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67" Amazon T5

THolandsli

New member
Joined
May 24, 2006
Location
Norway
67" Amazon Turbo project

15 years ago I started with restoration / modifications on a 1967 Amazon. This project stagnated after a few years due to little money, other projects, women?s, long way to the garage and other things.

This past year I have been contacted by people who wanted to buy the Amazon. I found out then that I had to take a path. Sell it, wreck it or restore it. Since the Amazon was my first car, which I bought when I was 16 years I choosed the last option.

The car has matured a lot since I stopped the project appr. 10 year ago. In the last 3 years it has been stored outdoor. In this part of Norway that?s mean a lot of snow, rain, wind and salty climate. Enough about the story.

The car is a 1967 model with B18 engine, good ground clearance and 165 / 80-15 tires. Exciting? Hardly ... I had to find something a little more daring. The plan at the first restoration, hereinafter called "restoration phase 1" was B20 turbo, lowering and chrome wheels. The taste has not changed so much in all this years, but I has now slightly more resources and knowledge. The plan is something like this:

- B5204T2 engine, (180hp/220Nm)
- Tremec TKO 600
- IPD anti sway bar kit
- Air ride
- 18" wheels
- R-brakes
- Watt-link
- Seam welded body
- 1031 rear axle with Truetrac
- 240km/h speedometer
- Recaro seats with original Amazon look
- And a lot of details?.

Cosmetic inside and outside I will run almost original desgn. As color, I think that it ends with Porsche 7A1 which is gray color that is often at the Porsche 911 GT3 RS. I have painted a front fender in this color to check if the color suits the car.


Here's car as it looked when I bought it. On that time it was painted in red enamel paint and in use condition, but nothing more.
SCN_0275_zpsae1eb2e6.jpg


A couple of pictures from the ?restoration phase 1?
Bilde003_zps00f2b59c.jpg


281204001_zps205d0106.jpg


After many years of storage inside and outside it becomes much dust, dirt, grass stains etc. that must be removed. Foam and pressure washer could not possibly make it worse.
2014-08-30205707_zps1c3062ab.jpg


Since I had an old 5-cyl NA engine stored I had to see if there was space enough under the hood.








I disassembled the engine so that I can use it as dummy.


Further plan was to sand blast the whole car to get a clean body with no rust to work with. Before blasting all the underseal and the insulation had to be removed. A rottiserie is a must during such work.


Before scraping.


After scraping.


Before scraping.


After scraping.


Even more scraping.


And some of the heaviest. Removal of insulation.


To make it easier to transport the car to and from sandblasting crafted a pallet.

After many evenings with scraping the car was sandblasted.


After sand blasting a thin layer of primer was applied.


It is not shown as good in the pictures, but a lot of small rust holes here and there on the car appeared during the sand blasting. So there will be intensive rust welding for a few months this winter.


Since it was many years since I last welded thin sheet metal and I had a new unknown welding machine I started with a single small hole that will not be visible.


And then I jumped right to welding for intermediates. The front wing was in a bad condition on this car, like on the most of this cars that have been used on salty winter roads.


A lot of work to adapt this part to the car before the welding could start.


The front wing welded to the car and also started with the seam welding.





Removed a bracket in the wheelhouse to get access for seam welding.



When I first had the bracket off I did some modifications on it to get more stiffness in the body. From before the bracket was welded only to the bulkhead in the car. Now it is extended to towards the inner fender and prepared for spot welding at "frame beam" and got more welding points against the door / bulkhead. Applied Volvo welding primer on the surfaces before welding.


As you can see under the car there will be plenty of work here. Much of the panels in the floor and channels under shall be repaired / replaced.


Even more welding in the wheelhouse. Almost finished with the welding in this corner of the car.


Today I took out a instrument housing and began to thinking about how I could get it work together with the new gearbox. Original is the wire from gearbox that drives the line ahead. When I no longer have any wire I need to find out something smart. Therefore I plan to mount a step motor that will drive the odometer and the speedometer based on a signal from the rear axle. Since the modifications on the car will increase the top speed, I will at the same time extend the range on the speedometer to max 240km/h. Since the numbers on the glass is milled and filled with paint I must make a new glass and the roll will need more streaks to correspond with the new glass.



