Super Five build threadfalcor75 - 30/4/19 at 06:18 PM
Hello, my name is Mats and I live in Sweden. I have started a build together with my 13 year old son.
The build will be based on the Haynes chassis but with a different type of bodywork.
Power train will be a five cylinder from a 1994 Volvo 850 GLT coupled to an M90 gearbox from a Volvo 960, sierra rear diff and front and rear
suspension. About a month ago I bought the donor Volvo and stripped the engine and electrical harness from it.
Last week I got all the 25x25x2 tubing and the frame build started friday the 26th of April
This is what we are trying to recreate but with a body in unpainted aluminium.
Bottom frame layed out.
Got to borrow a nice cutter from work that works awsome, so easy to make nice cuts.
A bit of TIG tack welding going on.
Mmmmmm....tasty....
A bit more progress
[Edited on 30/4/19 by falcor75]
[Edited on 30/4/19 by falcor75]
HowardB - 30/4/19 at 06:45 PM
looks a great start and very tidy garage and tube cuts.
The body looks interesting,. will you be fitting the roll bar (hanging on the wall) onto the chassis?
The choice of the volvo is interesting I used to have one that had a transaxle gear box,. 360glt,. it was "fun" in a very solid kind of
way.
Keep the updates coming, I am interested
falcor75 - 1/5/19 at 05:52 AM
Thanks.
No the roll bar is for the little white car that shows its butt in one of the pictures. Creating the body will be the big challenge in this build.
Ah yes the 360, a friend of mine has had a few as winter beaters, dual alternators and 7 Bosch Big knick floodlights in the front. You could see him
coming for miles...
SJ - 1/5/19 at 07:05 AM
What's the car in the background with the Martini stripes on it?
tul214 - 1/5/19 at 12:27 PM
quote:
What's the car in the background with the Martini stripes on it?
914?
falcor75 - 1/5/19 at 01:05 PM
quote:Originally posted by tul214
quote:
What's the car in the background with the Martini stripes on it?
914?
Correct, for those that are interested the whole restoration of it can be found here: http://matsgarage.com/SJ - 1/5/19 at 02:59 PM
That's lovely!
falcor75 - 2/5/19 at 11:56 AM
Yes its a nice car, bought it in 2013 and it took about 5 years to get done. Hopefully this project will be quicker, both timewise and speedwise.
falcor75 - 5/5/19 at 07:14 PM
Alot of tubes in the front...
Looks good for welding later on...
And then I ran out of Argon.....
[Edited on 5/5/19 by falcor75]
falcor75 - 11/5/19 at 10:37 AM
[Edited on 11/5/19 by falcor75]
big_wasa - 11/5/19 at 05:20 PM
Tube cuts are amazing, let’s us see some of your welds.
Looks a good quality build.
Ugg10 - 11/5/19 at 07:51 PM
Nice project and some serious skills.
Looks inspired by the Elfin Clubman concept from Australia.
Cool, I hadnt seen the Elfin before. Thanks for sharing.
Oh and my welding is nothing to brag about. I'll have one of the professionals at work do the A-arms for me later but the chassis I can do
myself.
falcor75 - 25/5/19 at 05:37 AM
Got some parts lasercut, all the steel is Domex 355. Its a nice job perk to have access too.
Bent lower A-arm plates and all A-arm and shock mounts.
CP10 plates in place, took a bit of grinding to make them fit.
Sometimes even an amateur like me manage to put out some not too ugly looking welds.
Starting to run low on gas again, second bottle and at €100 per refill I will have to raise the budget on welding supplies.
CP3/4 started here and was tacked in place yesterday.
CP3/4 Rear framework started, Now you can see a bit of a difference from a normal Haynes build since I will have the rear panel sloping backwards
instead of forwards.
falcor75 - 31/5/19 at 04:51 AM
Moved the frame to my work with a bit more space and nicer equipment than I can afford at home.
Started to fully weld the frame yesterday, about 8-9 hours done so far and there's a fair bit left to do.
falcor75 - 15/6/19 at 03:29 PM
The last week has been mostly about getting the A-arm brackets into place on the frame. The book fixtures work well to get them into place.
