1967 Pro-Touring 122 Amazon (Project Volvo X)540 Horsepower LS6/Tremec TKO600 5-Speed

[Iamtheonlyreal1]

I am doing all this to work toward a body wrap, rather than doing the final paint.. I really like this color called Matte Pencil, and was planning on paying for the artwork time to have all the Swedish Ops logo's strategically placed about the car, along with all the logo's for the companies that are supplying parts for our products..

This color is awsome, and I think it will go awsome with the Brushed Aluminum Boze V12 wheels I ordered.

[Iamtheonlyreal1]

I am trying to sort out the dash modification that will allow some traditional guages, because the original Amazon cluster is really pretty small and the guage setup, doesnt allow much updating to the original cluster.. The P1800's I am working on, have a very easy update situation, so they arent any problems with an updated/factory set up..

Here is a pic of the original cluster set up.




Here are some pics of the roughed in cluster/dash set up, and as you can see, it will give me all the necessary gauge options. In its postion, it is only about 1/2 inch taller than the original set up, and about 1.5 inches wider. I plan on having the dash top done in the same fashion as the original, and I think that will keep it sort of era correct looking. And if you look at the pics of the original, you will see that I will have a bit of hole filling for the uneccessary items like the Choke, but I do plan on using the original style wiper, lights, and other knobs, because I like the look.

[Iamtheonlyreal1]

I am sure this will cause more questions than answers, but here is the new fill position for your upcoming fuel tanks.. I should have some pics of the new test fuel tank later this week or early next, which will show you how it all comes together.. We should be in a 14-16 gallon capacity, and it will only take up the space forward of the trunk hinges, which will leave about all the existing trunk space. It will also be in a safer position, when it comes to rear end collisions. With the Amazon/P1800 rear panel acting as a natural firewall, it is like these cars were made for this position fuel tank.

In the case of spillage, the is a drain system to the outside of the car, as most cars with closed in fuel fills do. The same drain setup, should also act as a vent for any fumes from the residual fumes during fill up, and the trunk seal will block the rest. The original fuel tank setups that I have encountered, tend to have a bit of leakage from the fuel sender gaskets at times, and I am sure this set up will offer less actual smell than the factory..

When these are done, they will bolt in, so there will be no need for welding.. As you can see, it mounts with the outer trunk hinge bolt, and the tab that is used for the spare tire strap. The only draw back to this tank for some, will be the elimination of the spare tire holder, but you can still haul a spare laying down if you wish. I will also have some pics of the OEM tank elimination plate, and for the performance guys, this plate will relocate your battery to a sub floor position that is centered at the back of the rear axle. If you didnt want to use it for a battery, it can be used as storage.

[Iamtheonlyreal1]

Here are some pics of the guages that I ordered for the bezel I was working with, I think they very decent for the money, and come with everything to operate them.. I put a piece of vinyl film behind them to show some contrast, but I am not still sure what I am going to do for coloring back there. The bezel will not be polished, and will more than likely be powdercoated black or some contrasting color to the body interior color..

[Iamtheonlyreal1]

Well I got out steering column in today, and it looks pretty good, and fits pretty nicely.. I have always been partial to the sport wood steering wheels, so I thought I would give the old Cobra style a chance. It looks like the new cluster style, column, and steering wheel will come together nicely as a package, but I am still unsure on the actual background color for the back wall of the guages..

I am really want to stick with the classic styling, and I think this works.. In the pictures, you will see a construction paper dash top over the guages, and that represents to shape of the new dash top.. At this point, I am not sure if I am going to make that out of steel, or just make a full fiberglass backer for the upholstery shop to cover.

Here is the factory style cluster and steering column.





Here is my new layout..

[Iamtheonlyreal1]

I am working out the final routing for the air intake, so I can order all the aluminum joints. As I said before, I cannot remove the old cal vent/heater duct, because the body vin number is actually stamped on it.. I removed the firewall attachment ring from the old heater box, becauses it is attached with a rubber/foam gasket between it and the firewall, so it should allow for motor torque/flex. I build the filter box on top of the factory attachement ring, because it has a water resevoir and drain made into it, The shape of the filter box provides a function with the water draining, while looking somewhat recognizable as a Volvo feature.

