Volvo P1800ES...kinda

Stunning. The craziest part (to me) is that unless you read this thread, it just looks like a restored old  Volvo on rims. Ultimate sleeper.

In reply to MichaelYount :

The mufflers are just glasspacks at the rear. I think the solution is to put a cross-over style muffler under the car. Might lose the cats if I go that way. 

Mrs NOHOME did a quick drive and thought the noise was kinda cool, but agreed it would get old quickly and not what we want for something that would be good to cruise. 

The journey is far from "finished" but at least I can take the car out on the road and do development on the fly.  

Pete

NOHOME said:

She is legal. And after a quick wash, drove around the hood, stopped at the Minions for a beer, and came home in a downpour.

I can report that she is relatively watertight.

WAY too noisy inside. As you accelerate, it sounds like an entire amplified Tuba section in the rear. Something needs to be done there. I'll drive it, no chance Mrs NOHOME will.

WTF is with the return springs on the Fitech? Seriously, I have been on gym equipment that gives me less of a  leg workout. 

Going to need to roll the rear fender lips.  I thought it was going to be OK, but the car settled over one inch on the drive and started to rub on both rear tires.  Bit of camber would help, but it gonna be Hella.

 

First time I have been able to stand back as take a look at the car since it was painted and assembled. I think it looks awesome.

I took the rear "gills" off because I have not found a way to fasten them and did not want to risk losing them.

 

 

Quoting this just for the people who only click on the newest page number and so the rest of us can see it again

Congratulations getting it out on the street, it's been amazing, almost awe inspiring to see this all come together. 

It DOES look awesome. Congrats!

In reply to AxeHealey :

You are next up to bat Sir! 

In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :

The V8 conversion is more of a custom mount for the 8.8 center section than a PPF delete. The nose of the diff is supported by bushings that mount to fabricated

mounting points that are welded into the Miata subframe.

NOHOME said:

In reply to MichaelYount :

The mufflers are just glasspacks at the rear. I think the solution is to put a cross-over style muffler under the car. Might lose the cats if I go that way. 

Mrs NOHOME did a quick drive and thought the noise was kinda cool, but agreed it would get old quickly and not what we want for something that would be good to cruise. 

The journey is far from "finished" but at least I can take the car out on the road and do development on the fly.  

 

Pete

FWIW Pete, I had 8-10 different exhaust combos on mine both single and dual over the course of about 10 years - all with the 5.0L V8 power.  My wife clearly remembers the exact number as she holds it over my head on a regular basis.  I finally concluded that for MY ears (who knows what you or the Missus will like except ya'll), there was nothing aftermarket that wasn't too loud and/or too much drone.  Finally went with OEM mufflers and that took care of the problem.

In reply to MichaelYount :

What OEM mufflers we talking about? I do agree that factory parts of some sort that were designed to quiet the car might ne the way to go.

Here is what I have learned about this game...EVERYTHING AFTERMARKET SUCKS. I don't care where it was made, but aftermarket parts have not had the development or quality control procedures/budget that apply to OEM parts. 

The above said, I have two main conundrums to resolve.

1- The engine will not rev. If I crack the throttle regardless of position, it will rev to maybe 3700 rpm and then nose off and slow down. This was evident back when  I was using the carb so I don't think it is a Fitech issue. .  This symptom is what made me thing that the original crossover pipe was constipating the system and the reason I changed to an H configuration. 

2-I need more rear fender clearance. The tools in the arsenal are more camber, raise car and fender roller. Let us address the first two since the a last is self explanatory.

I can not get more than 1/2 degree of campber in the rear suspension. this is measured with a angle finder spanning the tire.The lower control arms are set as far outboard as possible. With the car on the ground I have zero on the DS and 0.5 on the PS. these are new camber bolts. I wonder if I should be ordering a set of the adjustable rear upper control arms in order to pull more camber?.

I would like to raise the rear of the car by about 1". The car currently resides on stock Bilteins shocks and what used to be the front springs. the car has a 3/4" droop to the rear. An extra 1" rear height would open up a large gap twixt the rear fenders and combined with more camber, should solve the rubbing.  Soooo....how best to raise the ride height of a Miata 1". 

Pete

Springs/ride height/camber first -- Can you make a spacer to fit either under the spring or between the top of the spring and the perch?  That was how I raised the back of the 242 before I put the adjustable perches on the back.  If the adjustable arm is the way the Miata speed boys get some camber adjustment at the rear -- then probably good enough for you.  Do you know what the rear camber alignment spec for the Miata is?

The first muffler I used was a replica OEM Boss 302/429 single transverse muffler - 2 pipes in, 2 pipes out.  This is the rear-most muffler used on the 69-70 cars.  LOVED it - except that as the packing burned out, it got louder.  You should be able to get one from the aftermarket folks that specialize in Mustangs.   Got mine at CJ Pony parts in Atlanta --- not sure what your options are up N-O-T-B.  More recently, I bought 2 2015 Coyote 5.0L Mustang rear mufflers -- they almost give them away on ebay.  MAJOR mods to make them work on mine -- but amazing results.  Quiet at idle and cruise.  Nice bark when you open the throttle.  Absolutely zero drone under any conditions.  BIG -- I turned the exits out the side of the case and welded the two of them end to end to make one big ass transverse muffler for the back -- where the OEM 240 muffler goes.  32" x 12" x 9".  Big and quiet.  First two pics of the Coyote mufflers.  One at the bottom is the Boss 429 unit.

