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Engine is running and car is moving! After chasing down a ground it runs like a brand new car. BTW grounding the transmission is not enough for an engine ground. I thought the electrons would flow through the torque tube but I guess not. Forgot to take a video though. Haven’t taken it down the road yet but that's coming real soon.
I did have a setback regarding the power steering. As you know, I modified the original power steering rack due to narrowing the chassis and cutting the input shaft a little. So the mistake I made (besides not having a complete understanding of how the power steering rack works) was cutting the input shaft down to better help with U-joint angles and after doing this I noticed that the shaft had an inner piece and outer piece which moved independently of each other by about 5 degrees. This didn’t seem right to me since a steering rack should have 0 play, right! Well wrong. So I welded the pieces together and found out this weekend that that 5 degrees of play is what channels the power steering fluid to the right and left cylinder. When I started the engine the steering went hard right. After figuring this out, I grinding the weld off and caped the outer shaft end and now it works perfect with 0 play. We’ll see how it acts under load.
Power steering outer shaft valving. The inner shaft is what channels the fluid through those valves.
You can see the 2 different shafts here:
Re-caped the shaft:
If you decide to take apart your rack here are a few things I learned:
1. Power steering is a fascinating system, very few moving parts for what it accomplishes.
2. The steering wheel doesn’t really hold that much force of the wheels, the pressure in the cylinders does most the work. All you have in the rack is a valve which says which way the pressure goes. The steering wheel is basically only controlling which way the valve goes.
3. After the system is pressurized all steering wheel play gets taken up by the pressure. Now if you have a lot of play in the shafts going down to the rack the valving may be sloppy and delayed.
4. They come apart very easily but care must be taken as they have many sealing surfaces.
5. Don’t mess with the inner shafts if you don’t have to!
I am also having an issue with reverse going into gear. I’m going to guess that the reverse lockout solenoid isn’t working correctly. When the solenoid is on, 3nd and 5th are rough to get into gear. When the solenoid is off it goes into all the gears much better but reverse still wont go in.
Test drives have been going well. She hasn't left me stranded yet (knock on wood). Been easing into her, haven't floored it yet. She seems very stable but the alignment is a little off (haven't taken her to the alignment shop yet). So good news is nothing unexpected so far!
Here's a short video. Nothing to spectacular yet. But hey, its a Volvo with corvette running gear that works.
The first run video is bad *** - congrats - got to feel good. I like the loose cable clamp sliding backwards on acceleration on the rear suspension shot.
Super impressive work you've done!
What are you going to work on (or change or dial in) next?
The first run video is bad *** - congrats - got to feel good. I like the loose cable clamp sliding backwards on acceleration on the rear suspension shot.
Super impressive work you've done!
What are you going to work on (or change or dial in) next?
Thank you! And next up, due to cold snowy weather which killed my test drives, is filling holes
Before:
After:
The grinding cleanup on the panel joints played with the light and makes them look very bad. I promise that once it gets undercoated it will look damn near perfect. Not 100% done in this shot but getting close.
And no one likes to drive alone, so I fabricated the passenger seat brackets. They are a pain in the *** to fabricate since I swear there is no straight sheet metal anywhere on the Volvo. Despite it being designed to look like a shoe box...
And I got this fabricated. Bonus points to anyone who can figure out what its for.
Is that the famous wagon rear facing seat ? The seat that has had children smiling and waving at complete strangers . You sir are a mad genius and a man after my own heart . Got to luv a wagon !
Still on the edge of our seats about more video and also the "identify this bracket" contest!!
So corvettes from what I googled weight around 3250, I don't know if that's with full tank or not.
The Volvo durring her weigh in: had a "full" interior (at least as far as i'm taking it) minus a full dash, it had my hacked up one in there though . She had 3/4 of a tank (12/16 gallons).
Volvo weight w/o me. 47.3/52.7 bias.
Volvo weight w/ me:
For fun, here is my buddies newer Mazda 3 (thought it would be a little lighter:
And here is my stock DD 2006 BMW 530i. I weight 185. Little heavy as expected but look at those corner weights!
And for more fun, here is my homemade budget FSAE car, MD-2. I autoX this fun little machine. No gas or carbs on her at the time (still winterized).
Build video here if you want to see my inexperienced younger self:
Weight without me: 43.7/56.3 Little heavy for a FSAE car, but when you build on a budget that's what you get. I promise you it doesn't take away from the fun.
Is that the famous wagon rear facing seat ? The seat that has had children smiling and waving at complete strangers . You sir are a mad genius and a man after my own heart . Got to luv a wagon !
That comment just made my day! haha. And it wasn't always children, in high school we piled into my buddies 740 and "waved" very nicely to traffic. Which could probably lead to bad things since getting rear ending you would probably break your legs. But it was a project requirement to get those seats fully functional. They even have seatbelts now Think of how awesome burnouts are going to be back there.
That comment just made my day! haha. And it wasn't always children, in high school we piled into my buddies 740 and "waved" very nicely to traffic. Which could probably lead to bad things since getting rear ending you would probably break your legs. But it was a project requirement to get those seats fully functional. They even have seatbelts now Think of how awesome burnouts are going to be back there.
Sweet ! You have to get video of a burnout with the little fellas waving at the camera . Looking forward to reading and seeing your adventures . Everyone should experience life from the 3rd row . Got to luv a wagon .
Hi everyone! Sorry on the long delay since my last post. Life had taken a hold on me with buying a house and 3 weddings. I was enjoying the car for most the summer. By the way, Volvos side marker lights weren't rated for 140 mph...
I was enjoying trolling on the streets until about 3 months ago I lost 1st and reverse. Reverse was always giving me trouble with poping out. Long story short had to pull the drive train out.
Reverse collar was shot, and the 1/2 shifter linkage was messed up. Probably preexisting issues or I was just that rough Transmission just got back from re-builder (Liberty Gears) and is good to go now with upgrades. While I had the drivetrain out I bought a Trickflow H/C package and Aviaid dry sump oil system.
Top end of the engine is all ready to go. Still waiting on parts for the dry sump oil system. Hoping that the car will be ready to start tuning in a couple weeks which is probably when the snow will come...
Cool that Ohio allows multiple wives. You must stay busy!!!
Andrew
Haha yeah something like that! They were all close friends and family and it's amazing how many weekends it eats up with parties, rehearsals, tux fittings, and on and on.
Better to be busy than bored though! Most the wait time was for the transmission rebuild, they were very busy since I guess everyone decided to ruin their T56s.
01-28-2016, 12:53 PM
Think of how awesome burnouts are going to be back there. 
Transmission just got back from re-builder (Liberty Gears) and is good to go now with upgrades. While I had the drivetrain out I bought a Trickflow H/C package and Aviaid dry sump oil system. 
