Round 2 Begins!

First snow fall and the salting of the roads means the wagon is in the garage, on the lift and the disassembly has begun.  In the time since my last post, I attempted to drive the wagon 1,200+ miles to a car show in Springfield, Il. About 350 miles into the trip it died just as I was entering a rest area on the New York Thruway. The main lug on the starter had sheared off and the main wire from the battery was very close to shorting out on the starter. (very close to being a disaster!) I was able to get it going and made it the 450 miles to a friends house in Ohio where I replaced the starter. The wagon remained there and the drive home was uneventful.

Other prep work completed

 I rebuilt the steering rack and added new inner and outer tie rods. When the rack was installed on the front end, the steering column interfered with the new motor mount bracket. New brackets will be made once the motor is in place.

Gussets were also added to the crossmember motor mount brackets.

Disassembly

Motor and trans removed. Ready for the installation.

 

Assembly Begins

The location of the radiator is the critical first step as this determines the final motor location.

Volvo Oil Cooler

I revised the radiator mounting as I will not be using the pusher fan. A Volvo engine oil cooler was mounted in the space where the fan was. It is in a more protected place behind the bumper and in front of the radiator. 

Zee shaped brackets were fabbed to support the radiator by its lower mount tabs. Rubber insulators were added between the brackets and tabs. A top support bracket that bolts to the front valance was also made.

Upper radiator support

With the radiator in place, the motor was rolled underneath to determine if the cut lines from last Spring were accurate.