Volvo X (Pro-Touring 1967 Amazon)

[Iamtheonlyreal1]

I am starting a thread on my 1967 Amazon build, because it will be coming together very quickly. I have not stopped on Project Changling, because I am duplicating key parts for both projects.. Project Changling will be marketing the Flush Mount Glass Kits along with the Newly Designed Crossmember/Suspension kit I am releasing shortly.

The goal of the Volvo X build, is to build a Daily Driver/Track Friendly car, that has all the comforts of a newer car.. I have been asked why I have gone with the Volvo Builds at this time. All I can say is, they need alot of support, and it is much easier to stand out in the Volvo Community with an awsome build.. LOL

I am still debating on the actual Powertrain at this point, but there are three choices I am working with..

1st Choice- A 5cyl Turbo Volvo Powerplant, that is capable of a very dependable 450 horsepower, but can be a bit tempermental during daily driving. Performance parts and Knowledge isnt as widely available as it is with the other 2 choices, so that has to be considered.

2nd Choice- A 2002 LS1 V8 that I have sitting around, and had already planned on using a LS1 in my Project Changling Build.. I am planning on offer several Motor Mount Options for different engine upgrades with my suspension kits, so I didnt really want to build two cars with the same powerplant.

3rd Choice- A Nissan Sr20Det Turbo 4cylinder.. These motors are also capable of a dependable 450 horsepower, and have a wider range of parts and knowledge supporting them. The engines are widely available, and seem to have plenty of testing behind them.

This Amazon will have the Crossmember/Suspension kit that my company is producing, so the car will now have.

Rack and Pinion Steering
Tubular Control Arms
Adjustable Coil Over Suspension
Quick Adjust ride height Feature with the Front and Rear Suspension
Rear Adjustable Coil Over Suspension with Adjustable 4-link arms.
14 inch Wilwood Drilled/Slotted front rotor assemblies with 6 Piston Calipers
13 inch Rear Wilwood Drilled/Slotted brake kit.

I am wanting to go with a Race theme.. So, I am thinking about a nice Satin Paint Job with some sort of striping.. I am also debating about a Swedish Flag on the roof with racing numbers on the doors. As far as body mods go, I may flare out the rear archs a bit, I will be removing the rear reflectors, and remove the large front park lamps. I am not real clear what I am going to do about the bumpers, I see alot of nice cars with the bumpers left on them, so I am very open about that so far.. I would like to consider some sort of Air Dam, that I dont have to kill myself trying to make or make fit, but the bumper would have to be eliminated if an air dam was installed.

Any suggestions as to direction with the car would be greatly appreciated.. I plan on the car going to the track and hopefully some of the Events the Pro-Touring and Lateral G guys are having so much fun at.. I am tired of hearing about all the fun, and would really like to join in.

I am also looking for a seasoned driver, that would be interested in helping me post a great time at one of these events.. I plan on giving the car hell myself, at these events, but I am really an amatuer, and I dont need that handicapping the cars capability. This will be a promotional car, so it does need to prove a point to the Volvo Builders out there when it comes to the capability of the suspension products. I am taking names and suggestions... LOL

Here are a few Pics of the build, along with some various pics and video's of other builds.

Here is some current pictures of the stance so far after the suspension install.. In the pictures, I have factory steel wheels and 16inch Factory Mustang Wheels installed. I am not using these wheels in the build.









Here are some pictures of the Prototype Crossmember/Suspension Kit. Pictured are the Standard 11 inch brakes with the base kit. I will post pics of the 14 inch Brake kits, when the actual Production Crossmember/Suspension Kit comes in.





Here are some pics of the style wheels I plan on running.. These are 19x8.5 front and 19x10 rear.. I may end up stepping it down to an 18 inch wheel if I dont like the overall all stance and ride height. I think the 14 inch Wilwood front brakes, and 13 inch rear brakes, are going to look great with this style wheel.








Here are a few pictures of various Amazons with different stances and styling.. The first car is factory wheels and factory stance, the others are cars people tweeked..















