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Apr 12, 2020 20:00:36 GMT
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I bought this car about three years ago from longstanding Volvo club member John Smith. I think he took the car off the road in about 1991 for some repairs to the front wing mounting rails. He got as far as removing the engine and gearbox, cut off the mounting rail "shotguns" but ran aground at that point. I was heavily vetted, and then eventually invited to purchase the car and an extensive stock of spare parts John had amassed over the years
My heart sank a little when I offered up the repair panels to find they didn't fit by a country mile. I think the passage of time sat on its wheels with the inner wings cut away had allowed the chassis rails to relax a bit. In a bit of a huff with it, I left the car on my spare two post lift for three long years to sulk. With all this terrible Corona business I have some time on my hands so decided to give the old Amazon another look. Turns out three years hanging has helped a lot, and the repair panels fit again!
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Apr 12, 2020 20:05:42 GMT
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]I'm cutting and pasting in from another place, so some of this may seem disjointed. Sorry! A bit of spare time this afternoon. I removed all the bushes from the rear suspension arms, sandblasted them and applied a coat of paint.  I picked the best of my front sub frames, blasted that, then a coat of red oxide primer...  These are finished originally in grey, although the colour varied a lot during production. The original on my car was a slightly darker grey than this, but I couldn't match it easily. The spare I used was a lighter grey, and I could match that so went with it.  Also took a few shots of the underside, in no particular order...    [/QUOTE] |
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Apr 12, 2020 20:06:57 GMT
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This car is in remarkable condition. The underside needed no welding at all. The front wing rails, already mentioned, had been removed, but I never saw how rusty they were. The only other place that needs repair is inside the rear wheel arches where there is a stiffener plate for the rear seat backrest hinge.
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Apr 12, 2020 20:08:09 GMT
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]I had a bit of spare time this afternoon, got a bit more done. I fitted the other wing mounting rail. I had it mocked up with some self-tapping screws, but it's welded in now.  The alignment with the other front panels and the doors is spot on. Ultimately it took a whole day's work on each side to get them this good.  The new suspension bushes arrived today. I had quite a few new-old-stock bushes in my stock of parts, but they were so old the cases were rusty and the rubbers had started to perish. I bought new ones. I fitted the rear ones to the freshly painted arms. All ready to fit  I also fitted the handbrake linkage and new handbrake cables with brand new return spring.  Started working on the engine bay paintwork...  Coming on nice. Very pleased with it so far! |
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dazcapri
North East
Enter your message here...
Posts: 1,061
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Apr 12, 2020 20:09:24 GMT
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Love these Volvo's bookmarked
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Mk3 Capri LS
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Apr 12, 2020 20:10:00 GMT
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I got a little more done today. I finished up the paint in the engine bay    And applied some underbody Schutz with waxoyl to the inner arches  I fitted new bushes to the front upper arm fixings and bolted the arms on with the U bolts  I also fitted new inner bushes to the front lower arms. They are fiddly! |
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Apr 12, 2020 20:12:00 GMT
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I had an uninterrupted six hours today. Started off refitting the steering box and relay  I then decided to have a look at the front subframe. I contemplated rolling around on the floor and wrestling with springs for a good thirty seconds before deciding to fit the subframe to the car first, and work on it there. I used the pit jack to carefully raise it into position and bolted it in with new locking tab washers.  From here it was easy to install the long through-bolts and hang the lower arms.  It helps that I had already cleaned and prepared all the parts, so it was a simple case of just putting it all together.  |
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Apr 12, 2020 20:13:26 GMT
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]Caliper brackets, steering arms and disc backplates fitted next...   Also had a chat on the phone with my pal Rob, the painter. He's just completed a BMW E9 CSL race car and is looking for another job. He's very keen to get the car over to his shop, shut the doors and sink his teeth into it. I can see him badgering me to hurry up! |
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Apr 12, 2020 20:14:28 GMT
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Rob's last job. Hubba Hubba!  |
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Apr 16, 2020 18:04:35 GMT
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It surprised me, but I've actually had some work this week! I look after most of the staff cars at the local doctors surgery, and the district nurses and a couple of doctors had some cars that needed repairs. I found a little bit of time to prepare and paint the rear axle.  Other than that, nothing to report. |
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Last Edit: Apr 16, 2020 18:07:23 GMT by unclebenz
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Apr 16, 2020 18:28:52 GMT
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This is going to look epic once completed - I love these old Amazon Volvo's 😎 Obviously 'book marked'...
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Apr 16, 2020 18:47:33 GMT
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This is going to look epic once completed - I love these old Amazon Volvo's 😎 Obviously 'book marked'... They are becoming hard to find in decent condition. I looked at a couple of basket cases before I stumbled upon this one. They can all be done, but I don't have the time for a major restoration. I wanted something that was an abandoned project most of the way there, or a barn-find that wasn't a rot box. I fell on my feet with this one! |
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What a lovely car ... the words quality and integrity come to mind. You obviously do great work. John
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Apr 17, 2020 18:24:38 GMT
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Surprisingly I had another busy day at my workshop. I only found time to attach the two radius arms to the axle with new cruciform rubbers, bolt in some new brake cylinders and make up a couple of new brake pipes.  |
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teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
Posts: 2,126
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Apr 17, 2020 19:51:24 GMT
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It’s all progress uncle.
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Apr 25, 2020 20:03:15 GMT
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A little bit of progress. Rob came to have a look at the car. He spent three hours going over it, and declared it worthy of painting  I had a spare lower tailgate with fewer dents than the one on the car. After pulling off the inner liner Rob decided the existing one with dents was a better proposition. The spare, although straight as a die, was rusty on the inside of the frame. The original on the car is rust free. Fixing the dents is better. The top tailgate is a different story. The one on the car is rotten on the bottom face. Badly rotten. I have a spare, which looked much better. Much better until I took the glass out. Sadly it has a portion of the return that the screen rubber holds over that has rotted away. I can fix it, but I haven’t decided yet whether to make a repair or cut a section from the old tailgate (luckily its just about the only bit that isn’t rotten!). Latter is the best way I think. My stepfather thinks he has a good upper tailgate in his shed, so we have a plan C as well. Rob wants to collect all removable panels this week so he can get started. In the meantime I fitted the rear axle. Pictures time! |
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Apr 25, 2020 20:03:56 GMT
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Apr 25, 2020 20:04:37 GMT
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Rob thinks this is a realistic target. Except he says he can get the door fit better...  |
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Apr 27, 2020 17:58:52 GMT
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Today I got the calipers on, fitted the brake lines and front pads  Started having a look at the upper tailgate. The original on the car had rusted internally on the bottom face, probably due to water ingress through the hinges  It sounded like a Mexican maraca when you shook it. It was paper thin in many places. Probably past saving. The spare I have is much better, apart from some rot where water has got in under the screen rubber. Importantly it had not rusted from the inside out. I cut out the damaged bit on the outside  And then the inside piece  It's my intention to cut a repair piece from my original tailgate, which amazingly is good in this area  Fingers crossed it's good on the inside when I cut the repair piece out. If it isn't I'll have to make a repair section from scratch. It's curved two ways, so that'll be more difficult... |
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bstardchild
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 14,975
Club RR Member Number: 71
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1967 Volvo Amazon 221 combibstardchild
@bstardchild
Club Retro Rides Member 71
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Apr 27, 2020 18:12:33 GMT
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Lovely work - and nice that a couple of years hanging sorted out the issue
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