Volvo P1800ES...kinda

So, no great great picture updates, cause it was one of those day of cleaning up and finishing a bunch of small stuff. But when all said and done, it was a great day best described with this one picture:

The sparks were a flying and a lot got done:

The Volvo firewall cuts were cleaned up and all the under cowl area cleaned up The motor mounts that came with the tubular cross member were cut off since they wont be used.

Started cleaning the metal along between what will be the the Miata and Volvo weld interface. This involved making sure that all metal is perfectly clean where the Frankenstein weld seam is going to join the two cars. In a straight line, it adds up to about 30 feet of seam to weld/spot-weld.

Received the Energy suspension bushings.

Pistons and rings arrived so engine can go together as soon as the rods and pistons are matted.

Received new camber bolts so that the suspension can go on once the bushings are pressed in.

Made an executive decision that the Miata fuel tank is not going to work out. The trunk pan is cut out and when I mocked the Miata tank in place it just looked stupid. So off to Tunas tank site to see what I can find.

The goal was to have the two big chunks welded by the New Year, I might move that to having a roller by then.

MichaelYount wrote: The later AODE or 4r70w. And things continue to come along nicely.

I'd recommend the 4r70w, have to be the one from a 3.8 to have the right bellhousing. You can go with a Baumann controller for it. Or build up the aod with 4r70w parts.

bigfranks84 wrote:

MichaelYount wrote: The later AODE or 4r70w. And things continue to come along nicely.

I'd recommend the 4r70w, have to be the one from a 3.8 to have the right bellhousing. You can go with a Baumann controller for it. Or build up the aod with 4r70w parts.

Not that I don't welcome suggestons, and I do learn a lot as I go along, but as someone who has to manage projects for a living, I have learned the value of setting out requirements early on and staying the course. The AOD is capable of doing the job and will stay until proven not to be up to the task.

Yup - scope creep is a biatch!

MichaelYount wrote: Yup - scope creep is a biatch!

Yeah...but this ain't! Quite the opposite.

Can anyone spot a change?

HINT: The vice-grip is NOT holding the car together.

It's welded together?

MrJoshua wrote: It's welded together?

Lets just say its tacked together in enough places that I would not want to try and separate the two again. Maybe not married in the eyes of Vulcan, but certainly common law.

The scaffold and the chassis table are now officially surplus to requirements and I will be glad to have the space back in the shop. No idea what I am going to do with the things?!

In the spirit of the holiday just passed, it just occurred to me that I am making the automotive equivalent of a Turduckling.

Or something like that...

In reply to NOHOME:

WOOT! I've been waiting for this day to come.

Milestone! Always inspirational.

This is probably the most anticipated update in the thread. Congradulations!

The good news is that I can get rid of the rigging and make some room in the shop.

The other news is that things might slow down while I attempt to fix this:

NOHOME wrote: The good news is that I can get rid of the rigging and make some room in the shop. The other news is that things might slow down while I attempt to fix this:

Was that already yours? Or you just bought it? Or you being paid to fix it for somebody?

Sine_Qua_Non wrote:

NOHOME wrote: The good news is that I can get rid of the rigging and make some room in the shop. The other news is that things might slow down while I attempt to fix this:

Was that already yours? Or you just bought it? Or you being paid to fix it for somebody?

The goal would be to top up the Molvo fund by doing a quick fix on the poor MGB. All it needs is two front fenders, a new bonnet, two new quarters, a new trunk lid and a rear valence. I don't have to paint it and it looks like about 150 hours of work.

If anyone has any of those parts laying around for sale, please let me know.

Other than that its Cherry!

NOHOME wrote: In the spirit of the holiday just passed, it just occurred to me that I am making the automotive equivalent of a Turduckling. Or something like that...

This is the gastronomic equivalent of marrying the Volvo/Mazda/Ford.....jus' sayin'....

No real forward progress, but a good day none-the-less. Got the MGB bit sorter out: NOt going to happen till next June. So the Molvo keeps going.

Got the shop re-organized. Pulled the sex swing apart and turned it back into a storage rack. Need to figure out what to do with the chassis frame; Hate to toss it, but not really needed and it takes up a lot of space.

Going to try for suspension and wheels tomorrow.

I just got caught up on this build thread. It's fantastic. Like many others, I'm looking forward to seeing what comes next.

Maybe keep the chassis frame until you get the suspension attached and check the alignment. It might make a nice way of ensuring everything is in the right place. I'd be a little worried about what happens after all of the welding is completed, although there's not much you can do if things drift. If anything, it would be nice to check while you're doing the final welding.

No springs and I had to work around the chassis plate that I have no place to move, but here is a glimpse of where this is going.

If the wife unit feels up to it after 12 hours of nursing, I might get her to help toss on the front clip just for giggles.

OK, so its not really resting on the suspension at ride height, but this is pretty much where it is going to end up relative to the body.

the chassis plate is in the way of putting it on the ground, so I had to shim the tires up to the right height.

So, some issues. Unless I want to go all "Hella Flush" there is a clearance issue with the tires. My desire would be to not alter the body if possible.

Currently 205 55 16 tires. could go down to a 50 profile and see if that helps. It is that close if i am willing to roll the fenders.

Can try another offset, but Not a fan of the flush looking wheels nor do I know how to do this without buying a selection of wheels and tires.

It is at the limit of getting away with rolling the fender lips. Even that is not a good thing in my universe.

I could just declare war and pull out the saw and English wheel and do flares, but that is a lot of work that I don't look forward to, not do I always like the results. Designers are well paid cause they are good at what they do, and I think they nailed this car.

A possible but laborious option is to shotern the a-arms by 1/2", but that seems like a lot of work at this point. Is it more work than doing fender flares? Not sure yet

Lookin' great! Will that rear wheel/tire need to be a bit more under the fender opening?

MichaelYount wrote: Lookin' great! Will that rear wheel/tire need to be a bit more under the fender opening?

See edit. In short...yup!

SWMBO acquiesced and helped hoist the front clip in-place.

Yeah, I can see where this might all work out.

Wheels definitely need to come in and have a lip. The flat face just don't look right to my eye.

The rest of it looks fantastic!

I wouldn't want to go smaller than the 205 section tire -- if you have clearance on the inside, a different offset wheel should solve it easily. Just do some measuring so you know how much you want to move it in. If you start shortening control arms and such, motion ratios/spring rates/damping rates, geometry, etc. all change and there could be some unintended consequences unless you 'math' all that out before hand.

Going to see what I can do about more offset to the inside. There is a ton of room inboard.

The rims were the first thing that I could find an while I really do like them, they were mainly to get the project started by having the final size wheel tire in order to set a ride height. I am pretty happy with the stance, the Miata suspension is right about where it would be on a stock car. Gives me about an inch more that I can drop it without messing things up.

NOT going to mess with the control arms! Kinda defeats the whole purpose of using the Miata.

Hazzah! Great Work!