Volvo P1800ES...kinda

Bought two Fat-Boy scales and did some corner weights on the car. I am calling this method about +/- 10 lbs in the accuracy department. Regardless, It is a ball park method and I will continue to fine tune as I go.

LF 591       RF 601     Front axle total weight   1191 lbs

LR 522    RD 520     Rear axle total weight    1042 lbs

Total weight        2233

Front 53.4%       Rear  45.6%

The goal was for 2700 lbs total vehicle weight without passengers and it should be close to that by the time the glass and interior are in. The battery will be moving to the rear and there was no gas in the tank, or else the balance would have been closer to 50-50. Not bad for a station wagon.  I will go ahead and use these % values and an estimate of an additional 500 lbs distributed accordingly between front and rear to figure the spring specs.

On other news, the wipers are still being a bitch.  

In reply to volvoclearinghouse :

PM sent, BTW.

I think I've seen pics of the ES drag car.  

OK, the deal is done....Got an e-mail in my in-box from FM...."Today ( Sunday Nov 26 2017)  ONLY, big discount on suspension parts".

Rolled the dice and ordered the V Max  track package figuring that it will be overkill if nothing else and I can always order different springs.

The wiper saga continues... I am on the optimistic side of the manic curve again.  Not showing anything till this is done.

In reply to NOHOME :

If you don't happen to like it I'll give you a hundred bucks and use it on  a Challenge car. ;)

 Ian said....

 

Yeah, the whole wiper/HVAC inlet assembly and getting those to make happy with the Volvo windshield and dash will be a challenge.

Those are details, but the devil will be in the details with this build... I don't envy you there and it's the main reason why I ditched the idea.

Ian's words from 2014 keep  popping up in my head as I try to sort the wipers. So far they have been a lot of fun. The ducting for HVAC will be the next challenge and needs to accommodate whatever wiper mechanism I dream up. Or does the wiper mechanism need to accommodate the HVAC ducting? Damn chicken-egg thing!!!

The good news is that the HVAC and Wipers are the last big technical challenges. And while the wipers have been frustrating, there are compromised ( to me) solutions should they have to be invoked. I am just looking for a solution that makes me happy. Drives the Minion crazy, but as long as we feed him beer he is good!

I'm really looking forward to see what you can do w/ 3D printed HVAC ducting/mounts.  Seems like a perfect place to use such tools.

In reply to bluej :

It is- a few years ago I had a project that required one off, funky shaped ducting, and as a result there's a naval vessel somewhere with a high tech piece of optical equipment being cooled by a light blue 3D printed part which the drawing calls out as a "snorkus"

henceforth, chris shall be known as "Snorkus McRally"

And the plot deepens...

With the wipers being such a royal pain, decided to put in the ducts. They fit just fine. So  I decided to toss in a dash. I have a 96 dash that I can afford to cut up, so I did.

This exercise was done as a proof of concept.  The plan is to use the dash from the 91, but I did not want to make the cuts on it until I fitted this one. The challenge will be to merge the leading edge where the Miata dash meets the Volvo cowl. The Miata dash sits just over 1" lower.

I have a plan.

Edit....I need a tombstone for the 91 Miata dash.  If anyone has one that is surplus to requirements, I would be interested.

Sent you a pm, we’re at the same stage in some regards and would like to hear your ideas.

The "Whole lotta bunch  more work" option.

One of the issues with this is that it would look funny because so many of the functions have migrated off the dsh and on to the Miata stalks and/or column.

Leave the gauge holes, plug the rest. I think that wil look great. Mockup with painters tape and see what my head sees in that picture. 

The Volvo dash looks better IMO.  I can believe it is more work, though.  There's no face level ventilation with the old dash.  Maybe you could use two of the center gauge holes to mount some eyeball vents.

I am way bi-polar on this. As you all know, the easy button is not the given with me, but the argument for either is pretty compelling in my mind. I will also admit to some degree of exhaustion.

I have had to step away from the dash and go work on some sheet metal details.  One of the three Pete's is itching to permanently attach the front clip, and I will work with him to get that done since it is going to be a HUGE milestone.

OK, the good news is that it wont be the 96 dash going in. The bad news is that it wont be the Volvo one either.

The Volvo dash was going to be a huge project that would require making every single component of the dash, HVAC and electrical. And if poorly executed, would look like a home-made dash.

So...Enter the 91 dash.

Still a bit too neo for moi, so the plan is to try and retro it a bit with wood accents.

Someone shoulda warned me what a colossal PITA piece of entertainment this was going to be!

NOHOME said:

Someone shoulda warned me what a colossal PITA piece of entertainment this was going to be!

 

Ahem... 

NOHOME said:

OK, the good news is that it wont be the 96 dash going in. The bad news is that it wont be the Volvo one either.

 

The Volvo dash was going to be a huge project that would require making every single component of the dash, HVAC and electrical. And if poorly executed, would look like a home-made dash.

 

So...Enter the 91 dash.

 

Still a bit too neo for moi, so the plan is to try and retro it a bit with wood accents.

Someone shoulda warned me what a colossal PITA piece of entertainment this was going to be!

Regardless of your agitation with this , the fact that it appears to my untrained eye as an exact fit is phenomenal!!! Scoreboard onward thru the fog Capn' Nohome!!! 

Piecing the pieces together.

Doing this kinda to get a feeling for what it will look like as a car. It is amazing what a few interior pieces will do to make the project go from "metal work to interior"

Still a cubic boatload of detail work to do, but it is starting to take shape.

Er.....why was the 91 dash kinda like an afterthought, having seen this???? Oh and what is a tombstone????

I like that a lot.

Id like it even harder if it was all the color of the door panels. 

In reply to 759NRNG :

Tombstone is the plastic piece that covers the center stack. It's the vent and radio surround bit.

DS tanx I learnt sumpin' today  

Nohome I vote door cards for interior color......

WOW. That's a real car now!! Looks really good already. I agree with the wood accent on that horizontal section that spans the width of the cabin. Should keep a slightly vintage feel to it.

Sorry for those that like the orange door-cards. The one thing everyone Chez NOHOME agrees on is that we hate orange interior. Yeah, very 70's Scandihoovian and all that, but not a good color. I tried to give away the rear seats cause they are in great shape, but once people heard of the color they took a pass. Cant bring myself to toss them.

This is a picture of the MOSS wood kit for the NA.  Pretty much where I am headed at this point. The beige is gonna be gone cause it just don't work with wood. Tha alternative is to repaint the dash top black and keep the beige interior but no wood inserts.

New Volvo door cards are like $500 Cnd so I see either a lot of dye ahead or dream up some custom ones to suit and use the wood insert from the MOSS kit.

My car came with the brown/orange interior. My ex's ES as well.  It was a pretty common color. As bad as the rest of the car and interior are with my car, those rear seats look damn near perfect, so I don't need them.  Since the back seats in these cars are pretty much worthless for actually sitting in, I think a lot of people left the seat back folded down so a lot of them didn't see a lot of sun.

Since the elastic door pockets for your door cards are still in good condition, those cards may still have some value. Post them on one of the classic Volvo trading groups on FB. 

I plan to replace mine with something custom. I like the '71 and earlier handle better, so I got a pair oft hose and plan to integrate them into an armrest.