Today I took advantage of the nice summer weather to vacate the 914 from the garage and get the frame down on the floor so I could flip it
over and start geting the brackets welded all around.
A few weld pictures too, no pretty but solid enough and improving bit by bit.
falcor75 - 15/7/19 at 05:48 AM
Where is the best place to get a pair of new or rebuilt Sierra driveshafts? (push in type)
falcor75 - 21/11/19 at 08:37 AM
Here's a bit of an update of whats been going on (or not) during the last months.
Engine and diff in place just to test things out.
Rear uprights was tacked up and fully welded.
All the A-arms has been built and welded up.
Make the noise !
Came across a set of 4x108 OZ wheels and tires for ok money and bought those.
Something that took along time was to get the tubes for the upper front A-arms bent. When you pay with cakes and cookies you end up at the end of the
work line...
But things are finally starting to move again in the last week or so.
Next in line is putting the chassis down on the wheels and figure out my rideheight and then its on to making the engine and gearbox mounts.
falcor75 - 21/1/21 at 09:05 AM
A bit of an update here, the build has continued and passed the first "build inspection" that is mandatory here in Sweden.
I got a few remarks which I have fixed so now I can continue to finish the car.
Stainless fuel tank tacked up.
New propshaft built from the stock Volvo 960 parts.
One of the inspection remarks was that the angle of the rear shocks was to flat at 45 degrees, they wanted minimum 60 degrees from the horisontal
plane so that took a bit of fixing. Had to raise and move the upper mounts outwards.
First drafts of the body shape !
Started making the tunnel sheet metal parts.
Soon time to take the engine out and get some paint on the lower parts of the frame and put the floor pans on !
40inches - 21/1/21 at 09:56 AM
Nice build
If it's not to late, I would make the smaller tunnel back panel removable, it makes life a lot easier to get to the rear prop
fixings Description
HowardB - 21/1/21 at 10:17 AM
that is really impressive - what are your thoughts about fabrication of the bodywork?
falcor75 - 21/1/21 at 11:01 AM
quote:Originally posted by 40inches
Nice build
If it's not to late, I would make the smaller tunnel back panel removable, it makes life a lot easier to get to the rear prop
fixings Description
Yes the rear tunnel top cover will be removeable to get access to the handbrake and rear prop shaft bolts. falcor75 - 21/1/21 at 11:02 AM
quote:Originally posted by HowardB
that is really impressive - what are your thoughts about fabrication of the bodywork?
Building my own english wheel and making lots of scrap parts is the current plan, will refine it as I get closer... 40inches - 21/1/21 at 11:54 AM
quote:Originally posted by falcor75
quote:Originally posted by 40inches
Nice build
If it's not to late, I would make the smaller tunnel back panel removable, it makes life a lot easier to get to the rear prop
fixings Description
Yes the rear tunnel top cover will be removeable to get access to the handbrake and rear prop shaft bolts.
I would try that before you commit to fixing the side panels. I had to remove the prop shaft, working from above was a PITA,
I cut out the rear side panel with a Dremel.
joneh - 21/1/21 at 12:10 PM
Looking great, and I must say you appear to have a lovely clear workshop to work in too!
Keep the pictures coming!
falcor75 - 22/1/21 at 07:17 AM
quote:Originally posted by joneh
Looking great, and I must say you appear to have a lovely clear workshop to work in too!
Keep the pictures coming!
Thank you, its just my at home "almost" two car garage but I do like to keep it tidy, makes it easier and more fun to work in.
I will make this whole rear section of the tunnel removable so access to the propshaft and handbrake is easy. I have already tried and the propshaft
is removable downwards, the only fiddly parts is the screws for the prop shaft catch rings but I can live with that. Ahead of the handbrake I will
make a shallow storage bin for phone and keys etc.
Passenger footwell panel tacked in place.
