1967 Pro-Touring 122 Amazon (Project Volvo X)540 Horsepower LS6/Tremec TKO600 5-Speed

[Iamtheonlyreal1]

Well I got out steering column in today, and it looks pretty good, and fits pretty nicely.. I have always been partial to the sport wood steering wheels, so I thought I would give the old Cobra style a chance. It looks like the new cluster style, column, and steering wheel will come together nicely as a package, but I am still unsure on the actual background color for the back wall of the guages..

I am really want to stick with the classic styling, and I think this works.. In the pictures, you will see a construction paper dash top over the guages, and that represents to shape of the new dash top.. At this point, I am not sure if I am going to make that out of steel, or just make a full fiberglass backer for the upholstery shop to cover.

Here is the factory style cluster and steering column.





Here is my new layout..

[Iamtheonlyreal1]

Here are some pics of the guages that I ordered for the bezel I was working with, I think they very decent for the money, and come with everything to operate them.. I put a piece of vinyl film behind them to show some contrast, but I am not still sure what I am going to do for coloring back there. The bezel will not be polished, and will more than likely be powdercoated black or some contrasting color to the body interior color..

[Iamtheonlyreal1]

I am sure this will cause more questions than answers, but here is the new fill position for your upcoming fuel tanks.. I should have some pics of the new test fuel tank later this week or early next, which will show you how it all comes together.. We should be in a 14-16 gallon capacity, and it will only take up the space forward of the trunk hinges, which will leave about all the existing trunk space. It will also be in a safer position, when it comes to rear end collisions. With the Amazon/P1800 rear panel acting as a natural firewall, it is like these cars were made for this position fuel tank.

In the case of spillage, the is a drain system to the outside of the car, as most cars with closed in fuel fills do. The same drain setup, should also act as a vent for any fumes from the residual fumes during fill up, and the trunk seal will block the rest. The original fuel tank setups that I have encountered, tend to have a bit of leakage from the fuel sender gaskets at times, and I am sure this set up will offer less actual smell than the factory..

When these are done, they will bolt in, so there will be no need for welding.. As you can see, it mounts with the outer trunk hinge bolt, and the tab that is used for the spare tire strap. The only draw back to this tank for some, will be the elimination of the spare tire holder, but you can still haul a spare laying down if you wish. I will also have some pics of the OEM tank elimination plate, and for the performance guys, this plate will relocate your battery to a sub floor position that is centered at the back of the rear axle. If you didnt want to use it for a battery, it can be used as storage.

[Iamtheonlyreal1]

I am trying to sort out the dash modification that will allow some traditional guages, because the original Amazon cluster is really pretty small and the guage setup, doesnt allow much updating to the original cluster.. The P1800's I am working on, have a very easy update situation, so they arent any problems with an updated/factory set up..

Here is a pic of the original cluster set up.




Here are some pics of the roughed in cluster/dash set up, and as you can see, it will give me all the necessary gauge options. In its postion, it is only about 1/2 inch taller than the original set up, and about 1.5 inches wider. I plan on having the dash top done in the same fashion as the original, and I think that will keep it sort of era correct looking. And if you look at the pics of the original, you will see that I will have a bit of hole filling for the uneccessary items like the Choke, but I do plan on using the original style wiper, lights, and other knobs, because I like the look.

[Iamtheonlyreal1]

I am doing all this to work toward a body wrap, rather than doing the final paint.. I really like this color called Matte Pencil, and was planning on paying for the artwork time to have all the Swedish Ops logo's strategically placed about the car, along with all the logo's for the companies that are supplying parts for our products..

This color is awsome, and I think it will go awsome with the Brushed Aluminum Boze V12 wheels I ordered.

[Iamtheonlyreal1]

The body guy has started on the body work rough in, and I finally have my flares tweeked where I think they will work out fine.. Here are some pictures of the flares ground down, but I still have to do a bit more finish welding..









Here are some follow up pictures to the removal of the license plat bracket/trunk latch, and in these pics, the holes are welded up.. I also removed the fuel filler from the back, because with the horsepower I am running, I dont think I will be able to keep gas from sloshing out.. LOL We have our new Swedish Ops fuel tanks in the works, so I hope I have something done in time, so I dont have to temporarily run a fuel cell.









I have also removed my front marker/turn signal lights, because I will be adding the turn signals to the custom projector headlamps..







I have seen alot of these cars get built with extremely bulky late model seats, and I wanted to steer away from that.. I have been saving this seats for awhile, and I think they will fit the styling of the car.. They actually mounted to the factory Amazon Floor Mount, so I didnt have to change the floor at all.. I will be doing some extra bracing and attachments to the floor mount, because you cant be too safe..

[Iamtheonlyreal1]

I am getting some of the body work done on the car this week, and at the same time doing some of the necessary body clean up mods. I have found that the Volvo P1800 trunk button is very easy to use on the Amazon, and I think it will potentially make the car much cleaner looking in the rear.. All you have to do is drill a hole for the P1800 button body to fall into, and the mechanicals of the P1800 button will actually work the Amazon trunk release, with no Mods..

