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Hackster's LSA / T56 2 door

I think it looks great - good work. I went through the same thing on my 911 and decided in the end once a cage/roll-bar partial or otherwise is in the car - the back seat is no more. I have three kids and wouldn't put any of them in a car without the proper restraints with a cage in the car.

Are you going to be running harnesses or regular belts? Only reason I ask is that with reclining seats or seats that are capable of "folding" on a front or rear impact is kinda not a good idea with harnesses and most would suggest a shell for a seat. Otherwise use regular belts.

I think you can make a rear seat delete look good - its just a matter of smoothing out the surface so carpet lays flat/uniform. Make a parcel shelf or other useful platform around the cage. Plus you get weight savings and a purposeful look.

Only other thing is maybe tie in the B pillar...? Really stiffens up the top of the car up high near the roof line...

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I think it looks great - good work. I went through the same thing on my 911 and decided in the end once a cage/roll-bar partial or otherwise is in the car - the back seat is no more. I have three kids and wouldn't put any of them in a car without the proper restraints with a cage in the car.

Are you going to be running harnesses or regular belts? Only reason I ask is that with reclining seats or seats that are capable of "folding" on a front or rear impact is kinda not a good idea with harnesses and most would suggest a shell for a seat. Otherwise use regular belts.

I think you can make a rear seat delete look good - its just a matter of smoothing out the surface so carpet lays flat/uniform. Make a parcel shelf or other useful platform around the cage. Plus you get weight savings and a purposeful look.

Only other thing is maybe tie in the B pillar...? Really stiffens up the top of the car up high near the roof line...

DSC_01801335470656.jpg


DSC_01491335471070.jpg


DSC_01441335471023.jpg

Three points on the street harnesses on the track and auto cross is my plan.

Great pics, car is beautiful. Funny about tying it into the b pillar M.H. Sent me a pm giving some pointers on those. Good plan I didnt even think about to be honest.

^Agreed, the back of (for e.g.) a GT3-RS looks "intended" with a cage and carpet.

I like that look not sure how to pull it off in a much bigger area like the Volvo.

Sometimes you get some great pointers. Tying the main hoop into the b pillars would stiffen up the chassis significantly. So I whipped these puppies up today.









Turned out pretty good considering it was a little bit of an after thought. Ties into the factory seatbelt mount on the b pillar.

Went and got some paint matched to the seats...its close, not perfect. 2 coats of etching primer and 2 coats of color going on. Regret the cage being so close to the headliner at this point it was a bitch to mask and I got some on the headliner. Hope that I can use some mineral spirits to get it off.





Turned into the worlds fattest contortionist the past few days, was the most fun when I was painting and painted myself a few times.









Hope to get the rear wheelwells buttoned up in the next few weeks so I can get the carpet in, then seats. Exhaust after that.

Appreciate the good feedback on the b pillar tie in.

Sean
 
There was a wagon at the lemons race down here and had a nice roll bar in it. Wherever it got close the the inside structure - a, b, or c pillar or lower inner rocker panel they welded it to there as well. They got the bar close enough in those spots to be able to weld it as an extra joint. Was on a wagon but im sure it helped stiffen the car up quite a bit. Nice to see the work on the car again.
 
Looks sweet, those turned out great - I like the brown!!

Thanks I dig the seats as well.

There was a wagon at the lemons race down here and had a nice roll bar in it. Wherever it got close the the inside structure - a, b, or c pillar or lower inner rocker panel they welded it to there as well. They got the bar close enough in those spots to be able to weld it as an extra joint. Was on a wagon but im sure it helped stiffen the car up quite a bit. Nice to see the work on the car again.

I like the idea but in order to do that its a total gut of the interior so full race car.

Been battling with motivation a lot lately. It seems like you make a dent on some major project then there is another major one right in front of you. I just want to go for a cruise in something cool talk cars with some car people and then Ill be fine for a while.

Managed to use my neighbors lift to get the exhaust all fabricated. I should have ordered a few more u bends to make the offsets proper instead of having to pie cut them but I was in a time crunch to get it off the lift and back into my shop so it will have to do.

Vibrant stainless pipe and mandrel u bends, vibrant interconnecting v band flanges, 2.5 on the crossover 3" out of the muffler and over the axle. Its very tight back there, exhaust tucks up very nicely though and I like the idea of a tailpipe.







Car looks good from this view so I snapped a pic =)



I have practiced on the tig on stainless and just could not get to the point where I was comfortable not ****ing this up. I dropped off the exhaust to a buddy to get welded out this morning, he is far more capable than I am. Should have it back in the next few days and fit up.

Onto the task I have been dreading for months, closing up the massive gap in the rear fenders from pushing the quarters out an inch.

Got some ****ty shrinker and stretcher from HF and had some 16ga sheetmetal sheared up and bent into a 3/4x3/4" Flange or 90. In case you are wondering, these pieces were cut into 6' lengths.

got to work trying to figure out how to do this, Got the hang of it pretty fast and got the flange that will be welded to the quarter panels built so started getting the sheetmetal all cleaned up, void of any paint and getting a nice flange on the inside of the wheelwel so I have something to land it on.





