1968 Volvo project Pure Volvocity

[MuscleRodz]

I keep waiting for someone to rework the nose to more emulate a Ferrari

[68EFIvert]

That is kinda the plan here. It should be pretty unique when it is done.

[68EFIvert]

The front end was pretty messed up from previous body damage and inferior repairs. The headlights were not level and the fenders were also messed up. It is coming along nicely now.

[Angelo]

Darreld, this car is amazing in so many ways. The choice of car is the first thing I have to commend you on. Attractive to start with but with the mods you envisioned brings it to a level nothing short a master coach house design. Overall it should weigh next to nothing with gobs of power. If it tracks as good as it looks, Volvo should commission you to build their first retro super car. Half a million dollars and they'd still fly off the shelves. Well done my friend. Can't wait to see more.

[Z06killinSBF]

This is coming along nicely

[68EFIvert]

Thanks for the compliments guys.

A little bit more progress in the past week. The majority of the metalwork around the headlights is complete. They still need to finish weld the joints where the metal revisions were made. The old turn signals, which will be used as driving lights, were centered under the headlights. The width across the lower from fenders is substantially wider than original. It should be a much more aggressive look to the front end.




Here is a stock car for comparison.


We will now work on a flange to mount the driving lights in. We also will start working on the lower valance. It will be quite a bit lower and have provisions for oil coolers and brake cooling ducts.


I received the prototype rear valance from Royalworks Speed Shop. It is a beautiful piece of work and should be available for everyone to buy soon. John does great work! We will be modifying this to fit my car. We widened the back about 5" so minor changes need to be made. It gave me a huge head start though. Thanks John!




In a couple weeks the car should be heading over to get the roll cage installed. The car is really progressing nicely now.?

[Stumpy]

I received the prototype rear valance from Royalworks Speed Shop. It is a beautiful piece of work and should be available for everyone to buy soon. John does great work! We will be modifying this to fit my car. We widened the back about 5" so minor changes need to be made.

Is this rear valance available to purchase? Happy to contact RSS direct of course if it is...

[Zoomin]

Can't say enough about how cool this car is and is gonna be. I owned a P1800ES back in the late 70's - I already wished I had it back, but this build really amps it up.

[68EFIvert]

The car is off to Rohm Innovations for a 6 point cage. They will lay it out early next week and have me come over to look at things before burning it in place. They will put in attachment points for 3 point belts as well as a removable harness bar for a 5 point harness for teach days.

The body shop finished up the driving lights and I am about 90% satisfied. Still have a bit of blending to do here and there. As it is they kinda remind me of a 57 Chevy bumper. ?

When the cage is done it will come home for a few days so that I can measure the car's suspension and see ho it all looks. The measurements will go down to Ron Sutton Race Technologies for a full analysis.

The plan for the front of the car is to extend the lower valance down to about 5.5". The lower valance will have an additional opening below the grill for PS and oil coolers. It will also have a carbon fiber splitter to help with downforce. My hope is the splitter will balance out the additional force applied by the rear wing.

Here are some pictures car. The front will be quite a bit lower when fully assembled and at ride height.

[DanielS]

So you know when you find a show on netflix or your preferred streaming service, and it already has 6-7 seasons available, so you proceed to watch all of them in a matter of several weeks? Then the you run out of available content and have to sit and chew your nails and anxiously wait to see the next episode one week at a time? Yeah, that just happened. Found this thread last night and read the entire thing. I'm planning a volvo build of my own, and dear god have you done a fabulous job. I can not wait to see the final result!

[813Demon340]

Loving the build, keep up the progress!!

[68EFIvert]

Thanks for the appreciation guys.

[68EFIvert]

It looks like the grill emblem is done and is being shipped back. This is a photo that Jesse at Greening Auto took for me. I will post better ones once it arrives.



Darreld
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[Bob in St. Louis]

Moose test !!!!

[68EFIvert]

I received the grill and emblem today. They look great and I can't wait till I can put them on the car.





The roll cage is coming along nicely. We are waiting for the fittings to bolt on the harness bar and that should be in tomorrow. I had them put in a very low profile door bar that will still allow the emergency brake to operate. I forgot to take pictures but it is going to make the car more rigid, safer and allow easy safe access to the rear seat. They designed it to have a very little impact on the side profile and the down bars run parallel to the side of the window. The down bars will connect to the frame rails behind the real wheel tubs.

It will have provisions to mount 3 pt belts as well as reinforced mounts and removable harness bar for a 6 point harness. The seats will also have reinforced mounts. I really don't trust those small 5/16" bolts holding me in place if things go bad.

I hope to have the car home early next week to measure the suspension and send off the measurements to Ron Sutton for analysis.

[68EFIvert]

The cage is almost done. We were waiting for harness bar hardware which arrived while I was there. It is looking pretty nice and should help keep the car from twisting with the added power. They added a nice pad to the bottom of the main hoop that connects the floor, rockers and rear brace to create a much stronger attachment point. They also tied the door bar into the rockers. The door bars won't provide much side impact protection but will mostly be utilized as a replacement for subframe connectors. Bungs will also be added for rear 3 pt seat belts.

I am pretty pleased with how it is turning out. I think I will add some sheetmetal to attach the bar to the inner body sheetmetal so that is flows better and will further triangulated the car to the bar.

[hessdawg]

I love this car

[68EFIvert]

Thanks. I'll love it when it is done.

[68EFIvert]

With the help of a friend, I spent the better part of last weekend measuring the suspension of my car. That was a pretty involved process but I feel good about the measurements I took. I will the details down to sutton-racetechnology.com/ for a complete analysis and recommendations for adjustments if needed. Ron will also provide me optimal spring rates, sway bar sizing, custom tuning for my shocks (secret sauce as he puts it.) and alignment specs to get my car setup. I am pretty excited to see the results and I will share them when I do. It should put some closure to some of the questions out there.

the car is now going back to the body shop to finish up the metal and paint work. I hope that part is done this fall.

[68EFIvert]

Small update to report. The rear valance is coming together and I hope it will be done next week. Forgot to take pictures though. I will post some when it is done.

The outer wheel wells are welded in. Trunk drop down panels will need to be fabricated and then the lower fenders near the rockers will be completed.



The front is going in a different direction than I originally thought it would. We will be using split bumpers off of a 1970 Camaro and modifying them. We will add metal in a few places and reshape the bumper where it goes to the side of the car to better match the 1963 Corvette rear bumper.


The front valance is where it is really deviating from my original thoughts. We are going to start with a fiberglass bumper cover from a newer car and rework it. By doing so we can reduce the weight and make repairs easier than if we used steel. A splitter will likely be added when it is done.

The lower opening will be used for the oil and transmission coolers. I am not 100% sure I like the look at this time but we will see what it looks like as they make the adjustments to fit my car. I like the fact that it will lower the front and create a more aggressive stance. With a little luck we should finish up the metal work next month and then start slinging mud and sanding.

Here is a picture of the raw bumper cover to get a general idea of the direction we are headed. I am kinda scared to ask but, what do you think?