Volvo P1800ES...kinda

wipers back in for DONE. Hard to believe this was such a PITA

Ran into a problem though...this was the last instruction in the wiper assembly manual. Problem is that there is no guidance as to when to stop Been at it for 4 hours so far... 

I submitted that picture to maxim's found porn section once.....

LMAO! That has to be intensional. 

"....intensional."  LOL - I see what you did there.

God does so hate a coward...so without further ado and one last read of the warning note, the car is now one piece.

lower front fender to pichweld

Along the DS bonnet opening

DS a post

And a start on the PS  by getting the cowl to windshield seam welded up.

Going to need another garage session to get the welding finished and make some headway on the grinding. The window aperture in particular is going to require some grinder artwork.

Not just yes, but berkeley Yes!

But first...

It's been a long time coming.  Congratulations.  Now get back to work. :)

In reply to JoeTR6 :

Sorry....Going to the Toronto International Car Show today, so no progress. Next fter this come wiring. That should be a change of pace.

NOHOME said:

Crackers said:

Huh, just realized today isn't Saturday. LOL

That patch looks tidy, did you make that panel? 

This one? Yeah, it was a bit of fun but mostly due to the position.  I just slather masking tape over the area and then trim to what I need, Transfer masking tape to a piece of tin and cut, bend bash and weld.

 

If I could have been bothered to grind down the welds, the whole scutle/firewall would look like it was made that way. Instead  I seam-sealed over all the weld beads and used a white rocker-guard paint ( pebbly finish) to mask the scars.

 

 

NoHome, trust me this a top five fave for me, but when I saw these welds I kinda got a warm fuzzy. These are very similar in execution to the patch panel on my JD lawn tractor mower deck. Mig welding thin sheet metal can be either a work of art or a big ol' turd ...well done my friend!!!   

Well...somedays you are the  the bug and somedays you are the windshield....Bug day for me.

Started with both dash install and windshield wipers crossed-off the list. Finished with both back on the list.

Recall the fun I had installing the dash...Well, at the time, I did not have a tombstone, so figured that the four bolts on the transmission tunnel would key the location. So I went ahead and fabricated the dash mounts and intalled a wiper mechanism that worked.

  Well, turns out that the four bolts that locate the Miata dash on the tunnel have about 6 degrees of slop. so when I went to install the tombstone, the mating edge did not line up with the console.  Off come the mounts that I welded on to attach the dash ( they were a lot of fun) and back to carving the dash to make it lean further forward to make the tombstone and console angles line up.

This is where it all ends up.

The problem is that the gap between the the console and the dash widened  at the bottom. This indicated that the dash needed to tilt forward.  So, using the forward bolt as the pivot point ( seen in picture) I started to tilt the dash forward.

So, with much cutting of the dash and tilting it forward, this is where the dash to cowl line at the windshield ends up like this:

See those oval holes? that is where the wiper mechanism goes. Before the tilt, the dash fit over the mechanism. Now it kinda goes in the middle of the whole deal.  Need to come up with a clever way to blend this all in!

Bend a filler and cover it in black or matching vinyl? Find a not obvious place to angle the dash and then make filler in those places? How about don't worry too much about small details like a tombstone or trim gap because in the end nobody will notice the fine details only you. Once the rest of the work all comes together you'll have less tunnel vision. I know it happens to me all the time. Kind of like painting you see stuff nobody else does or you see everybody else's little uh oh's. To beat the man you got to be the man! Be strong! 

I resigned myself to a bespoke dash months ago. 

This just confirms it was the right choice. 

In reply to cj32769 :

I am committed to going down this new path. Going back now would require a new dash... The mounts for the dash have been cut out, the front  and sides of the dash has been trimmed to fit the more  tilted position, so there is no going back.

I have a plan...

Picked up a set of MINI wheels. 16 x 6.5 with a 48 ET.

Tire interference problem fixed. I like the wheels and I prefer the stance with the 195 55 16 tires. Going to call this done for now.

Those wheels work for me, it looks good.

Can you throw  a '205' on those hoops for all that is FoMoCo ???

Looks great.  It lets you know there's miata under there too

759NRNG said:

Can you throw  a '205' on those hoops for all that is FoMoCo ???

I "Might" be able to with a fender roll, but the 195s are a sure thing at this point.

I will try to source two used  205-55-16 tires  and put them on the two rims that don't have tires so as to evaluate.

Those wheels look great! 

They look great!  

For whatever it's worth, 205/55-16 would be the diameter equivalent of the 195/65-15 typically run on the stock 1800ES wheels.  

This started this week-end

Figure  around 100 to 150 hours and two gallons of rage gold to make the thing smooth. That is a testament to my lack of skills and the damage done by the a-hole who sandblasted the Volvo tub. Pretty much the entire car will get a skim of mud.

After the rage gold comes the high build polyester Featherfill primer.

Question:  What is going to be more boring than watching paint dry!

Answer:  Watching me sand filler on the Molvo!

As a way to kee me motivated, I am going to be doing snapshots of the filler progress. If not, it just looks and feels like and endless dust storm. It is actually going well; about halfway through the front clip.

The DS fender is pretty much good until I start shooting Featherfill to see  what I missed.

The top of the nose is also pretty much ready for Featherfill.

The PS has posed a few challenges and still has a ways to go.

Two hours later...

not much to show except that it is a game of patience and details. Going to guess ten hours from here before I am ready to shoot the first coat of high build on the nose.

Awesome!

Love seeing this move along. Hoping to reach this stage sooner rather than later.

Eww.... That driver's side door is pretty bad isn't it?