out.

I did some more welding during the week but there wasn't much to show. Today I welded the passenger door up along with some other filler pieces. 

I cut some sheet metal to bridge the gap in the door seam. 

That worked out pretty well so I welded it all up and ground it down. 

Next up was the hole from the door handle. I thought about doing a CAD template but I remembered a thread here with a little trick. 

I put painters tape over the hole, traced the outline with a sharpie and then took it off to stick on my sacrificial sheet metal. After cutting it out it needed a bit of adjusting with the grinder then it was tack welded in. 

I also cut a piece for the gap between the tailgate and pillar. I got it mostly welded in, I will finish tomorrow then do the same on the other side. 

I was going to buy some 2x4" rectangle tube to cap off the top for bed rails. After calling the metal supermarket today and learning that it would be $100 I had second thoughts. I checked the harbor freight website and the 3' sheet metal brake is $230. I have a 25% off coupon for next weekend which will put it around $170. There have been plenty of times I have needed a brake so it seems like it is the time to buy one. I'll use that to bend up sheet metal for the bed rails and bend the sheet for filling in the sides of the bed. 

That is really coming along nicely!  Any thought to make a pickup tailgate fit?  Maybe something from a S10 or Ranger?

In reply to noddaz :

I'm planning on finding another 240 wagon hatch to cut down into a tailgate. 

Nice door welding!! You're going to need a LOT less Bondo than I used...

In reply to EvanB :

Make a sheet metal brake!!!

https://youtu.be/fJ5LZEYyjiU

Robbie said:

In reply to EvanB :

Make a sheet metal brake!!!

https://youtu.be/fJ5LZEYyjiU

I know i should. Colin Furze had a great video of one inset into the workbench that looks awesome. I'm trying to reduce my projects but this is going to require some more thought...

This is going to be amazing. And you have reminded me how much I want to do this with a C5 corvette. Mainly because it would be much easier due to the frame and I could basically remove the hatch and be done.

I’ve got zero skill lol. 

Without reinforcement of the leaves, the HF brake doesn't bend 18-20ga sheet very cleanly over about 16". Over that, the center of the bend will have a much larger radius due to deflection of the leaves. 

I could get about 12" of 16ga bent uniformly, but anything over that would have a 1/4" radius in the center, and like 1/16" on the end. (or ends, depending on the lengths of the section and position in the brake. 

Unfortunately, I haven't bent any larger sections since I reinforced mine, so I have no data to share. 

Sorry to derail thread- but Crackers, how did you reinforce the brake?

And Evan- Carry On!

Caveat: the home made brakes mentioned above all suffer from the same challenges Crackers mentioned with the HF brake. You're super limited to what you can press. I've got a 3-in-1 press brake/shear/roller from Jet, and it works well but is limited. Very frustrating at times since I NEVER find myself working with light gauge metals.

Meanwhile, this Volvo is awesome. Nice work.

The main issue is deflection of the top leaf. The center lifts away from the bed when bending longer and/or heavier pieces. 

I took a piece of 3/8" x 1-1/4" flat bar and welded it to the end plates with a hole tapped in the middle to run a set screw. Tightening the set screw puts tension on the leaf, theoretically holding it tight to the bed when you bend against it. 

I also added a piece of C-channel to the backside of the lower leaf to help avoid deflection. Now, considering how this thing works, the backside is not the right place to put a brace like that, but I didn't want to limit the brake by adding material to the front face. 

I wanted to be able to make short opposing bends (or "Z's"), and putting a brace where it really should be would eliminate that possibility. 

A smarter person would have bought different material with more optimal dimensions and done it correctly instead of being a cheap bastard and using what they had laying around.

I've been organising parts and my brake is buried right now or I'd snap a couple pics. (Not that I really want to take pictures of it, considering it lives outside and looks like weathered E36 M3 anyway.) 

There's a thread on Pirate 4x4 talking about mods on these, with one dude saying he made mods to one and can now bend 1/8" full width. (I find that highly suspect though.)

Pirare 4X4 thread

Amusingly, the thread has been ressurected since I first found it and talks about how they would have modified the lower leaf differently to avoid the issue I mentioned above. 

Also of note, there seems to be 2-3 variants of these. The one I have, all the parts were painted/coated red except for the adjuster screws on the eccentric cams, and doesn't have the deflection issues in the rear slides or the lower leaf pivot points like a lot people seem complain about. Those people complaining seem to have black handled eccentric cams, and black slides. The rear slides on mine seem like they're a little wider based on the pictures. 

Great work so far!! I'm glad you decided to forget about putting this much work into the rusty red wagon I sold you. 

I fully encourage V8 power for this in the future. 

In reply to clutchsmoke :

I wish i had kept that red wagon, if only to swap the drivetrain to this. I have a lot more space now than i did back then though.

twentyover said:

Sorry to derail thread- but Crackers, how did you reinforce the brake?

 

And Evan- Carry On!

The derailment is much appreciated. I was going to ask the same thing.

After the above discussion i am still going to buy the hf brake. The money spent is worth not losing time and momentum on the build.

Today I welded the driver door and handle shut. Then cut down some trees.