I've built a bunch of headers. Means you have full control over packaging. On the MG, I had to go over the steering shaft and through the wheel well, but it worked.
On the Locost, I used blue pool hose and welding wire. On the later cars, I used ICEngineworks "header lego". We've got the standard 4-cylinder kit, but you can build one side at a time. Makes life really easy. Maybe you can borrow/rent a set.
Apologies for the photodump.
Under cover of darkness, I evicted the MGB from where it had been interloping for the last several months.
The MGB is done along with the rotisserie it is going home on. Hard to believe, but the spinner is actually two engine stands that had their metal re-assigned to different locations.
With the Molvo back in the shop, the question is where to get tucked in. Too many possibilities and a bad case of ADD has me all over the place!
I want to go back on the rotisserie, so I do need to finalize the connection of the Miata chassis to the Volvo rear apron. For that purpose I have secured some donor chassis legs from Miata #3. They need to be trimmed to fit where the red arrow is and then I can make some mounts for the rotisserie.
Of course I also need a fuel tank, and was working under the impression that I would best served with a new Volvo tank converted to an internal pump (about $1000!
) so ADD kicks in and I place the Miata tank in this hole.
Top view. Note filler tube from car on the left.
bottom View. Tucks up nice and high
So, for $1000 it might be worth pondering a bit more. (too bad I managed to drill a 1/8" hole in such a nice tank!)
This would make wiring easy, fuel sender easy plumbing easy.
As we know, I have been playing with finding an exhaust for the DS. These will work just fine...if I am willing to run turbos! Otherwise, they just became wall art.
Note that the rusty Ranger 302 swap header does fit, so there IS a workable solution, just not pretty.
So I jump up front a bit further to the AC and Radiator area. Might want to get this lot mounted before it goes back on the rotisserie since it mounts to the front clip crossbar.The condenser is out of a Lincoln of indeterminate vintage and the Rad is an Ebay generic version that the Minion uses in his projects.
Feels good to be back in the thick of this project after a break and with a refreshed budget. Also looking forward to using tools such as wrenches and screwdrivers rather than welders and grinders!
I think you just might have the skills to weld up the hole in that tank
A 1/8" hole is no big deal, sheet metal screw slathered in epoxy and it never happened.
Glad to see this back up top!
I've been trying to find a low mounted OEM tank from a right hand fill vehicle to swap into Uncle Ben. I'm very close to just relocating the filler cap. 
Only real option I've found so far are Foxbody mustang tanks, but I need to spend some time perusing a junkyard to do any realistic searching.
Crackers, E30's are passenger side fill if that's what you mean.
tuna55 wrote: I think you just might have the skills to weld up the hole in that tank
Tuna:
The wife unit is an ICU nurse. The one task I have promised never to do is weld on gas tanks. It is a small but steady part of her clientele that arrives in scorched tatters after welding on tanks that have contained Kablooey stuff inside at some time.
I will take it to a tank repair shop.
NOHOME wrote: I will take it to a tank repair shop.
My welding instructor, a 30 year certified welder with dangerous and enclosed spaces ratings, said to never weld a gas tank. He said it wasn't worth the risk with as cheap as a replacement is.
Don't weld a gas tank, solder it.
Use a giant electric soldering iron, I have done it on tanks even with fuel in them!
bentwrench wrote: Don't weld a gas tank, solder it. Use a giant electric soldering iron, I have done it on tanks even with fuel in them!
This has occurred to me as a solution. However, if I can get the rad/tank repair place to do it for $100 it will make me happy. Problem is those places are going out of business and I am not sure it the place I have used is even there?
Found this in my in-box today...Is the wench trying to tell me something?
The wench tells you one thing, the wrench tells you another.
I was about to suggest the new fancy Aeromotive "Phantom" in tank fuel pump. Until I saw the price.
Ian F wrote: I was about to suggest the new fancy Aeromotive "Phantom" in tank fuel pump. Until I saw the price.
That is kind of where I gagged...$500 USD for the tank, $500 USD for the pump, $125 for a sender...then convert to Canadian, add 13% and it turns into real money.
In reply to NOHOME:
Since when is $500 NOT real money????
Tanks inc pa4 was my solution....
This could have been much easier if it did not have to be a real car when done. For example, I would have left the bumpers off. Cause I like the look. But since it has to look like a stock P1800 and pass the safety test, I have to put them on.
So, best pull them off the shelf and see how they fit and more importantly WHERE and HOW they fit,
So far so good.
They bolt to this remainder of the Volvo chassis
So that means I have a conflict with the Miata chassis leg extensions.
The fix was to tunnel out a clearance hole for the bolts to pass through.
Five minutes to make the post and about 6 hours to think up a solution and fabricate. Next is the front bumper.
After that I can tear the car back down and put the tub up on the rotisserie again.
207 days until it has to leave the shop under its own steam.
Just to prove that I am making progress, here is a quick report.
One side of the frame extension task is done. Came out nice. I but welded the extension and then made a "U" shaped double to go over the butt-weld seam. The double had a bunch of holes so I could spot-weld it on place; should help take some of the stress off the seam weld.
Will try to get the other side done tonight and then I can see about getting the car back up on the rotisserie and blown apart once more.
Note also that I have cut out the remainder of the Volvo trunk floor. The hope is that I can use the space behind the fuel to house the muffler.
With your mind boggling skills why not fold up a tank from scratch to suit the space you have then you can put the filler, feed and return lines, sender etc exactly where you want them. As it's starting from a pile of flat sheet it's never had kablamo stuff inside it. It will probably end up a larger capacity than anything off the shelf as you can maximize it to the space available.
Adrian...Thanks for the compliment. It could well come to that if if that is where the parth leads.
As I keep reminding people, I not really doing something that I KNOW how to do, I am just way in the deep end and I am making this up as I go. A part of me wants to see the project converge towards assembly rather than go diving into fuel tank design.
The other thing to consider is that I want to minimize the number of custom components on the finished car. Other than a giant seam weld at the Volvo to Miata frontier, the car is just another Miata with a body kit. Kinda
Don't know if you'd be interested, but in my search for a fuel-injection tank for my 63 1800 project, I found a 41-48 Ford repro tank (17 gallons) will fit in the available trunk area of the coupe (barely).. Surely your wagon has more room, and your fuel neck is on the same dr-rear side.. may be worth a look for your project.. I got mine at www.tanksinc.com (part # 48G).. by the time I bought the tank/straps/sender/pump/fittings/etc, I think my total was right at 500.00... so much nicer than having to risk welding/modding an old tank..
Nice to see you back on this one 
.. I was missing the updates!
ccrunner:
I will follow up on that. It would be in the budget. That said, I am still holding out hope for the Miata tank. Besides being here already, it is in great shape except where some spot-weld cutting idiot drilled a hole in it, the pump is a known entity to work in that tank and plug into the Miata harness. Same for the fuel gauge.
The other thought driving the Miata tank is that if I can make the Miata tank work, I might have room in the budget for the Fox coil-overs from FM.
If the only issue with the Miata tank is a drilled hole, fix it! I had a civic that a po had drilled into with a sheet metal screw to ground an amp. I dropped it, used a ball peen to hammer the area down below flush, ran a next size larger sheet metal screw into it to plug the hole, then smeared JB Weld over the whole repair. 12 years later when I sold it, it was still fine.
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