Volvo P1800ES...kinda

Was a good day. First of all its Friday and the week-end is here.

Then there were parts waiting for me when I got home.

Opening the first box, lets hope this turns out to be true:

Of course, what good is a EFI throttle body without fuel? So this also arrived. 1953 Chevy tank to add to the mongrel nature of this project.

Shame that the nice filler neck on the top part of the tank really needs to be on the bottom of the tank in order to clear the frame structure. So out comes the body waw,, the grinder and the welder. Please let this be liquid tight when I check tomorrow.

Original intake spot cut out and plated over.

Filler relocated to bottom of tank

Cutting up a brand new tank is a great feeling. NOT. Good news is the filler should integrate nicely with the original Volvo filler neck once I find a few hoses with the right bends. Nothing exotic required.

Word of caution to anyone buying a tank from Tanks Inc. The tanks come with a sump in the middle of the tank. The problem is that they don't put any holes in the sump that would allow fuel access once the fuel goes below the top of the sump bowl.

In the picture you can see where after a lot of effort the pick-up line for the normal fuel outlet was removed from where it entered the sump. Good thing the Minio was paying attention or this would have been a much bigger Cluster berkeley as I would be running out of fuel with half a tank left.

Any way to extend your filler neck in metal until it's above the top of the tank? I'd be more comfortable having a flexible filler hose connection that wasn't on the bottom sitting full of fuel all the time. Is the flexible connection made out of the same stuff that today's fuel lines are - compatible with ethanols without breaking down quickly or letting some of the smaller molecules pass through as vapor? SAE30R9 was the older spec; the newer one is SAE30R14 I believe. I've never seen any hose with the fuel line rating that was that big in diameter.

MichaelYount wrote: Any way to extend your filler neck in metal until it's above the top of the tank? I'd be more comfortable having a flexible filler hose connection that wasn't on the bottom sitting full of fuel all the time. Is the flexible connection made out of the same stuff that today's fuel lines are - compatible with ethanols without breaking down quickly or letting some of the smaller molecules pass through as vapor? SAE30R9 was the older spec; the newer one is SAE30R14 I believe. I've never seen any hose with the fuel line rating that was that big in diameter.

Interesting thoughts. I guess since I own a welder, the metal portion can go pretty much wherever I want it to go.

Tank in place. (16 gallons) I will weld on a metal tube section to go from the tank inlet stub up past the big hole you can see in the side-panel so that the rubber portion of the filler tube is not always full of gas. Going to require a small amount of clearancing of the Molvo frame.

I have some housekeeping duties to do insofar as cleaning up the tinwork/sealing the underside, but not a big deal.

The plan is to run the fuel and brake lines inside the frame rails. Recall that the rails have been fortified with a 1/8" thick steel plating, so they should be safe.

Going to go in here:

And enter the engine compartment here:

Awesome. How does one keep the fuel and brake lines secured while inside the rail? Or is that not a concern?

So are you getting more or less confident about your timeline?

Are you going to run flexible lines all the way back, or is it a fairly straight shot?

Running nylon lines all the way from the engine compartment to the tank for the fuel delivery and return. Ny-cop for the brakes, All the lines in the frame rail will be inside of a nylon conduit. Hope that is going to be enough to keep things from fretting.

New to the world of plastic fuel lines for fuel injection. I do like the fitting options that are designed to work with this stuff.

The line item on the punch-list said "Install Fuel Tank"

I forgot to itemize the 200 details that needed to be completed before I could cross this particular task off the list.

There is about four to six hours of billable time between the two "Installed tank" pictures and three calendar days out of my rapidly diminishing deadline. 76 spotwelds, mounting studs, grind/clean-up, prime and paint the work area ate up a ton of time and nobody but Larry is ever going to see it. But it had to be done and it is a step closer to done.

On the topside I realized that the lines had no way to get past the differential and in to the nice passage that I have in the frame rail. Out comes the 1.5" hole saw and a piece of scrap roll bar tube. Drill, drill, cut,cut and weld, weld and we have a passage tunnel for the fuel lines. Oh, and don't forget "wire wheel, prime, seam seal, paint the damn thing. I wanted to do it with oval tube, you know, fabricating the oval tube and all, but the minion was giving me that look that says "Why do you have to always find the hardest way to do a simple thing?" He might have a point. I blame the beer.

Not a great pic, but you can see where the new hole goes through the Miata frame section in line with the fuel pump that will reside in the centre of the tank. If all goes well today, there should be fuel lines going through that hole and running into the engine compartment.

Two more details to attend to before I can call this "Tank Installed"

First is to close off the space behind the tank. Technically not part of the job, but it has to be done

Second is to follow Mr Younts advice and extend the metal filler stub up above the top of the tank. That means I have to do some frame trimming and tube forming.

Oh, and when that is all done, I am going to leak test the thing before I put fuel into it!

Apologies to Mr Deuce as I realize the pics are getting a bit up-close and hard to place in the context of an actual automobile.

Had grand intentions of having fuel lines and the rear brake line run by this time today. Nope.

On the way out to the shop, I happened to observe the EX chassis table that I used when building the Molvo tub. Until recently, the snow cover has been nice enough to keep it out of Mrs NOHOME'S sight. But recently she has been asking what I am going to do about the eyesore in "Her" backyard.

