Another P1800 build - All NB Miata from radiator to rear axle

I thought they were only called "Amazon" for the first year or 2 because of a conflict with a scooter company. I guess just because Volvo couldn't call them that, doesn't mean everyone else had to stop!

 

Tail pipe location using Miata stock exhaust and hangars over to the right a few inches from original location.


Inner layer of A pillar welding.
Upper cowl to A pillar welding right side.

Front clip back on for measurements.

 

More progress. Still using 18 ga on most of the inner fenders and firewall.

I slanted the firewall towards the outside to allow for some sort of hood latch mount. Probably just simple SS hood pin style latches (not much to fail with them). I left a large opening where I will route the wiper transmission cable tube though a removable steel plat with a rubber grommet. This is the wiper kit I am using (I also used this on 46 Packard 15 yrs ago). https://www.specialtypowerwindows.com/power-windshield-wiper-kits

I did use 16 ga for about 6" above the shock tower. The black smudge marks are where traces of seam sealer caught fire from welding

Right side will house the Miata fuse box assembly. I think I will drill a couple of 3/8" drain holes in the recessed area.


Cowl drain from Miata. I sized the inner fender to clear 195/65R15 tires at full lock and shock fully collapsed. I have to replace the top of the inner fender braces where the fenders weld since they are crusty/ rusty and then i can move to the rear of the car to finish the splices.

 

Lots of progress recently.

Volvo ground clearance of 4" at crossmember with Miata 195R50-15 tire at approximate ride height. I will be using 195R65-15 which will raise the ground clearance ~ 1.2" to 5.2" which is streetable. I am using 3/8" all thread rod set to mid-stroke of the shock travel to set the level.


I made my first cuts on the rear wheel wells so I could get my rear tires on.

The car had the original red paint and one repaint in bronze. I stripped the top layer with 36 grit on a 7" wheel. Then used Stripping Wheel for Angle Grinder 4-1/2" x 7/8" from Amazon, they really worked fast, strips the paint with no metal loss.
Tight areas were stripped with a coarse 4 1/2" wire wheel.

Due to a large amount of bare metal areas with surface rust I will lightly blast the whole body.

I will construct the perimeter of the new wheel openings and the exterior rockers and fender bottom and rear quarter panel bottoms with 18 ga steel tubing (maybe 1/2" EMT conduit) then blend to the body with multiple 20 ga panels made with a shot bag and hammer and a little English wheel work . I have found if you fill the tube with sand and crimp the ends you can bend without distorting the radius of the tubing and not cause crimps
The tires on it in this pic are the OEM Miata 195/50R15 which will be replaced with taller 195/65R15.




Miata trunk floor waiting to be spliced to the Volvo.


The Miata dash rough fit to the Volvo (new side brackets are welded in). The ragged edge of the dash and the ends will be made from fiberglass and resin and polyester body filler. I will close the Air Bag hole with multiple layers of fiberglass and resin. I plan on slicking the dash out with polyester body filler and sand smooth to make the dash look like steel.

My friend with a lathe made a steering column extension that I will weld in place (a lot safer to me than a Borgeson type joint/ coupler with the mickey mouse 1/4" set screws I have used in the past.). I cut the shaft and inserted the extension which is machined to slip through the Delrin bushing in the firewall rubber seal.

 

I did some of the paint stripping in tight places and around the fins with a 4 1/2" wire wheel. This is what happens when your arms get tired and you relax.
Last time this happened was 45 years ago when I was 30 yrs old running a heavy 7" grinder with a cup style wire wheel - ouch, it still hurts to think about it.

I lucked out on the injury.

 

These are close to the stance I'm trying to achieve.



Because of the Miata wider track the fenders will have to be flared though Something like this.

Hopefully not to this extreme.

 

Getting ready for 2 coats of epoxy primer today - some nice metal under all the ugliness. I don't normally paint on the lift side of the shop but I needed to paint some underneath

I use https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-swsp312g-12 which like all Summit Racing Paints is made by Kirker Automotive. You can buy Kirker branded products or the identical Summit branded product usually cheaper from Summit Racing. I have been using their full line of products for more than 15 years with no failures of any kind. Top coats whether single stage or base coat only come in a limited number of factory mixed colors. I save at least 50 % on my total paint costs.

