Amazon: Amazon Estate Rolling Project

[Burdekin]

I've just bought what I would call a solid 66 Amazon Estate to be my daily car. The body has a few wee issues but overall I think it's in pretty good condition from what I can see. The paint is fair condition but needs doing along with removing any rust issues as soon as I can afford to do so. The interior is okay but again needs some love and attention. The engine is running poorly and there is an issue with using oil and leaking water and not holding pressure.

This is what I intend on doing as I want it to be a reliable, functional and cool looking car.

Engine:

Darren (DJS) and I stripped my B20E and cleaned it and we will rebuild this engine and I will put it into the Amazon. Darren has taken the engine in bits plus the parts I already have back home with him as he's going to get the block machined 30 or 40 thou oversize, crank ground and head skimmed as will probably go for a CR of about 10:1 and if the machine shop do it I hope they will do a little bit of head work for me. If not maybe will try and do a wee polish of the exhaust ports. We will then build the engine ourselves. I will run twin SUs, big thanks to John (Biggles24) for the SUs, aluminium intake manifold and the linkage which look to be in fab condition. I have an air box for the carbs and will link this to a K&N filter at the front of the car drawing cold air. Going for a KG10 cam, again thanks to 940turbo and Fredrik at KG Trimning for the help and advice on choosing the cam. The engine will be totally reconditioned and I have ordered all the parts I need from KG and Brookhouse, except the pistons which I think the machine shop will probably supply. Still haven't decided on the exhaust manifold and exhaust set-up but maybe a type 1 KG manifold might be on the cards. Ignition I'm going to go for the Megajolt system. I will try and keep the thread up to date and detail what I do along the way. When setting up the twin carbs and then the megajolt I hope to use a rolling road so that will also give some numbers to show what this set-up will produce and if better than standard HP and torque.

Bodywork:

No changes and will keep original. Will get the rust cut out and a full respray when I get the pennies. New seals all round and I will do my best to make the car as water tight as I can get it. Rust proofing is high on my list. Front and rear bumpers I am thinking of making each into single piece bumpers and loose the middle upright sections and then get them re-chromed. Not decided on the wheels but something more sensible, maybe 17" Torque thrust IIs. Door handles and locks etc need sorting. I like the original roof racks so will keep an eye out for one of these as well.

Interior:
Full sound-proofing, carpet and maybe get the car retrimmed or just good tidy-up. Still need to decide on this but I think the inside needs to be really nice as that is what you see when in the car so the interior needs to make me feel good to be in the car. Upgrade the sound system and maybe my wife can look after that side of things as she's the tech geek in the family.

Handling:

Maybe use my Corsa electric power steering. Will see what the previous owner has done with the suspension. Maybe use my P1800E rear axle and change the front hubs.

Anyway will see how things go but the big job at the moment is to get the engine back in and use the car and then get the bodywork sorted so the little issues don't get bigger.

Some pics attached of the car (bit dirty from the drive up) and most of the E engine bits after the first clean.

If anyone has any good suggestions on nice upgrades let me know.

Cheers,

Mitch

[RWD]

Looks very nice, always liked the Amazon estate. Hope all goes well and that the dreaded metal moth hasn't been too greedy!

Did you modify the bonnet badge or was it like that when you got it?

[Burdekin]

Well spotted, no the previous owner had a sense of humour...

[pez]

Welcome to estate ownership mitch!! Looks a great project youve got there.

[222s]

If you're going to make the bumpers one piece, this will be interesting reading:

http://autopendium.com/vehicles/3-19...e-front-bumper

For the sound system, there is just enough space to mount a modern headunit under the dash in front of the gearstick (so the driver can reach it, unlike the factory mounting position) and old Jags are a good source of classic looking speaker covers (simple black mesh with chrome rim) should you end up locating the speakers where they would be visible.

Btw, what size are the big wheels & tyres & how did it drive?

[Alf ista]

Looks good Mitch. Looking forward to seeing how it turns out. Man, those are some low profile tyres, must have been a real hard ride.....
Like what he did with the bonnet letters, well spotted that man!

[tdz840]

I see you have the very special, only fitted to rudespeeds, twin crank B22. Understood it was an urban legend but there it is in the flesh!
Nice car and I too like the colour.
Russ

[Burdekin]

No definitely not an urban myth Russ. The twin crank system effectively doubles the output speed so it should be plenty fast when completed. ;-)

[Burdekin]

A wee update. All the engine parts now ordered except for the lightened flywheel which KG is going to do for me. Just need to send a couple of pics on the weekend to ensure I get the correct one. This engine building lark is certainly buring a hole in my pocket. DJS has kindly given me a B20E exhaust manifold which will match the aluminium intake that I've sourced from Biggles24, so all slowly coming together. Darren has also dropped the block off at the machine shop yesterday and will drop off the head next week, so will know next week what needs doing and when it will be done.

I'll start on overhauling the twin carbs next week starting with an Ultrasonic bath clean. We have one at work so I will try it out first with one of the spare SUs that I have. It should clean the carbs very nicely. E-mailed the guys at SU to see what service kit I will need and asked them about the RN needle that Russ (tdz840) recommended. I also bought two SU carb books from Amazon so I will do some reading (as always) when they come.

Spoke to the guys at Trigger Wheels about a megajolt package, nice helpfull guy and he's doing me a deal on a package so a nice saving there and all the parts sorted. It seems pretty straight forward the install but I'll have a read up on the weekend. For those looking for some bedtime reading: http://www.autosportlabs.net/MJLJ_V4...allation_guide Once the engine is rebuilt I'll get it running on the single carb, then do the twin carb swap and then finally the megajolt swap.

Hopefully some nice pics next week as all this text is a bit boring. ;-)

[Burdekin]

I went and saw the restoration shop on Saturday. The guy has bought a house and set-up his workshop on 6 acres near our cottage, he had a business on the other side of Aberdeenshire and does good work so that was a stroke of luck. He had a look at the car when he was in Aberdeen and reckons it is in pretty good shape but with the paint cracking and the small amount of rust it needs attention. So will tow it up on the weekend and help him strip the car so he can start next week. I will help him with the donkey work to help keep costs downish.