At the moment I'm busy working on the heating element, I'm using a small Golf Mk1 heater to get some warm air to the feet at least. No good
pictures of that yet but I am trying to make it quite a slim package.
falcor75 - 22/12/21 at 08:12 AM
Well its been awhile since I updated this....cant say if alot of new stuff has happened tho, but!
I have made all the plywood templates for the body and built an english wheel and this summer I started creating scrap metal !
Occationally I even turn out useable parts !
Making the body about 30-40 mm wider at the cockpit to get some elbow room as I am making the sides higher than a stock seven.
The butt!
and the front, this is pretty much as far as I have come, hope to finish the nose before newyears.
It's great to see that you're pressing on with the car and it looks very good
I did something very similar to your first drive. I drove my partially completed car, with no legal right to be on the road, up and down our road -
one of my neighbours wasn't very impressed
However it was a major milestone in the project and, looking back, I wouldn't change what I did
wrayvon - 23/9/22 at 07:34 AM
Incredible work :O
falcor75 - 12/1/23 at 08:00 AM
The rear end has been riveted and work is progressing on the rear fenders.
[Edited on 12/1/23 by falcor75]
roadrunner - 13/1/23 at 10:10 AM
Love it.
Great skills.
Keep the updates coming.
HowardB - 13/1/23 at 05:16 PM
that looks amazing
I love the garage sign!
quinnj3 - 6/3/23 at 03:50 PM
Wow, absolutely amazing build. Almost puts me off mine as I could never build to the same standard!
falcor75 - 7/3/23 at 05:28 AM
Nah dont get discouraged. I have never built anything like this before so if I can do it surely you can too.
Here is one of the latest pictures of it. I have added the rear view mirrors after this and I am now hoping to add the headlights and front indicators
in the coming week and that would pretty much be all the "must haves" for the swedish registration done. I hope to have it road legal before
july if all the inspections goes well. The rolling chassis inspection was completed late 2020, left to do is the complete build inspection by the
Swedish self builders association, noise test and then its due for a normal registration inspection.
falcor75 - 15/4/23 at 03:22 PM
Still cold as heck but at least its driving. Still not road legal but we are close to the start of test number 2 below.
Here in Sweden we have to pass the following tests:
1. Build inspection, done when you have rolling chassis with steering and brakes. (Car builders association)
2. Complete car inspection (Car builders association)
3. Noise test, I think its 85dB at a full acceleration in second gear 50 km/h both ways.
4. Registration check by an accredited station that also does the regular MOT test. This is when you get the licence plates once passed.
falcor75 - 10/8/23 at 06:19 AM
Back in the end of May the build finally got roadlegal and I could start using it. June weather was awsome but almost too dry for our farmers and
nature and then July was very windy and lately we've had alot of rain like most of Europe.
Despite the weather I have driven about 1900 km's (1200 miles) so far and worked out some bugs and found things that needs to be fixed.
The left front wingstay sheared off around the 1000 km mark where the tube transitions to the flat bar, so both sides was reinforced. I will remove
the flat bar entirely as soon as I get some tube bending done.
The headlight brackets cracked, they will need some redesign but they are welded up and ok for now.
The newly overhauled Sierra diff started leaking that will need to get fixed during winter.
I have also added a windscreen, it was way too annoying to even drive. Over 50 km/h you needed goggles and over 70 you really wanted a helmet and that
reduced the joy of driving too much. With the windscreen I can cruise at 90 km/h with only a ear bud in my left ear to remove a bit of vind noise.
Hopefully we will get some more nice days during august and september.
falcor75 - 20/5/24 at 05:42 AM
[Edited on 20/5/24 by falcor75]
ReMan - 20/5/24 at 10:43 AM
Great job and what tunnels are built for!
jacko - 20/5/24 at 04:47 PM
What a lovely car you have created and a lot of patience to craft and build it 👍😎
Graham
falcor75 - 21/5/24 at 04:08 AM
quote:Originally posted by jacko
What a lovely car you have created and a lot of patience to craft and build it 👍😎
Graham
patience? No i have none of that but I'm heckin' stubborn. J666AYP - 21/5/24 at 09:55 PM
Loving this build, somewhere between a lotus and a cobra
