best modification
 

I was wondering what people thought the best thing they had modified on their cars was. I was thinking about this the other day and have narrowed it down to two things on my car.

Its either the under-bonnet sound proofing (at ~£35) which makes the car a nicer place to be at all times, or the headlight upgrade to halogens (~£70 I think). These are a huge improvement over the sealed beams and make night driving much less stressfull.

There are some things I have spent many hundreds of pounds on that I kind of wish I hadn't now (exhaust springs to mind), and some other things I have in the back of my mind to do in the future (123 ignition).

It would be good to get an idea from other users what you think the best things you have done are.

There can be no daubt: Overdrive! - D-type - the fuzz about the "stronger" J-type is overreacted - D-type reduces 24% - and in the Amazon Estate's - that has to be the best upgrade.

My 1971 145 is also upgraded with original OD conversion - I even upgraded my B20 245 - with a later M46 (OD) gearbox...

I'm not so fussed about the od but with a low ratio rear axle I should imagine it would be of more benifit. To a degree the od does not count as a modification as it was available from the factory.

Some of the mods I like the most

1) adjustable dampers and rally 50% stiffer springs

2) full sport exhaust system. Made teh car a LOT quicker and stopped it melting spark plugs and exhaust manifold gasgets.

3) halogen conversion lamps. (look me up on ebay)

4) change to 195/60 15 tyres. Many will not agree about this but for me they massivly improve the road holding and I see no reason to take advantage of modern technology

5) stalk dip conversion. I hate the floor dip

6) 240 carpet and sound deading. I modded teh 240 carpet as a free option. It would be worth paying out for a propper carpet.

7) interia real seat belts. Saves the hassle of haveing to adjsut the seat belt

8) PU top wishbone bushes. I'd never realy consider runninga amazon on rubber top wishbone bushes because they wear out very quickly. If replacing bushes I would alway fit PU but the difference is not huge but just a small refinment.

Modifications I hate the most,

1) HID lamp conversions. There are enough new cars out there blinding everyone that we dont need any more. The lighting is worse as all you can see is a short distance in front because the HID dip is on with the main making teh area directly in front to bright

2) Unleaded head conversion. Why would you want to do that?

3) Minilight wheels. They just look silly on a amazon to me. I can understand why ppl do use them though.

4) engine swaps especial derv. The B18 and B20's are such good engines I see no reason to change them.

5) sunroofs (on any car). I hatethem because they eventualy start to leak and I hat teh odd drip landing on your head.

6) removing air filters.

7) Bilstein yellows. They just are not that great. To be more truthfull they are worse than a good basic gas damper.

£70 for halogens? They're normally MUCH cheaper than that! I paid £45 the pair for some Wipac ones & I believe that good ones can be had for even less than that.

Imho the estates are useless without o/d due to that low diff (5000rpm in top is just 80mph, so not fun) - o/d is a must, even for non-motorway use. CVS - doesn't the D also 'over-drive' more than the J (or was that what you were referring to)?

I agree about modern technology - however 195/60 reduces the rolling radius, and thus also the gearing. Even 195/65 is undersized - the next size up from 165R15 that is the closest in diameter & easily available, is 205/65.

Compared to 165R15:
195/60 - 7% smaller diameter
195/65 - 4.1% smaller diameter
205/65 - 2.1% smaller diameter

I actually prefer the fixed belts & the main beam dip on the floor!

Agreed - can't stand them. Very cliched, and it's not as if they were the only aftermarket wheel available back in the day either. Amazons also share their PCD with a lot of US Fords (inc Mustangs) & some Mopar cars, which opens up a whole range of great wheels!

What I meant, was that the D-type is 0.756:1 - the J-type 0.797:1 - so in my view, the J-type is the best! - and by best I mean, that the fuzz about the J-type being stronger and all - is nothing but fuzz as long as you drive your Volvo with all normal behaviour etc. - Yes, a J-type would be fine in a heavy tuned B20 car - but in a reasonable normal B18/20 A or B-car - the D-ype is super-fine - and gives you that extra 5% reduction of engine-rev.

(And it's NOT the fuel/gas-economy that makes me think so - it's the ease on the engine, noise reduction and the total driving-feeling I like about this..)

And well,
I agree that there can be tons of other nice modifications etc. to do - but that also depends on the "status" of your Volvo - if it's a summer-fun-driver only - then I rather want the original round Volvo ROBO headlights, than the flat Hella H4 ones.. etc..

