Volvo X (1967 Pro-Touring Amazon) by Iamtheonlyreal1

9 minute(s) of a 758 minute read

Here are some of the first test fit of the Adjustable Motor Stands that I am working with, because I want to have a little freedom to make adjustments on the fly.. You can raise the motor a couple of degrees for fine tuning the drivetrain angles, or you can pitch it up or down on the right or left side.. I am sure this is a bit of overkill, but I have been in situations where this has been handy in the past, and the adjustment is really just a matter of twisting a wrench when everything is installed.

Here are some clearance pics of the motor/trans in the car,. The headers drop right in, but with the way that I wanted my steering shaft routed, it did make it where I had to jack the drivers side just a hair for it to drop in.. I guess I cant win them all.. LOL In the pictures, you can see all the accessores are tightly packed in, but you can remove each item with no issue, and probably much easier than the Corvette/Camaro the motor originally came out of..

6-15-2013

Here are some better pictures from the bottom side, and as you can see, there is really plenty of clearances.. You can remove all the accessories and service the car with no issue, and if you needed for some reason, you can drop the oil pan down without having to remove anything or jack up the motor. Please ignore the unfinished motor mount stand and brackets, these were the first rough pieces that I was testing off of the production jig, and the finished/powder coated pieces will be of much better quality.

I had to roll the car outside for just a bit, so I can do a bit of cleaning, so I figured I would post some pics now that the mirrors and mud flaps are installed. In the real world, they look much more at home than focused pictures in a tight spaces, so hopefully a few doubters can retract their concerns.. LOL

The front end of the car still needs to be lowered about another 1/2in, and that should be about the right overall stance I am looking for, and the bumpers being reinstalled should make the car look a bit lower overall.. Man, I want wait for the trim to get back, because that is really going to make all the difference in the world.

After being in the shop for so long, I keep forgetting how small the car is, because it seems alot larger in the shop.

6-17-2013

Well... I am at a struggle here, because I was thinking I had a nice solution for my battery position, but I keep forgetting how small these cars are.. It is really the best position for the battery, but I dont want this thing looking like a track car, if I can help it.. I have a larger 1k cranking amp battery here, and it is about the shortest battery I am aware of, but it still hangs down just a bit too far for my taste.. Once the rear bumper is mounted again, it will take alot of the bulk away, but I was actually hoping there would be just a bit more tuck.. I may have to split the difference between the trunk intrusion and hang down, that way I can get a bit of each benefit?

This is why I love Duct Tape, poster board, and card board.. LOL It makes things quicker to visualize, without going through all the hard work, and then finding yourself comprimising on using something that you really dont like, just because you dont want to start all over.. I have scrapped so many versions of things, because it sure sounds good, but the real world application doesnt look right.. I dont mind sharing what I think are bad ideas that I have worked through, because it might actually save someone else the waste of time and effort, and atleast something came out of the failed process..

I had a friend come by the shop the other day, and he put a realistic concern in my head, and I am now wondering how to ease my mind a bit.. Man I can really curse him right now.. LOL The car is going to be quicker and have a higher overall top speed than the original car, and grille openings are fairly large with a large under hood surface area, so how secure will the oem hood latch be? There wouldnt be a whole lot worse situation for damage, than the hood flying up at high speeds, so that has me thinking a bit.

I had this nice aluminum hood pin kit that I was considering using on another build, but I dont really want to drill into the hood at this point, but that would be less than the potential damage of the hood latch letting go. There are serveral styles of hood pin kits out there, and they even have some flush mount button style, but this is more typical of the European sports cars, so I really think this is the direction I need to go if I should decide to run some. The problem is the mounting position isnt really conventional, and that is due to the curvature of the hood and core support postion, so I am pretty limited here..

I wonder if anyone has pictures of Amazon's with hood pins installed, so I can see how others have done it, along with the overall astheticis of them?


Natural Sun Light in this first pic, and the 2nd pic is Artificial Lighting, so I just thought I would show some contrast.. LOL