Little Low Red Wagon - The other Volvo wagon

[carter]

The old girl needed some sunshine today, haven't ran her in a few months either so I thought I'd let her breath a little. Man I can not wait for endless summer nights filled with cruising and hanging out at the local meets with something worth bringing. Although it isnt finished, I can not even begin to describe the feeling of accomplishment to anyone who hasn't spent the greater portion of their past few years building whatever goes on in their head. If you haven't spent the time to build your own car the way you envisioned - do it. If you do it right, do it reasonably cheap you'll have no reason to regret it. I think I'm still less than $2500 into it. You can hardly get a set of wheels and tires for that much. Get out there and build something.

[8vdubmadness8]

man im loving this! jealous i must say. i have a 1980 300td benz wagon. just bought and now looking for bags [=

[carter]

Polished the intake today because I was bored. Probably wont keep this engine for long but may as well make it look a little better.







I also picked up one of these...I'm seriously thinking about doing a quick rebuild with a cam and some head porting just to get me by till I decide on a real power plant. It'll also give me a chance to clean everything up and polish the block to match the intake.

[carter]

Thanks guys! It's taken me long enough toget to this point, it's nice hearing some good feedback.

As for wheels, I'd like to try something else out but it's got an oddball bolt pattern and if I used adapters or spacers for some poke it'll go low enough to crush the fender even if I pulled and rolled them. I like the tucked look anyway.

For these wheels ill be getting them blasted and powder coated the same color as the air tank. I just couldn't afford it the first time around a couple years ago when I first sprayed them. Things are MUCH deferent now.

[VanDamage]

Looks awesome ! Any plans for different wheels and/or some poke? Or just the sunk classic look for now?

[Benny]

Awesome work dude! I love the front mudflaps being squashed down haha

[Belvader]

This is my favorite build i've seen on stance works so far, this volvo is truely fucking awesome ! i give you two thumbs up !

[carter]

Hey man,

Ive been following this thread for a long while now. FAWKING LOVE IT!!!! Actually got my lowvo a few months back for $450. Loving it for every second. Running driving 5spd . On to the point lol.l I have bags already from another car that i plan on useing. I see you have a good amount of knowledge with bags. I am planning on putting them on my volvo. The rear bags look almost exactly like yours. Just the base is thicker. will pry shave down for moar low . But my fronts are just like yours but not the universals. Would you be able to lend some help and insight on the fronts. Thats the part that i think will be the hardest. Did you use the stock front tube from the wagon and just inset the universals into it? Cant wait to do mine. but just looking for help before I attack this. Its my DD so ill pry be doing Fronts one day and rears another.

Thanks
Brian

Thanks man!

First things first - do not mess with shaving the base of the bag. You'll take material away that's needed and the threads will be shortened.

Second - the front bags have a hole in the center of them and came prebuilt basically from Airlift. I'm not sure how you would go about using the stock strut. That's why I went with the universal kit.

Third - Buy a cheap daily driver. With limited experience this can not be done in a day. Take your time and do it right or you'll have problems and not enjoy fixing pain in the ass things that go wrong. My cars been down for the count for almost a year (partially because I'm too busy working but still). I would never have attempted this without a daily driver. This becomes apparently when you get everything together and you're missing one fitting or something stupid like that.

Good luck, it's very rewarding when you're done. Now that ive basically completed it I'm going stir crazy and trying to figure out a new engine set up. Can't decide if I wanted a heavily cammed Mustang 5.0L or a built N/A Volvo 2.3L with webbers and a cam, or to just say fuck it and do a factory turbo set up.

[slamburglar]

Hey man,

Ive been following this thread for a long while now. FAWKING LOVE IT!!!! Actually got my lowvo a few months back for $450. Loving it for every second. Running driving 5spd . On to the point lol.l I have bags already from another car that i plan on useing. I see you have a good amount of knowledge with bags. I am planning on putting them on my volvo. The rear bags look almost exactly like yours. Just the base is thicker. will pry shave down for moar low . But my fronts are just like yours but not the universals. Would you be able to lend some help and insight on the fronts. Thats the part that i think will be the hardest. Did you use the stock front tube from the wagon and just inset the universals into it? Cant wait to do mine. but just looking for help before I attack this. Its my DD so ill pry be doing Fronts one day and rears another.

Thanks
Brian

[carter]

Money shot



Well, back from the dead. I'm taking my first year heavy duty schooling finally so I've managed to find a lot of time to work on the car. I also got a new dog and he's been taking up a lot of time as well. Smart little guy though...pictured here, he clearly knows i have way too much wheel gap on my daily driver lol.



Painted the struts up with some graphite grey wheel paint. I chose this because powder coating wasn't going to happen and it's a lot more durable than regular paint. I've used it on wheels and after a year they still looked brilliant.



I bent some more steel line and went to work. With no way to really hide the lines for a clean look I decided making a roll cage inspired design around the shock tower.




Full lift (because I know everyone wants to see that right?)





Doesn't look that low because the front tires are currently hitting the liners. Down sizing tires slightly is in order, as well as removing the liners to make space.

Cross member pic: The huge U bolts the steering rack came with are definitely going to be trimmed ( and could also be hanging me up as well).



Beside my 11' WRX daily. (Jacked up in the rear with the tires removed)



Spent most of today getting rid of these hideous shelves and replace them with a Snap On shelving unit as well as organize both my toolboxes and kind of hit the "reset" button so I can stay sane.



Which brings me to this. Snap On shelves for $160. Why not. Spent 11 hours in the garage cleaning and organizing parts.

[CungChow]

Hey,
Sick car, I am jealous of this entire thing. I just bought a 1983 240 wagon for $400 two days ago. The interior was ridiculously clean, but the exterior is nothing to brag about haha. The plan is to bag it so your build is going to be pretty much my guideline since I am going into college this year and am tight on cash. Keep updating man, I'll keep an eye on this one.

[carter]

I can weld but I only have a MIG setup and I'm pretty sure you need stick to weld cast iron. In the thread I linked before, he was using a MIG. I wouldn't feel confident about it, especially on somebody else's car. Is there any way that you could cut the stock strut off so there was a piece of steel tube left attached to the spindle? That way the airlift strut could be welded to something that wasn't cast.

You can't weld steel to cast with a MIG. You need to use a tig with nickle filler rod. There's a lot more too it and it's way over my head to be able to do it safely.

[Randomofodication]

awesome car! can't believe i missed this build before. I think i've seen your truck in town before.

[martinm13]

That's gonna help a ton. Thanks man

The hardest part now is finding someone to weld the steel tube to the cast spindle though.

I can weld but I only have a MIG setup and I'm pretty sure you need stick to weld cast iron. In the thread I linked before, he was using a MIG. I wouldn't feel confident about it, especially on somebody else's car. Is there any way that you could cut the stock strut off so there was a piece of steel tube left attached to the spindle? That way the airlift strut could be welded to something that wasn't cast.

[carter]

Thanks man,

Unfortunately I don't think those will work with my wheels. There's lots locally here, I just need to go pick some up