Bringing it Together

I just got the last major peice, the radiator. Here it is clamped in place to locate the mounting brackets. On the right the lower bracket clamped in place, before welding.

I had to ajust the side brackets slighty. I made new flanges to be a little wider. On the left, ready for welding. On the right, the top tank is the old Volvo bottem tank. It was narrowed about a 1/2 inch to match the early 60's T'bird bottem tank. It has a 3 tube core on 3/8 inch centers. It is supposed to cool as good as a 4 tube.

Here is the engine and trans.That is a mid 70's Rover 3-speed. It is a Borg Warner 35 which happens to be the same one Volvo used in this car. It was nice because with a little modification the Volvo out-put shaft is being used in the Rover trans. This bolts right upto my drive shaft. Sweet huh? My friend and ace transmission mechanic John Pope modified the Volvo out-put shaft. Thanks John.

Starting on the motor mounts.

To locate the motor mounts I set the engine in place, blocked up on wood scraps, set the motor mounts in place and tacked them in. I then removed the engine and finished welding them. I put the engine back in to check the fit. Fits good.

This is the transmission mount adpter I made so I could use a chevy mount. Here it is with the mount attached.

This is the beginning of the cross member for the trans mount. And here it is in place.

Here you can see the radiator expantion tank on it's new bracket. That is a new Accel Billetproof distributor hiding behind the radiator hose. The hose was made of tubing left over from the headers. The expantion tank is from a late model Volvo. This now being a "high pressure" system, it has a 22lb radiator cap. Here is a shot that shows the pipe to fill the radiator from the expantion tank. The pipe is made from 1/2 inch EMT. I borrowed the bender from an electrician buddy.

I picked up this Lokar shifter on ebay. It is really for a chevy th350, but it will work with the Borg Warner with a shift cable. I had to fabricate mounting brackets too. I got the long shifter to be like a Volvo shifter and mounted it up front like an original one. Also, you can just make out that the driveshaft is now in place after being shortened 4".

Firewall build up

It Runs!!! This is how it looked the day I started it for the first time.

That engine runs, believe it or not. I am working on a nicer air filter and valve covers. Tomorrow I'm taking to the muffler shop. Hot damn.
Page 1--In The Beginning
Page 2--First Moves
Page 3--Power Brakes & Battery Box
Page 4--Making Headers
Page 5--Bringing it Together
Page 6--V8 Volvos