stupidity 1964 Volvo 122S - Amazonian rustforest. Ok. I'm sorry. I washed it.

[warninglight]

You work fast! Mine hasn't moved since you saw it, but I have ordered a fuel filter.

I'm off to Derby this weekend to meet some friends, both Amazon owners. One is driving his up from Kent. Your trip is making me seriously consider taking mine down.

[tooSavvy]

1 hour ago, juular said:

Then it tried to chuck an air filter off on the motorway.

Better bolts enroute. You'd think for 50 odd quid they'd include fixings..

Go '50s LeMans' = wire the nuts 👍😉

🚙💨

[juular]

Full disclosure, I used furniture connector bolts to keep the filters on which maybe wasn't the most technically sound idea, but it was the only ones I could get my hands on that were the right length.

Today I replaced them with proper M8 long bolts and nyloc nuts which should hopefully last at least a week.

Minor adjustment to the exhaust. The back box was smacking the old exhaust hanger bracket because the little strap that came with it was a miserable length.

Fixed that by adding an extra bit of galv plate to drop it.

Seems to do the job ok.

[juular]

Found a pair of rear bumper overriders for not much.

I'll need to bin those bicycle reflectors and build a couple of housings for the original ones, which I have in a box here.

I definitely won't be buying them at £80 each.

[Matty]

22 hours ago, juular said:

Full disclosure, I used furniture connector bolts to keep the filters on which maybe wasn't the most technically sound idea, but it was the only ones I could get my hands on that were the right length.

Today I replaced them with proper M8 long bolts and nyloc nuts which should hopefully last at least a week.

Minor adjustment to the exhaust. The back box was smacking the old exhaust hanger bracket because the little strap that came with it was a miserable length.

Fixed that by adding an extra bit of galv plate to drop it.

Seems to do the job ok.

Needs sound on this thread @juular 😄

[juular]

You'll have to wait for the sound video because I just did this.

The wiring on this was getting on my tits.  Had a lot of instances whereby things work but not quite all the time, or fuses randomly blowing.  The original factory wiring is shite. I have now ripped out EVERYTHING.

You can see on the right here that the back of the fuel gauge stands in as an unfused positive terminal for almost everything under the dash including the wiper motor, indicators, heater fan and who knows what else, held on by a piddly 6mm nut. That is going to change.

I present the main light switch. Again, unfused and permanently live, with the permanent live cut and twisted into the feed to the small footwell lights, from factory.

The big feed to the wiper switch. Again, some dodgy chaining of big positive wires going on here.

The circuits which are fused are run off a shitty engine bay fusebox which is riveted together, and the rivets are starting to come loose causing random dropouts. That and the small issue of continental/glass fuses being total shite and hard to come by when you need them most.

Solution : bin off the fusebox in the engine bay, and run everything off a pair of blade fuseboxes inside the footwell.

The fusebox on the left is the permanent live one, which will run the interior dome light, indicators / hazards, and headlamps.

The box on the right will be ignition switched, but I am also going to add a main ignition relay so that the ignition switch isn't constantly handling all of the current running through the entire car.  I know it's designed to take it, but the switch (and key!) can get very hot and I'm just waiting on the contacts burning out, especially if I decide to add any more load in the future.

The important thing is that everything is going to be fused, and that the fuses are going to be easier to replace when needed.

I seem to be doing this all off the top of my head, WCPGW.

[warninglight]

Good work! I will watch with interest and then shamelessly copy your good work when it comes to doing the Laplander.

 

[beko1987]

Best way, rip it out and do it all properly! Gonna hide a usb socket or 2 up somewhere? 

Plus once you've done it right you probably halve the wires hiding under there without really trying 

[juular]

1 hour ago, beko1987 said:

Best way, rip it out and do it all properly! Gonna hide a usb socket or 2 up somewhere? 

Plus once you've done it right you probably halve the wires hiding under there without really trying 

@MrsJuular found a low profile USB adapter for the cigarette lighter that blends in really nicely, check it out below left. It's so discreet and easy to add/remove that I don't know if I will bother adding any USB ports.

[beko1987]

14 minutes ago, juular said:

@MrsJuular found a low profile USB adapter for the cigarette lighter that blends in really nicely, check it out below left. It's so discreet and easy to add/remove that I don't know if I will bother adding any USB ports.

Ah yes that does blend in well! I'd argue having a sat nav plus phone charging ability fairly critical even if wanting to go oem only, especially going up and down the road* like you do so often 😂

[mat_the_cat]

6 hours ago, juular said:

@MrsJuular found a low profile USB adapter for the cigarette lighter that blends in really nicely, check it out below left. It's so discreet and easy to add/remove that I don't know if I will bother adding any USB ports.

I have tried a few options along these lines until I found one which was both discreet and charged at a decent current! Do you know what it will charge at?

[juular]

On 25/03/2024 at 22:03, mat_the_cat said:

I have tried a few options along these lines until I found one which was both discreet and charged at a decent current! Do you know what it will charge at?

