pv 544

[Rockmonton]

well, herein lies the "before" pictures, of course, that implies i have to do the restoration first, but it's coming, just got it home today, inspect the damages, what do y'alls think?

[Volvo244GLE]

glad to here this little beauty will be restored, it looks in suprisingly good shape. nice work.

['89 Wagoneer]

Do like an old school Gasser. That'd be so sweet.

[badvlvo]

Got a little rust repair to do but the car looks straight enough.
Hope you got it for a good price.

[pwschuh]

Needs moar shift knob...

[Hank Scorpio]

Considering where you live I'd say its in excellent shape

[Rockmonton]

actually, i've got the shift knob! the bigest issues with this car, are there in the rocker panel, and along the panel seams, mostly from snow sitting on it, as well, the PO decided he'd seal them off ith a bead of silicone, there is a bit of bondo on this one, as you can see it cracking down by that hole in the rocker panel. but an excellent opprotunity to get good at welding! engine is nice and clean too! but i've get to formulate a good solid plan for it.

[BB-Q]

chop the front off and make a frame for it. That way you've got no fitment issues and you can put whatever engine you like in it, as long as it's a turbo redblock

[BoxDriver2]

I say either do it stock, or make a nice dependable cruiser

[JohnMc]

The body construction is pretty simple, so fixing it isn't as hard as it would be on a later Volvo.

Pull out those rust-encouraging rubber floormats and see what's underneath them. Horrible idea, those mats. They might help protect the floorboards from moisture for the first 3 months of a car's life, but after some moisture does get under them (and it will) it holds it there permanently for maximum effect.

[Dr Dokeh]

Cool! that thing looks really solid.

[Rockmonton]

yep, i've pulled the rubber off in a few places, it's pretty solid underneath, some good amount of surface rust, but still very solid, nowehre a screwdriver will punch through.

[JohnMc]

Good to hear!

What are your plans for the motor? I've got a pepped up B20 in my PV, about 170 - 180 HP. Which is a fairly fun amount of HP in a 2250 lb car.

[Rockmonton]

see, this is the problem i've been having, is choosing exactly what motor i want. i think for now, i'll freshen up the b16 as it looks to have been very well maintained, and reportedly had a fresh rebuild, but the black silicone along the body seams worries me as to the quality of the motor build. that being said, it looks solid. does anyone know what they sell for on the market?

i have been toying with the idea of testing out a homebuilt tig welder i'm working on, and fitting in a 16 valve or something insane, but at the same time i'm not sure i want to take on such a large project. if i could find a T5 turbo, that would be quite the possibility too, but also on the very expensive route, and being a student, i cant quite afford such whimsical ideas, but, a 16 valve redblock with a t5 is definately affordable, since most of the pieces can be fabbed and had at wreckers and such on the cheapside, the machining isnt too expensive, and it takes more time and effort more than anything. on the other hand, if i sell my les paul and my altec preamp, i've got nearly 2000$ to drop into this thing, which can go quite a far ways. so right now, i think i'll just be working to get it to stage zero, have some nice bodywork, a nice interior, and make sure everything is in good shape.

airbag suspension is probably in the future, and some sort of motor upgrade will definately come, but what i'm looking for at the moment is a nice looking street cruiser for the summer months. hoping to have it done within 2 years too.

[245gti]

I've got a mostly complete B18 sitting in my garage, if you want a minor upgrade from the B16. It was supposedly rebuilt recently (in terms of mileage, not years). It'll need a bit of a freshening but it ran well when it was in the 122... You can have it if you want to come down and get it...

[Rockmonton]

oh man, when i get a chance to start tearing into this car, i may very well take you up on that!

[Rockmonton]

k, we have a plan now!

Cage it, no backseat.

93+ b230 FT

mustang t5

for 8.8 IRS rear end

custom suspension in the front and back (there's gotta be a 4'th year mechE student looking for a project ?!)

airbag it.

nice paintjob, still in the non-original colour, but fine enough.

possibly shaved handles and stuff,

probably shaved, or severely modified bumpers.

and very very maybe a sunroof.

want to build this thing up so that it basically handles and performs like a sports car, hoping not to go over 2800 pounds all said and done, and have around 350 horses, 4 wheel discs and have it handle like a modern sports car, and then some. basically, aiming for an all around good performer, of course, it'll have to showcase things like megasquirt, and probably parts from some of the local edmonton/alberta guys, like the boost controllers and stuff a few people are working on. not to mention, it should be scary fast.

[JohnMc]

If you are ditching the front suspension, just go ahead and chop off those tight front frame rails too. Build a new subframe out front and run it full length back to the new rear end.

They only weigh 2250 lbs new, so it shouldn't be hard to keep it under 2800 lbs. I don't think a B230FT weighs much more than a B20.

[Rockmonton]

yep, thats part of the plan too, the 2800 pounds is basically taking into account parts for the cage and such, it realy shouldnt be too bad. of course, for now, i'll just clean everything up and restore it a bit as is, get the body sorted out, get the paint sorted out, rustproof everything. and as money comes along i'll start to amass supplies (like the b230, t5 and rear end) and start mocking everything up. this is going to be a LONG project, but shuold be fun, and hopefully will end up in running targa newfoundland, or something similar.

[244tiCanuck]

Buy a tubing notcher, and finish that TIG so we can get started, you hoser! We have a perfectly FUBAR'd B21FT we can use to mock up the engine, and a T-5 is a junkyard trip and $80 away. We'll fuggin' duct tape it to the bellhousing for mockup until you can afford the conversion bell.

[WheyDey]

regardless of the iron you put in it, seeing one of these things resurrected makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.

[Rockmonton]

see, a car is all about the feeling it gives you when you drive it, i certianly was not alive when it was built, and i've got no sentimental connection to it, but the cool thing is, it's an amazing looking car, a GREAT body to work with (almost empty interior too!) and why not give it a good touch of modern technology to ressurect a car so it can last another 47 years on the road.

[Rockmonton]

hmmm!! now to figure out how to adapt it to the shorter wheelbase of the PV.....

[WheyDey]

moostangs have terrible wheel-hop problems... they couldnt fix the problem so they went back to live axle.

[Rockmonton]

that being said, i'm more or less looking at the benefits that the IRS 8.8 had on the shelby cobra kit cars, and they've got a way more similar rear track length to the pv, (54 on the cobra, 51 on the pv)

and we know, there is a good setup for those, so some tweaking here and there, and it could give me a good base to work from.