very pretty!

Thanks!

Picked this up the other day. ~380mm mount-to-mount, 100mm travel, adjustable for rebound and compression, and wonderfully rebuildable. Now we only need three more.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7EUAij74Ycw/S6...0/IMG_6803.jpg

Got a brake pedal mostly finished. Really not happy with the end result, but it'll have to do. Sorry about the blurry pic.

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_7EUAij74Ycw/S7...0/IMG_6805.jpg

Hello Karl,
The brake pedal looks good from here. What do you not like about it?
What did the shock come off of? It looks JUST like the one on my buddies Ducati. Even the mounting points look the same.

Thanks. I got some pretty nasty chatter on a few features, so the surface finish isn't as nice as I'd like. I also managed to damage it slightly when I tightened the vise down for the last op.

The damper is off a Cannondale MX440 motocross bike. I need to get some uniballs to press in to the mounting ears instead of the bushings it has now.

Got a killer deal on a 2.5l Volvo 960 motor the other day. 80k miles, got to hear it run, $200.

There's also a 3.0l version of this motor with a larger bore and stroke, but I prefer the 2.5l. The 80mm (3.125") stroke means we can run the engine to about 9300rpm with a mean piston speed of 25m/sec (82 ft/sec). If we destroke it to 75mm (2.95") we can turn to 10k.

The block will probably need to be sleeved since these motors are notorious for cracking liners at elevated power levels.

We've got some bat**** crazy plans for the head, but I'd rather not let the car out of the bag until we've explored the concept a bit more. :)

What we're keeping:
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7EUAij74Ycw/S9...0/DSC00355.JPG

Some of what we're not:
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7EUAij74Ycw/S9...0/DSC00354.jpg

Degreased and ready for "surgery" :_paranoid :
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7EUAij74Ycw/S9...0/DSC00360.JPG

The suspension hardpoints are all nailed down now, and all the unsprung components for the front end are finished in CAD. Should be starting on the uprights next week. I can post some more details on the workings of the suspension geometry if anyone is interested.

Alex finished the brunt work on the front rotor hats yesterday:
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7EUAij74Ycw/S-...0/IMG_6954.jpg

Had some fun with the engraving. They're 8mm 7075-T6. They still need to be deburred. Hopefully going out for anodizing next week.

Designing the majority of the unsprung mass on the car does have some advantages. The hats weigh about 450g (1lb) and can be machined all in one setup.

SWEET! Youre machine work is amazing! Are you taking any classes for CNC work or just learning as you go? And yes we ALWAYS want more details on everything! I'd love youre cad stuff for the front.

Thanks! Both my brother and I are pretty much all self taught in the CNC department. We've run manual machines before, which definitely helps.

I'll do a little write-up with some graphs and figures on the suspension when I have some more time.

Here's a little write-up which should give you the gist of the suspension situation.

Since neither of us have done anything like this before we decided to set modest goals for the design. This suspension isn't about pushing the envelope, pulling x number of lateral Gs, or extracting some set amount of tractive force from the tires. We're simply going for a stable and predictable car that avoids plowing in to crowded playgrounds at speed. Every design decision has reflected that sentiment and when in doubt, we've always erred on the side of caution. Any performance gains beyond that are considered a bonus.

Initial front-view swing-arm items like instant center, roll center, scrub radius, steering axis inclination, and control arm plane were established by laying out the steering rack, wheel, tire, brake rotor, and brake caliper in a SolidWorks sketch.

I then translated all the hardpoint coordinates over to a suspension modeling package called Lotus Shark. Shark allows you to jog the pivot points arbitrarily and see the resulting geometry change in real time. This kind of simulation is possible in SolidWorks but it requires all the suspension components to be placed in a finished assembly first. Obviously that can't be done since nothing has actually been designed yet.

The wheel offset was the major limiting factor in reducing scrub radius and steering axis inclination, which are still the two values I'm most dissatisfied with. The brake caliper was placed as far inside the wheel as was deemed comfortable, which determined the brake rotor position, which subsequently determined the lower control arm's outer pivot point. The final compromise ended up landing the scrub radius around 70mm with a steering axis inclination of 7 degrees. This is about twice what I would have preferred, but you can't (always) have your cake and eat it. :-P

Rear track is about 90mm narrower than the front (1430mm vs. 1320mm). This should reduce diagonal load transfer on corner entry and increase stability on corner exit.

