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. Karkmotuning

Parts for the engine and transmission mounts cut out from 5 mm (approx 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 needs to be removable from the K-member to get the transmission out downward after the body is mounted to the frame.

The removable chassis mount finish welded

The engine mounts were tacked in using a moirror. 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 form.

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 angled joint on the box plate stems from my model airplane building days. An angled joint is stronger than a straight off one.

The vertical welds both sides of the engine mount will be ground off to make for a smoother appearance.

Here the engine mount is mounted to the frame. After some more grinding, this will look tidy enough.

After the vertical welds were ground smooth, the box plates look tidy. A squirt of black for rust protection.

Finally the engine and transmission mounted to the frame on their own proper mounts.

After a lot of measuring, planning and looking for suitable donors, the roof of an early twothousands Volvo V70 seemed to be a good match. Yours trule here, cutting the roof off of a junked V70.

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 rear at the very 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 is hitting the engine. Something has to be done about that firewall.

The firewall is way too far forward here, and the body is 1-½" too far back. This issue stems from the engine being mounted several inches farhter back than originally planned, due to the steering mechanism needing more space than originally estimated.

To remedy this, the firewall is going to be modified, so the numerous spot welds are drilled out with a ¼" drillbit, 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 inside of the firewall, with its Mallory ignition coil and all is cleaned up a bit while the modification work is planned.

To gain a bit more space, the "panels" on the firewall, that now protrude out of the firewall, as it's turned backwards, 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 reworking both panels.

When trial fitting the firewall to the cowl, there still wasn't enough room, so a spacer has to be 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 spacer was weded in with rosette welds through the holes drilled to get the spot welds off and the firewall out.

The firewall all ground and ready to weld into place.

Finally the firewall is ready. a coat of red primer later it looks more or less like intended.

Sketch for body mounts. they would have been beautiful, made on a lathe. (October 2022)

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

Welded into place and ground they do look the same as was intended from the beginning. a 3/4" socket fits into the hole too.

The "body frame" that the floor will weld to, needs a stiff piece to go over the transmission. it was built using four pieces of 1/8" thick sheet metal.

All ready to go, it looks like this. The transmission tunnel will weld to the flanges, and the yellow arrows point to the body mounts.

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