Regardless of what was a factory option - OD is a modification - I believe the question was about - what you as an owner had done to your car.. ? Or?..
And if nerdy - OD was NOT an option for later 1967-70 Amazon's..

I did a halogen conversion and it does make a nice difference. I got mine from here:
http://www.holden.co.uk/displayprodu...t+Units+-+7%22
A nice selection, I got a Wipac set and the face is curved too.

I really like the idea of bonnet insulation, since I have a '70 car with no overdrive. Maybe an overdrive is on the cards sometime in the future but not now. Therefore I will insulate the sound out as best I can. I was going to look into what people thought of insulation that Woolies sell. But this one for £35, is that a Brookhouse option? If so, does it work well, and does it look ok?

iv done the halogen headlight and full engine rebuild to a high spec but
for me the best mod was converting my old '66 non alternator b18 to alternator it made it so much more useable during the winter, i was using more power to start and light the car than was being charged back into the batery so after 3/4 days the batery was to flat to start it.
(short trips)
the kit is available from brookhouse.

List of what I have done to mine

Twin SU's to get rid of the Stromberg
Full sport exhaust system.
Halogen headlamps.
LED bulbs in the rear clusters.
PU bushes all round.
A full leather interior from an S40
http://inlinethumb35.webshots.com/45...600x600Q85.jpg
http://inlinethumb30.webshots.com/59...600x600Q85.jpg
A mota-lita woodrim wheel
http://inlinethumb44.webshots.com/59...600x600Q85.jpg

I like my mini-lites as they are period to the car. As were Cosmics and Woolfrace, but please no American equivalents!
http://inlinethumb57.webshots.com/88...600x600Q85.jpg

Mine came with a 70's style pop up glass sunroof that has started leaking this year so it will be replaced with the Webasto that I have in my loft.

Finally I am working with a Dutch Amazon owning friend on the installation of electronic power steering.

I might have my perfect car in about five years!

The halogens will use less power than the sealed beams for the same lumen output. Without looking it up again, I think they are 15% more efficient for the standard bulbs, and something like 33% more efficient with the more expensive bulbs.

I went for the glass halogen lenses and the superbright bulbs (probably why they cost more, but then I didnt know about the cheap plastic ones.). Looks 100% like a factory fitting, took 10 minutes tops to fit, and gives more lumens for the same power draw.

The under bonnet sound proofing was from Brookhouse, but I have a P1800 not an amazon. Its quite a nice kit, with VERY sticky self adhesive backing and a closed cell top to keep the oil out. I have a thread about it somewhere and will try to find the photos.

edit: Found it

I'm interested about classicsweeds number 2 (the sports exhaust). I never had melting plugs or anything, and didnt notice any performance improvement. Possibly some at high revs (over 5000), but nothing I would care enough about to spend the money on again. I also prefered the deeper sound of the standard system to the more thrummy sound of mine now.

I already have OD, but I can see that being a pain if not fitted.

I was kind of hoping someone who had done something I hadn't thought of would join in. Something like an intermittent wiper upgrade, rear window wiper etc. Actually, that isnt a bad idea. Anyone done a rear wiper on a non-ES P1800?

Brian, Thats a damn nice steering wheel! I also think the mini-lites suit the car quite well (I might be a bit biased as I was into minis for a long time and tended towards that look).

I'm pretty certain that Wolfraces weren't in period to Amazons, but much of the American stuff is - e.g. Ansen Sprints, Magnum 500s, Torq Thrust Ds, Smoothies, etc. The later big chrome American wheels are certainly an acquired taste though, but can look good on the right car. I rather like the idea of the 17" Ansens that are now available, or at least I did until I worked out that it would be the best part of £1K.....

Old Volvo fitment Cosmics seem to be silly money now - possibly because some of the aircooled VW crowd have realised that they can fit the Volvo ones with PCD adaptors instead of the vastly more expensive Porsche PCD ones. As for Minilites, my dislike comes from also owning a Spridget, and 99.9% of Spridgets with alloys have Minilites (so I guess I've just seen too many of them!) when there is an even larger choice of different period wheels (& in relatively good supply too) that will fit. Mine incidentally had Mamba wheels (on the car when I bought it), which are mega rare in 13" diameter.

Btw, the classic Wolfrace slot mag from the '70s is actually a copy of the Ansen Sprint, which is a 1963 design, so an Amazon on the right slot mags can be period correct ;)