Amazon: 1965 Volvo Amazon (121)

[Jackman]

Well ive hit a wall with the project. The place i was going with my wings ive been told to avoid by quite a few different people after panels have been warped out of shape by them or damaged. Guess ill be doing all that work by hand though to strip them down.

On a plus my donor car runs like a dream and im a very happy volvo driver.



(First time i got it home, still not had time to clean it properly)

On a possible huge plus side. My boss has said there maybe a chance once a large project is finished there will be room for my car there, giving me more space and access to alot more tools and knowlege.

Fingers crossed everyone.

[Jackman]

Right there has been some bad news with the project.

I quit my job after quite a few disagrements with the way my boss was being with me and customers so im going to be continuing it at my home.

Another thing is that my idea of the D5 conversion wont happen for awhile yet. Researching the engine there is alot of secondary components linking to the ecu (Engine mounts being one) so using the standard ecu wont be easy and no reasonable standalone ecus are available yet.

So ive come up with a plan, ill keep my S60 (Such a awesome car to drive, handles well for a big barge too) and ill work on getting the Amazon done. Ive given the engine a good health check, it came with 140psi on every cylinder which is a plus. Flushed almost all the sludge out of the block too.

New plans.
Get a overdrive box and get the engine out and stripped down to check components. Get the head sent off for new seats and valves if required. Either make it a fast road engine with twin carbs or possibly put a turbocharger on the current engine as the compression ratio currently is at a good ratio for forced induction.
Get the car on the road and enjoy.

Hoping to restart it next week getting the front end together as ive caught up with all my paperwork and other jobs.

[Volvo Canadian]

Hey, sorry to hear about your work, but there is always a silver-lining.

[Jackman]

Right im trying to keep progress on the car going but its slow work. Between trying to find a job and other things i keep hitting walls with work. Ive managed to get some welding done to the wings and ill keep doing it when i have time.

The other day i bought some twin carbs on ebay complete. Now thats bit me in the arse as they are siezed solid as they look like they have been sitting in water for years so they are scrap but luckily the manifold, heat shield and linkages maybe good to use. So now im after another set of carbs to rebuild. The ones i have were apparently off a 122s so i would like a replacement. I know they are HS6's but can you use a set of HIF44 instead? I know it wont be original but i can easily get hold of loads of the HIF44 for nothing.

Another option maybe to get new dashpot pistons but will have to see. I kinda regret giving away 6 carbs about 5 years ago.

[Derek UK]

HIF's can work fine if set up right.

Happy to relieve you of a couple of pairs at that price if they are getting in your way..............

[Burdekin]

Originally Posted by Jackman

Right im trying to keep progress on the car going but its slow work. Between trying to find a job and other things i keep hitting walls with work. Ive managed to get some welding done to the wings and ill keep doing it when i have time.

The other day i bought some twin carbs on ebay complete. Now thats bit me in the arse as they are siezed solid as they look like they have been sitting in water for years so they are scrap but luckily the manifold, heat shield and linkages maybe good to use. So now im after another set of carbs to rebuild. The ones i have were apparently off a 122s so i would like a replacement. I know they are HS6's but can you use a set of HIF44 instead? I know it wont be original but i can easily get hold of loads of the HIF44 for nothing.

Another option maybe to get new dashpot pistons but will have to see. I kinda regret giving away 6 carbs about 5 years ago.

Have you tried derusting them? If not and you're not set-up for it then feel free to send the steel rusty parts up and I'll give them a soak in my derusting solution for you and see how they turn out?

[Jackman]

I wish i had them Derek, really kicking myself now for getting rid of them but i did not have any project at that time.

Ive had them in de-rusting solution and they are still not freeing up, having a screw head snap off in the ally was the last straw with them really. Thank you for the offer though

Had a very interesting night last night though, went to see some friends and i was asked if the Volvo was ready would i take her to her wedding in it, already been asked to take my mini for it, if not she is going in her dads old Jag.

So that gives me 9 months to complete it so i have about a month of play time on the road.... foolishly i accepted the challenge.

[Burdekin]

You better update that list of yours with completion dates. ;-)

[Jackman]

Well ive not had much luck so far, ive found the amazons floor again so i can finish off the welding but over the last two months ive had strange allergic reactions on my eyelids to which the doctors have been clueless about as its localised. However touch wood its cleared so i dont need to worry about welding so next week im getting back on it.

During the time ive done a few other things, i stripped my clocks down



It was very fiddly to get this off but i did it.


Scraped then sanded the metal back ready for paint.


Decided to look at refurbishing my grill. Ive tried straight polish but its too far gone. It took me about 30 mins to do the center strip but it went from.


To this with a bit of polish.


So if i take my time and get some finer sandpaper i should be able to get a decent finish from it.

[Amma122s]

I don't thik you'll ever get them back as in new condition, bit of patina doesn't hurt. I went over mine with a brillo pad and then autosol..