Atom's 2 door Amazon wagon Project:Headquarters

[Atom]

RWD 5 pot bellhousing acquired. Not an easy Pick N Pull part to grab.

[Atom]

Made a little part while I was waiting on other stuff to get completed. An adapter to run an external oil cooler (Yes, yes, I know those are flare, NOT AN fittings, they’re just there for visual representation).



I think I can adapt to the OE E30 oil cooler with some M22-10 AN adapters.

[Atom]

Honestly, when I started reading this thread a few years back I was so pumped when I saw the motor and everything come together, but when I saw everything basically undone for the e30 swap it bummed me out. I'm sure everything will come together and look amazing when finished, the simplistic Volvo motor suited this car so well. I've been in the E30 community for a little over 3 years, and the BMW community for pushing 6 years. I love the sound of the M20, but if you want to go a different route from that RS motor, I did 1UZ swap my e30, and that setup is now gone, I still have the motor and trans mounts, if you're at all interested I'll ship em out to you for free. With all that being said, I absolutely love seeing the progression of this build, and I love the ongoing changes no matter how big or small, there is so much passion and creativity in this, and I applaud your efforts, and can't wait to see where this ends up (hopefully we won't have to wait another 3 years for more

Well, I wish I could say sorry, but I’m not . It’s much more enjoyable to drive rather than just stare at it in the driveway. To be honest though, it was a DOHC, coil near plug, EFI, turbo 4 cylinder motor. Now it’ll be the same, but five cylinders....and actually run. I’m sticking with a five cylinder so I have room for a solid intercooler. The stubby Amazon nose doesn’t leave a lot of room for extra stuff. Now that it actually runs and drives I have more opportunities to complete little projects to make it better. I hope to keep you entertained for quite a while.

[slamitall]

Honestly, when I started reading this thread a few years back I was so pumped when I saw the motor and everything come together, but when I saw everything basically undone for the e30 swap it bummed me out. I'm sure everything will come together and look amazing when finished, the simplistic Volvo motor suited this car so well. I've been in the E30 community for a little over 3 years, and the BMW community for pushing 6 years. I love the sound of the M20, but if you want to go a different route from that RS motor, I did 1UZ swap my e30, and that setup is now gone, I still have the motor and trans mounts, if you're at all interested I'll ship em out to you for free. With all that being said, I absolutely love seeing the progression of this build, and I love the ongoing changes no matter how big or small, there is so much passion and creativity in this, and I applaud your efforts, and can't wait to see where this ends up (hopefully we won't have to wait another 3 years for more

[Fruttolo]

Easier to weld than MDF for sure, but easy to weld at all I doubt it LOL
Looks hella easy to warp being that thin around the ports

[Atom]

This should be easier to weld to than that MDF.

[Atom]

Dash transition base is out.



I’ll have to mess with it later in the week. I have a same-day down & back to San Diego for work tomorrow.

Also figured out why my parking lights wouldn’t come on this morning. Not exactly sure why it happened though.

[Atom]

Might not be the most popular choice, but I’m thinking of using Alodine 1201 to “color” the block/head and some other misc aluminum parts. Alodine is a conversion coating for aluminum that is used in the aircraft industry. It’s sort of like anodizing in that it converts the surface of the aluminum to resist corrosion. I want sort of a vintage aircraft look to the engine and I think a combo of alodine, gloss black, texture black and maybe some gold or copper accents will be a good look.

This is what alodine looks like. Usually parts are soaked in it, and I’d probably need to use a spray bottle and spray the main setup. I guess even if I don’t like the result, it’s a perfect surface to paint at that point.

[Atom]

The volvo/ford I5 pulls like a freight train, it's gonna be a hellish beast in such an old car, mad sleeper status
Can't wait for it!

I’m excited since the ST/RS weighs 3435lbs (but has AWD) and my car has been weighed at 2800ish (with M20B25 and heavy exhaust).

[ryanjblajda]

its been so long since i returned to this thread. glad to see its still as badass as ever.

[Fruttolo]

The volvo/ford I5 pulls like a freight train, it's gonna be a hellish beast in such an old car, mad sleeper status
Can't wait for it!

[Atom]

Looks like although the intake mounting is substantially different, the exhaust appears to be the same as other whiteblocks. Cut this from a six cylinder pattern trimmed down to five holes.

[Atom]

Just in presentation. I guess it's really just the dash and M20 manifold that scream "E30" anyhow.

Yeah, I don’t really know. This is kind of new territory to me. It’s still an E30 underneath. Kinda like an LS swapped E30. Except with a Volvo body. LOL. I’ll probably still post on R3V, but not get as much traffic. Who knows.

[CSBolger]

Just in presentation. I guess it's really just the dash and M20 manifold that scream "E30" anyhow.

[Atom]

So now that it won't have an M20, will the build be less E30-centric elsewhere?

How do you mean? It’ll still have Getrag 260, med case LSD, E30 suspension, E30 dash, E30 carpet, E30 rear seats, etc, etc... or do you mean how it’s presented?