The roof and a few other areas had significant surface rust damage where the old paint had lost adhesion. Some body filler knifed in and then some high build polyester primer will take care of that.

 

Polyester primer over epoxy primer after thoroughly cleaning with Prepsall , polyester primer only on exterior metal to make my first guide coat sanding with 80 grit.

Moved the gas filler compartment from rear edge of rear fender forward to accommodate the Miata fuel tank position.


Miata OEM fuel tank location eats up Volvo back seat space. I will not have any evaporative emissions equipment (some parts and hoses still showing in the pic) and I will plug the rollover valve. I am modifying the Miata fuel filler neck for a 60s/ 70s GM style vented cap. I will leave the plastic check valve in the Miata filler neck to minimize the slosh back of fuel into the neck.


Since I turn 75 soon I think I will paint under the hood with black epoxy instead of body color to limit the number of times the engine and trans have to go in and out.
Notice the major crossmember cut to be able to roll the rack and pinion enough to clear the Miata OEM A/C compressor. I will smooth out the surgery on the crossmember with a little body filler then epoxy prime over the filler. I will use brushable seam sealer just like the factory on most of the other weld seams.

Trunk floor needs done. the mild fender flares (about 1.5") will be a challenge. I hope that my theoretical ride height calculations are right so the wheel openings won't be too high (ugh) or too low (ouch) but just right .

I metal worked the tail panel wrinkles out decent enough for a body filler skim coat.

 

YESEREEBOB!

 

Amazing progress!

 

I hate when that happens. It always leaves a mark.

 

Love it! How many rolls of MIG wire do you think you will have in her when done? Asking for a friend.

 

Man I don’t know if I’m more shocked/ impressed at your tackling this or that it fits so dang good!

 

Not sure if you have finalized on gauges yet, but on our 1970 MGB I suffered with the stock smiths gauges for too long. Reading many many gauges stories I finally settled on Speedhut gauges. The speedometer is a GPS unit so it doesn’t require any input from the car except 12v power and a 12v signal from the headlight switch. The fuel gauge is a universal unit so I was able to go with a solid state float assembly. I added a mechanical three gauge set in the console from Stewart gauges. I have liked the simplification of my setup and the gps speedo works great.

 

Getting ready for 2 coats of epoxy primer today - some nice metal under all the ugliness. I don't normally paint on the lift side of the shop but I needed to paint some underneath

I use https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-swsp312g-12 which like all Summit Racing Paints is made by Kirker Automotive. You can buy Kirker branded products or the identical Summit branded product usually cheaper from Summit Racing. I have been using their full line of products for more than 15 years with no failures of any kind. Top coats whether single stage or base coat only come in a limited number of factory mixed colors. I save at least 50 % on my total paint costs.

The roof and a few other areas had significant surface rust damage where the old paint had lost adhesion. Some body filler knifed in and then some high build polyester primer will take care of that.

 

Polyester primer over epoxy primer after thoroughly cleaning with Prepsall to make my first guide coat sanding with 80 grit.


Moved the gas filler compartment from rear edge of rear fender forward to accommodate the Miata fuel tank position.

Miata OEM fuel tank location eats up Volvo back seat space. I will not have any evaporative emissions equipment (some parts and hoses still showing in the pic) and I will plug the rollover valve. I am modifying the Miata fuel filler neck for a 60s/ 70s GM style vented cap. I will leave the plastic check valve in the Miata filler neck to minimize the slosh back of fuel into the neck.


Since I just turned 75 I think I will paint under the hood with black epoxy instead of body color to limit the number of times the engine and trans have to go in and out.
Notice the major crossmember cut to be able to roll the rack and pinion enough to clear the Miata OEM A/C compressor. I will smooth out the surgery on the crossmember with a little body filler then epoxy prime over the filler. I will use brushable seam sealer just like the factory on most of the other weld seams.


Trunk floor needs done. the mild fender flares (about 1.5") will be a challenge. I hope that my theoretical ride height calculations are right so the wheel openings won't be too high (ugh) or too low (ouch) but just right .

I metal worked the tail panel wrinkles out decent enough for a body filler skim coat.

 

You are workaholic…….and I’m glad to see it.

