Amazon: Ideas on upgrades?

[Volvo Canadian]

There is a guy somewhere on the Net who will take your old fuse box and replace it with one which takes modern fuses. I think he only wants like $25 plus your old box. I can't find him anymore, but if you do, or anyone else knows about this chap, it would be a good option, and I'd like to know about it too!

[superspod]

james, thanks for the thought but i would like to do this myself, and i will reveal the results to you and who knows maybe if it goes well i could start doing it as well. however any thoughts on the bosch blue coil? also has anyone tried exhaust wrap or is it not recommended, thanks
cameron

[TomTom]

Good luck with your restoration. I would second the post about getting the car as watertight as possible before thinking of any soundproofing. And my experience tells me that complete dryness is rather difficult in an Amazon, though not impossible. I have a kind of compromise in mine, which is soundproofing (dynamat style) but not glued down, and covered by the original rubber mats. This has taken away a lot of the road noise, but can be removed easily for work on the floors, which I need to do in the next 1-2 years.

There are a host of things you can do to end up with an Amazon which is (more of) a joy to live with; 123 distributor, push-button start, rear demister, intermittent wipers (my upgrade of the year 2012! sad!).

I converted just my top fuse to blade, because of the sometimes difficulty of obtaining the stubby ones, and the fact that it leaves you somewhat helpless if it goes and you don't have a working replacement. I then keep about 4-5 of the lower fuses in my ash-tray for replacing when necessary.

Tom

[asneddon]

About the Bosh Blue coil, or any upgrade coil for that matter. It would be pretty much the bottom of any mod list unless yours is faulty. The factory Volvo ones are better than most aftermarket ones.

I went through this when I fitted a 123Tune distributor. I thought a new coil would make sense, but an old friend whos an auto sparky put both my old (probably original) coil and their top of the line ~$400 aftermarket (cant remember brand, it was square though) coil on their tester. The Volvo one was about 95% of the output and charge time.

About the electronic ignition. It wont actually give you any more power unless your old distributor is toasted. It can smooth out idle, and let you get a more accurate curve, but the difference isn't noticeable when driving.

If you are looking for that extra 1 or 2 HP, then it makes sense, but spend the money on exhaust, head, cam, carbs first (probably in that order). I fitted mine simply because I wanted to and can afford it. It wasn't a financially wise choice.

Allister

[lukeball]

I looked at the 123 distributor and the various curves and for what you get, it is just too expensive and the vacuum advance is nothing like the early B18 one. What I am going to do is get the original distributor rebuilt and re-curved for my engine. Then I am going to install Hot-Spark electronic igniton; it is better than pertronix.

Thanks for the advice on the coil. I thought about buying an aftermarket one. Also, some electronic ignition systems need lower resistance coils, so the Bosch Blue will not work. Then you run into the problem of ballast resistors and the other stuff.

I was lucky that I have an early fusebox with adjustable fuse posts. I can run either 20A shorts or long ones.

[asneddon]

I bought the 123Tune. You plug your laptop into it and set up whatever curve and vacuum adjust you want. You can also have a dash switch for two curves (power/economy, 91 / 98 octaine, etc). It was a nice way to be able to adjust the rev counter as it can give you a realtime readout on your laptop.

As I said, very nice peice of kit, but it will never pay for itself in regards to power or economy.

[123GT-AMAZON]

im planing on fitting a 123-tune just for the fact when its setup you know its done then never to have to keep maintaining the right timing old dizzys have far to much play init so in my view it will pay for itself easy in labour hours alone saved happy days i can crack on with polishing and rebuilding another car then

[superspod]

in regard to everyones messages, thanks for the advice on the coil- i will simply avoid that, and the 123 tune intrigues me but i am not sure what it does and what the cost is and how to install it. also since i am a rookie and not entirely sure what to do yet, engine timing and adjustments will probably be carried out by a garage as i have quite a few nearby run by people who trained whilst these were in production so know what they're doing, and also are quite cheap and reliable. the exhaust is a nice idea but i feel it will become an item of necessity in the case of replacing exhaust when my current one rots. although the idea of additional horsepower is nice, i am not too fussed and have never seen the whole interest in speed.

so far it appears that hands down the electronic ignition appears to be the best idea- any idea of best brand- skandix (where i get most my parts) seems to be 123 ignition, ipd pertronix and then there are far more to consider. would water proofing it fully be top of my priorities? (i.e. repairing rust and replacing semi working seals) also when i attempted to change my window scraper (http://www.skandix.de/en/spare-parts...outer/1000307/) it appeared to be missing the clip it goes into and attaches into the body. the last owner appears to have bodges it with some alternative design so if anyone had any clues on what i should do that would help. also my passenger quater light hinge has broken so will have to replace that.
thanks again,
cameron

[Volvo Canadian]

Hi - one more post on the 123 ignition. First, there are programmable and non-programmable models. The later are too expensive just for the benefit of electronic ignition in my opinion at least. The programmable one is good if you have engine mods, as one can adjust the curves accordingly, and given a souped-up engine probably means one is going whole-hog, it makes some sense as part of the package. I paid about $500 for mine. By all accounts, they are well-made and reliable. Also, if there are a lot of engine mods, you are probably the type who wants to play around yourself. Just being able to switch curves between high and low octane is - guess one benefit both have. Also, both 123 models are stainless - SHINY - need I say more?

In the near future I'll be playing around with a hydrogen generation system, which uses electricity to make H2. This is supposed to improve combustion of the existing fuel enough to offset the power reqd to produce the hydrogen. Hahahah, but a friend (who builds race cars) has offered me his set-up, which he bought on a whim, then sold the car he intended to try it on. Anyway, I'm pretty sure I'll have to adjust the timing for more rapid combustion and maybe, just maybe it will make a difference. A 123 is just the thing for such eccentricities.

Luke - you are just the type who should have a 123 in my opinion, as I can't imagine you will ever stop fiddling with that car, but maybe not.

Getting back to your questions, yes, you need to fix any and all water problems you can asap! Not particularly glamourous, but not that expensive either. And as for wrapping your exhaust, that is a pretty esoteric thing to do - it is supposed to reduce noise and keep the exhaust hot, so it flows better, and reduce temps in the engine bay. I'd leave that for waaay down on the list.

[superspod]

thanks but as tempting as it sounds, and i do love shiny stuff, i think due to the lack of anything done to the engine and for someone too nervous to fiddle around with timing, £500 is not ideal. however i guess i will be spending my time with door seals for a while as well attempting to source that bit of trim for the windows. doors are also rotted at the bottom so welding would be required. damn this is getting expensive...
thanks,
cameron