Volvo - Z-car Meets Zeemax by RED HOT

4 minute(s) of a 55 minute read

A few more things fitted this past week in the hope to get her together for players classic at the weekend; still missing some important items, assuming you class doors as important?!

Anyway, wheels have progressed to a state where they are on the vehicle, but I did have to make a small sacrifice to achieve this in that the lips are now brushed rather than polished; a previous owner had tried to refurbish and it looks like various spots throughout the lips must have had significant corrosion or scratches, but rather than spin these up or even sand it was purely done locally which look out right ******* when polished. I've manufactured (once again) a ghetto wheel polisher in the garage to allow me to spin them up and get some sandpaper on them to remove 90% of the divots, but due to time constraints and me really wanting them on the car opted for the brushed finish which I actually pretty like.

Here's a quick snap of one all built up so I could check fitment etc. colour is to be unveiled at the weekend I'm afraid...... so pictures will follow thereafter.

These are slightly wider; 8J compared to the Wellers 7 so a bit more poke is evident! a slight sus alteration may be required to stop scrubbage on the rears! time will tell

And a side profile now they're fitted

Another side project was the hydraulic handbrake, I wanted to keep the centre console clean and smooth so don't have the conventional Mini one fitted, I do have an electric one hidden below said centre console, but this is only really for when stopping for long periods of time; due to the time it takes to activate and deactivate it not a hill start option, thus the hydraulic option.

Space is limited in and around the centre console area so I had to find somewhere else..... but this somewhere also had to provide sufficient support for the forces being applied to them. This only really left one option and that was to the roll bars to the right hand side of the driver.

I drew up many plans and took many measurements as things were still going to be tight; as with most things due to my own doings and wanting a dual action handbrake; push forward to lock the front wheels and back to lock the rears thus 2 cylinders and a mounting bracket in the space from mini sill to seat!!

The end results and progress can be seen below:-

The handbrake isn't fully complete as I'm waiting on a few linkage components, so you'll have to wait for the next episode to see if it actually works and for final pictures including the space restrictions I had to work with!!!