Would be interesting to know what the ignition advance situation is like across the rev range that you can get to currently and under a load.  I can't remember what the ignition setup is like on this car; it sort of sounds like what happened with the TFI module died on my '95 Mustang GT.  I didn't think it would run if that had happened but parts store testing showed it to be "dead" and a replacement fixed that.

Also the car looks amazing out on the street.  Very nice work and choices made.

In reply to pres589 (djronnebaum) :

Thanks all for the compliments. I am way happy wiht the looks.

I had a timing ight on while reving the engine and the timing behaves just like it should; 10 degrees initial and 34 total that stays at 34 as the engine loses rpm.  Since the rpm never drops below 2500 or so... it seems that that is enough to hold the 34 degrees of centrifugal.

 I can tell you from my experience, the E cam would benefit from more initial ignition advance.  I ran 18 degrees initial -- and 34 total.  I believe you'll find it'll perk things up on the bottom significantly.   Of course you'll have to mod the mech advance to limit it to 16 or so.  We had 34 all in by 2900 rpm.

Doesn't explain why it won't rev though.  Do you have access to any kind of data log?  I'd wonder what the a/f ratio is doing as you try to rev it.  With mechanical throttle bodies - air isn't limiting things.  Ignition is advancing.  I've gotta think it's a fuel limitation.

Pete,

Are the shocks the base model units or the sport Bilsteins? The Bilsteins have a removable perch . You could remove it and machine a second C-clip groove in the shock body an inch above the current one.

Or, put coilover sleeves on the bodies and machine the aluminum perches to sit on the sleeves' adjustable collars.

Or, just put some aftermarket springs on the coilovers. Finding the right spring rate and length wouldn't be hard.

In reply to MichaelYount :

I have had initial all the way up to 20 and while it might be worth looking into further I believe that the issue I have is either a constricted exhaust, or an ignition issue. I have a hard time seeing an exhaust blockage with what I have since the only way would be if the cats were blocked. I literarly looked through them when redoing the cross-over, so that should not be it? Ultimate test will be a pressure test with a gauge in the O2 sensor port. course that only covers the one bank.

While I don't know exactly how the HEI distributor might cause the problem. I am going to swap it for another one and see if it makes a difference.

Looking at the Miata specs for rear suspension I should be able to dial in about 1.5 to 2 degrees of negative camber. I am curious as to why I can only get 0 on one side and 0.5 degrees on the other?

Pete

In reply to NOHOME :

Did the subframe warp while you welded final drive brackets on? What I see on the photo you posted to answer Duster makes me think it would add negative, but maybe not.

If it's any consolation, a "rear-squat" stance is a common ES trait. 

Looks amazing to me! I think the stance is great, but if you do go up, it only needs like half an inch or so, which should be easy with a longer spring.

Unless the cats are clogged Pete, you DO NOT have an exhaust restriction.  One of the first “performance” mods made by the 5.0L guys for decades is more than 10 degrees initial advance.  Improves mileage and power/torque at the expense of emissions.

In reply to MichaelYount :

I was at 20  btdc and it was making the starter chug, so pulled it back to 10 which is where I tend to start a new engine for first time. I imagine 14 or so is where I will end up in which case I wont worry too much about total going way over 34 degrees and causing other issues.

I doubt very much that there could be a restriction in the exhaust, but there are two test that will eliminate that entirely. One is a vacuum gauge that shows a decline of vacuum after your rev up to say 2500 rpm and hold steady. The other is to measure the back pressure in the exhaust and it should never rise past 2 psi.

I'm sure that this is a long shot, but it appears that the Fitech has a limp mode.  Could a bad / failing sensor be triggering the rev limit?

This is an outstanding car!

In reply to CJ :

Was not aware of the limp mode wit the Fitech...Will look into that. Not a lot sensors involved so that should not be a hard one to check. It sure feels like a limiter of some sort as whatever revs I buzz it up to, the problem pulls the rpm back down almost as smooth as if the pedal were released.

That said, I am pretty sure the problem was there with the Holley carb, so it might not be fuel specific. The Holey used an entirely different fuel system including an in-line pump rather than the current in-tank one. Going to rig up a fuel pressure gauge to rule that out.

Pete

Interior wil be a work in progress as I button up the details. Just tossing this image on the thread as a bookmark

Looking good!

I see the door and window crank handles! 

If I remember correctly with the window cranks, you should be able to just assemble the bits and then push them on until the clip clicks onto the shaft, although it's recommended to roll up the window first (without the clip) so you can get the position where you want it. Removal is more finicky. You push the black collar into the door panel until it clears the fat part of the handle, then shift it until it disengages the clip from the shaft.

I'm drawing a blank on the door handles, although I think they are easier to install with the arm rest off.

In reply to Ian F :

Thanks, that is a good thing to know about the window cranks. I seem to have vauge memories of these items being hard to remove, but most likely it was just ignorance on my part.

The door panels will be off at least a few times. I have an issue with a weak spring in the DS that makes the outside button flaky. The vinyl itslef is in good shape, but I have considered making new doorcard backers.

As you yourself have said, the car is a ways off from being detail-finished to where it is a "Car" . This is really just a next step in the project.

Pete