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Hi Ian,
Have you cut the rear cross member/vac tank out and moved it rearwards? Its a little hard to tell from the current pics, do you have any more of that area?
I'm curious as to what you have done or planning in this regard....as my own build slowly moves forward I realise this will be an area I will need to modify but perhaps my choice of motor and trans is longer.

Great build thanks for sharing and keep posting

Cheers Warren

Hi Warren,
Currently my replacement engine and gearbox are sat on the floor and the original is still in situe. Time and space preventing much progress on this front (and most others it seems ). The pick below is of a similar set-up (300tdi/ZH4HP22/LT230), but one which has a hydraulic pump on the transfer case - which requires the cross member to be moved.
Based on some basic measurements, I am pretty sure I can make it fit without needing to move the cross member, but it will require a custom handbrake set up that hasn't yet been imagined...

Have you worked out a plan for your trucks yet?

Cheers,
Ian.

Warren, Ian, you guys want to catch up in person if you haven't already.....your not that far apart.

Hi Ian,
I'm pretty sure I'm going to have do something with the pesky middle crossmember, I mistook one of the photos on the last page as your build and from that I thought you were a little further along with the engine/trans in position...my mistake. It would be nice if you make yours fit.

I've just bought an om606 and 722.6, still coming from UK so yes about the plan but not really much progress.

Peter's right we should catch up in person one of these days.

Cheers Warren

The 300tdi/hp22/lt230 setup will fit without removing the vac reservoir, if you shorten it to the max. However it's so tight up against it you won't be able to remove the gearbox or trf box without removing the engine too.
Here is the proof

Ps.Why is removing the reservoir such a problem?

Here is my handbrake solution

[quotePs.Why is removing the reservoir such a problem?[/quote]

Chosenview, firstly really nice build your up to...I stumbled across your blog a while back and check it out every now and then to follow your progress. Keep up the good work.

Regarding the reservoir, my concern is based on the assumption that it is firstly a chassis cross member and secondly a vacuum reservoir and therefore important for the structural integrity of the chassis. To my understanding chassis crossmembers give a chassis strength and control chassis flex/twisting especially in an off road vehicle. However this is just my opinion and I am not an engineer, there would be others better placed to comment.

In my build I'm considering moving this cross member back a little to give a little more room to play with. My concern for doing this is lessened after seeing that on the 4x4 Volvo the first rear spring hanger is mounted directly opposite said middle cross member (on the outside of the chassis rail), therefore its placement in a 4x4 is probably pretty crucial as when chassis do crack/break its often where spring hangers are located and where engine mounts are. This being the case I don't think its location in a 6x6 is as crucial... the rear cross member (6x6) sits right between the trunion that the rear springs mount to. IMO to delete the middle cross member altogether leaves to big a gap(approx 3.1m) between crossmembers and would almost definitely cause a significant and dangerous weakness not to mention probably not legal.

As I said before I'm not an engineer this is just my two cents based on my observations, I would welcome any opinions on this subject but perhaps a new thread should be started as to not dominate Ian's build thread.

Cheers Warren.

P.S. Ian it would be great to catch up with you sometime, do you (and family) want to come over for a BBQ at some point?

Yes, I agree with the ridigity issue. my plan is to have 2 new cross members, one either side of where the origional was. I even planned to have one of them be a replacement resevior but now think that's not needed. I'm thinking the front one plus the vacuum pump from the 300tdi all going into the same manifold and then feeding everything should be OK. I can always add more capacity if i need to later

Also it should be easy enough to plumb up the rearmost cross member for the second vac tank/diff lock operation. Just braze the old fitting on and extend the lines, this way the system is still in keeping with how Volvo designed it volume wise etc. But I do agree that it should work OK from the one tank and your vacuum pump.

Just reviving an old thread.... Any progress on the vehicle ?
There's not too many in Oz.. would love to see where you are up to with it ?

G'day Lightning.
Moved house (needs renovation), building a garage and now have high school fees to pay. Progress has stopped.
These toys often end up at the bottom of the priority list.

Once garage is finished (this year), Volvo will have a home and I'll have space to work on it.

Cheers.

I know its an old thread but thought I would see if your still around. Hope all is well.

Gday Roobar, do you know anything about the Victorian club reg'd Volvo pictured? It has 300tdi, LT230/R380 conversion. And clearly XML's with offset/widened wheels...looks the part. https://d.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1 ... n__=%2B%3E

Because this conversion has similarities to yours the owner could be possibly following this thread and see it pictured, then hopefully "own up" to building this beautiful Swedish beast. Hope you don't mind me using your build thread in this way.
Cheers.

I've seen this one pop up on Facebook a couple of times as "spotted", but I know nothing about it. It would be really interesting to know who owns it and what they've been up to (and if they thought the 300TDi was a good idea).
I gather they are on a tour or Aus...