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Click here for July 2003 Project Updates
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More photos below, please
click on image for full size photo |
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Description |
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Joaquin's
121 was one of the 200 Amazons specially imported by the
Peruvian Government as police cars in Lima, Perú (South
America).
Now it is Joaquin's daily commuter between home and work and is
also being used to visit neighbouring states during weekend trips.
This car is a product of two cars, he also bought a crashed 121
for parts. The rebuild of this car took about six months and
Joaquin had many problems sourcing parts for his Volvo, that's
how we made contact - through the Brickboard - while he was
asking questions about parts. There some very helpful
enthusiasts on the Brickboard and this was a big help for
him.
Joaquin had to improvise in a number of areas because many
parts were unavailable in his part of the world, some parts were
purchased on Ebay and ipd, however his perseverance resulted it
a very nice useable classic Volvo car, well done!
It was a tough project but the end result made every effort and every cent withdrawn from his
savings accounts worth it.
Tyres are 6.00-15, 4-layer conventional tyres (made
locally by Lima Caucho Co., this type of tire is made specially
for the common Volkswagen Beetle taxis here - the original Volvo
tyre was a 6-layer tyre, but both type of tyres are the same
size, the only difference is longevity: going by the experience
of many local Taxi drivers a set of 4-layer tyres lasts only one
and half year and supports only up 28psi air pressure max. - a
bit less then the Volvo Amazon spec).
Petrol for his Amazon in Lima, Peru has always been a
problem. Now they have available again 95 octane RON leaded
gasoline at a few gas stations. He is switching to this fuel,
which is closer to the original spec of 97 RON for 121s
than the previous mix of 84 octane RON leaded plus 90 octane RON
unleaded he was using.
Brake Master Cylinder: Joaquin will be making another
major change to the car, the brake master cylinder is of the
standard single circuit type and will have to be replaced with a
double circuit one due the new Peruvian vehicle regulations,
which require dual brake circuits on all registered cars, and it
is mandatory by law since February 2003.
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UPDATES July 2003 - After
months of work, I have finished my second round of changes on my
"Rojo" 121 Amazon:
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I
changed (due local vehicle regulations) the single main
brake cylinder for a double circuit from a
Mercedes-Benz pontoon. The new cylinders are very similar to the
ones used by Volvo. Now "Rojo" has one circuit for the
front disc brakes (with servo) and another for the rear drum
brakes. At its side, I installed a new blue coil on a
home-made metallic "L" support - the original
coil was shorted and supplying very low current. The
third cable in the negative post of the coil goes to a
tachometer
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Due
I can’t have a dual circuit brake warning valve, I put
two single line brake line connectors (each one with a pressure
switch). I connected the front circuit switch (left one) to the
stop lights and to a pilot lamp on the panel. In the next weeks
I will be connecting the other one (right one, without
electrical cables) to a second pilot light (also on the panel)
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This
is the engine bay at July 2003. At left my Stromberg
carburettor (no smog gadgets, is a 175CDS,
I met the local smog control barely). A right, my
Lockheed servo before the new brake cylinder and coil.
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I
suggest to any Amazon Enthusiast to put two fuel filters on
his/her beloved car: one before the pump (universal type)
and other (usually a bit smaller - I use a Volkswagen
beetle gas filter) after it. The first one intercept
any garbage coming from the tank before it blocks or
damages the pump internal valves, the second to
prevent small particles to get into the carburettor, preventing
sticking needles valves and consequently, undesirable fires in
the engine bay.
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My
carb is a Stromberg (believe it or not, after the rebuild with a
kit from Burlen and many weeks of work, the carb works like a
clock). By now, the air filter is a pancake one (I am
looking for an original black pot air filter).
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The alternator initially
fitted on the car goes to green pastures soon, I
will change it with one taken from a
destroyed Daewoo Tico (yes, this small "toy size"
car have a good electrical system, but because they are too
light and too fast, we have here one or two wrecked in
traffic accidents every day). Now I have 35 amp at
full charge and the engine load is decreased, making a
more happy engine with a bit more edge power (this
alternator has an internal regulator, the regulator you can see
in the left side in the engine bay belonged to the old
alternator and remains in place only for historical reasons). By
the way, I use a tensional arm from a Nissan pickup Z40 and the
original generator bracket on the installation. The Nissan also
was the donor of my 8 blade plastic fan (we need more cooling on
the engine due our "la ninha" hot summers)
The original Volvo generator was decommissioned - we have many
traffic bottlenecks here and generators are not so good for
recharging batteries at idle or low speeds.