Here I have mounted a tank measuring instrument where thermometer really should be. The back plate on a temp gauge was slightly modified to fit. The reason I do this is that I want away the old solution with capillary tube. I will use the original electronic temperature sensor on the engine and make an electronic circuit that can convert the signals into the old tank gauge.


The roll in the speedometer is now delivered to an advertising guy that will make new streaks on the roll. The speedometer housing is now cleaned in ultrasonic cleaner and the old paint is removed. Next step is to paint it white again to ensure correct light scattering inside the instrument.


A lot of parts have been bathed in Strip All in a ultrasonic cleaner. This is a efficient way to get rid of paint and rust.

Before:.


After 30 minutes.


Finished parts.


Parts waiting. 
 
Last edited:
?ntiligen ser vi n?n som fattar hur man ska styva upp en chassi med lite svets..

keep it up, especially on all the stuff under the car and in the tunnel..
Stitch welding makle sense when you are going to double or more the power a body shell was originally intended to see and its old...upgrade the powwer, then upgrade the foundation eller grunden som man brukar s?ga... sen kommer stryning och broms!
 
very cool! props for not getting rid of your first car!
If I have sold it or wrecked it I wouldnt have sleept well. :)

Good job so far. And I am quite honestly amazed by the lack of serious rust. Seems like a good solid car
No big rust, but it have been done some rust reparations on the car before. Most of this I will do over again now.

?ntiligen ser vi n?n som fattar hur man ska styva upp en chassi med lite svets..

keep it up, especially on all the stuff under the car and in the tunnel..
Stitch welding makle sense when you are going to double or more the power a body shell was originally intended to see and its old...upgrade the powwer, then upgrade the foundation eller grunden som man brukar s?ga... sen kommer stryning och broms!

The chassis must follow the engine. :) The stitch welding is required by the Norwegian vehicle registration authority to get the car approved with this engine.

Some renovated chrome parts that arrived yesterday.


Right now, the car stands in this position.


This is a typical rust place on the AmazoN.


Now I can drive without getting cold on my feets. :)
 
very cool! props for not getting rid of your first car!

I agree!
What a wonderful story and fabulous job you are doing in the restoration of your beautiful Amazon!
I look forward to following along as you post more results of your project's journey.
Thanks for taking us along for the ride with you :)
 
B5204t use a low pressure turbo to be sold in italy for example. And im guessin he is using it for registration purpose? 2,3l might have to much hp?
 
The reason why I have choosen this engine is like GMS indicates registration. Amazon is approved for up to 150hp, but with my modifications the vehicle registration authority can stretch it to 180hp. My secret plan is to make 2 setups for the engine. One with 180hp, and one with 3-400hp. :) Hey... But don't tell anyone!

I have spent a few hours in the workshop this weekend and removed the old rusty front fender support and prepared for installation of the new part.
2B3F7713-26CE-4B94-8439-A6AB8657DA8A_zpsv6dtgoaq.jpg
 
Great work so far, I'm looking forward to seeing this develop.

In CSB news, I've just booked a return flight to Norway for less than the cost of the race I'm doing whilst I'm out there.
 
This is going to be awesome! Color choice is great. Very interested to see how you go about the air ride installation. Sub'd
 
Thanks for all the good feedback guys. :)

This is going to be awesome! Color choice is great. Very interested to see how you go about the air ride installation. Sub'd

Do you have pictures of your air ride installation?

As you can see, your car is hanging on the wall in the workshop as inspiration. When I get tired off all the rust and welding I take a look on these pictures and start over again with a lot of motivation.

The Porsche is in the color I'm planning to use. A Porsche like that costs appr. 320000$ in Norway, so I think I stay with the Amazon.

446CE88E-39CB-46DC-833B-55DD15783269_zpsgoa0ui9y.jpg
 
Love the work! Im contemplating a t4 motor for my 122 instead of a redblock. But it is many years off I think now. Great work and looking forward to the rest of the project!
 
T4 is a nice motor. You will probably need to do much the same modifications as I do. :)

The right front fender support is now in place.
 
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