The caster angle is 5 degrees both front and rear. This was done to simplify fabrication, as the same base upright can be used on either side of the car.

The front and rear static roll centers are 30mm and 65mm above ground, respectively. The front lateral roll center movement is less than stellar, but the control arms simply aren't long enough to affect any decent change in the area without completely ****ing up the camber curves.

Front camber in bump-roll is fairly linear with about -0.7 degrees per degree of body roll. In the rear it's slightly less aggressive at about -0.55. The camber gain could be considered small, but since the tires are fairly wide (285/30R18 front and 335/30R18 rear), it should be more than adequate.

The steering rack was placed in front of the front axle and below the axle centerline (as stock). This has the effect of creating an understeer tendency during lateral loading.

The front end has between 12% anti-dive, as well as about 20% Ackermann. In the rear there's about 25% anti-squat throughout the range of travel.

Our friend David "Mad-Dog" Madås was a huge help in getting the kinks ironed out, so I'd like to give a shout-out to him.

This is obviously a pretty superficial run down on the design of the suspension. If anyone has any other questions I'd be happy to answer them, but in the interest of full disclosure, be aware that I am by no means an expert. Literally hundreds of books by smarter men than I have been written on the subject.

In other news, here are some pics of the latest progress.

Alex finished the centering rings for the centerlug adapters in 7075-T6. The angled face contacts the nut and should also keep the wheels from deforming when we torque the nuts. They're out for black anodizing now.
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7EUAij74Ycw/S_...0/DSC00023.JPG

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7EUAij74Ycw/S_...0/DSC00019.JPG

Alex also started on the centerlug adapters themselves. We had originally designed them as stainless weldments, but weight was an issue, so we decided to make them out of billet 7075-T6. These should end up weighing around 650 grams each, as opposed to 1.8kg. Hopefully we don't **** these up. The material was not cheap.

Start weight:
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7EUAij74Ycw/S_...0/DSC00013.JPG

Getting the big boy drill out:
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7EUAij74Ycw/S_...0/DSC00011.JPG

After one setup:
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7EUAij74Ycw/S_...0/DSC00014.JPG

Backs all done:
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7EUAij74Ycw/S_...0/DSC00017.JPG

Still need to do the front snouts, thread them, machine the bolt pattern in the backs and make the nuts.

Hot off the lathe:

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7EUAij74Ycw/S_...0/DSC00027.JPG

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7EUAij74Ycw/S_...0/DSC00026.JPG

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7EUAij74Ycw/S_...0/DSC00025.JPG

Unfinished nut:
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7EUAij74Ycw/S_...0/DSC00028.JPG

Still need to add the bolt pattern:
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7EUAij74Ycw/S_...0/DSC00031.JPG

Some of the swarf:
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7EUAij74Ycw/S_...0/DSC00029.JPG

*Insert obligatory nut joke here*

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7EUAij74Ycw/S_...0/DSC00036.JPG

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_7EUAij74Ycw/S_...0/DSC00038.JPG

Missing the centering ring underneath the nut, should end up looking something like this when it's all stacked on there.
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7EUAij74Ycw/S_...0/DSC00035.JPG

Large nuts or small hands? You be the judge.
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7EUAij74Ycw/S_...0/DSC00037.JPG

Started on the front uprights:
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7EUAij74Ycw/S_...0/DSC00045.JPG

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7EUAij74Ycw/S_...0/DSC00046.JPG

Should look something like this when they're done:
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7EUAij74Ycw/S_...00/upright.JPG

CTS-V/C5 Corvette hubs bolt in to the center hole. Camber adjustment is done by swapping the rectangular shims up top.

Can't wait to see the uprights welded up and installed!


--Eric

Thanks! The install is right around the corner. We just need to finish fabricating... everything. :lol:

unless you hard anodize the centerbolt adapters and nuts i would be worried about gouging... the thread should in to teh best of my knowledge be made in steel so the aluminum dont fuse then you try and loosen/tighten it..

I have an alfa corse spindle from a 93 DTM alfa and its made in thinwalled steel for teh same reason i suspect...

Not to worry. The adapters and nuts will be Type III anodized and the machining clearances reflect that.

You guys definitely know how to design/machine some sweet parts. Its going to be heck of a Volvo. :thumbsup:

Thanks!