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Thank
God!, in June a derelict 1962 Amazon was discovered on a
old garage junk, and the steering box was salvaged and installed
in place of the original (very worn) on my car .
Now my free playing is reduced from 8 to 1.5 inches!. I am a
very happy man. And as a second bonus, the auxiliary arm has now
oil nipples! (and can be oiled - I am not too sure about the
efficiency of any auto oiled mechanism after 35 years of
use).
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The
changes needed some hard work calibrating the new parts,
(the man on the photos is Mr. Enrique Quispe, a retired
mechanic, he helps me with major jobs on the car - he
has all tools in his workshop).
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The
green and gold gadget on my battery connections are Taiwanese
safety switch (ipd sold it in US, I bought mine here). I put one
on the positive and other on the negative connection. A great
help to isolate the battery during maintenance work without
connecting and disconnecting cables. I also made a vinyl
black cover for every connection (you can see it on the
engine bay photo, one on place, other at left off the battery).
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The
steering wheel comes from another Amazon (is a old Momo wheel) and
is covered in wood (Do you recognize the centre symbol?).
On the dash board we now have a digital clock (no car analog
clock available here at the moment - the clock is attached by a
magnetic holder as a temporary replacement), an emergency light
switch (not visible, is on the other side of the wheel, over the
windscreen wiper switch), three round indicators - tachometer -
temperature (the original was irreparable) and oil
pressure, a radio shack electrical mini panel with the pilot
brake light and the fog light switch. Also a new radio with
knobs - today here almost all radios use electronic buttons.
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Due
my people drive like crazy, I put a flashing red light under the
left bumper, an additional red light in the rear window, and a
little round radio-shack black buzzer near to the
right overrider bumper (this one is controlled by the reversing
light). Of course, now the rear bumper displays the volvoadventures.com
sticker!.
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The
engine bay at November 2003. A new chromed K&N filter, made
for Strombergs carbs replaced the previous one. Now the ZS175CD are
breathing full and purring like a happy cat (I use a C
camshaft with one ZD175CD carb, my idle speed needs to
be a bit high: 900-1000 rpm - The 175CD usually work
fine with A camshafts).
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Another
view of the engine, please note the added hoses to the inlet
manifold, and an extinguisher bottle installed near to
the radiator. The inlet manifold was painted with high
temperature stove paint. I put a small filter over the
oil filler cap, due the need of filtered air for a new
PCV valve on the engine breather. Also, I changed the coil with
a Bosch red one (plus resistor), doubling the voltage delivered
to the spark plugs.
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Now
the engine bay is a plumber's dream! I add another nipple on the
inlet manifold, and plumbed one hose (on the middle of the
manifold) to a PCV valve attached to the breather (I cut and
adapted an old open-spit engine breather). The other
hose, goes to the brake servo. In middle of the latter hose I
put a vacuum valve and a "Y" attachment to an empty
old extinguisher bottle, using it as a vacuum reservoir (I
copied the idea from the the Triumph web site ).
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Rojo,
as it is at Nov 2003. Some aestatic temporary non-standard items
are added, like plastic hubcaps and front overriders (originals
not available here), but, the car works as a charm as my
daily commuter. Probably, next year I will put a LPG
system aboard (here - Perú- a US Gal. 97 octane gasoline
costs US$ 4.50 versus US$ 2.10 of equivalent mileage LPG).
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Specification
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Model :
Built in :
Engine :
Carburettor :
Power :
Gearbox :
Brakes :
Wheels :
Tyres : |
P121
(Amazon)
1966
4 cylinders, 1778cc, B18A
Stromberg CD175CDS
85bhp
4 speed manual
Discs front, drums rear
Steel 15x4.5
6.00-15 |
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Links
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Volvo 120 series
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Some
other interesting Volvo 120 series photos |
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