1968 Volvo project Pure Volvocity

Thanks for the input guys. I may delay the grill being on there until after paint and chrome work is done. It has 4 screws holding it in place so it is easily removed. The grill will stay a satin silver finish like stock but the upper grill will have a chrome surround where the lower grill will not. That should draw more attention to the top. The other thing I am not sure of is how much attention the lower grill gets because it is white an the rest is bare metal. I will bring the wheels back over today and should have some pictures later in the week I will post.

In the meantime here are a couple pictures of a stock Volvo for comparison. As you can see there is nothing in area below the bumper on a stock car. It just looks unfinished and adding a chin spoiler wouldn't be enough to make it look right and to provide for some aerodynamic assistance. I do plan on taking the car to track days and hopefully an Optima event in the future and want it to be safe at speed. On a side note the bulbous lower section of the valance is removable with 6 bolts. I was not sure about it so I had the body shop make it modular. It would also make it easier to fix if needed.

I really appreciate your help with this guys. I feel like I am in unchartered waters with this build. I have a basic sense of the direction I want to go but not a lot of others have gone this far with one of these cars.

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Love this build!! And looking forward to the pics!

I've almost posted this a couple of times: I think the lower valance center opening shape should be a little more rounded in the corners... an upside-down/narrowed image of the upper grill.

Then maybe the grill down there would work better?

Agree that more rounded would be good. There are some nice curves with this car and that needs to be maintained as far as possible.

Thanks again for the help guys. You confirmed my gut feelings about the opening on the lower opening. I went over to the body shop at lunch to drop off my wheels and talked with them about changing the opening. We are going to soften the upper and lower edges of the lower grill to more mimic the upper. It should be softer and when it is done I will evaluate to have the lower grill or leave it open. I will post some pictures when I have some.

On a side note it is amazing how much larger the opening in my wheels is now than what it was. The hubs on the Ron Sutton suspension are huge! I can't believe what a difference it is. I forgot to take a picture so you will have to take my word on it. :)

I guess it never stuck me that the valance seems bulky or out of place, I like the direction it's going. I would have to agree with you that the white could make it jump out more, once it was painted it would probably look right at home.

I was just showing my wife the rendering, I could see this as a new production car on their showroom floors. It transforms the car so much and it looks like a high end modern sport coupe.

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This rendering ooozes class. Next Bond film‼️

I don't disagree that the front and below the bumper looks a little unfinished. But your new valance seems a bit heavy, in my opinion. It takes away some of the gracefulness of the front end. If you're going to keep it, I would suggest changing the opening to match the original grill shape, but on a smaller scale. Also, I would suggest painting the lower grill satin black or gunmetal grey to make it recede. This is one of my favorite projects here.

If you don't mind me saying. I suggest not going with the leading bull nose edge at all on the lower valance, curve the openings on the lower valance more and run with no grill or fine mesh for any opening under the bumper. I see the reason for repeating the bull nose for continuity with the bumpers but it creates an unnecessary heaviness to your ultra elegant street machine. Older curvier design I find doesn't like straight lines running across the face.

I see the opening below the grill pushing forward like the upper grill. Sorry for the crude sketch. I'm a huge fan of your build. Feel free to delete the image. I don't know how to PM with an image attachment.

I actually like the "bulbous" part of the lower valance and feels it mimics the split bumpers above.

Thanks for all the opinions guys! It really does help me think this out. Angelo you are a good artist! Thanks for taking the time to sketch out your ideas!

Im just such an admirer of builds that no one would have thought of. You managed to see a real jewel in a car that I never would have concidered a worthy build and then hit it out of the park. Based on that I don't think any direction you chose would make me like it less. Although I am looking forward to the outcome

There is a little delay but n the fabrication of the upper control arms but the front crossmember is welded. I am told it will be 1-2 weeks before it will be ready to ship. It is starting to get exciting! Thanks Ron Sutton Race Technologies!

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Here are a couple pictures of the car on the ground. It will be slightly lower in the front and higher in the rear when it is at ride height. The hood isn't on in the picture since they were installing the new hinges. The original hinges got lost at the shop at some point. The splitter will be about 4.5" off the ground when done.

Anyone have a measurement on an original car from the front nose sheetmetal where it ends below the bumper to the ground? Unlikely on this site but I thought I would ask. Thanks.

https://static1.pt-content.com/image...eace5594-1.jpg
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I think the bumper and valence look awesome.

https://static1.pt-content.com/image...72c3395b-1.jpg

At this angle it does look pretty good. One thing you might consider (not to make you do any more work, but you are pretty detail oriented) would be to make the meshwork on the lower valence a smaller honeycomb. That will keep the style, not draw the eye, and cover the panels and suspension like you alluded to.

By the way, that rendering is WICKED!

Definitely looks better on the ground. Can I suggest some cheap rattlecan silver paint (as close to bare metal as you can) on it before some more photos? With it being white it does make it stand out more which means making a proper judgement is that bit more diffficult.

A little bit of progress this week. The heater controls came in. It is a pretty cool unit from Restomod Air. It has one button you push to change from fan to temp to zone and then you twist the knob to adjust the settings. It should make for a pretty clean install.
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The metal work this week was focused on two areas. The hood was fit to the body which required quite a bit of cutting and welding. The original hood opening had quite a lot of bondo to make it look right. Not any longer!

The body man also started working on the rear front fender arch. Since we eliminated the pinch weld by blending it into the rocker it left a small triangle shape void the length of the rocker.

The new opening is about 3/4" flared more than stock and extends down below the rocker slightly. This will match the modified body line on the rear quarter. Here is the modified front fender.
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Here is the other side which hasn't beeen changed yet.
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Here is a picture of the rear wheel opening to show how it matches the front.
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Outstanding! And I do agree that the valance looks better at ride height.

I will be running Schroth 6 point belts when the car sees track day but I have a question. The dual lower belt that go under my body will need an attachment point. The guy that put in my cage said to tie a cross bar into the seat brackets. I used some 1/8" flat stock and 1/2" solid round rod to fabricate a mount for the belts to clip to. Do you guys think this will be strong enough for the purpose?

Here is a picture of the piece attached to the seat. Thanks for the help!

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Originally Posted by 68EFIvert

I will be running Schroth 6 point belts when the car sees track day but I have a question. The dual lower belt that go under my body will need an attachment point. The guy that put in my cage said to tie a cross bar into the seat brackets. I used some 1/8" flat stock and 1/2" solid round rod to fabricate a mount for the belts to clip to. Do you guys think this will be strong enough for the purpose?

Here is a picture of the piece attached to the seat. Thanks for the help!

Attachment 137283

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I think so. I have done something similar in the past