Another frikken Volvo ?

[NONHOG]

Dang its been over a month ! Time fly's when your having fun.

Pulled the engine tonight and cut off some trans ears and smoothed out some ribb's. Dented the headers a little. Massaged some clearance with
the 4lb sledge in the trans tunnel. Put the finishing touches on the motor mount brackets. The instructions called for lifting the bracket 3/8th ".
I did not like that idea so I played around with the drill press and grinders
till it worked the way I wanted it.

Had a productive evening.

[NONHOG]

More bracket pics.

[NONHOG]

Its been a slow go! Took much of the summer off. Here it is November and I'm still just crawling The engine is back in, 3rd time is a charm right?
Most of the time I spend on this car is looking, thinking, scratching, not much has changed.
I did get some fuel lines mocked up on Saturday and brought them into a local hose shop(Williams oil filter in Tacoma) for them to copy and have the proper fittings installed to mate Volvo to Ford with some brass fittings in between.
Was cheap too, very surprised. Another year or two and this sucker will be done.

[dammitmitchell]

i had a 300gt vr4... almost got beat by a volvo with a crate motor. had to turn the AC off... it was a major surprise

[TestPoint]

No 'year or two'. You have to be in Denver next June. Looking good!

[Sillyoldman]

Originally Posted by TestPoint

No 'year or two'. You have to be in Denver next June. Looking good!

What's happening in Denver next June?

[TestPoint]

Brad and I have challenged each other to have our cars finished and ready to drive to Denver next June. I am doing the same swap and am about the same place he is. Waiting on the Red Rocks concert schedule to schedule a date.

[Sillyoldman]

Originally Posted by TestPoint

Brad and I have challenged each other to have our cars finished and ready to drive to Denver next June. I am doing the same swap and am about the same place he is. Waiting on the Red Rocks concert schedule to schedule a date.

A turtle race Any pics of yours? Definatley a challenge.

[Pop's C-10]

Sweet build

[6772owner]

You guys better let us know when you're going to be in town. I would love to check out the vehicles in person and maybe arrange a GTG with the other local guys here.

[Frizzle Fry]

Nice BFH collection I'd try to make the exhaust fit the car before doing the other way around, but if I read back through the thread you have probably done all you can there. If that's the case I say cut and reinforce as needed.

[NONHOG]

Taking tonight off. Tired and beat. This weekend between many other things I did get a little bit done. Much is hard to see, like the extra clearance I beat into the trans tunnel. More to come? Need to do some measuring.
Also ground off a small amount on the tranny near the starter for more exhaust clearance as well as took off the rear A-arm mount bracket and sliced off the edge and beat it flat cut and welded it back up hit it with a quick shot of Hammerite paint and reinstalled. Pretty happy with how it came out. Had I spent a little more time it would have been great but good if fine since its never going to be seen.

[NONHOG]

Forgot to mention, I used a part of one of my old truck mirrors on reinforcing the mount.(As seen in the vice above) Was the same thickness as the mount. What luck
I warmed the paint and the mount inside by the fire before I shot the paint on it. Didn't turn out so well as it was snowing as I went back to the shop and the part was likely plenty cold. Oh well.

[NONHOG]

Well another weekend with some progress but not near as much as I hoped for.
I found a computer box out of a burned out Mazda Navaho for free.
Turned out to be not such a great deal but it was fun making it work.
(still to be realized)
After cleaning with wheel cleaner and a brush I started working on fitment.
I found the face to be warped, no surprise. It fit the computer fine but was tight on the firewall. So I got out my high end "imported" poor man's CNC.
And went to work. Also got the chance to use that "Super Alloy Welding Rod"
to fill holes and low spots. Finished with Epoxy because that "county fair" special welding rod, while fun to use, is super hard.
Worked till late and stil have some triming to do so box will fit.

Now to decide how to seal the box to the firewall. BlackJack? 3M panel bond?
*IDEAS WELCOME*

[NONHOG]

More pics...

[dammitmitchell]

3m body bond.. the glue you use on body seams to stop them from opening up.
it's liek10 bucks a tube.

[NONHOG]

I ended up using some seam sealer/adhesive to attach the box.
Bent up a section of brake line to mount at an angle. Had to clear the a/c
expansion valve.

Today I found out I had the wrong extension housing for the trans.
Was swapping the Explorer housing for a car housing that will accept a smaller yoke for the driveshaft.
Since I was dead in the water w/o the proper housing I turned my attention
to the crossmember and cut out a slice to add exhaust clearance.

Was hoping to install engine this weekend. Ah well.

[NONHOG]

Spent way to much time blowing holes(with the MIG) in the cross member, but its done. Not nearly as nice as I was hoping for but will add room for a 3" pipe.
Engine is in for the 4th time. So far so good. paint was still wet on the cross member last night so I called it a night. Today I'm not feeling it.
So it can wait.
Really happy with my "new" exhaust clearance that the modded control arm mount gave me.
Next hurdle (beside seeing if I warped the cross member) room for shift linkage.
Looks like it may be a go. Wish me luck.

[Frizzle Fry]

http://bringatrailer.com/2011/03/07/...-bertone-282c/

[NONHOG]

Saw that on e-bay recently. I like the tail lights better.
There is a LS powered Bertone on Turbobricks.
http://forums.turbobricks.com/showth...ertone+sleeper

http://grandnationalvolvo.blogspot.c...&max-results=7

As far as my project. I have been fighting shift linkage for a number of days.
Its a pretty tight fit but do-able. The computor box worked out so I'm happy about that.
Not much else going on.

[Sillyoldman]

"The Ford V8 in the a Volvo chassis is a straightforward swap"

[NONHOG]

Originally Posted by Sillyoldman

"The Ford V8 in the a Volvo chassis is a straightforward swap"

Good humor right there. I bet the Mustang engine swap is much easier.
The Explorer swap has proven itself to be a complete pain. I think it will be worth it.
Today I spent a couple hours in the local pull a part. Got a couple more shift linkages I needed as well as a couple of speedo cables for review.
Oh who could pass up a couple of 15X7 Mopar police wheels.
Hoping to work out the linkage this week as the rain all week forecast will help keep me in the shop.

[NONHOG]

I may have gotten the linkage done, less paint. It shifts from Park to 1st which is really 2nd? shifter is a 3 spd while trans is 4spd. Mrs.Nonhog wont be using 1st gear and wanted to retain the original shifter so its all good.
Can't even count how many times I've crawled under the car test fitting linkage heating, welding and bending till its fits. It does fit and its tight but I think it will be fine.
Happy to be making progress!

[NONHOG]

More baby steps.... small amount of progress on the exhaust. Not really happy with my exhaust fab work but if it helps to get it running its worth the time.
Been playing around with wire harness routings, hose routings underhood boring time consuming stuff. Not the stuff to make threads interesting.
Factory service manuals, will come in handy!
Just got the driveshaft back today.

[NONHOG]

Months later and I find myself under the Bertone. I had massaged the trans tunnel to get more room for the Ford yoke. Lowered the crossmember a bit and now I have room. But? Is this right?
The yoke has 2.5" showing while installed. Total is 4.5"
It does have 3/4" of spline out the end of the tailshaft.
Run it? or take it back to the driveline shop?
Its got a center support bearing so it wont need to slide back and forth much.
(if at all)

Dont look right to me.