Here are a few Youtube videos.. These are running the later Model Upgraded Volvo Turbo Powerplants. The first Video, is a really cool computer generated Police Concept car.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTBU9-8ZsB4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBUujJgnVUs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYcpP...eature=related

[lukeball]

The car in the second video uses a 4 cylinder Volvo motor. I think that it is a B23FT with a B234 16V head. The B23FT was the strongest motor Volvo ever made, but they have become hard to find. The most that I have ever seen this engine make is around 750HP. This one makes more though.

http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=115858

The B230FT is about the same as the B23FT, but not as strong.

Here are some videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lf1_dDU19P8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks9o7nYhX00
http://www.facebook.com/video/video....50174239271749

[Iamtheonlyreal1]

Originally Posted by lukeball

The car in the second video uses a 4 cylinder Volvo motor. I think that it is a B23FT with a B234 16V head. The B23FT was the strongest motor Volvo ever made, but they have become hard to find. The most that I have ever seen this engine make is around 750HP. This one makes more though.

I am building a practical daily driver, along with a car that can be tracked. Anything above 450-500 horsepower is basically over-kill and will probably take away from the Daily Driving capabilities and may affect the Road Course capability... There is a sweet spot, that balances the capability of both types of fun and practical use.

[lukeball]

Originally Posted by Iamtheonlyreal1

I am building a practical daily driver, along with a car that can be tracked. Anything above 450-500 horsepower is basically over-kill and will probably take away from the Daily Driving capabilities and may affect the Road Course capability... There is a sweet spot, that balances the capability of both types of fun and practical use.

I completely understand. I was just showing you another option. I don't know what pro-touring class rules are, but normally if an engine is swapped, it puts you into an entirely different class.

You might want to check that out. I race in SCCA solo with another car; just by upgrading the turbo and getting the car tuned, it would put me into the Street Modified class. I would have no chance in that class because my brother races his EVO with 400AWHP in the same class.

Good luck and let me know which motor you decide to use. I would think that a heavy motor would offset the balance of the Amazon and lead to worse handling.

[Iamtheonlyreal1]

Originally Posted by lukeball

I completely understand. I was just showing you another option. I don't know what pro-touring class rules are, but normally if an engine is swapped, it puts you into an entirely different class.

You might want to check that out. I race in SCCA solo with another car; just by upgrading the turbo and getting the car tuned, it would put me into the Street Modified class. I would have no chance in that class because my brother races his EVO with 400AWHP in the same class.

Good luck and let me know which motor you decide to use. I would think that a heavy motor would offset the balance of the Amazon and lead to worse handling.

The Ls1 V8 is 75 pounds heavier than the original B18 engine, but the suspension and brake kit should make up the difference.

As far as the Pro-Touring class, check out the Optima Challenges here in the states.. There really isnt any real rule, other than embarrassing yourself with a joke build. There are alot of forum events all over the U.S. that allow you take your Pro-Touring built cars on some of the coolest road courses..

Pro-Touing cars are upgraded to modern drivetrain and technology, that allows the older car to perform and compete with the new high end performance cars.. Also, the pro-touring cars are typically made to be daily drivers, that are very driver friendly, economic and durable..

[Burdekin]

Robert, this forum may be of help with tuning the Volvo engine: http://www.s40concepts.net/ 450hp is doable but that's with a big turbo, so maybe a twin turbo set-up with the 5 cylinder would be a better option?

[Volvo Canadian]

I figured pictures would be easy to find.

They were manufactured on the East Coast somewhere - I think it was Halifax.

Notice the snow...? That would actually feel kinda nice right now.