This one will do an actual charge rather than a 'charging slowly' which is all most other adapters I've tried recently seem to manage.

[juular]

Rewire complete. 

Have made a few changes. The switched fusebox is fed from a master 100A relay which is triggered from the ignition key. This takes the heavy load off the ignition barrel which could get extremely hot with all of the current for all systems passing through it.

The coil is fed straight off the barrel and is unfused, as it should be, so even if the relay fails the engine won't stop.

Apart from that I made sure all cable ends had good quality spade connectors and heat shrink wrap with adhesive. This way they're pretty tough and reliable and eliminates some of the nasty and corroded original connectors.

The engine bay is much cleaner now without the fusebox, relays, and associated wiring nests.

Wiring for the reverse lights and overdrive now run inside, and I've packed the gap around the gearstick with insulation to cut down on road noise.

Important upgrade done to the brake lights. The original brake light switch is a fluid pressure switch which tends to only activate when you're standing on the pedal. 

I've changed it for an electrical pedal switch, which needed a bracket made up.

A real pain to drill the bolt holes for this in the pedal box so the top hole is in at an awkward angle.

Still it does the trick and is a massive upgrade. The lights now come on as soon as you touch the pedal.

While the steering wheel was off I swapped the steering column coupling bush as it was really sloppy.

The steering column shroud also got a coat of paint after I did some repairs to the cracking brittle plastic with some epoxy.

Last few bits done inside. A new hazard switch.

I then remembered I bought a set of instrument panel stickers off Demon Tweeks.

So I then did what I originally meant to and sorted the dash light graphics.

Before.

After.

[mat_the_cat]

Nice work there, and exactly the sort of little (and not so little!) things which would give me pleasure also.

[juular]

Just did a test drive there, it's going really well. Only casualty seems to be the temperature gauge not working. It looks like the actual sender on the engine has failed as it's gone completely open circuit, so a new one is on its way.

Next up, I have more fun upgrades.

[Sunny Jim]

Loving your work. That car is a testament to your talent and perseverance.

[mercedade]

Between this and the 240, @juular maintains two of the finest threads on AS at the moment.

[loserone]

And a very fine fleet!

[Datsuncog]

Phenomenal work here - great to see this coming back better than ever before!

[juular]

A combination of endless life things plus a number of mental health crashes means I haven't really been into this as much as I wanted.

Had a bit of a grumpy moment when I had a look at the front wheels and realised the new Pirelli tyres were worn right down on the outer edges, miles past the wear markers, effectively rendering it not road legal.  Also, £200 pissed into the wind. Fuck.

I got some Kumhos stuck on to replace them for the moment. More importantly I also had a look at the alignment on the front end. Turns out I had been running an insane amount of toe-in which was the alignment setting which felt best, but has basically killed the tyres.  The worn out upper wishbone bushes wouldn't have helped either, as they'd have caused major positive camber, effectively riding on the tyre edges.

Bushes replaced last month, I reset the toe to dead straight and took it a drive with the new tyres. 

Mixed bag here. The handling feels quite a lot sharper with the wheels straighter, which is what you'd expect. However the car also wants to pull strongly to the right, which suggests something else isn't straight. That's almost certainly why I ended up setting so much toe-in which tends to negate any pull.

The front end is aligned using shims, but that only affects caster and camber, neither of which cause so much of a pull but have more effect on grip and steering weight.

I decided to measure the distances between the wheels front to back, and there was a significant difference between sides. So the problem is the rear axle sitting skewed, effectively causing a rear wheel steer. The most likely cause is that the bushings are worn unevenly on the trailing arms and torque arms.

Reluctantly, all of the rear arms have been removed and I'm just waiting for the time to swap all the bushes for poly versions.

 

Also..

WHAT'S IN THE BOX?

Sprots upgrades.

Thicker front ARB, and a rear one too (these only have fronts as standard).  Those need some mods done to the car to fit, so will probably be done last.

Oh and I fixed the temperature gauge.  By wiring it up correctly after I stupidly set it up the wrong way round.

Hoping to take the Amazon to Twixfest / WD40 in just over a week.

[juular]

Polyurethane torque arm and panhard rod bushes pressed in. 

I'm happy with how the paint finish on the arms has held up given the car has been on the road all the way through the salt and spray of the winter. 

[juular]

Back end of the car went back together although required a bit more persuasion with new bushes. It's now time to fit the last couple of bushes on the front lower control arms. This means pulling out the springs, shocks and anti-roll bar links.

Oh, those don't look right.

Despite the bushes looking absolutely shagged, there is a bigger issue here. The bushes have walked themselves out of the arms a bit.  The reason for this is that the inner sleeves of the bushes ride on the car's crossmember. The arms themselves should stay in line with the bushes. Having them walked out like this means that the arms are bent.

I confirmed this by laying both arms on top of each other and noticing how different they were.  

I also dug out the control arms from the donor car and laid them on top. They are ALL different, and one of the arms has a noticeable kink in the metal.  

