*!Build of the year candidate!* Strange PNW Build: E30+Volvo

[adam.nonis]

Adam, just like anyone else who has been following this thread I am absolutely floored. There are a lot of car guys in the world with great cars and great builds but the really intricate builds tend to have the benefit of time & $$$$$. You really are a standalone treasure to any car community you decide to hang out in kudos.



I am incredibly excited to see the turbo five drop in there. Everyone here I'm sure would love to see an intricate m20 build out but because of the sweat equity you've put into this car you should get a free pass on whatever the fuck you want to power it with. [emoji122][emoji122][emoji122]

Well, I really appreciate it. I always have questions when I watch tv shows, or look at builds. I just want a repository of information that people (and myself) can look back into when someday down the road when they come across something that can relate.

I’m not gonna lie, part of the five cylinder swap is also just about being “different”. First, I love the weird sound five cylinder engines make, but also, that it hasn’t been done a lot has appeal to me. There’s 2.345 billion M20 builds out there. All flavors. I need to do something different.

[rzerob]

We had a build a while ago where a guy was putting a 5cyl out of a Volvo into his E30. It was good but the thread died a couple years ago. I will attach a link.

https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=220448

Most people on this forum just want to see something cool. It doesn't matter if it is not BMW as long as it is cool and done right.

Now if you were putting a 5cyl Volvo engine in a E30M3 well I am pretty sure that would be considered sacrilege and someone on R3v would order 100 pizza's in your name delivered to your door pay on delivery. At least that is the way R3v used to be.

Keep on doing what you do.

[adam.nonis]

Yeah, Robbie has been in the Volvo world a while. I actually messaged him early on and we chatted about some stuff.

[adam.nonis]

Carpet stuff

[adam.nonis]

I two toned the door caps to line up with the dash. Originally I was going to just have a small portion be black. To about where the wing window chrome is. I decided I liked the two tone, so I’m going to make a “halo” of black. Here’s the steps. First I marked the alignment with the chrome strip on the dash



Then I used masking tape to “sketch” the contour I wanted. Next I cut some strips of HDPE (solvent RESISTANT plastic) 3/8” wide. Which after vinyl wrap in both ends will leave about 1/4” opening. Vinyl is about .045”-.05” thick usually. It’s fastened with a combo of double back tape and some small screws from the back



Now, this process is really only for smaller trim panels. This is a heavy process. On a larger panel I’d probably make a mold and pull a fiberglass replacement part before final install. The first bulk (ugly) layer is out of Duraglas. It’s a fiber reinforced filler. This goes on thick and just gets knocked down.



The next steps are with the lightweight filler of your choice. I use this stuff from Wesco. Start with a bulk rough-in layer, then a lighter fill in the low spots coat. 40grit for the rough-in and finish with 80grit. I like to leave it pretty rough to add a “tooth”. Use a sanding block that is as long as is reasonable and use it as often as possible. The final product will turn out way better



Once it’s shaped nicely, pop out the HDPE strip and finish up the edges



Because I’m two toning these, I needed a cut that would allow the two colors to tuck through the panels



Then comes upholstery. Same as before. Mask off the areas you’re not currently covering to keep glue off (if you don’t, you wind up fighting it while wrapping). Spray both part and vinyl, let it dry completely and spray one or the other again



The next part I didn’t go over last time. When you’re looking at a panel to cover, you need to identify potential problem areas. Like this curved area that drops off pretty sharply



If you just laid the vinyl straight on there it would be stretched/stressed pretty good and could potentially lift later



What I do is trim where possible and pre-curve the vinyl that will allow the excess material to be ready to wrap the problem spots. You can see how there’s extra material bunched up now



Then it’s a matter of heat when necessary and tuck and glue and tuck and etc



For the chrome I’m using door edge guard (for the time being) that I grind some off the “back” and stuff in the channel



I still haven’t figured out 100% what I’m going to do where the dash/door meet. And at the end of the door caps at the rear edge of the door, but they’re on there

[rzerob]

I love this interior. Please tell me what that action figure is that is in some of the pics that you post of the car.

[adam.nonis]

I love this interior. Please tell me what that action figure is that is in some of the pics that you post of the car.

That’s the original “Headquarters” that the car was named after. I took my ,then five year old, son down to Portland with me to grab the wagon when I first bought it. We have a tradition of letting the kids name our cars. On the way back I asked him what he wanted to name the new project car. He sat with a contemplative look on his face for a while, then said “Headquarters”. I said, “I don’t think that’s a name for a car” and his response was, “sure it is dad! This guy’s name is Headquarters too!” And pulled this McDonalds you from his pocket. I chuckled a bit and agreed to name it Headquarters. By the way, the toy’s name is NOT Headquarters, but the kid has always had a pretty strong imagination. Anyway, ever since then, the toy has lived with the car. Even WAAAAY back when I was doing some of the original work, I’d make sure to place him in the picture somewhere.

https://youtu.be/j-stY2ipRCI

[adam.nonis]

I love this interior. Please tell me what that action figure is that is in some of the pics that you post of the car.

After some sleuthing, it’s a Bakugan Zenthon

[88M3racer]

I can think of only 1 word: OUTSTANDING!!

[CubbyChowder]

Nice work man

[flyboyx]

out of curiosity, what vehicle did those door bolsters come from that you just re-covered in your last entry?

[adam.nonis]

out of curiosity, what vehicle did those door bolsters come from that you just re-covered in your last entry?

Those are the factory Volvo Amazon ones.

[adam.nonis]

Ok, headliner time. I don’t want to do the suspended factory style, so I headed to Pick n Pull with my tape measure and learned a few things. A) sunroofs in wagons are far more common than I expected, 2) modern cars narrow at the top more than an Amazon does and D) a lot of long roof cars have extra “junk” on the headliners (overhead consoles, vents, stuff). I found one candidate though. A Saturn (I thought it said S200 on it, but I don’t remember exactly). It needs a little “work”. It’s short in the back, but I have a plan for that (more later), it tapers towards the back (easy fix) and it has a shallow contour in the front.



I moved the mirror mount down to the windshield as opposed to on a bracket on the header, slid the headliner forward more, creased it a little (that I’ll fix in place with fiberglass after I peel the cloth) and then added an aluminum flange to hold the headliner up and create a straight line in the headliner.



Now I’m working on pillar covers that will run the length on the sides and cover the aluminum, the A & B pillars and trim around the front gaps around the windshield. I’m going to cover everything in black suedeliner (I NEVER do black headliners) as an homage to the European sport BMW option headliners.

[adam.nonis]

Anyone have some scotch, or beer, or both.

[Powling]

Noooooo! What happened!?