Project Dolomega, the next level

[Carledo]

Fixed all the PB links so they will work.

Thanks Dave!

[Carledo]

The engine mounts I ordered came on time - and are, of course, NOt the ones I ordered! seems I was taken in by a "file picture" The company have kindly refunded my money AND not insisted I return the offending mounts, but were unable to supply correct ones without a reg number for the (non existent) Volvo I wanted them for! Nothings ever easy in the modding game!

Having been temporarily foiled here, I've been raiding the Stag parts bin again, this time for a centre console. I'm not a big fan of the Dolomite parcel tray and wanted something more substantial than the coin tray. This seems to fit the bill (and the car) and with a bit of hacking about will take the stereo, trip computer screen, electric window switches and a few other small bits.



A chippy mate will be making the 3 bespoke wood panels I will need and hopefully getting a decent match on veneer and colour with the rest of the (all matching pieces) dash!

I am also investigating the possibility of using Stag mechanisms to remotely operate the front !/4 lights. I mentioned the idea to Mahesh and he has helped me with pics that look promising. And also adopted the idea for his car, except that he now plans to go one better and run his 1/4 lights on electrickery!

Steve

[soe8m]

This is my home made one 15 years ago.







The fresh air vents are replaced by tweeters that do fit without any modification. I only glued some vent knobs on them to mak you like twice.

Jeroen

[Jon Tilson]

You should see a nice 24oGLT add on ebay that you can nick the reg number from if that's the one you want...

Jonners

[Carledo]

You should see a nice 24oGLT add on ebay that you can nick the reg number from if that's the one you want...

Jonners

If I think really hard, I can probably remember the reg of the Volvo the Carledo ones came from! In fact I can, it was A858 XTN, but that car was scrapped maybe 15-18 years ago and is probably not on anybodies database anymore! There are 2 different sorts of mounts fitted to 240s and there doesn't SEEM to be any logic in the application. Some companies also list different mounts for left and right side! It's a bit of a minefield!

Steve

[Carledo]

A little update, the engine mount problem is solved, turns out that what I needed were 2 RHS mounts when what I originally ordered were 2 LHS (or vice versa) but aligning the engine and trans in the car has thrown up another much more serious problem, in that the rear of the gearbox has been forced way too low by the large diameter Vauxhall "Rotoflex" type front prop joint interfering with the tunnel stiffener just aft of the removable tunnel section.

After a lot of skull sweat and theorizing I came upon a possibly practical solution and bought (ebay, where else) a Sprint gearbox output shaft flange, removed the huge tripod flange from the trans and took them both to my tame propshaft man at Proptech in Hartlebury for an opinion. I am now convinced that he is that legendary guy that can do anything with nothing as he has just given me back THIS:-







He's cut the tripod off, turned a step into the shaft and cut and bored out the flange of the Sprint part to an interference fit on the Vaux output section then shrunk it on and welded it in place. Fitting this has enabled me to lift the rear end of the trans by nearly 1.5" and line everthing up nicely WITHOUT modding the tunnel in any way (NO BIVA FOR ME!) Next weekend should see me fabbing the engine and gearbox mounts, then I can measure for the propshaft and get him started on that. He moans at me all the time about these bespoke jobs, but he always comes up with the goods! I think that, secretly, he likes the challenges! Hopefully, it will be strong enough to withstand the rotation twist of hard driving, but on the upside, being an automatic, the shock loads will be much lower than on a manual. He says he's done this sort of thing before and it's worked, so i'm cautiously optimistic, time will tell!

In other news, the engine/trans management loom is finally nearing completion (as is my planning permission for "temporary" use of the kitchen table) there is still a 3rd loom to build for electric windows and central locking that will be a scratch built job but that can wait if need be and be added later, the feeds and relays have already been integrated into the main loom.

Since I want to do all my hole drilling, bracket making and welding around the bulkhead and engine bay BEFORE it gets painted, which requres that I actually fit most of the stuff that is needed to wire and plumb the motor, I am sorely tempted to try and get it running before I pull it all out again to get the engine bay/doorshuts/inside of doors/inside of boot etc painted. This will give me a much needed mojo boost and mean that when it all goes back after paint, I KNOW it will run!

Steve

[Carledo]

Over a year since my last post and (until recently) not a lot to report! Around the end of November last year, I managed to get the gearbox crossmember built up and fitted and did the "first fix" on the engine mounts, meaning I folded them am wedged them in place so the weight of the engine was bearing on them!

