Page 2 The project begins Page 3 Front end and doors Page 4 Body framing Page 5 Wheel tubs and more framing Page 6 Door openings and more on the body Page 7 The frame Page 8 Steering, shocks and engine mounts Page 9 CAD, lasercut parts and intake. Page 10 Transmission and engine mounts. Page 11 Roof and floor. Page 12 Body and engine details. Page 13 Fuel tank. Page 14 Pedals and steering. Page 15 Odds and ends, the frame. Page 16 The body and more details. Page 17 Dash, exhaust and engine. Page 18 Bodywork and to do list stuff. Page 19 Toward the first drive. Karkmotuning

Parts for the engine and transmission mounts cut out from 5 mm (3/16") steel plate (August 2022)

The finish welded transmission mount seen from both sides.

The transmission mount bolts to the rear of the transmission case.

The chassis mounts are removable from the K-member to get the transmission out downward in the future.

The removable chassis mount finish welded

The engine mounts were tacked in using a mirror, hence the unsightly tack welds. Then the engine and transmission were hoisted out of the way.

Round parts to continue the box plate around the engine mounts were cut and hammered to this shape.

Box plates were cut to size and welded in. The box plate got a lightening hole and a 1/4"-20 thread for a brake line.

The vertical welds both sides of the engine mount will be ground off later.

This is what the engine mount looks like mounted to the frame.

After the vertical welds were ground smooth, the box plates look much tidier. Everything has gotten a coat of black primer for rust protection

Finally the engine and transmission could be mounted to the frame on proper mounts.

After a lot of measuring and looking for suitable donors, the roof of an early twothousands Volvo V70 looked promising. Cutting the roof off of a junked Volvo wagon.

When cut out as close to the edges as possible and turned backwards, the roof lays surprisingly nicely on the body.

The roof lays down completely flat against the body except in the very rear at the coners. When it's final cut to fit in its place it will likely lay almost totally flat. The roof will be welded on after the body is shimmed and adjusted and bolted to the frame, so we'll get back to it later.

With the engine hoist and the wife lending a helping hand, the body was sat back onto the frame, where it hasn't been in almost ten months.

Things are looking pretty good here, although the body sits too far back, as the firewall hits the engine. The firewall has to be recessed into the cowl.

The body needs to be moved a couple inches forward. This issue stems from the engine being mounted several inches farhter back than originally planned due to the steering mechanism hitting the oil pan.

To remedy this, the firewall is going to be modified, so the numerous spot welds are drilled out with a ¼" drill bit, and hacked off with an air chisel. ( September 2022)

When the firewall is out, the flange with all its holes is hammered flat and the paint and rust ground off.

The firewal will be turned inside out to effectively move it back two inches. The inside of the firewall is cleaned up a bit while the modification work is planned.

To gain a bit more space, the "panels" that now protrude out of the firewall have to be modified to the shape outlined in black here.

The top pic shows the first of four corners before and after modification. The bottom pic shows the second corner being done, and the completed fist panel.

The result after the panels are done.

When trial fitting the firewall to the cowl, there still wasn't enough room, so a spacer from 1" square tubing was made to gain another inch. With this spacer we'll get about 3/8" of clearance between the firewall and the cylinder heads, which should suffice. The spacer is made from 1" square tubing cut in half to form a U-profile. The corners are cut down and bent, and filler pieces are made from sheet metal and welded in.

It was soon discovered that he tubing cut in half wouldn't do it, so it was back to the bender and make new tubes, complete 1"x1" ones, and start over.

The new spacer was weded in with rosette welds through the holes drilled to get the spot welds out earlier.

The firewall all ground and ready to weld to the cowl.

Finally the firewall is welded in and has gotten a coat of red primer.

Sketch for body mounts to go inside the floor structure beams. These could have been turned on a lathe. (October 2022)

... Then it was decided to make them from a bit of pipe, a washer welded in from the underside.

Welded into place and ground they look good, and will not protrude out of the floor. A 3/4" socket fits nicely over the bolt head.

The floor structure beam that the floor will weld to, needs a stiff piece to go over the transmission. Ths bent beam was built using four pieces of 1/8" plate.

The first floor structure beam is done. The transmission tunnel will weld to the flanges welded to the bent beam, and the yellow arrows point to the body mounts.

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