You can see that there is a compound bend but it fits the inside of the quarter panel perfectly.



The next 3 or 4 hours were spent fitting up a patch piece that would tie this all together. All in all it came out very well for me not being a sheetmetal guy or a body guy I am very happy. Its very solid, i used my hole punch/flange tool to knock out all the holes to plug weld to the car, its very solid and should seal up like OEM once I get the other side done and throw some seam sealer on. Now to do the other side.







This little burn from last night is impeding my progress today never thought such a small burn could be so damn painful.



Hope to make some more progress on it again soon.......crown vic swap and c notch on an old F100 tomorrow.

Sean
 
Nice work! How did the cheapo shrinker/stretcher work out for you? I might have missed it, but what did those seats come out of originally?
 
Nice work! How did the cheapo shrinker/stretcher work out for you? I might have missed it, but what did those seats come out of originally?

I sold them to Sean after having them kick around for a few years. I bought them from a guy a few towns over who said that they came in an E21 BMW he bought, though they look nothing like E21 Recaros.
 
This car is going to be so good. I just read through all the roll cage stuff, and was admiring your attention to detail and concern about having it looked "finished". I can appreciate that. And THEN I remembered the engine that's in it. So rad.

I have a question about welding technique. It looks like when you welded your spreader plates to the factory sheet metal, you just stacked a bunch of tack welds on top of each other. Is that the case?
 
Nice work! How did the cheapo shrinker/stretcher work out for you? I might have missed it, but what did those seats come out of originally?

They did great to be honest. They were able to get a pretty tight radius at the lower end of the fender to match the curve near the butt cheek. My hands got tired but thats a function of operator not tool. I cleaned the jaws good and made sure that the sheetmetal was good and clean so the teeth can get a bite on the metal.

I dont have room in my shop for a floor mounted unit with the foot pedal or I would have bought one of those.

This car is going to be so good. I just read through all the roll cage stuff, and was admiring your attention to detail and concern about having it looked "finished". I can appreciate that. And THEN I remembered the engine that's in it. So rad.

I have a question about welding technique. It looks like when you welded your spreader plates to the factory sheet metal, you just stacked a bunch of tack welds on top of each other. Is that the case?

Thank you, I hope that I am able to finish off the backseat area nicely, still working on a solution for that.

Every once in a while I will have to take a break from the current tasks and look at the big picture, the amount of time I have spent on the rear wheelwells laying on the garage floor cutting, grinding, scraping undercoating and sound deadener is certainly not very motivating.

Appreciate the props though.

Yes you are correct. The minimum thickness for the roll cage plate it .120 so welding that to the factory sheetmetal floors is a little troublesome since its 16 gauge sheetmetal or so. If you were to run a bead it would just burn through the sheetmetal. This has been my method of choice to join thicker plate to thin sheetmetal and I have had no issue with it in the past. Lots of cage builders have to use this method as well.

Managed to get a little time yesterday to get the passenger side a little closer. If you are attempting to do this at home my method was pretty good. I left about .5" flange from where the inner and outer wheel tubs meet, it gave me a nice place to be able to spot weld my sheetmetal to after folding lip on the arched part with a hammer and dolly.

These are what I ended up spot welding to the actual quarter panel. They are rolled in two different directions to fit the quarter panel exactly. They are broken up into three pieces to clear the inner body support that is up there. I wanted to be high enough that I never had a clearance problem even if I flared the car.





Once you have the outer portion of the wheelwell cut out, all the tedious tasks begin getting rid of all the little pieces, trimming to get a nice edge. I believe I am pushed out about an inch and a quarter from stock. I have plenty of room for a 275 on a 10"" wheel.



New flange welded to quarter panel.



I got all three tacked in place last night now I need to build the filler panels on the inside. I am going to do this side in 2 pieces with a seam at the top. Working with one long piece on the other side proved to be a pain in the ass for no real reason other than a seam at the top of the wheelwell that will get seam sealed just like the rest of this.

I am really hoping to be done with this part of the car this week as I have to get wheels ordered in order for them to be here by LS Fest.

If anyone out there has an immaculate 240 dash that they are interested in parting with let me know I would love to get a better dash in the car than what is in there now.

Cheers!!

Sean
 
Looks really good! - What kind of wheels are you going with? As for a dash I have been on the hunt as well for the last year and no luck thus far, even reaching out to folks/sources in Europe. Just Dashes will do it (although) backed up for 3 months but for $$ - quoted me $1400. They essentially re-mold a new dash based on your old one with new materials(sun/crack) resistant. Since they have to do the vacuum forming I thought it might make sense to get a bunch of people in on it and see if they would give a bulk discount.
 
Looks really good! - What kind of wheels are you going with? As for a dash I have been on the hunt as well for the last year and no luck thus far, even reaching out to folks/sources in Europe. Just Dashes will do it (although) backed up for 3 months but for $$ - quoted me $1400. They essentially re-mold a new dash based on your old one with new materials(sun/crack) resistant. Since they have to do the vacuum forming I thought it might make sense to get a bunch of people in on it and see if they would give a bulk discount.

