Volvo P1800ES...kinda

In reply to pres589 (djronnebaum) :

If you mean close to done, then not far. It IS a Miata and the stock seats, carpet and dash make up most of the interior decorating and are done. Door handles and window cranks are a good idea, but minutes away from being done when I get to them. The full inside HVAC stuff is installed and I have fan and defrost, so all good there.

The headliner is the one big item to install and other than time and contortions not a big deal. Then I run into making custom bits to deal with the areas where the two cars meet. A good example is the place where the rear Miata bulkhead seem between the seats needs to merge with the flat deck. I have spare vinyl that matches the seats to do anything that requires that and the dash can get re-colored to match the seats...lots of little stuff like that.  There is wiring that runs across the car at that point and an elegant trim piece needs to be crafted to blend the two zones and still allow access to the wires.

The rear cargo area has the original faded carpet in place as of now and a rubber mat is covering the flat area. Stuff like an elegant way to cover the battery and remake the carpet 2" longer to meet the new deck need to be done. Blending the seatbelt towers in is another example of the interior work to be done.

In the short tem, just gonna get used to driving it  in an expanding set of circumstances until I take that part for granted. First HWY drive is going to be a revelation.

We cant embed vids anymore, but here are links to some vids of the Molvo moving under its own power.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKOpV5Hb5rA&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wEUipJfesU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5LPpijuANQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4GeQop41Lw

Pete

Sweeeeeeeet!

I also want to know about that Ford LTD. (Is it a V8, can I have it, etc.)

In reply to slowbird :

The LTD is way too nice to be around the likes of me. It is pretty much immaculate.  Nice 302 with a T5 and 3.55 gears.

Belongs to my friend  "Tow Truck Doug"...good person to have on your team when you play this  game!

Pete 

Awesome. Tell Tow Truck Doug I like the cut of his jib, as the saying goes.

In reply to NOHOME :

They fixed the embed issue at some point.

Just click the chingadera next to the picture embed button. 

Sounds good by the way

In reply to bigfranks84 :

Thanks,  Lets see if that works with a blast from the past.

So, what rear gearsare you running? I cant remember.....

In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :

3.73 final

With the tires I have and the 0.63 OD that sends me down the hwy at  77 mph at 2500 rpm. Not a bad place for an explorer cam I hope.

The biggest running issue I have now is the fitech pops through the TB when I try to transition to more speed. It is fine a second after the pop, and oulls good after clearing its throat,  but I cant seem to get rid of it. If you listen to the last video, I cut off just as Mustang was about to go on record as to how much he hates the berkeleying fitech. He has totally given up on it.One of the biggest drawbacks to the fitech is that they assume the buyer is EFI fluent to start with, None of the terms used in the menus are explained in any text and a manual of any sort is not available. You are left groping around blindly on the forums looking for explanations and tuning tips that may or may not apply to your situation.  Or if the documents ARE availble, then I have not found them. I stopped using fitech as a technical resource pretty much since the start as they don't have a coherent support system other than a long backlog of  of email "try this" responses.

Pete

I had asked about gearing as your first gear sounds almost usable in the video. Mines just about useless with the 4.10 and miata tire size

AWESOME!

This is excellent!  You certainly deserve ending up with a car that works

Last might was the first real road test where I took the car for a run out of the hood. Put maybe 20 miles on it and pushed the loud-pedal hard several times. Lordy is this thing quick! My new favourite game is to amble along at around the speed limit and when someone encroaches on the rear of the car, stand on the pedal in 4th gear and watch them disappear as if in reverse.   This game is not good for my driver's license.

It drives like a big Miata. While there are a few rattly bits here and there that need to be screwed on tighter, for the most part the chassis is very well behaved and rock solid. The depowered steering is exactly what I want it to be and it is only when doing a three point turn that I pay a penalty. I think I will keep an eye out for a proper manual rack and do a conversion. Temp goes to 194 and stays there.

Big breakthrough with the Fitech when I found that the front and rear throttles were not synchronized. Fixing that got rid of a lot if not all of the off throttle bog.  It cut out on me twice coming off the pedal hard, but I thing that adjusting the Decel fuel cuttoff has resolved it.  Making a left hand turn at the busiest local intersection is not something that I will take for granted and I still kind of plan my drive based on roads having a breakdown lane if you know the feeling.    Oddly enough, both times that the engine cut off due to the decel fuel cut-off, it would nor refire until I pulled over and turned the key.  Like I said, the Fitech is not easy to love. Not ready to turn Mrs NOHOME loose on her own just yet. At this point, while I am sure  she can and will drive it, I suspect that it will only be with me  riding shotgun,

The T5 is ok, does not encourage shifting the way a Miata shifter does, but then, with this much excess torque, who needs to shift anyways?  First gear is not quite useless, but you could live with 2nd 4th and 5th . Makes me wonder how I would drive an LSx Miata with a 6 speed?  3rd and 6th?

