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

[delamaize]

This is awesome....

[adam.nonis]

Day 3

[adam.nonis]

I think I'm going to bring the body all the way down to even on the lower pinch welds. That will put a fairly big step up in the interior rocker (like a Corvette), but I think that's the only way I'll be able to get the car as low as I'd like. I'm not about the off-road look.

[adam.nonis]

End of day pics:



Hopefully by the end of tomorrow the two will be stuck together some amount.

[LJ851]

Looking good, keep it up !

[adam.nonis]

Looking good, keep it up !

Well, the 206 decided to water my lawn, so the covers will stay on for now. I'm gonna chip away at my honey-do list until the sun comes out.

[LateFan]

So it looks like you cut slots into the cowling area so the 122 fender rails can sit down lower. I was going to ask this earlier, because it looked like they had bottomed out and it wasn't going any lower.

What does that do to the fender fit? Does any E30 inner fender have to come off? Can it go any lower, or can you do the rest with springs?

Another question - maybe you covered this earlier? How did the wheelbase just work out almost exactly to an E30 wheelbase?

[adam.nonis]

So it looks like you cut slots into the cowling area so the 122 fender rails can sit down lower. I was going to ask this earlier, because it looked like they had bottomed out and it wasn't going any lower.

What does that do to the fender fit? Does any E30 inner fender have to come off? Can it go any lower, or can you do the rest with springs?

Another question - maybe you covered this earlier? How did the wheelbase just work out almost exactly to an E30 wheelbase?

I cut the A pillars down low and then trimmed up into the fender mounting "rails" on the Volvo body to get it low enough.

Fender should be good. The Volvo fender goes up from the flange outward. The front corner of the core support needs to come out. I'll tie the center to the fender rails. It's as low as I'm going to take the body. The rest will be suspension based lowering.

I don't know how it worked out. I just had the Volvo measurements and measured a TON of other cars before finding that this matched pretty well. I tried measuring every Volvo possible (to try and keep it in the family) as well as lots of other cars, but they're all too wide. There's a guy who did something similar with a Miata chassis and a different Volvo, but he had to lengthen the chassis by 7".

[adam.nonis]

Stuck together. Tomorrow I'll start the filler panel process. Seat height is good. I didn't live stream today since it was a late start, and still a little wet out. I'm pretty excited. Getting the inside brace out and being able to drive it around to move it makes a HUGE difference.

[adam.nonis]

That's gonna do it for this week. I've got lots of house stuff to do this weekend. There's still a bunch to do, but the fact that it runs and drives makes it seem so much more manageable. I feel like I accomplished a ton. I need to get myself a bead roller.

[e30austin]

I love how fuckin weird this is. Nice progress!

[MacBudd541]

This is amazing work.

[TobyB]

I love how fuckin' weird this is.

This.

Make it really nice, and then hit the car shows!

t

[adam.nonis]

This.

Make it really nice, and then hit the car shows!

t

I've got a particular style in mind for this build. It should look rough on the outside. The engine compartment, suspension and interior will be on point though.

[TobyB]

Ah, right. What I guess I meant was, make the conversion really nice, so that when
some butthead like me tries to pick it apart, all the potentially messy 122/e30 joints
look like they were always like that.

t
with an amazon and 2 e30s in the barn.