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Project Lucifer

I say 140 because the speedo needle was pointing straight down at the H in "MPH" and my friend in his saab 9-3 turbo said that's as fast as we got... :e-shrug:

edit: whatever gearing will get me to 6000rpm in 5th gear with an M46 is the speed I was going. 195/55R15, 3.73 gears (stock I think), the top speed calculator says theoretical top speed is 142.4 so I think my estimate is pretty close.
 

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Was probably doing 140 or close to it.:nod: Mesure your tire height in inches, and you can compute your actual speed using a formula,as you already know the diff ratio & rpm.
 
It's funny because it was still pulling hard, just ran out of gears. :-( This was when it was totally stock in $400 purchase price status too (barely running after sitting in a guys driveway for a year or so). It was safe right? because Volvo? ;-)
 
Maybe speedo was way off then? Or maybe your speedo is KPH?
 
The restoration shop I use: http://www.apexautospa.com/
Finally had some time to install some black vinyl over the removed trim holes, they also touched up the whole car and filled in all the chips. It looks even more awesome. They will be painting my group-a spoiler after I get the windshield and rear window seal replaced.
photobucket-4797-1328056422765.jpg
 
Looks like you have made some major progress, looking good. There should be about 30 pounds of sound deadening material. That's how much I got out of my 79 242.
 
Definitely looking spiffy!

Does it have stock springs in the back and lowering springs in the front, or? The rear looks stock height to me.
 
It just looks that way because volvos are so tall. It has IPD/tme black lowering springs on it with one coil off the front. It is much lower then stock. I do need to pick up a set of coilovers for it though. It needs blower motor ($250) then new front and rear glass ($250) first. I'm hoping to have it looking awesome for IPD in may.
 
I drove the car home from work today, seems like a bi-monthly tradition. Observences:
1. I can't see out of the windshield at all, its chipped really bad
2. the reflective parts on the mirrors are only there in spirit
3. alternator isn't charging as much as it's supposed to. new battery, yet volt gauge doesn't touch half-way
4. something in the back of the car vibrates and rattles all the time really loud
5. that Tiny, thin GLT steering wheel needs to be replaced with a thick sparco one, it's hard to get a good grip on.
6. I need new foam or tan cloth race seats, OEM 240 seats are garbage for support, I might as well be sitting on a beanbag chair
7. My 850GLT feels faster and more stable :-(
 
more weight reduction

Since I had an unexpected day off and the weather was nice, I decided to install the skinny bumpers that have been in my garage for 4 years!

photobucket-2343-1328407735481.jpg

note that there are a bunch of bumpers, I was at a junkyard a couple years ago and forgot that I already had a set, i pulled them apart and made a nice pair. All remaining bumpers and the original bumpers from Lucifer got thrown in the dumpster.

photobucket-5061-1328407602179.jpg

rear fits nice, there is about 1/2" of rubber in the trim that I need to cut off to make it look nice, no way for the sides to be attached, the mounts are completely different from the big bumpers

photobucket-3512-1328407201078.jpg

I forgot to take a picture of the front while it was off, these sides fit nicely, it needs a 1/4" metal spacer on the mounts though because they are pulling the fenders out a little and making the fender liners not fit nicely. The tow hooks are different between the square headlight and TV lights, the old style hook doesn't fit behind the cover. I'll go look in the junkyard to see if i can get the flush newer style so I can put the cover back on.

I think the lips are a little different with the 86+ bumpers, the lower opening is a little different so the air diffuser for the intercooler doesn't fit nicely in the groves. You can cut a 1/2" by 1" notch in the diffuser to make it fit, but I'm going to try and do something out of metal.

The Numbers:
I did these bumpers with a scale next to me to make record of the differences.
Skinny front w/ shocks: 35#
Commando front w/ shocks: 45#

Skinny rear w/ shocks: 30#
Commando rear w/ shock: 57#

The shocks are 5# each and I had about a pound of extra bolts and brackets that I pulled off while switching to the new bumpers

Total weight reduction: 37#
I'm going to buy a holesaw kit and heat gun next time I get paid and put some holes in the aluminum, and work on removing some of the sound deadening tar. I should be able to remove another 6#, 3# off each end.
 