Thank you, wheels will be some 3 piece. Really a big fan of CCW Classics, will come down to lead time on the wheels to be honest. I want to have the car done for Davis and LS Fest West. I am torn on the dash situation to be honest. Part of me wants to just have it wrapped in leather with a double french stitch.

I am sure you already thought of this, but matching your seats would be cool. (dashboard)
https://forums.tbforums.com/showpost.php?p=5555201&postcount=357

I am not a huge fan of the flocked look, I am going for classy and period correct on the interior.

Been emailing back and forth with the CCW guy this afternoon. I couldnt sleep last night so got up at 4:30 and got all the wheel measurements done =)

Hope to get the other wheel well buttoned up this evening and start on the seam sealer. Then Carpet and can get the rear upholstery work going.

Sean
 
I say go for the wrapped and French stitched dash. If you?ve got a really good trimmer nearby, it makes for a very classy and upper shelf finished look. Not out of place for European cars of the era, ala Porsche and Mercedes Benz. I think it would work very nicely with what you?ve done with the seats and the color matched roll bar and bracing. If you hunt for a crack free dash, it will just become a cracked dash someday, since the car will be outdoors for more than ten minutes. 😉 The car is coming along very nicely. I?m excited to see what you come op with on wheels. Any thoughts on finishes/ colors on the hoops and centers?
 
I say go for the wrapped and French stitched dash. If you?ve got a really good trimmer nearby, it makes for a very classy and upper shelf finished look. Not out of place for European cars of the era, ala Porsche and Mercedes Benz. I think it would work very nicely with what you?ve done with the seats and the color matched roll bar and bracing. If you hunt for a crack free dash, it will just become a cracked dash someday, since the car will be outdoors for more than ten minutes. 😉 The car is coming along very nicely. I?m excited to see what you come op with on wheels. Any thoughts on finishes/ colors on the hoops and centers?

The '92 dash I put in my 242 was perfect, few years on now and it grew a small crack during storage one winter. It does feel like a losing battle.
 
I say go for the wrapped and French stitched dash. If you?ve got a really good trimmer nearby, it makes for a very classy and upper shelf finished look. Not out of place for European cars of the era, ala Porsche and Mercedes Benz. I think it would work very nicely with what you?ve done with the seats and the color matched roll bar and bracing. If you hunt for a crack free dash, it will just become a cracked dash someday, since the car will be outdoors for more than ten minutes. 😉 The car is coming along very nicely. I?m excited to see what you come op with on wheels. Any thoughts on finishes/ colors on the hoops and centers?

Problem is not making it look bulky and poorly fitting. Still thinking on this one to be honest, I have a mostly crack free dash available locally that I think I am going to install for the time being. I think I am going to go with a black dash getting to be a lot of Brown.

Wheels will be Dark Matte Brown centers and black hoops. Working on either CCW's or some Fifteen52's. Order will be placed by end of day tomorrow.

See you at lsfest! I plan on driving down also!

Bad ass dude, would be awesome to have a couple old Volvos there, Where are you staying?

The '92 dash I put in my 242 was perfect, few years on now and it grew a small crack during storage one winter. It does feel like a losing battle.

Yep, this is what I keep hearing from people.

Managed to make some pretty good progress last week before heading out to Florida for a quick meeting....

I wanted a finished look all in and around the rear fenders, so I built some 1.25" tubing to take place of the 2x4's for a little extra support and welded those in. Also seam sealed all of the joints inside and out, was very impressed with the SEM seam sealer in tan too =).

Inner fenders got seam sealed, primed, painted and then undercoated.









Just some close rattle can but it all got nice etching primer and most of it will be covered up still trying to pay attention to details for whoever is the next guy to work back there. To the untrained eye you would have no idea that its as modified as it actually is.

Got the exhaust hung after having a buddy weld it all out for me......its the second thing on the car that I have not done myself, he is however a far more experienced welder and it turned out amazing. Only hang up installing was the rear hanger moved and I didnt open the hole for the wideband sensor enough to fit so it had to come back out, get a couple things dialed in and then final install.

Pretty sure its going to hit on the axle tube but I can deal with that a little later.









Got to work on the carpet for the car. I dont love the color, but I love the contrast it has with the seats and the dark brown so Ill run it for now and see if I grow more in love with it as time goes on. What a pain in the ass to install too.



Worked on salvaging the rear deck and some old seatbelt covers I snagged from the twins. Doesnt look terrible.



I finally got around to trying this out and it worked better than imagined. Think it will give me a nice finished look for the rear seat area. Plan is for the seats to get carved up more bucket like and have the same material and pattern as the front seats have on them, just no logos.



Wheels are going to be my stumbling block though, CCW's are 10 weeks out plus shipping. Chatting with Fifteen52 to see if they can get me some quicker, I like both.

I also think I can come up with some work wheels in a reasonable timeframe.

Going to try and get a bunch of little stuff knocked out this week, its almost ready for a test drive and some tuning.

Sean
 
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