There will be identical aluminum runners on each side, so that should make everyting look even.. I have found a company that extrudes aluminum sheets with a fin pattern in it, and I was think about making a curved intake cover that will be welded into the insides of both runners, so it would have an appearance of a engine cover.

I am sure it isnt too easy to see what is going on here, but I really think will come together as a nice package, once all the components are put in place and finished out..

Pictured also, is the Swedish Ops direct bolt LS Conversion radiator manufactured for us by DeWitts....

[Majend]

my jaw is on the floor... there are just no words to describe how awesome this is

[Iamtheonlyreal1]

I scored some pretty cool old exhaust tips, and will be running them through the rocker panel at the front of the rear wheel. I like the fact they are cast aluminum, because I think they will go with the color and trim them of the build. I have the MagnaFlow mufflers coming, and it appears they will work out great for this type of application, because the inlet and outlet are coming out the same end.

This will make the overall exhaust system way more compact, because I have a nice floor board pocket in front of the rear axle for the mufflers, and then it is a quick bend out to the correct outlet position at the rocker panel.

[Iamtheonlyreal1]

Got the first mock up tank in, but we left the back all off, so I can position the filler, baffles, and outlets for the productiong fuel tanks.. They will be in stainless, rather than the steel example here, because this one is only being used for mapping out accessories.. On the production fuel tank, the front, bottom, top, and back will all be one bent piece, with just two end caps welded on.

I haveent figured out the fuel capacity of this tank yet, but I am thinking I might have to reduce some of the size.. I was targeting about 14-16 gallons, and I think I will be closer to 20 gallons on this one, which I am not sure I want to carry that much fuel. I am also debating on an internal fuel pump, because I would rather have the smallest gaskete openings possible, being this tank is actually in the trunk.


Pictured below is the tank without the back wall, so you can see the basic shape of the tank, and the actual space it is removing from the trunk... Most of the space being taken up, is the step up between the wheel wells, so there is still plenty of trunk room left. As you can see also, I made the gas filler tray seperate from the fuel tank, which will make service the tank much easier, because it just sets in place.

[Iamtheonlyreal1]

Dont you just **** it when someone comes around and makes you look like a dumbass? I have been debating on what to do about the stainless side moulding for a bit, because I do like the look of it. So I have cut, hammered, bent some old use trim I had, in order to figure out some way to use it.. The rear flare work got in the way of the trim, so tried to make it bend over the flare, along with cutting it before and after the flare, but none of looked worth a damn, so I told my body guy to start welding moulding holes..

Anyway, a friend of mine stopped by the shop today, and looked at it for about 20 seconds, and then said " Why dont you just raise its position?" At that moment I felt like a complete dumb ass, because I didnt come up that elementary solution.. The only thing that makes me feel a bit better is, I dont know how many other people looked at this situation, and no one else made that suggestion either.

Anyway, here is the pics with the trim in its new position, and I dont think it will be that noticable over the stock location. Now I need to find a good source for some perfect new side trim, or some exceptional used pieces.

[Iamtheonlyreal1]

I am waiting on my exhaust tips, so I can build the rocker cut out/box, but I did mock up the Magna Flow mufflers, and it appears this exhaust configuration will work.. I am debating on solid mounting the mufflers and exhaust tips, and using a small flex joint to attach the header pipe to the inlet of the mufflers.. I am wanting to keep a fairly tight tolerance with the exhaust tips running through the body, and I think that might be the best way to solve any rattling issues.?

Here are some pictures of the Magna Flow muffer placement, and if I solid mount them, I will pick them up just a bit higher. The are up there pretty tightly now, but I would like to have them totally above the rocker pinch weld, and they are very close to being there now.. These mufflers are just tacked up in a mock up position, so they are not at the exact hieght and perfectly centered/level, but you should get the idea.