Doing a bit of research, it seems that these arms are fairly fragile given that they're just a pressed steel design with no reinforcement, so a good kerbing can bend them. Given that they are over 60 years old they've done alright.  However it's not great and I'm attempting to fix an already annoying pull on the steering.  I could bend them back into shape using the press, but I have no reference as to what they should be like as all four arms are different, so they will have to be replaced.   

Meanwhile I set to fitting the new front anti-roll bar. 

Slight issue already. My car has the older style of anti-roll bar brackets which only have one bolt, so I will need to do a modification to take the later two bolt bracket.

Achieved this by drilling a new hole straight up through the chassis leg into the engine bay.

That then takes a M10x80mm bolt to secure the rear of the bracket.

I also have the rear bar to fit, but I'm not sure whether to do this before or after Twixfest at the weekend.

[juular]

 

That's everything back together. 

Test drive put a huge smile on my face. The steering is so sharp, and there's almost no body roll to speak of. 

[Landy Mann]

Some how missed this thread, greatwork keep it up!

[GrumpiusMaximus]

I was at the new World of Volvo a few weeks ago for its grand opening.  They have at least one Amazon there and it's minty fresh.

On balance, your Amazon is better.

[juular]

I am not going to go into any detail, but fuck having mental issues. Fuck them into the sea. Before things became unworkable I did do some things to maintain a sense of normality, with varying results. 

Twixfest.

Bridge of Allan car show.

Driving to St Andrews for Coffee and ice cream. Janetta's is probably world famous by now but it deserves to be because it's very good.

The headlight retainers are a bit shit, right?

Behold, £5 a side from Facepalm marketplace.

Finally fitted the rear anti-roll bar.

Does it help? Yes. Yes it does.

I have however been getting exceedingly fucked off with the Simons sports exhaust. It's not particularly loud, but on the motorway at 70 it resonates through the entire car which gets tiresome. For a 60's car it was always surprisingly quiet at high speed. But the real fucking me off issue is that no matter which way I angle the axle pipe, it slams into the axle on speed bumps. 

That would be almost livable with, but for the fact it's hammered one of the brake pipes flat.

I'm glad I caught that in time as it was a mere bawhair from bursting through and freeing me from the burden of having to slow down.

There is apparently a way to angle it with extreme precision where it doesn't hit anything, but patience levels are thin.

This also looked tasty.

In a stroke of luck, a £14 ebay hub puller does actually work fine to get these drums off.

In a stroke of not so much luck, the fluid is diff oil and it has contaminated the brakes on this side. So that can go fuck itself.

In summary : Fuck.

[juular]

Found a rare (for recent times) moment of productivity and decided to get the Amazon back on the road.

Took apart the leaking rear axle on the passenger side and removed the half shaft.

The half shaft oil seal was absolutely finished, so that explains the leak. New one tapped in.

It was then a case of cleaning up all the contamination off the backing plate and drum, refitting the end plate with a new felt seal, then fitting new brake shoes.

I then took it out a test drive which happened to coincide with the summer solstice sunset. 

Much happier and no leaks.

I now have to apologise for what came next.

Before:

 

The most pointless task in the universe.

 

I decided also to try and tone down the rust a little by painting the roof and boot lid with phosphoric acid.

 

 

This is a good demonstration of how well it works at chomping away rust.

Before treatment.

A few minutes after.

10 minutes later.

 

As much as I enjoyed the mobile biology experiment most of the year, I am getting to the point I'm just waiting to be pulled over at which point the cops will find something wrong with the car out of spite. I'm also concerned about the level of rust developing on the panels which although at the moment is easily treatable, if left could turn into actual proper rot.

Now it looks sort of shabby chic which is alright. Long term I might still paint the car but regardless I will definitely be putting effort into sorting its panel rust while it's not a major task.

Next couple of jobs to do are as follows.  I found this lying in a bag in my shed.

It's an electric fan conversion kit. As it happens I also have a Kenlowe fan lying around so I will get the fixed fan binned off and this fitted.

Finally, I am getting a bit fed up with the exhaust.  It sounds fine driving around at up to 60mph, but at 70mph there's a drone that resonates through the whole car and it's utterly shit. I think there's a combination of the backbox being a bit thin and shitty and the Simons exhaust system just being a collection of Jetex parts chucked together without being properly tuned to the car.  

Current possible fixes include adding another silencer in the middle of the car,  adding a J-pipe / Hemholtz resonator, or fitting a different backbox. I'm thinking I might nick the rear silencer off the 240 and see how it sounds with that on, as it's also a 2 inch system. 

Overall I've had a love / hate relationship with the new exhaust. It sounds pretty good at idle, and it really has added a good wad of power especially higher up the rev range. However it doesn't really fit properly anywhere and bangs against the body no matter how the pipes are angled, plus the constant drone at 70mph is truly excruciating.  I'm almost tempted to ditch it, fit a twinpipe OEM manifold and standard exhaust system. 

 

 

[plasticvandan]

Boiled linseed oil is your friend now,wipe liberally all over for a careworn sheen (and some rust protection)