All four adapters are finished. Alex really did a great job on them.
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7EUAij74Ycw/TA...0/DSC00055.JPG

Got the centering rings back from anodizing:
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7EUAij74Ycw/TA...0/DSC00047.JPG

All bolted up:
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_7EUAij74Ycw/TA...0/DSC00048.JPG

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_7EUAij74Ycw/TA...0/DSC00049.JPG

Final weight:
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_7EUAij74Ycw/TA...0/DSC00050.JPG

Progress on the front uprights:
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7EUAij74Ycw/TA...053%20copy.jpg

Amazing. Those look great! Looks like tigging in those cross peices on the uprights is gonna suck haha. :thumbsup:

This fabrication work is awesome, good job on not only the research & modeling, but carrying through with it too.

And hip hip hooray for Solidworks, anything you can dream up can be a reality when solid modeling!!

Thanks! The spokes should be simple compared to the rest of uprights. :P

Thank you! There are plenty of parametric modeling packages out there, but I much prefer SolidWorks. It has the most intuitive and user friendly GUI imo.

Put in another all-nighter last night. Alex and I got the uprights completely tacked. After we drill a few mounting holes they'll be ready for mock-up on the front end.

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_7EUAij74Ycw/TA...0/DSC00062.JPG

Missing two 2mm shear plates and filler. Looks like we're on track for weight (CAD says 3.49kg).
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_7EUAij74Ycw/TA...0/DSC00063.JPG

Looking really good as usual. :cheers:

WOW, I just saw this thread for the first time. You guys do great work.

This is definitely true, after using Inventor, Unigraphics, and Pro-E (holy steep learning curve!!!) SW is definitely the funnest one :D

Thanks guys!

Just got back to the states yesterday and I couldn't resist bolting up an adapter on one of the rear wheels:

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7EUAij74Ycw/TA...0/IMG_6973.jpg

:unibrow:

Sincere apologies for the lack of updates. Both my brother and I hit on some hard times recently and our car hobby was relegated to a fairly distant back seat. Things are looking better now though, so we're excited to make up for some lost time.

Here's the car in its current state. We removed all the strut sheetmetal and exposed the frame rails.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_7...0/DSC00200.JPG

I did this back in December. Gas pedal for the billet pedal box. It came out beautifully. The pictures really don't do it justice.
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_7...0/img_7127.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_7...0/img_7128.jpg

My brother Alex has been putting in serious time in CAD lately. Uprights are starting to resemble something useful after about the 20th from-scratch redraw. The old uprights had to be scrapped due to some major packaging issues. The pictured upper control arm mount on the uprights are probably pretty close to what the final version will be. Should be plenty strong with the whole thing made from welded 4130 sheet. He also completely revised the frame tubes and upper coilover mounts to what we consider a completely reasonable solution.

This is showing at ride height. Upper control arm mounts will basically be something like this with the cross tubes attached to the frame tubes with judicious amounts of .065" sheet. The camber adjustment should allow us to dial in up to -5 degrees of camber without impacting the steering axis inclination. The track rod is obviously a place holder for the real one (see below).
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_7...bly%20rev5.JPG

Full bump and full left steering input. It's looking like the wheel angle at full lock will be about 30 degrees for a curb to curb turning circle of ~10m.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_7...y%20rev5-3.JPG

Ride height with the frame rail hidden. The sheet around the lower control arm mount and the track rod mount are not the final version. Still trying to wrap our heads around that 3d puzzle.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_7...y%20rev5-1.JPG

The brake caliper mounts are pending a revision of the calipers themselves.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_7...y%20rev5-2.JPG

The steering rack is mounted forward and below the axle centerline and parallel with the front lower control arm hard points to minimize bumpsteer (it's at around 0.3 degrees at full bump and droop). The way it's all laid out means the wheel and track rod try to occupy the same space at full bump and full steering lock. Alex drew up the outer track rod so it dodges the wheel. Making it machined 4130 with a captured 1/2" uniball. Some cursory FEA gives us a FOS exceeding 3 with a 10kN load applied along the steering arm axis.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_7...y%20rev5-4.JPG

Scored big time on eBay. 30k mile C5 diff for under $200 shipped.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_7...g%7E%7E_12.JPG

Also found a largely complete torque tube:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_7...0/PICT1461.JPG

The entire assembly obviously needs to be shortened quite a bit. We haven't done any measuring yet, but we're hoping the input shaft length and torque tube bolt pattern allow for a simple adapter plate arrangement with the Volvo bellhousing.

