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• sam regan's 1967 Volvo Amazon 122S

Running report entries

• Engine rebuild: starting to plan Now the Amazon is well on the way, thought it was about time the Camaro got a little attention, so headed down to my lock-up garage to do an assessment of what needed to be done. My excuse is that I've been busy, I've been distracted, and the lock-ups 25...
• Engine rebuild started It's not much, but it's a start. Today I put my old two-bolt 350 in the back of the Van and took it over to Romance of Rust, who are restoring my Volvo Amazon, and who are kindly lending me an area of their shop to do the rebuild in....
• Engine rebuild: first assessment Got the bulk of the block disassembled this afternoon -- removed the timing chain, sprockets, cam, oil pan and pump, and nearly all of the pistons (just had one left when I had to call it a day). Although it'll be difficult to say for sure until I finish the...
• Engine rebuild: Re-boring, old cranks and hot cams I finished off the disassembly of the 350 two-bolt on Friday, and took a bunch of measurements (rough ones, since it was only with a pair of callipers) to try and get a better idea of what I was dealing with. Over the weekend, I then had a look through...
• Engine rebuild: update This'll have to be a quick one. Picked up the re-bored block on Monday -- the shop had done a great job, even hot-tanked it (though I said I couldn't afford it, they did it anyway, gratis). It's now 0.060" oversize and looking so much better. Still some cleaning out...
• Bits and pieces It's been a long wait for the Amazon to come back from the shapers, where it's being prepared for painting, but it looks as if it will be back this week, and then there's probably about 3-4 weeks of painting. In the meantime, Lance and Mark at Romance of Rust...
• Engine rebuild: this valve will need replacing Just had time this evening to take out the last couple of valves of the 350's heads. I used an oversize G-cramp to push the one of the valves down, thus releasing the bit of broken piston that was stuck between it and the seat. The second valve was more...
• The rebuild begins After a week's holiday, dropped by Romance of Rust to see that the rebuild of the Amazon is coming along nicely. It started, apparently last Wednesday, when the now painted body was wheeled over from Paintforce. Since then, the underneath has been stone-chipped, the front and rear glass as been...
• The rebuild continues Popped into Romance of Rust today to catch up on how the rebuild was going on and it's really starting to come together. The new loom (brought from Brookhouse) was in and worked well, the speedo had been refitted and the front suspension was all sorted.The highlight, however, was the...
• More rebuild goodness Sadly, I'm only making it down to Romance of Rust about once a week at the moment, but that does mean there's lots of good stuff to report on. This week, I got there to find that the new US-spec, all-red rear light assemblies had arrived (sourced from Brookhouse), which...
• Engine rebuild: slow progress Spent a day on various car bits, including the engine (the first time I'd touched it for a month or more). Basically I'm waiting for the crankshaft/reciprocating assembly to be balanced, and it's still at the machine shop. I can't complain too much, because they're giving me a very good...
• Rebuild update: it's all in the details It's great to see everything coming together at last, and there are only a few outstanding issues/problems to be sorted, and one by one they're getting solved. if there are a few outstanding problems. Bit by bit, we're getting them sorted. Thanks to a tip from Pete, I've found a...
• Interior rebuild: can't beat leather With the rebuild progressing well, work has now started on the interior, with the work being carried out by a trimmer Lance knew from Rolls Royce, Paul Houliston. After a fair bit of humming and hahing, in the end I've gone for a rich burgundy leather. The burgundy (which the...
• Rebuild update: Firing up the engine After searching high and low for set of good rocker arms for the B18 in my Amazon (the existing ones had lost their hardened face), I finally found a set at ClassicVolvo.com, and at a very reasonable price too. Tht was all the engine was waiting for, so just over...
• More painted goodness When we fired up the engine after the rebuild (see previous post), the IPD rocker cover was unpainted and only held in place by my fingers. Well, now it's been painted and very nice it looks too. After looking at countless different options, I decided to go with the body...
• Engine rebuild: more (slow) progress It's been a while since I've posted on the rebuild of the 350 Chevy from the Camaro -- in part because progress has been pretty slow. I got the reciprocating assembly back from the machine shop eventually, but they'd done a pretty damn good job -- and had to work...
• First-time fun: fitting the cam bearings The past couple of trips down to Romance of Rust (where I'm rebuilding the Camaro's 350 in the corner while my Volvo Amazon is rebuilt) have been taken up with fitting new cam bearings.  For those who've never done this before -- and I hadn't -- it's a tricky, fiddly...
• Engine rebuild continues: crank in, pistons half done After the fun with the cam bearings, fitting the crank was relatively straightforward, though first I had to remove the flywheel and damper that had been put in place when it was all balanced. Still, the second time round that was a fair bit easier. Then it was just a...
• Spoke too soon: problem with a conrod Well, turned out things weren't going to be so easy after all. When it came to torquing up the conrods on the crank, the lovely smooth action I had disappeared, and things seized up so much, I just couldn't move it. Seems to be number three conrod, which from the...
• Back on track with the engine rebuild Quick update: Turned out there were two problems with the conrods: numbers 3 & 4 had each other's caps (that'd have to be my error -- no other explanation possible), and the big end bores were out of shape. In fact, the machine shop said it was a good job...
• Engine rebuild: Heads on Progress got delayed again. Both by life, and the need to get a new set of rocker arms. Turns out the old ones I had were not going to work, as they'd been separated from the hemispherical fulcrums on which they rock, and hence were no longer matched pairs. This...
• Engine rebuild update It's 2-months since my last post about the Camaro's engine, but there's a good reason for that. Or, rather, there's a reason. Try as I might, I just couldn't get the darned thing to start. After much struggling, a fair bit of head-scratching about what went where, draining the fuel...
• It starts! Quick post re the engine rebuild. Had to go down to the lockup today and yesterday for a few hours, so after fastening all the accessories, wiring up the dizzy/coil and filling the engine with coolant, I plucked up the courage to try to start the rebuilt engine. And you...

Contributions

• Fixing the Amazon's Alternator/Voltage Regulator During the rebuild of my Volvo Amazon, I decided to change the existing dynamo for an alternator, and got a second-hand one from one of the Volvo specialists, with a voltage regulator 'to match'. While I was at it I got a friend of a friend, Jeremy Stevens, to check...