It's been a proper old one step forward, two steps back sort of week this week, frustrating in parts but quite rewarding in others. I had ordered a handbrake cable, the seller only had one and I need two but I knew I would have to modify it so thought if I had the one in hand I could figure out how to do that and then get a second one. If it all went pear shaped I could find something else. Well it did go pear shaped but not in the way I expected. To fit the cable I had to jack the back up and take off the rear wheels, when I did that I noticed with the suspension at full droop the prop shaft rubbed on the transmission tunnel lower frame rails, not an acceptable situation. I looked at it long and hard and came to the conclusion Mr Angry Grinder had to be deployed and the lovingly crafted parts would have to be cut off. The problem was down to the off center input shaft on the diff, I thought I had allowed enough room for it, turns out I was wrong. It was a really dumb mistake but I guess that's the way it goes some times, car building is not my full time occupation. I had wanted to add in some extra pieces of framework to make fitting the floors easier anyway so it wasn't all bad.
I also had to make a bracket to hold the outers of the handbrake cables, I understand handbrake efficiency is often a failure point so I have a very gentle curvature in the cables to keep friction to a minimum, I think it should all work rather well, the handbrake shoes are quite big in the Volvo axle and the car will be considerably lighter than the donor car.
I have been careful to take lots of photos and video so the BIVA tester can see all of the strengthening and the overall structure before it gets clad in flooring and trim panels. The center tunnel forms the inner lower seat belt mounts so is considered a critical safety structure. It is way stronger than yer average modern car, I don't think there will be any problem with it, the seat belts would fail long before the metalwork in that area.
Still a fair bit to do to finish it all off but I am fairly happy with progress , I can go ahead and order the second cable and then start working forward. I want to get the handbrake working first then I will run in the brake line from the central tee piece on the rear axle to the master cylinder. I have already run the fuel line and the electrical wires, they all need clipping down, that will all be photographed too so I can show the BIVA inspector that it is done to spec.
I still have to work out what I am going to do for the reverse and fog lights, I am hoping to find a matching pair that will look neat and comply with the regs but not found anything thus far. At least the jumbles are back on now so something should turn up soon.
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