Amazon: Ideas on upgrades?

[superspod]

so currently my car is misfiring pretty horribly due to, what i hope, is a timing issue. and i know this is optimistic for the moment but having real issues deciding what to do after i get the engine fixed. things that have already been fixed are:
the front brake callipers,
entire floor pan,
new petrol tank (yet to be installed),
new radiator and thermostat plus hoses,
some of the rear wheel arches,
and synthetic radiator fan
however it has passed its MOT and they said the engine (B20A) is fine so in theory it should be good, gearbox is nice and smooth, suspension is stock but feels fine, exhaust has pinprick hole (think its at least 15 years old judging by some of it), and interior seems to be relatively good thanks to a nice pair of 123GT seats i got, dash is typically cracked, heater works, slight leak once around rear windscreen i havent seen since and then there is the rust,
rust bubble on top of drivers front fender (pretty small),
rust bubbles under rear reflectors,
the sides of the boot are completely shot however spare tire holder is fine,
rear wheel arches as viewed from boot are slightly rusty but not enough to fail MOT (considering getting wheel arch liners once everything is welded),
door bottoms are relatively rusty.

so my thoughts were (however they are easy to change and i know my thoughts are worth half of any of yours when it comes to volvo amazons)

save up for engine rebuild

new simonz exhaust including manifold extractor

welding

suspension

replace windows

radio

soundproof

(i intend to use it as a first car so it doesn't need to go fast and the exhaust is less about noise as it is about needing a new exhaust, so i hope im going against any generalisations of my generation)
any stories of your own personal upgrades which worked well would be nice,
thank you all so much in advance,
cameron

[lukeball]

From my experience, I did everything in kind of the wrong order. Right now, I am building the engine, because that is the weak point.

First check the engine. How is compression? Are the distributor and carburetor functioning properly. If the engine is fine, I wouldn't look into rebuilding it unless you want more performance.

Take the car out for a drive and decide what you want from there. What is the final purpose for the car? Complete restoration?

Here's what I did recently: remove most the the interior and check the underside. Weld up any and all holes in the floor and make sure that the underbody is structurely in good condition. Use seam sealer to fill in cranks and cover welds, then paint the complete floor and insides with rust preventative paint. Undercoat the bottom of the car. Then install sound insulation and reinstall the interior.

From this point, you can still drive the car while working on other bodywork as well. It is all a process. Set goals and try to meet them.

Hopefully by this summer, my car will be mechanically perfect and then I can drive it. Then in the winter, I will start on the body, paint, and seals.

One word of advise: Don't buy stuff that you don't really need, because you may end up changing it later. I spent probably $1000 on stuff that I am now changing like the motor, exhaust, and electrical.

[Amazonjulian]

Having owned two of these cars, nod used both regularly, I would say make sue you can keep the rain out and deal with any issues it's caused.
Again from an everyday driving perspective alternator conversion, inertia belts, headlight upgrade and for me electronic ignition.

[superspod]

fortunately i think it already has a alternator, but the electronic ignition is appealling,
thanks,
cameron

[Bladerider]

If she's fairly sound mechanically I'd do the bodywork then upgrade the maechanics. No good having a performance engine surrounded by rust.

[Quarterless]

Make sure you do your reseach if you need a fitting kit for electric ignition as it can be hard to get one to match the multitude of different distributors used.

[superspod]

Originally Posted by Quarterless

Make sure you do your reseach if you need a fitting kit for electric ignition as it can be hard to get one to match the multitude of different distributors used.

how would you find out the distributor used? (i think mine is stock) and if i was to use something new, would you reccomend a kit? and if so what brand, or would this work well:
http://www.skandix.de/en/spare-parts...ition/1019613/
since im not sure of the quality of the actual distributor itself and everything looks pretty worn.
sorry for so many questions, its just i have so many and google or even the forums often isn't specific enough,
thanks,
cameron

[woodman]

Fix the stuff that urgently needs fixing, then drive it a bit, then fix the stuff that urgently needs fixing, then drive it a bit....repeat.

[Quarterless]

It seems the electric replacement distributor is popular as it's a direct fit although expensive. I have a Lumenition competion kit which I picked up as parts on Ebay and pieced together. Although it was cheap doing it this way I had issues getting a fitting kit as Lumenition did not list one for my distributor. However I managed to cobble one together from parts. If you are not in need of your car Lumenition have said you can send them the distributor and they would build a kit to fit themselves if the distributor is not listed.

[superspod]

hey, having seen a good thread on upgrading to modern fuse, and hearing about how much of a pain the original fuses are so i was thinking of installing the 4 fuses -is it a five, two 8s (would 7.5 do since nowhere sells 8s and i wouldn't want to risk a 10) and a 25? admittedly i am modelling it off this: http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y27...i/Photo264.jpg although still need to think up ways of prevent the unused spades sparking against the firewall (or is that just me worrying thanks to a lack of knowledge). eventually i might get my friend wo knows about car electrics to provide each system with an individual fuse, but that i fear might go wrong and take considerably more time for very little additional payoff.
another thought about the misfiring is i think i narrowed it down further to:
anything to do with distributor or sparks, any form of timing, a fuel supply issue or possibly a damaged air intake behind the carb. guess i will have to check that before the mechanic picks it up on friday (hopefully). cheers for all the help and an electronic distributor definitely looks on the cards, however would a bosch blue coil help as well? ( i know that it would involve splicing the armoured coil but would it be possible to find a way around that like just removing the key, armoured coil and coil and replacing it with a new modern one, with a linked in starter button to prevent keys breaking off. just a thought)
thanks again,
cameron