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Volvo 122S Build Thread: Scope-creep the Sequel

This is hands down the best best thread on TB. Constant source of inspiration, even though anything I'm doing is at about 2% of your project's level.

Also, what are you going to put in that BBQ trunk space? Fuel cell?
 
This is hands down the best best thread on TB. Constant source of inspiration, even though anything I'm doing is at about 2% of your project's level.

Also, what are you going to put in that BBQ trunk space? Fuel cell?

Thanks for the kind words. The BBQ lid is really sort of a concession to my dislike for the current hot rod trend of sheet metal that just blocks everything out when you've modded things. Sure it's easy - but we're not doing this so that it'll be easy.

So originally, I started trimming a little here and there to see how much of the original had to go...then I just got the plasma out and cut it all out. After the rest was fabricated (subframe) then I was thinking that there is NO way that I'll be happy with the spring rates or the valving of the shocks...or at least it's very unlikely, and changing the coil overs was starting to look like actual work. I avoid work - when I first met Evolvo67 at the IPD meet in 2009, he commented that I was "actively lazy" which is a very accurate description. I will work my fingers to the bone so that I don't have to do things twice. So with this as my defacto mindset, I knew that dropping the subframe to get at the top bolt on the shock tower was going to get old from below, and dropping the subframe in my little garage would suck.

So I got thinking that at the very least some form of access panel would be required. Then with the strut bar joining the towers, I didn't want to decrease the size of the trunk as one of the bonuses of the IRS is that you can have a flatish trunk floor. So that, with a little tape and cardboard became the BBQ lid. In the end, when it's out, I can service both coil overs (including removing them from the suspension uprights) with relative ease. It's actually a good usable space being 19" wide and 10" deep and around 12" tall. Good for a stuff sack or holding my helmet for racing or something.

Perhaps a nativity scene at Christmas...or a TV like "Pimp my ride". Na, wont do any of that.

Or I could have done what Ma Volvo did with the 1800.

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Of course that would have been a lot easier.
 
I really didn't take a lot of pictures this weekend. Mostly doing a thousand details to finalize the sheet metal. Turning flanges, getting the fits perfect...it's all rather tedious and eats up a lot of time and doesn't look like anything has happened. Here are the highlights.

The bottom panel of the BBQ lid need to be welded in place to stop things floating around and causing havoc with the fit-up. So I turned a sheet metal return for the edge and hammered it over and then plug welded it to the lid. Then I added a little finishing angle so when it's screwed down it all comes up seamless. I really have to build a wheel instead of a crank for the bead roller...not the straightest effort on the beads. The ends were finished with a tool I made out of cheap leather punches from Princess Auto.

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Then I fixed the attaching points for the sides where they contact the trunk panel. It needed flanges and some material added as I cut twice and it was still too short. No pictures of that. It worked.

Next, we have to attache the BBQ lid to the upper sheet metal closing panel. So clamp it up and get some holes drilled.

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These were a PITA as my drill couldn't reach the flange straight so I had to use a long reach die grinder with a 1/8" bit. I needed the holes really straight to do the trick I wanted to do.

I'm using metric screws everywhere to be consistent. So I added metric M4 rivnuts (I used steel in this position as they are unlikely to see water) to pull the panel up perfectly.

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The view from inside the BBQ lid - Stainless button heads are nice.

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Here you can see the fasteners through the flange. I won't be closing this area in - if the screws don't come straight out, they'll just fall to the ground instead of rattling around inside a panel. So the only holes are clearance 8 mm access holes that will get finishing plugs on final assembly. These same screws will adorn the sides and bottom to attach this assembly.

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:omg:

Amazing work here - I've been waffling about where to start with my Amazon and my plans are nowhere near as ambitious. I feel so inadequate. :-P
 
I got a little side-tracked - I'm just finishing up the last of the details on the IRS install, and I noticed that I hadn't shared the part where I fabricated the ant-roll bar. For shame. I'm using a splined 3 piece NASCAR style bar as the ability to tune on a custom frame is important. Who knows how much sway bar I'm going to need? I'd like options that come in at around $80 shipped...in fine diameter increments. The standard brackets look like this and are Teflon bushed.

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I whipped up a couple of brackets and thought I'd just drill them out to tap drill size, weld them on and tap the hole.

That went something like this.

Make mount.
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Check hole centres.

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Create overly complicated jig to get things in the proper alignment for tacking.

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Ensure things were perfectly level. My uphand TIG needs practice. Yikes.

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Done.


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Smooth as silk. Only wasted 1/2 a day on this. Welding it took a few minutes.

I just need to finalize the sway bar links and this thing can go back up under the car. So first, a little wooden template.

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A little bit of plastic tube that fit the hub perfectly.

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Tried out some more wooden templates.

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Ready to commit some designs to steel. 10 ga should do for the web of my little I-beam.

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Yup, those look like they'll work. Used the scary giant belt grinder to finish these off - always worried about that thing finishing me off!

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Grabbed my two steel arms.

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Did a little cutting.

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And a little bending.

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Then welded it all back up. I did the cap with stringers - it just feels better than the weave and is better as it puts less head into the part.

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Some grinding and we're done this part.

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So that takes care of the out turn for the arms. They hit the mark right where I wanted them.

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You can see here how the inside will place the link on the new tube and not on the weld or the old tube.

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Now I just have to cut the arms and make the I-Beam section.

Time to finish these arms. First I cut off the majority of the arm and just kept the bent section. The rest won't be needed. So we start with welding the web blanks to these parts. They are keyed - so you have to be very careful how all this mounts together.

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Carefully shimmed to get the web perfectly centred.

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Then with one done, then I matched them up perfectly and welded the second arm to match the first.