 

4 - 11 lb spools and a least good more req,d

 

Front clip from the 1970 P1800 on the 1964 body. Straps to pull fenders back tight as possible. Pop rivet temporarily while setting hood gap.

Coming soon will be the fender flares (as little as possible) to accommodate the wider Miata wheel track and lowering the car.

 

Thank You for sharing Your project. Very cool

 

Work begins on my very ragged rocker panels.

I decided to make the rockers a multipiece weldment instead of a 1 piece formed. It is very hard to find the exact angles to bend and then bend the angles accurately. Also there is a slight crown outward about in the middle of the door . To work around this I bent a 90 deg angle piece from 20 ga for the bottom of the rocker. I then clamped .5 in dia 16 ga steel tube and welded from the backside of the tube so I wouldn't have to grind the welds. This weldment was clamped to the inside vertical rocker and welded.



Now I need to create the outside vertical rocker skin from 20 ga using a slip roll to create the rocker curve profile.


Now I can weld this to the bottom while piecing in to the top metal that is good. Because of the 1/2" round tube the angle is automatic because you just weld to to the tangent of the tube circle.


With both rockers finished I can move on to the complex curves of the rear quarters behind the rear tires.

 

Rear rear inner and outer quarter repair. Not pretty but it will finish out OK.

 

Front wheel wells 1st try at ride height and fully compressed. I am using 3/8" steel fuel line for the finished edge on the wheel well.
All of the pics below are the first try at shaping the wheel well openings. The tubing mimics the stock Volvo shape except stretched upward to allow for the lowered stance.
First pic at ride height next is compressed.

It turns out the rear wheels encroach on the body worse than the front and requires tapering the new wheel openings above the side chrome line which I will do the same on the front to match the rear wheel opening shape. Also the rear inner fenders are much to restrictive requiring me to modify the shape to allow for the suspension to fully compress and clear the inner fender.

The pics below show the suspension fully compressed.
This reveals that I am going to have to move the wheel opening behind the back tire some more than the stock Volvo shape to clear the back edge of the tire where the body gets more narrow. Also I think if I move the rear of the wheel opening back a little I can bring the flare inward because I don't like that much flare.
Needless to say, this will take several more iterations to get the flares to look acceptable to me !




I may reshape the rear of the opening like the Aston Martin DB4 below.

 

Impressive progress.

 

[QUOTE=" . There is always a small chance that my new brackets have a small alignment error which could cause premature belt failure.
[/QUOTE]

Sez the guy who just whacked a Miata in half and stretched it 7".....
I think you can handle making brackets align !!!!!!!!!!!!
Good job...
6sally6

 

Rear fender wheel wells second iteration, 195/65 R15 tires are at expected ride height according to my calculations. My intention is to replace the Miata rims with something later.

I have about 1/2" clearance for the fully compressed suspension.

The upper 2/3 of the inner fenders are tacked to the 3/8 steel tubing that will be the finished fender lip. Still lots of tweaking to get the lower portions contoured properly,

 

I am 75 years old and have had major surgery that has ended my ability to enjoy working on cars and will prevent me from finishing my P1800.

I can talk fairly well but can no longer read or write. Please be considerate of my wife as she will do the writing for me.

As most of you know, I have a 1964 Volvo P1800 in progress that I have modified using a complete 1999 Mazda Miata. I have done the work to merge the cars and have enough parts to significantly finish but am unable to do so.

A friend, which some of you have followed, has built a P1800 with a Miata which would show you a finished build. https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/f...-project-cars/volvo-p1800eskinda/72311/page1/ Volvo P1800ES...kinda


For those that may not know, my 1999 Miata was a complete, nice-running car and all Miata parts are included. Also included are two additional P1800s with a fair amount of parts.

Alabama did not require a title for the P1800s but I have a bill of sale for each. The Miata includes a title and bill of sale.

Realizing that there is a good bit of work to do, I hope someone will take on this project to finish.

All cars and parts must be removed in the next few months and to make this go quickly, it's all free.

Unfortunately if someone does not take this on within a few months, I will have no alternative but to have everything crushed, which would be a shame.
If more photos are needed, I will try to get them posted.

If you have genuine interest, I will provide my phone number to give as many details as you need.

 

Wishing the best for you in the future.

 

I’m so sorry to hear this. I enjoyed watching your project progress.