With the diff and torque tube we finally have all the major driveline components (clutch, flywheel, transmission, diff, torque tube, and driveshaft). A buddy of ours has a Faro arm that I'm hoping to use this summer to digitize the transmission and diff casings. Should make the CAD for the rear suspension nice and simple.

Great CAD layouts!!!!!!!


--Eric

this build looks crazy sweet guys. Gives me motivation to keep going on whatever i'm doin haha. Keep up the great work. . .AND PICTURES :faint: :willy:

Can't wait to see it together,it's going to be one trick Volvo:woot:

Thanks guys. The kind words are always much appreciated!

Time for a small update.

Here's what a "permanently sealed" STS-V/C5 Corvette hub/bearing assembly that's been permanently disassembled looks like. Turns out they're more user serviceable than Timken would lead you to believe.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_7...0/IMG_0698.JPG

Pop off the ABS sensor cover, pull the ABS trigger wheel off, then remove this two-piece retaining ring. After that it presses apart easily (too bad we didn't figure this out until after we had wailed on it in a 40 metric ton press).
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_7...0/IMG_0696.JPG

Disassembling the hubs makes it easier to modify the bolt pattern and center bore.

CAD update: Alex did a ground-up redesign of the front brake calipers. The basic piston layout and pad is the same, but these are lighter, easier to machine, use smaller stock, deflect significantly less, and look about 100x more bad ass than the old ones.
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_7...per%20rev1.JPG

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_7...r%20rev1_1.JPG

Glad to see this back on track! The design work going into the front suspension is incredible!

Design and engineering in this build it top notch.:willy:

any updates on this?

Gant,

Thanks for the bump. Unfortunately there has been no real progress. Other projects have taken up a lot of time. Both my brother and I have also been trying to focus on school, and being 3000 miles away from the car for most of the year doesn't help either. Alex has actually done quite a bit of cad work on the car, but we want to get in to manufacturing before posting any pics of that.

I've picked up a lot more electronics stuff. A few months ago I developed an add-on board that will convert almost any Volvo from the 1980s to distributorless ignition. It also adds launch control and shift cut (for full throttle shifting).

Here's a picture of it mounted and wired inside the ECU:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Z...s640/photo.jpg

The first production run:
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-z...s640/photo.jpg

Alex and I have also dumped quite a bit of time in to this project. It's a 73 VW beetle rallycross car. It was purchased as a rolling chassis (stripped, cage, 911 suspension and brakes, slicks, etc).
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-G...0/IMG_7238.jpg

We dropped in a 170hp 2.5l Volvo 20v 5 cylinder mated to a 4 speed vanagon transmission. Added a programmable EMS, coil on plug, individual throttle bodies, all new wiring, new fuel system, etc.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-z...s640/photo.jpg

Here's a start-up video with the old intake manifold: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjY_-ioMMsw

So yeah, work on the 242 has been slow, but we've got tons of **** keeping us busy. Sorry for the lack of updates.

Karl

Awesome cant wait to see some stuff!

Gant,

Thanks for the pity bump. :(

As usual, we haven't had any time for real progress. We've been doing a bunch of CAD work and the redesigned front uprights are coming along.

We've also got a new powerplant with the "correct" number of cylinders for most guys around here. :P

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-K...0/100_0595.jpg

It's a 4.4 liter (268ci) DOHC V8 out of a Volvo XC90. It's stock rated at 315hp/315ftlbs. I talked to a good friend that works at the engine development lab at Volvo and said that if you remove the four cats from the stock exhaust it'll put out closer to 350hp.

Awesome project (coming from a fellow ovlov nut!)! Also mixed emotions going from 5 to the 8 pot motor! but looks like you will pull this project off without no problems :)

Was that b8444s hard to find?

Thank you very much for the kind words. The project has really been dead for a while, but both my brother and I are looking forward to re-animating it shortly. :thumbsup:

We were pretty set on the straight six for a long time, but when a local guy posted on Turbobricks that he was selling this motor, we decided it was stupid not to buy it. The price was so low I'm still in disbelief. So no, it wasn't hard to find at all. :lol:

If you're in the market, a friend of mine has one that he's looking to move.

any progress?? also, are there any aftermarket harnesses for that v8? or would it be easy to make it run with original harness? i would love this motor in a p1800!