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I then cut the web blanks to the final shape and added the bar attachment ends, welded them on and ground it all flush.

Then I added the flanges.

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This angle makes them look bent - they're just sitting on the welds and are splayed out. They're fine.
They've been finish welded and fit fine. I do have to build some adapters for the rear brakes, but that will wait for another update. I'm waiting on BOLTS of all things. So we'll show that when it's all done. It's another sad tale of "This part will work...I think. Mutter, mutter, mutter - frick - just engineer around a new damn part that is correct. (sound of S60R rear brake calipers hitting the scrap parts bin.)"
 
Great work as usual! I assume these are adjustable by just replacing the center part of the anti-roll bar with a thinner/thicker one?
 
Great work as usual! I assume these are adjustable by just replacing the center part of the anti-roll bar with a thinner/thicker one?

Yes - they're the standard bar for NASCAR and other racing series and come in many, many different sizes. I'll run the same style on the front but will have to have custom bars cut as the track is pretty narrow.
 
Just a little update. I needed to close the area between the upper trunk panel and the parcel shelf. The parcel shelf is corrugated. You know where this is going to go.

First up - put a little 90 degree bend in some sheet metal and make a little wooden template that is the shape of the corrugation.

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Off to the tipping wheel to bend the return. That old skateboard wheel is getting a workout.

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That's a good start.

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Just a bit more.

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Lots of cutting and fitting. Tabs for the easy parts done.

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Then a few holes and almost every cleco that I have. That'll hold it while I tack them in place.

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Another detail no one will ever notice.
 
If it helps validate the effort, I was scrolling through this thread until I got to that shot with all the clecos and the corrugated parcel shelf, and at that point, I stared in disbelief for a solid minute. I love details like this.
 
Sorry for the delay - working on a few things.

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Now I'm back...

Here's what I'm worried about right now. This inner fender is just not very strong. Even in stock form they are prone to cracking and need to be reinforced. Volvo did some bush-repair on the later 123 GT's which made it onto other 122's later on...but it's only a bandage. I don't like this solution.

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I was going to tie the new suspension into this flawed part but it wasn't sitting very well. So out came the cardboard and tape again.

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Played around with this as an idea for a while...decided it was just bandages again and therefore suboptimal. So I ditched that - and broke out the drinking straws.

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That lead to larger ABS "straws" LOL. And a little orange tape.

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And a quick trip to the border in a snow storm to get 1.75 X 0.095" DOM tube (they wanted $14 a foot in Canada for this stuff!).

I then quit playing around with the frame and built a frame table and jig for the frame.

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Simulated rear cross member detail shot. I need more clamps.

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I'm going to roll out a YouTube Channel for this build.

Front end goes in next week (when I get around to tacking it up and test fitting and trying it out again...and convincing myself that drinking straws are a workable solution (I'm familiar with Herb Adams's Chassis Engineering book). Then I'll toss that tube in my newly built tube bender and get this thing rolling. My goal was to have it as a roller by the fall. Now in Canada, that has a different meaning. We've already had a foot of snow, but fall doesn't end until December. So I've got time.
 
I know that this is good because it makes me feel like what I am doing is inferior in every way.

Wow. Probably the best thread on TB right now.
 
Where did we leave off? Oh right, I was saying that I was forging ahead on the IFS install. Well, that went totally and completely off the rails. No joke. I could square the thing to the rear cross member from the LCA mounts, but then the rest of it was off by 1/4" - so I tried and tried, and built a giant trammel gauge to be sure...and guess what. It's junk.

The LCA's are not level, nor are they parallel (pinched 1/16" on the passenger side, and 3/16" on the drivers side!) then the entire thing isn't centred (the cross member sits 1/4" to the passenger side). So it's going in the metal recycling.

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So this has led to a complete redesign of the front suspension. No more hot rod junk. I'm in the process of developing my own cross member and still have to keep to my timeline or this thread will never end. So back to the CAD drawing and head scratching we go.

Here's one of my current problems. The standard hot rod coil overs that I got with this part are junky. The shafts are not chromed and they chew through the seals. The spring rates are unknown and generally, I had resolved to sell them as soon as I saw them. They are urethane bushed and as I had to move the UCA mount back a full INCH to get the suspension back towards stock (let's not even discuss the amount of anti-dive the "engineering" company had dialled in to this mess), then the urethane mount won't work anyway as the coil over has to sit at an angle. This part only had 4" of total suspension travel to boot.

So I'm working around a Bilstein A2 racing coil over with 6" of stroke. This means the current mount has to go up quite a way...to about here.

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At this sort of angle.

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To get the straightest shot at the LCA mount - like so.

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Now that would leave me with a rather funny looking mount - so I'm working on that. Other things that are now junk include my recently welded frame rails! The 4.5" kick on them is for the old cross member - and would have needed to be cut to make room for the tie rod. The existing cross member also just touches the steering monoball boot to get optimum Ackerman...I'll show you what I've cobbled together for a subframe when I get it done.

In the mean time - I'll be on the phone to Art Morrison Enterprises on Monday to see if they can bend me up a rail on the quick!

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In the mean time - I'll be on the phone to Art Morrison Enterprises on Monday to see if they can bend me up a rail on the quick!

You might be the 1st Volvo for AM? Pretty sure I asked while taking a tour of the facility.
Unbelievably impressive operation AM has. Art is a super nice guy.

just a few pics I took while there.
 

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Is there any way we could get a more detailed view of the rear setup specifically where/how it ties in to the whole car? Did you make it into a bolt-on?? You're distilled determination. I'm in absolute awe of the beauty of the fabrication. It's...elegant.
 
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