Our objectives for the interior are to produce an interior similar to what you would find in a current Volvo or other high end car. It will have as many amenities as possible including power and heated seats, air conditioning, power windows, power steering satellite radio for long trips, leather seats and of course a couple of cup holders.
As we work through the build it may be that some of these features are not going to be available. For example, is there a power window kit that will fit the doors? We don't know yet. How will the wiring harness for the engine interact with these desires amenities. We don't know yet.
In terms of the build process, the interior will be the last piece to get done. However, we need to have everything laid out prior to paint.
One thing we know right away for sure........the original dashboard is U-G-L-Y. Really ugly. It's just not cool in any way.
The good news is that in the same model year, Volvo made a sports car called the P1800. And it has a dash that is....well....a lot cooler. It is shown in this picture set into V-Rex. This is a conversion that has been done by a few folks with really great results. I drove to New Hampshire and picked up this slightly used P1800 dash for $100. We will marry it to the shape of the original dash above, keep all of the gauge holes that we need and wrap it in a nice leather or simulated leather cover. When finished it will look like a little jewelry box with brand new gauges and switches.
We're just getting started thinking about the interior. A lot more to come. Have suggestions, use the contact form.