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The Volvo-powered Willys CJ3a

Wilford Brimley said:
If you could figure it out that would be just the most badass jeep...not that it isnt already but talk about turning it up to 11
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Maybe in 5-10 years if I get bored with this, I?ll be back for updates. It would be killer.

Meanwhile, I have a whiteblock 5 with welded spiders sitting here for my next project. :oogle:
 
Here?s a mod I did that I forgot to post.

This is using a shortened Volvo driveshaft up front, complete with the 740 carrier bearing. In 4wd, I was getting quite a bit of flop and vibration coming from the shaft. Before I had the shifter boots on, I could see that the rubber in the carrier bearing mount was the source. I thought of a plan to re-engineer the rubber. I took the old one out, and it didn?t take much to rip it apart.

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I pressed the bearing out and cooked all the rubber off the mount...

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I carved up some cow mat to sandwich the bearing and the mount, giving the bearing a firm rubber bushing to ride in.

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New vs. old

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Small update: I?ve been driving the snot out of this thing, and I?ve racked up nearly 2k miles on it so far. Worst mpg was around 17, best was 23.

We even flat towed it down to Moab behind the RV. I joked with my wife that it was possibly the first Volvo redblock over Poison Spider.

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Wow, just finished reading through the entire build. Love the ingenuity and creativeness on this thing! Congrats on finishing the build and enjoying it on the trails, it looks awesome!
 
Thanks Curt!

Mini-update?

Nearly 2000 miles of seat time so far.

I?ve been doing little improvements as they pop up. Nothing really major enough to report, until yesterday. I?ve had an issue with a slight hint of wheel shimmy. It never goes into full-on death wobble that jeeps are notorious for, but it was enough for me to know it was there and be bothered by it.

This can be caused by a multitude of issues, and by process of elimination, the only thing left was *too much caster.* Think wobbly shopping cart wheel. With front radius arms, the caster is very sensitive to ride height. As the ride height decreases, caster increases. I underestimated the amount of squat these front coils would have, so it sat an inch too low even with the adjustable coil mounts maxed out. This was pushing my caster well past 7?, when I designed it for the 5?-6? range.

Yesterday I disassembled the front end and drilled new holes in the frame mounts 1? lower than the old ones so I could lower the coil buckets, and I trimmed the sections that protruded out the bottom. This lifted the front 1?, and not only did it get rid of the shimmy, but it finally got the stance looking how I designed it.

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The big local car show and cruise is this weekend in Coeur d?Alene. This is probably the first and last vehicle I?ll ever have that?s semi-worthy, so I?ll be there. If any of you happen to go and see me there, say hi!
 
Thanks Jerd.

I had a turbo and manifold on my bench for a month, figuring out all the details of a retrofit. I was just about ready to pull the trigger, and I backed out. It?s running good enough as it is. I?d hate to mess it up. If I can find a 93-95 940 turbo car for cheap, I?d rather start over with that. Better wiring, better engine, OBD, and a system that?s already tuned to work with the turbo. Where I take this, reliability is critical. I don?t want to start throwing variables into the mix that could cause issues.
 
itlksez said:
Thanks Jerd.

I had a turbo and manifold on my bench for a month, figuring out all the details of a retrofit. I was just about ready to pull the trigger, and I backed out. It’s running good enough as it is. I’d hate to mess it up. If I can find a 93-95 940 turbo car for cheap, I’d rather start over with that. Better wiring, better engine, OBD, and a system that’s already tuned to work with the turbo. Where I take this, reliability is critical. I don’t want to start throwing variables into the mix that could cause issues.
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I think that's the right idea personally. Redblock torque grunt and NA reliability. Good enough
 
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