So, while she was at work, I did this thing:

Makes for a nice border around the veggie garden and gives her a bit more room. Being heavy galvanized steel, it should stay reasonable looking for a while. I budgeted two hours for this and it took most of the day and about 5 cutting disc and most of my back to get done.

I did however save enough energy to get a small bit of Molvo chewed

Where do the weeks go?

Still making progress. What is funny is that even with a deadline looming, I get sidetracked by stuff like this:

Recall that I decided to run the fuel lines inside the frame-rail. So, at the back, they came out this hole. Cant just leave that hole there can I?

So, between me and the Minion and a few refreshments, we dialed up this neat little blister from a piece of exhaust u-bend that was left from making the X-pipe in the exhaust. I would hate to admit how much time these details eat up!

You can see where the blister leads the two lines (plastic fuel lines) up the rear frame section. The exit face is a nylon material serving dual purpose as a grommet.

49 days to go.

Maybe from now on, to save time, I will just do a daily countdown and leave the updates until the final day.

Binkyish I must say.....great to see this moving forward.

The extra time isn't from the little things, it's from being clever about the little things.

NOHOME wrote: Maybe from now on, to save time, I will just do a daily countdown and leave the updates until the final day.

Why not, none of us like you anyway.

hey nohome when you're done with this would my dad's p1800 coupe interest you?

759NRNG wrote: hey nohome when you're done with this would my dad's p1800 coupe interest you?

To buy it or to restore it for him?

I don't know what I will do after this one. The 67 Mustang GT fell through. I have at least a year to figure it out.

In reply to NOHOME:

I thought my ES was in line after this? At least after we figure out how to get a project car back and forth across the border.

Ive got an el Camino....

Fuel tank saga is pretty much done. Filler neck in stainless steel tube bent to go where it needs to be (Thanks Stan) and everything goes where it should.

Still need some clamps for the hose.

The vent from the top of the tank will connect to the 1/2" hose that you see on the filler neck.

Just to put to rest one concern to rest that keeps popping up: The tank fills just fine as long as there is a vent in the top. I know this because I filled it several times to check for pinhole leaks in the welds that I did on order to move the filler neck.

On a different tack: I notice that this chassis swap game is becoming more popular. Also, on a separate thread, Ian mentions that as he has pondered this swap himself but would do some things different based on what he has seen.

So, as a pause point, and to draw out some of the quiet followers of this build, I am curious, "What would you do different if you were doing this project?" or "what would you change even at this point in the name of safety or ?" Lord knows I have my own list!

Im not sure what i would do different. I really cant say without seeing it in person.

I do know that I wouldn't v8 it. Just don't seem right. Id do a turbo 1.8 miata engine, or a late model Volvo swap.

Dusterbd13 wrote: Im not sure what i would do different. I really cant say without seeing it in person. I do know that I wouldn't v8 it. Just don't seem right. Id do a turbo 1.8 miata engine, or a late model Volvo swap.

I think (and I have researched) that a aftermarket fuel injected B20 could be built with 4.6 Mod motor pistons and some rods which I cannot remember. It would be overbored quite a bit, but those blocks are thick walled.

Otherwise I think it's very very good. If you frame the problem with a street car, with OEM level fit and finish, and a Miata suspension, and a ES1800 body, you've done what's required to make that happen.

I would do everything in a sloppier, less thought out, and ultimately less successful manner than you did, NOHOME.

I would probably leave more of the OE floor pan and firewall in place and do the sub-frame swap in more of a "Project Binky" style. It just seems that a few of the reasons for swapping the entire pan have gone by the wayside anyway.

Or I would have just built a new cradle and front suspension to make room for the desired V8 and the required exhaust (the upper control arm mounts are the Achilles heal for most engine swaps into an 1800).

That said, for my own car I've decided to keep the drivetrain essentially stock. I might swap the transmission for a T-5 or T-9, but deviating from the B20 is just more destructive to the car than I care for right now and the B20 is capable of enough power to make it not really necessary. As I've stated before, I am intimately familiar with how a stock 1800ES drives and the changes I would make are more to make the car more comfortable as a long-distance GT: better HVAC; stereo; electric P/S; more comfortable seats. My main change would be to update the interior, taking some modern ideas about insulation and ergonomics, while keeping the general layout that the car came with.

While I totally get you're building this car as much just to do it, I fear the overall result might not be what you (or mainly your wife) are hoping for as far as being an actual, functional car. For one, I can pretty much guarantee you have taken a massive step backwards as far as braking performance goes, unless you acquire a Miata brake upgrade kit (to account for the added weight over a Miata) and figure out how to make the ABS work. The stock E/ES 4 wheel disc brakes are amazingly powerful and easy to modulate with an insane level of system redundancy. Only because it doesn't have ABS does it lack against modern cars.

TDL: Despite its early 60's roots and "tractor" engine, the later 1800 was a surprisingly modern car for it's era. Update what needs updating; don't berk with what doesn't.

Not one damn thing, it's existence is enough reason for the extensive engineering execution.

Only thing I'd change is aluminum LS instead of Ford.

MichaelYount wrote: Only thing I'd change is aluminum LS instead of Ford.

Had a feeling you would come along with this!