[Iamtheonlyreal1]

Here are some pics of the brake/clutch mechanism and plumbing, and you can see that I chose and under dash master cylinder setup, which was chosen to keep the engine bay clean. I ran my hydraulic lines on the back side of the firewall, and down through the top corners of the Trans Tunnel, and that allowed me to tuck everything out of the way, along with being able to service something if needed. I have some rubber grommets to seal the holes and secure the brake lines, but I am waiting till I recoat and insulate the firewall before I hard mount the lines. The fitting that is showing sitting on top of the trans hole is my Clutch Line, and I have not sized it yet, so that isnt where that attachment will be at all.











Here are some real world perspective pics of the new Door and Quarter glasses, because it is hard to see the full affect with pictures being taken in a small shop. I dont have the quarter glass trim permanently attached at this point, so they are not as flush to the B-pillar as they will be when installed properly. The rear glass will be removed again, so I can change the tint to something that is a closer match to the side windows, because it is just a couple of shades darker than the side glasses.

[volvo21]

why is this not a 5 star thread? Can it be any better than this?

[Iamtheonlyreal1]

Some of the body trim pieces are suppose to make it back this next week, so I needed to get the Air Cleaner Assembly wrapped up, so I can get my painter started on that. Just a quick catch up on the the Bumper and Trim plating process that I have going on now, because I havent really touched base on what I have decided to change there. I did not send all the trim out for actual Brushed Chroming as I had intended, and that was really due to the shear cost, and the fact that the plater said the bumpers may not come out perfect. I was quoted over 8k for the plating by the time shipping kicked in, and that was with no guaruntee that I would have some perfect pieces, so there was no way I could possibly justify the cost there. I have a very qualified painter that does alot of custom motorcycle work, and he said that he has done a Brushed Aluminun or Brushed Stainlees look in a painted process, so that is the way I am going here. It will actually be a better match to the appearance of my Brushed Aluminum Wheels, and the parts will be perfect, because he can use glazes and primers to block all the imperfections out. These will be done in a Satin/Flat Clear, so all the parts will have the same overall glow of the wheels, and that will also keep all my trim/bumpers uniform in appearance. I will be posting pics of this process, and it is much more economical than the plating, especially if I ever needed future repairs. I have seen sample/test pieces, and they look great, so I think this will be a much better approach.

Here are some pictures of how my Air Intake System work, and in these pics, you will see the filter position and how it basically works.. I would do some more finish grinding and welding on it, but my painter likes to do that himself, so I will leave it for him..


Here is how the Seal and Drain system will work, and it is pretty basic, because I used the Original Amazon Heater ring for my seal/drain.. I will be adding a tube and one way baffle for the draining, and it should work just fine.. I will be making the actual drain hole larger, so it will be more than capable of draining the water sump before over flow. The seal is a weatherstrip profile that I have found on another car, but I had to do some removal and triming to remove some of the bulk, and you can see that I have just a bit more finish trimming to make it look nice. I still have to drill the holes for the Mass Air Flow Sensor at the front, and the Intake Air Temp sensor in the rear box somewhere, but they will be hidden on the lower unseen parts of this setup.













Here is how the gasket seals on the original Cowl Vent/Heater Supply fixture, and it is only solid mounted and sealed to the Inake, so it will have the ability to move around on the body during engine torque. I am pretty sure that it will be best to use some sort of grease or lubricant on the seal to body position, and I will have to do a bit of experimenting with that if it is necessary.













I tried to make sure that my intake tubes and filter box wouldnt interrupt the fender contours while the hood is open, because I dont really care of mismatched contours and angles, so this is how it all lays out compared to fender tops. With the filter box, I actually kept the curvature and contour of the cowl sheet metal, so it isnt just a rectangular box stuffed in the hole.. I think features like that really make things look like they are in place, rather than just some items you fabbed or pull off the shelf, especially when you can nothing sticks out as out of place as you walk up.











I am not absolutely sure on how I am going to paint the Intake and Valve Covers yet, but they will be in the same metal theme as the rest of the car, so the Tubes will more than likely be a Brushed Aluminum, while the box and center section will be body colors. I was debating on painting the Valve Covers body color, and then doing something with fin patterns of the valve covers and center intake, but how I need to do it hasnt hit me yet.