1968 Volvo project Pure Volvocity

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I picked up the rear and front suspension from the shipper. Swedish Ops did a fantastic job crating everything up. When I opened the box it was well organized and secured.

I am amazed at the quality of the workmanship of the parts. Welds appear to be good, the powder coat finish looks terrific and all I can say about the brakes is WOW! Freaking awesome!! I took everything out of the boxes and inspected it. No surprises at all. I have a couple extra items on the way still so I won't be able to put in the rear suspension yet. I also new the rear brakes which are on back order at Wilwood.



Before I had the car blasted I put the rear suspension. Install took a couple hours and was pretty easy. The most difficult part was putting my 8.8 rear in. I didn't have a helper so it made it a real pain in the rear.

I did have a small setback on the install. I purchased one of those nice covers for the 8.8 that adds some support to the bearings. Unfortunately the cover doesn't clear the panhard bar and I threw the original away last month while cleaning the garage. I now have to wait for the new one to arrive before I can get the panhard bar bracket welded on.

When that is done I will be waiting on my rear brakes to arrive. The calipers are on back order at Wilwood. After they come in I will be able to measure for tires and wheels. Her are a couple pictures I took before adjusting the pinion angle. I now have it set a 2 degrees.



There are spacers that will be placed under the package tray and on top of the crossmember.



I have started doing a little work on the wheels. I still don't have rear brakes or a new rear end cover so I can't setup the panhard bar or measure the rear wheels. I did pull the front wheels off my Mustang to see if 17" wheels fit over the 14" discs. They came very close but touch the caliper slightly. If I used a different brand than Boyd Coddington they may have worked.

I originally planned on going with 19" wheels but I think I have changed my mind. I like the way my Mustang looks with staggered sized wheels and think the Volco may look better this way as well. I will use 18's in front but stay with the 19's out back.



My initial measurements on tires look like a 245/35/19 may work with some fender rollin in the rear. I am thinking of doing a slight mini tub on the car to make the rear wheel well's even with the frame rail. If I do that I think I could fit 265 or 275's back there. The final issue I have is with the rear wheel width. Ideally I would like to use a 9" wide wheel but the wheels I want only come in 8" or 10". Mini tub would allow me to use the 10's which would make a bolder statement as well as provide a bit more traction. Lots of things to think about.

Earlier this week I purchased all the items I need to do the brake plumbing. After consulting with the Wilwood guys I will use a dual master cylinder manual brake setup. I have the master cylinders ordered and think I know what pedal assembly I will be using. It will all be Wilwood components.

I think I am ready to send the car off to the media blaster but won't have the time to take it there for a week or so. I kind of want to finish the rear end setup before I take it back off the car for blasting. An exercise in patience I guess.

Here is a picture of the calipers and where the were rubbing.


The underside of the car doesn't show any sign of damage. That is what made me so surprised when I had it blasted. Not even evidence of wrinkled sheet metal.

I started welding in patch panels tonight. My welder kept jamming so I eventually gave up. I will break out my other welder tomorrow and finish up. I still need to use my shrinker stretcher to fabricate some support pieces at the floor and where the upper part of the tub connects to the seat area. Pretty easy to do but just takes time.

The spot welds are a little ugly right now. A grinder should help me out with that. I also help my other welder will do a better job. In addition to jamming I noticed my welder was running low on gas. How much tank pressure to you guys have when you take it in for a refill?


It has been a very busy week so not much to show. I did pick up my new tires on Thursday and finally got my rear brakes from Wilwood. The brakes are14" with 4 piston calipers. This car should stop on a dime!



I should have the wheels in next week. I ended up going with Boze Performance wheels. They should look pretty nice. I have 18*8 and 18*9 coming to me.