Here are a couple of pics of the Fuel Tank alterations.. As you can see, I brought the tank down in height a bit, because it worked out to be about 26 gallons, which is way too much fuel to carry. The tank is just under 18 gallons at this point, which should be about perfect.

I have positioned the fuel pump/pick up and fuel level sensor, but have not installed the fuel pump pick up baffle yet.. These tank will work with an internally mounted fuel pump, along with a external or manual fuel pump, so it should fit alot of applications.

[Iamtheonlyreal1]

The exhaust tips were just a bit tricky, and I know I going to have a bit of specialize pipe bending to get them hooke up, but it is doable.. I am planning on solid mounting the actual mufflers and exhaust tips, and have a small flex joint betweeh the exhaust header pipe to the muffler. I dont want to take any chances of exhaust tip rattle in the body, and I would like the air gap to be a constant.

Here are some pics of the basic layout, and I think they work out great, eventhough I would have actually liked them just a bit further back, but that wasnt optimal for exhaust pipe plumbing. The perspective will change a bit, once the car is on the ground, and it is out in the open.

















This is the box piece that I made to close off the cut hole.. There is access for proper finish welding to the body/rocker support, so I dont have any worry about any weaking of the body structure, and I dont see how it couldnt have actually strengthened it..

[Iamtheonlyreal1]

I am thinking that I should get plenty of exhaust vibration insulation by running the pictured flex joints below.. The mufflers, tail pipes, and tips will be rigidly mounted to the body, but will still be mounted on a very dense rubber bushing, so they should be very solid..










The exhaust pipe coming off the headers will go into the x-pipe pictured below, which will let me keep the header pipes running tightly down the center of the car, between the floor pans for a tight ground clearance fit. The Flex joints will be mounted between the x-pipe and mufflers, and this should allow me to get an extreme body hugging exhaust, and not have to worry about tolerances and rattling..

[Iamtheonlyreal1]

I couldnt take leaving the later grilles in this build, and I didnt have the best of luck sourcing a new facia, so this is what I came up for a solution.. I had some old style grilles that I bought off Ebay about a year ago, and it was bugging me that I couldnt use them, because they look so much better than the later grilles. Here is what I came up with, so I will show the relatively inexpensive and simple alternative, and hope this helps someone else in the same situation..

The first thing I did, was to make a poster board template of the later grille shell hole.. I had a donor grille shell, but it could be done on the car, so you dont have to take the facia off the car.





After you use a marker to outline the hole, you will cut out the template of the later grille shell hole, which you will then be able to use the early grille to mark the new hole position, which will leave the actual piece of metal that you need to weld in the later facia.

If you flip the grill upside down on the template, you can then find the grilles reference position on the the later hole template.. This is relatively simple, because most of the upper and bottom of the early and late hole is the same.





I used a 4.5in angle grinder with a cut off wheel to cut out the piece from the sheet steel.




After that, you can put the new filler piece in place, and then you will have a bit of grinding to fine tune the fit. Once that is done, you can tack weld it all in place, and then do some finish grinding to make sure your new grille opening is the right size and contour.

Once you are satisfied with that, you can then add the inside boxing sheet metal, by rolling it and tacking as your continue around the new opening.










After all that is tacked in, keep checking your new grill opening, so you can make sure nothing has change during the postioning and tacking procedure. After you are insure the fit is where you want it, you can then do the finish welding, which is where I need to continue from the pics seen.

It appears with just a bit of hammering and grinding, along with just a bit of filler, the early grilles will fit nicely. I still have to make the mount tabs at a later date, but I will wait until I get the new opening finished out nicely, because that could change something if I made the tabs now.

My grilles are not the straightest at this moment, so I will need to locate some better ones to work with for the final fitment.

[Iamtheonlyreal1]

For the guys that have asked for the side exit exhuast, here are a few pictures of what I had done.. I apologize for them being grainy, but I didnt realize it, until I had things buttoned up..

It is very important to make sure that you open the rocker panel skin up to a larger hole, so you have access to weld the new exhuast loop to the inner rocker structure, otherwise you will only be welding to the weaker outside rocker skin..