My Amazon Estate Rescue Mission

[Andy the Aussie]

Oh good reminder dibble,

and a couple of bits off forum members....


Very much an upgrade on my current seat dressings




And springs to make you get down...

[222s]

Originally Posted by Andy the Aussie

Hi Gillberry,

The console is not original it's a remanufactured one copied from an original made from fibreglass with a nice smooth gel coat finish - I believe te original ones were very easily broken and became brittle with age which explains there rarity...

Their rarity in Amazons is because they aren't actually an Amazon* part! The one shown is a copy of the early 140 series centre console unit, which IIRC was an option on those cars, rather than standard fit across the range. As the early 140s used the same gearboxes as the Amazon (the remote gear change, similar to the 1800 coupes came later on the M40 / M41), the tunnel section is a similar shape, so the console will also fit in an Amazon. Given the Amazon's poor interior storage, they are thus a quite sought after upgrade. I have an original 140 console in my car, and I highly recommend getting one! On the 140, the domed section houses an 80mm clock, and the small recessed area has a row of four switch blanks.

*I gather that there were accessory ones, possibly aftermarket, sold for Amazons in other markets such as Sweden, but very rarely, if at all, seen over here in the UK. The Amazon specific ones that I have seen photos of, are also a different design to the one shown.

[Andy the Aussie]

Ok

From here on this thread will be and shall remain to be only about one car...

I've made a promise, to myself, to the mrs and now in writing to the forum gods

The blue car has gone - delivered last night to its new master who I am sure will see it's 'rescue' through

The guy has a workshop to make any real man jealous so no excuses....

Get your finger out Ross n get stuck into it ! (I know he reads this )

All good and feeling happy driving home in the rain last night - down to one amazon to concentrate on, workshop landlord will be less annoyed, wife happier, bit of money in the Volvo pot for paint/bumpers and most importantly my first amazon had gone to a good home...

All good

All good

Then, M1 junction 10 (15 miles from workshop) while singing along quite happily in the slow lane with my empty trailer........
The engine in the borrowed van I'm driving let's go with one very loud final scream....

All bad.....

From singing in a heated van to being stood on the side of a motorway for an hour in the rain at midnight and a long way from bed....

AA to the rescue - short drive in a heated truck then more rain with a lot of pushing and shoving at workshop to get van in ready for engine to come out and then into the heated car for the hour and a half trip home...

In bed for three something

It could of been a lot worse, but lets just say this;


Some days are definately easier than others in this life

[Andy the Aussie]

No pics of car to update as I spent most of The weekend sanding the outside of the car...... Sooooooo boring but will be worth it in the end....

Found myself outside at 10pm on Sunday with compressor and generator running, spray gun in one hand and flood light in the other - caught a reflection of myself in the window of the van and decided it was time to go home :\

I've fitted some new sound deadening to the front floors/firewall and some nice soft underlay and a very shiny set of carpets that Robert (1800necwinner) supplied for me all cut to shape - just loose fitted at the mo so they can come back out and be kept clean.

Bit more priming - last door, dash, bonnet hinges etc etc
there are just so many parts to paint with these cars

Hinges, little trim bits, reflector housings, dash trims, door trims tail gate hinges etc etc etc - the parts bucket of bits that need to go into body colour is never ending

Anyway,

More positively

I've had a good spell of shopping within the forum - carpets as mentioned and my springs and new seats have arrived




My question for the day is;

My current seats are with headrests but I want to swap them for the ones above
I assume I need to just swap the covers over and retain my headrest frames and cushions ?

Sounds easy enough - anyone got experience of the above ?

Thanks to dibble and colonel froth for the parts - all smiles this end

2 weeks to paint !!!!!!!

[Burdekin]

Yep you just need to cut the holes for the headrest supports, no physical difference between the seat frames. Redcar did a write up on his conversion but the pics are gone now I think.

[Amazonjulian]

Not too tricky Andy. You need to undo the hog rings at the bottom of the backrest. There's a webbing network inside and a band to tension for the lumbar support. There is also a rod that goes through a cloth loop on the inside of the seatback that then hooks into the seat frame keeping the cover under tension. Sounds more complicated than it is. The seat bases are simplicity itself. Seats look great by the way!

[Andy the Aussie]

Took a bit of a forced break from body prep on Saturday, and did a light front suspension rebuild - due to the fact that I had no electricity or compressor this weekend...

Poly bush kit for the upper arms and anti roll bar, lowered springs and a pair of KYB shocks and some cleaning and painting

[classicswede]

look nice those red bushes

Make sure you use plenty of grease on them.

[222s]

Dai, what is the correct type of grease to use when installing poly bushes? I have to do this soon, and have kept meaning to find out...

[classicswede]

Superflex supply a silicone grease, I've found that is washes out very quickly and that then causes the metal parts to corrode.

In theory you want a high compression grease but the best thing I have found is copper grease! You do want to cake them in grease and wipe away whatever spills out. If the bushes have crush tubes (stainless or any other metal) make sure you put lots of grease between that and whatever goes through it. I've recently had problems with a few stainless tubes corroding on solid onto components when they have needed to be removed a few years later.