Should've taken the commandos to a metal salvage facility. That's good money in aluminum.

And why on earth would you swap to skinny bumpers? Lose your man card?
 
And why on earth would you swap to skinny bumpers? Lose your man card?

almost 40 pounds more weight off the car. I'm shooting for 2600 with full interior, so have to pull off about 400+lbs. I'd like to find a truck scale or garbage dump around here so I can get a number of what the car is at right now. I know stock it was supposed to be 2900-3100lbs. Mine was a fully loaded GLT, leather, a/c cruise, tow hitch, fog lights, cb. I'm slowly converting it back to a DL to save some weight on trim spec. the DL's are at the low end of the scale. It should take off about 200lbs changing trim levels.
 
I drove the car home from work today, seems like a bi-monthly tradition. Observences:
1. I can't see out of the windshield at all, its chipped really bad
Insurance may cover it and replace it for free
2. the reflective parts on the mirrors are only there in spirit
No need to see whats behind you.
3. alternator isn't charging as much as it's supposed to. new battery, yet volt gauge doesn't touch half-way
I have a Denso 80a that tested bad that you can have for the core value. Then you can rebuild it to make something like 5000a:rofl:
4. something in the back of the car vibrates and rattles all the time really loud
Are the butt checks cleaned out? I keep finding crap under my spare tire.
5. that Tiny, thin GLT steering wheel needs to be replaced with a thick sparco one, it's hard to get a good grip on.
6. I need new foam or tan cloth race seats, OEM 240 seats are garbage for support, I might as well be sitting on a beanbag chair
There is a nice set of grey Celica seats listed on OVT for a steal of a price.
7. My 850GLT feels faster and more stable :-(
Paint it gold, ??????, profit


Even in the dark of night the paint is amazing after the detail job. IMO the back end should come down about a half inch, then the stance will be perfect.
 
Yep, i agree with the stance. I would like to buy some coilovers from trianglesunlimited, but the car needs poly bushings first, coilovers and roll center correctors are a close second.
 
This is the Weight reduction numbers Post so I have a total for reference.
(The guide I'm going off of)
Start weight 3100lbs:

-40lbs from no a/c
-20lbs from miata battery
-40lbs from removing everything from the trunk (carpet, spare tire, tar, repair tools) in progress
-20lbs from scraping the tar out from under the carpet in progress
-12 pounds from switching to lightweight wheels (about 4lbs lighter per corner with the enkei race wheels versus virgos)
-20lbs from removing the stereo and all wiring
-5 pounds from removing charcoal canister and all brackets
-30lbs from removing the crash triangles from the rear of the car
-40lbs from upgrading to skinny 86+ bumpers
-5lbs remove metal door trim and replace with vinyl stripe
-2lbs replace cam pulley with 2-piece aluminum adjustable

Tentative total:
234lbs!

To Do:
-Lightweight lug nuts -3lbs $50
-Sparco Evo Plus seats $650 w/ trianglesunlimited seat brackets $85, -50lbs
-carbon/fiberglass hood $700 -35lbs
-block off glovebox with plastic plate -7lbs
-rear seat delete with fiberboard + black carpet -33lbs
-remove rear seatbelts and latches -15lbs
-RSI lightweight flywheel - 12lbs
-update to 90+ rubber glass seals instead of old metal ones- 3lbs
-holesaw bumbers 5lbs
-Foam backed sound deadener mats - rear floors, front floors and transmission hump = 23.6 lbs
-tar - rear floors, front floors and hump = 21.45 lbs
- tar - boot and under rear seat areas = 8.8 lbs
- tar - total of inside front and rear doors = 5.1 lbs
- B21 K.L. racing lightweight crank pulley - 10lbs $150
- convert to Haltech and remove K-jet junk -20lbs
- convert to late model gear reduction starter -6lbs
- convert to late model 100A alternator -7lbs

- install 940 e-fan and remove clutch fan -5lbs
(It saves 60lbs removing the sunroof, still debating on that)
To do total: 270lbs

Total car goal: 2500lbs
 
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