The rear suspension needs to be an inch higher. Not sure how I am going to do that yet. It does NOT need to be stiffer.  Currently the springs are the ones that used to reside on the front of the car. The Bilstein sports with the Monster Miata springs are just about perfect for the front.

Did I mention it is loud? Fun for the immediate future and really awesome when heard from outside, but driving the Challenge V8 Volvo with the Borla exhaust is more what I think I will gravitate to.  

It is not wife-ready yet. I need to pretty up a few trim pieces. Make the wipers work off the Miata stalk, add squirters.  Put the headliner in and fix a fuel smell. The door latches are annoying from inside and outside.  More brakes would not hurt; no worse than the MGB for sure, but I do drive a modern sports car everyday and it is obvious that they are not as good. I would not track the car as is.

Volvo show on Sunday. Looks like I will be there.

Pete

That's great news.

Looking forward to pictures/video from the show and hopefully a group shot with the Molovo, wife and all three Petes in attendance.

 

Volvo show on Sunday. Looks like I will be there.

 

Pete

Where is the Volvo show sunday?

I live in Woodstock and wouldn't mind going for a cruise Sunday to check out some volvos and see your work in person.

Looking forward to pictures/video from the show and hopefully a group shot with the Molovo, wife and all three Petes in attendance.

Sadly, two of the Petes wont be able to make it due to last minute family stuff. Shame because they were looking forward to it since last year when we missed the deadline.

I think I have found a volunteer to drive the Challenge Volvo 760 to the show.

Where is the Volvo show sunday?

I live in Woodstock and wouldn't mind going for a cruise Sunday to check out some volvos and see your work in person.

The show is in Ilderton. Corner of Ilderton Rd and Wonderland. Volvo Family Days can be Google up for details. It is a small show, maybe 60 cars or so all in, but if you are a Volvo fan or just a car fan, it is a nice little venue.

Putting a few more miles on as I gain confidence. How the home-built aircraft people get past this stage or avoid it altogether I have no clue. Too many rattles that need to be nailed down, or at least triaged for attention.

Peter

I'll settle for a selfie with the car at the show...

So, is the Fitech working as designed now that you have made the adjustments or is there still a stalling issue?  Seems like you have made great progress in that space. 

Hooking up the wipers and raising the back end 1" should be easy at this stage of the game.

Fixing the rattles will happen over time as you find them.

Overall this has been fun to watch.

In reply to Samebutdifferent :

Thanks! It is not my most favorite part of the project cause I tend to want to finish things and move on to new stuff and this stage requires as much dedication as any other part of the build.

The Fitech is mixing guel much better. I think the tune can be crisper, but at this point "running reasonably well" is acceptable.  Still not convinced that a street avenger carb would not be a better option, but lets see for now. The Fitech is paid for and in place.  MY fear is that the electrons will take a break as I execute a LH turn in a busy intersection or on a fast road with no breakdown lane. I actually plan my trips to avoid those at this stage. If I can't shake that feeling, I will go to a carb; rare that they fail with zero notice. If it does strand me the option of stock Mustand HO EFI is on the shelf minus the ECU

Pete

Excellent...the Molvo lives!!!

TBH, I would love to figure out a good EFI option for a 5.0, since my Cougar is woefully stock. The Holley SysteMAX intake is supposedly a convenient upgrade from the stock stuff, but it ain't cheap. And then there's still the matter of tuning it.

In reply to slowbird :

I am going to say that if you want aftermarket EFI, you pretty much have to commit to learning EFI theory and application. For half the effort, a quarter of the cost, and a tackle box full of jets and other bits, you can become a carb guru. Being able to read exhaust temps and O2 readings from two banks will give you a lot of insight into tuning anything.

Factory EFI for the 302 is kinda antiquated and emissions focused. For a stock engine, it might be the best bet.

Pretty much the scene around the Molvo for the day. The challenge 760 also got a lot of attention.

Put around 50 miles on the car and it performed excellent. Exhaust volume and rattly tin sounds from the back of the car are top of the hit-list to sort out.  

Gearing works cause I am done with doing stuff with gears for a while, but I think a lower gear might be more in keeping what I want the car to be.  

The Challenge S-car-Go is right next to it. Also got a lot of attention. Hear a dozen times "Was that the one parked for two years in the parking lot with the window down". "I was gonna buy that but... (insert excuse)."

Edit:

Ran into the people who brought the Molvo shell into the country and sold it to the person I bought it from. Was fun learning about the history of the car. 

About the shift quality, while I don't think it's ever going to be a really sweet shifting trans, a rebuilt T5 with a brand new shifter is probably going to need some bed-in time to get nicer to shift.  I put a Hurst shifter of some sort in my old Mustang which had a T5 and at first I regretted it as it felt quite notchy.  It improved with mileage.  Maybe yours will, too.

Sounds like amazing progress continues to be made.  

Love the license plate! 

adam525i said:

Love the license plate! 

Surprised how few people "got it" at the show! 

In reply to NOHOME :

Fjord powered