Then, at the beginning of December, my trusty old MiG welder finally gave up the ghost and died on me. I managed to get another, a slightly more powerful Transmig 180 (the old one was a Murex Tradesmig 140) for a very reasonable £85 and not far away either. But it was a rather a fixer-upper, having not been used for a good few years. This was explained on the advert, it wasn't misrepresented and I took a chance! Which didn't quite pay off! The lance was shot (but i'd picked one with a fitting the same as was on my old welder which had a nearly new, extra long lance already) The wire was rusty as a rusty thing and my 15kg roll was too big, so a new 6kg roll of 0.8 wire was purchased, the pipe connections for the gas valve didn't match, so my plumber neighbour rescued me with some bespoke fittings and last but not least, the amperage output control switch (actually a bank of 6 rotational microswitches) only worked on 2 settings! But my neighbour and I dismantled it and successfully cleaned, lubed and reassembled it and finally around 4 months later, it works a treat, very smoth and runs a lovely seam!

So, back to the plot, and having tacked the mounts in place, i've measured for the propshaft (75 mm shortening of the front section) The prop has been to Proptech, been shortened and rebalanced and is now in place on the car.

Next I've fabbed some mount brackets and fitted the new Saab 9-3 radiator, along with an Aeroline 12" electric fan and made and fitted mount brackets for the big ECU/relay box that fits in the N/S flitch.

Then on to making up adaptor hoses for the heater which i've also incorporated an early Sprint H piece into, fabricated some copper pipes for the transmission cooler which is in the o/s of the radiator and made up a hybrid Omega/Sprint servo hose.







Next task was to do something about the fanbelt. The Omega had a single massive serpentine belt that drove the alternator, PAS pump, and aircon compressor via a sprung tensioner and a couple of jockey pulleys. Since all I have to drive is the alternator, i've adapted an adjustable alternator bracket and purchased a short 6 row belt from the factors, the big surprise being that I phoned them up and said i wanted a 6 row belt, 905mm long and they said, yes mate, got one in stock! God only knows what it's for, but i've kept the sleeve, in case I ever need another!



Finally, to get up to date, today i've modified the Omega exhaust downpipe for a clean fit past the subframe and tunnel, made up some extra fuel pipes (I need feed AND return) made a mount bracket to fit the high pressure pump under the boot floor and some brackets to mount the injection fuel filter against the o/s inner sill.

Next on the agenda is to mount the radiator header bottle on the o/s flitch, this will complete the cooling system, then I have to mount the shift quadrant on the tunnel and this, i think, will be be my biggest headache yet as there's just NO space for the lever and shift rod in the tunnel, i'm going to have to completely re-engineer about a quarter of it! Ho Hum!

Despite this minor inconvenience im beginning to get the feeling that i'm on the home straight, at least mechanically and a first start is not that far away. It WILL be a massive mojo boost when it fires up, even if I then have to promptly pull it all out again to paint the engine bay!

I'll add some more pics tomorrow!

Steve

[new to this]

Steve

The small outlet pipe on top of the saab rad what size is it ?

Thanks Dave

[sprint95m]

Steve

The small outlet pipe on top of the saab rad what size is it ?

Thanks Dave

It is for an 11mm bore hose.



Ian.

[new to this]

Steve

The small outlet pipe on top of the saab rad what size is it ?

Thanks Dave

It is for an 11mm bore hose.



Ian.

Ian

Thanks Dave

[Carledo]

A few more progress pics, the relay/ECU box, open and shut case!






And some better pics of the new Aeroline fan and Saab rad. I've elected to put the rad a bit further back this time which allows me to get it a bit higher so the fan fits in front and offset to the N/S so there's room for a narrow cone air filter on the other side to get lots of lovely cold air into the intake!





Steve

[RSi]

Just to prove that rear door wonky gaps came as standard..... on the production line;

Cracking pic, where did you find that one lol

[soe8m]

Why the fan at the front? At the rear sucking trough is more effective.

Jeroen

[Carledo]

Just to prove that rear door wonky gaps came as standard..... on the production line;

Cracking pic, where did you find that one lol

Not sure where it came from Murdo, check who originally posted it!

But it's quite a widely known picture that turns up quite often, both here and on the FB page.

A couple of days hard "adjusting" actually has my door gaps substantially better than that now! Despite the current doors being from at least 3 different cars!

Steve

[RSi]

Just to prove that rear door wonky gaps came as standard..... on the production line;

Cracking pic, where did you find that one lol

Not sure where it came from Murdo, check who originally posted it!

But it's quite a widely known picture that turns up quite often, both here and on the FB page.

A couple of days hard "adjusting" actually has my door gaps substantially better than that now! Despite the current doors being from at least 3 different cars!

Steve

Thanks Steve.

Have you ever seen the Youtube footage of doors being fitted on the production line, I believe there's a short film showing the difficulty they had, but I've searched and still cant find it, would love to see it.