Amazon: 1964 Amazon 122S restoration project

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Bob 1967

Just a thought, could one change one of the gears in the speedometer itself ?

That would only alter the odometer Bob, the speedo is essentially a magnet that rotates inside an aluminium cup that the needle is attached to - a hairspring returns the needle to zero and balances how far the needle moves against the rotating magnetic field on the aluminium cup.

Either the spring needs recalibrating (and possible the odo too) or the gears in the gearbox need changing.

With the later 7/940s (and some of the last 240s) the speedo was electronic, driven by impulses generated from a reluctor ring and sensor in the diff which would make life easier in this situation at least.

[Bob 1967]

Thanks for the clarification.
It was just a thought, nothing more.
Maybe Alans suggestion is the better/easier solution.

[Juular]

Good info, thank you.

It seems to me the most straightforward way, if I wanted to retain the original speedo and not have parts machined, is to see if I can get the spring in the speedo unit calibrated?

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Juular

Good info, thank you.

It seems to me the most straightforward way, if I wanted to retain the original speedo and not have parts machined, is to see if I can get the spring in the speedo unit calibrated?

I think that would be your best bet, yes.

[Juular]

I should update this as lots has happened.

Had a small fire which resulted in the headliner and door cards being destroyed.





Could have been a lot worse.

As mentioned the next job is to bolt everything back onto the car.

Rear suspension.









New brake lines.







Testing the overdrive solenoid, reverse switch and inhibitor switch.



Only the solenoid worked, the rest was replaced.

Clutch release fork needed repaired as the socket washer had disintegrated.




I made a new one using a washer shaped by pressing it into the release fork.



That works!



Spigot bearing removed from crank with some bread.




New one in.



Flywheel.



New clutch kit.



Finally the box can be fitted. Redid the wiring first.







Building an exhaust out of spares.



Tank had been scrubbed with acid before being put in storage. It has worked really well.



Painted



Front brakes on.



Engine bay plumbed in.



Heater box fitted.



Still much further on than this, will update when I have time.

[Moomoo]

Great thread!

Interesting to see BAHCO on the clutch fork!😁

[Ron Kwas]

Juular;

Good pix of progress!...sorry to hear about a "small fire" event, and seeing resulting damage...it makes the point about being acutely aware of arrant grinding and welding sparks, and having extinguishing provisions immediately at hand when doing either of those operations...

I was a bit concerned looking at the undercarriage toward the diff...it looks like the Body to Diff Brake Flexline is under tension(!?!)...but I expect that is just because of the camera-angle of the line which does have a curve with which to accommodate Diff movement...

I was also concerned when I saw the Clutch Throwout Lever on the press...but then I saw your explanation of using it as a die for forming a replacement cupwasher (in that case, its actually a rather brilliant solution!).

Cheers

[Othen]

Absolutely first class thread; I always look forward to reading your updates.

Well done for saving the Amazon.

Alan

[Juular]

Originally Posted by Ron Kwas

Juular;

Good pix of progress!...sorry to hear about a "small fire" event, and seeing resulting damage...it makes the point about being acutely aware of arrant grinding and welding sparks, and having extinguishing provisions immediately at hand when doing either of those operations...

I was a bit concerned looking at the undercarriage toward the diff...it looks like the Body to Diff Brake Flexline is under tension(!?!)...but I expect that is just because of the camera-angle of the line which does have a curve with which to accommodate Diff movement...

I was also concerned when I saw the Clutch Throwout Lever on the press...but then I saw your explanation of using it as a die for forming a replacement cupwasher (in that case, its actually a rather brilliant solution!).

Cheers

The fire was caused by heat from welding in the boot causing the old windlace seal on the back door to go up. Within seconds it had caught the horsehair within the headlining and that was that. The whole thing lasted about 5 seconds and I was able to put it out with a welding glove but by that time the whole headliner had disappeared!

Can confirm there's lots of spare flex in the rear brake hose, i think it may just be an optical illusion.

Those cup washers appear to be unobtainium nowadays. The press was the quickest and easiest solution I could come up with, and required almost no real force. Just enough to gently bend the washer around the ball pivot / socket.

[Juular]

Should be fairly obvious I'm doing a lot of this on a budget but I don't intend to bodge things. In many areas I've tried to come up with alternative solutions or home made alterations as I simply can't justify spending the money asked for things such as a genuine complete door seal and windlace set.

For the boot, bonnet, door and windlace I've fitted some generic rubber seals which are very cheap and easily available, held in with extra strong double sided mounting tape.



The whole car was resealed for around £25 this way.

I did however splash out on a nice carpet set.





The original armoured coil setup was broken so I've made a bracket for a standard coil to cover the mounting hole.







Distributor. Hmm, a bit mucky.



Cleaned up and rebuilt with new consumables.







Carbs, dynamo, starter refitted.



It's now time to fill the float bowls and try to start this off a can!

Very first attempt.

https://youtu.be/fzgX2G1m7_k?si=V5FWfZR9l8-vOh3i

How close is that!?

So I set the ignition timing according to Haynes which said 19btdc which sounds too much to me, and the pre-ignition you can hear there seems to back this up.

I pulled it back to around 8 BTDC.

https://youtu.be/Xm2cSzbQ-sw?si=fMU6u4gWIkq4hwuX

How good is that? For an engine that was honed with a drill and flushed out with a garden hose..