Amazon: 1965 Volvo Amazon (121)

[Burdekin]

Good work, looks good. I'd weld up those seams though, especially the front one as that's somewhere moisture gets in and rusts and I think technically you are suppose to fully weld in repair sections for MOT not that the MOT man would know though once all prepped and painted.

[222s]

Great stuff! I always look forward to reading your updates

Originally Posted by Jackman

Spent the last few days researching overdrive gearboxes and im starting to think that its getting very hard to find overdrive boxes now with all the components for the swap, well at least hard to find keeping the costs down.

If you have space, it may be worth looking out for a spares car that has o/d, that way it will supply a full conversion kit, and other parts can be sold off to recoup the cost.

Btw, worth noting that the steering column plastic cowls are the same moulding for o/d & non-o/d. Just needs a panel to be punched through - the mounts for the o/d column stalk are already there on the inner part of the moulding.

[tsetse1986]

Just looked at this thread for the first time. I thought Volvos weren't supposed to rust like that?? Amazing work, my hat is well and truly off to you.

Keep up the good work!,
Tim

[Jackman]

Originally Posted by mitch1971

Good work, looks good. I'd weld up those seams though, especially the front one as that's somewhere moisture gets in and rusts and I think technically you are suppose to fully weld in repair sections for MOT not that the MOT man would know though once all prepped and painted.

Dont worry it will all be seamed up as you said its MOT fail, wont seam weld it until ive repaired the door post. Kinda reminds me ive still not finished the passenger front.

Unfortunatly i dont have the space for a spares car, as much as id like to get one, plus if possible i dont want to take another car off the road just to get one back.

And to do amazons rust like that, the answer is no. If the amazon is bodged in repairs expect it to rust. Alot of the problems would not have been there if it wasnt repaired with fibreglass and blocking drain holes.

[Jackman]

*slight rant post*
Modernish cars, who'd have them?

Simple job, find out whats wrong the the handbrake, find near enough no pads left at the rear yet it passed the MoT with no advisories, also been having occasional issues with the fronts sticking on so decide to replace all discs and pads.

4 days later its done, hex head screws to hold the discs in place, rusted in. Have to order new ones as the new discs dont come with replacment, carefully dril out said screws, then clean out the threads and fit.... i had the same argument with all 4 corners but its finally done and stops a hell of a lot better.

Well there goes the 4 sunny days i had for working on the amazon All for a job that ive done many times on my other cars in about 3 hours. They dont build them like they used to.

[Jackman]

As i didnt have much time to do work today and due to the weather (jumper + hot weather isnt nice) i decided to strip down the old heater and check its condition.

To my amazment, the matrix doesnt leak, the fan works and is very quite and the thermostatic valve also works.

They are remarkably simple to strip down to get reconditioned and it took me about 20 mins to do. Well worth it if yours doesnt look its best.

Ill take pictures of it when my camera is charged.

[asneddon]

A word of advice. DONT paint the heater matrix! I did about a year ago (with high temp engine black) thinking it would protect it or something. I can still smell it when I use the heater.

[Jackman]

Well ill bring this back from the depths, ive really not had much time to sort it out, be it with a split from my partner and a few other things its just sat there. Ive got a plan of action together now, i need to get my other car back on the road and then if/when my other other car sells ive got some money to put into the volvo.

The plan is to finish off the front half of the car and get all the front end done before christmas. Once that is done the engine and box will be removed so i can clean up the engine bay before looking at either a T5 replacment or possible a b20 engine with custom turbo injection. As much as id like to keep the original engine and tune it a bit the cost of a overdrive box and other things hold me back from that as i believe that i could do a conversion cheaper than a overdrive box and have more power reliably (The t5 will be stock apart from the ecu converted to run without a cat etc).

Once ive got the engine in place it will be removed and im hoping to get the car booked in somewhere to get the rest of the bodywork finished before painting, there are a few areas which need doing that i could attempt but i dont think my skills are good enough to get the metalwork right so giving it someone who knows what they are doing will save time and money and it will be right.

If i have the money im looking at getting the project completed in a years time but if its not its not. I wont rush another project for a deadline.

On a seperate note is this cars colour how mine should be? (Im colour blind so i cant tell too well)

[PenR]

Hiya Jackman - PenR in sunny Stockport here! I'm in the process of restoring my 122s and am not a million miles from the lovely Westhoughton so if you need to see anything, measure copy or whatever you are more than welcome to visit and there will always be a brew on! I also posess an original hub puller and have things like brake flaring kit etc etc - so if you need anything I might be able to help out.
My resto is not as extensive as yours and I must give you credit for tackling it - all the very best
PenR - I can get PMs by the way
Cheers

[Jackman]

I have been busy and not able to do any major work.

However i have managed to do this.



Thats much nicer. Not the best quality but you get the idea. Now to see if it will rev as at the moment it just cuts out. (I have filled the block with water to stop any major overheating in the block.)