I am also working on installing the license plate into the bumper, but I have to do a bit of contouring and tweeking still.. I am not set on it yet, but I think it all could potentially work out. I will also be removing the bumper guards, and plan on welding the bumper up, to make it a one piece bumper.

Before, with the Amazon Trunk Latch, and original license plate position







The after, with the P1800 Button, and the relocated license plate. I am not sure about it yet, but I think it does have some potential

[Iamtheonlyreal1]

I have the Boze V12 Wheels in a 18x9.5 rear and 18x8 front started on, and I also have the 14inch Wilwood Front Disc in the Red 6-piston caliper option, along with the 13 inch Wilwood rear with the matching caliper option..

[Iamtheonlyreal1]

Well it turns out I will have to do a bit of flaring to allow the 265/35/18 to fit properly.. I cant belive the actual dimension difference between the 245's that will fit under there, versus the 265's.. I have a set of 225's, 235's, and 245's here, and you can barely tell the difference between all of them in the group, but you put that damn 265 next to the 245, and there is a huge visual size difference..

I didnt have to raise the actual arch, but it did have to come out 1.5 inches on the top.. It really seems like alot of extra work, just to gain that extra 1.5 inches, but the 265's look so much better under there.. I know by Pro-Touring standards, that isnt a very large tire. But in this body, and with this vehicle weight, I think it might do the trick.

These old Volvo bodies actually start narrowing right after the doors, so the exaggerated rear flares, still dont stick out past the fron fender flares, when you are standing right in front or back of the car.. I used the masking tape (Duct Tape) analaysis on this, because it helps see proportions, with out the overwhelming contrast of welded metat, ground paint, ect. It hasnt grown on me yet, so I will sit on it a day or two before I start the other side. I still have to blend the bottoms into the rockers, but that shouldnt be too bad..

[Iamtheonlyreal1]

Here are some pics of the finished Replacement Trailing Arm/Panhard Bar kit for the later cars, and I do have the brackets to make them work for the early cars too.. You will also see the new 8.8 Ford rear axle conversion bracket kit, for the guys that dont want to use the heavy duty 9in Mod Light Ford we are using for our V8 Builds.. These brackets are offered in the Do it Yourself fold and weld set up, or we can weld them up for you for a fee.

Also pictured is the Rear Coil Over Conversion bar that puts all the weight load back into the original coil spring pockets, instead of installing on the inner sided of the unibody frame rails like most kits do. There is 4 inches of ride height adjustment with this kit, and that is at one inch increments by fliping coil over mount brackets around..

Rear Trailing Arm/Panhard Bar kit.. It comes with the standard Rubber Bushing rod end, or the optional Heim Joint set up pictured. As you can see, there is a redesign in the production models versus the earlier pictured arms in the build threads. We had changed to a swedge end set up, because it offers a bit more space, along with making them stronger. This bar set works with the Original Volvo rear axle, so it a direct replacement for all the original arms and bushings.







Here is the 8.8 Ford Axle Conversion Bracket Kit... You can see the Do it Yourself version, which are the flat foldable plates, and the finish welded brackets above them. This will make the Ford Mustang/Explorer conversion much easier.







Here is the complete kit set up, with the Rear Coil Over Conversion Bar and Coil Overs.

[Iamtheonlyreal1]

Here are some pics of how the underneath is set up, with the Front and Rear Suspension, LS Motor, Tremec TKO 600 5-speed, the Speedway Engineering Mod-Light 9in Rear End, ect.. None of the drivetrain is below the body structure or rockers, so I wont have any Oil Pan ground clearance issues, because it and the transmission are tucked up in the body structure pretty decently. It also appears that there will be plenty of room for a decent sized exhaust pipe, so I can get a decent sounding and free flowing exhaust.

The mock up trans crossmember is pretty minimal, and will allow the exhaust pipes to sit in a nice ground clearance position. All of these components are part of our LS Conversion kit, so it should make the job much easier.. The engine stand and transmission mount are totally shimable, so you can dial in what ever angles or drivetrain positions you want..

[Iamtheonlyreal1]

I should have the 540 horse LS6 here at the beginning of next week, and I am running the Tremec TKO600 with the .82 final drive in 5th, and now I am debating on what rear end gear ratio to start with first.. The car will weigh in at about 2700 pounds, so I was thinking it would be useless to go any lower than 3:42's, but I was thinking of starting with 3:08's. This would be also be a decent posi-trac with 18x9.5 rear wheels, and I think it will still perform very strong there, while getting about a 2000 rpm at about 70mph.

[Iamtheonlyreal1]

I think I came up with a better idea for the old heater vent. I am going to use the cowl vent as a fresh air vent for the motor, by building a fitler box that attaches where the factory heater box did, and then have two intake runners that will run along the top of the valve covers. I am really considering, having a Louvered Intake Cover that is bridges the gap between the two runners, and will hide the intake and injector wiring.. It should give it a LS Engine Cover look, but be functional?

The pictured radiator isnt the LS Conversion Radiator and is a single core I had on hand, so the upper water neck is in the wrong location. That is what makes the mock up fabbed intake look too close. I also ran out of the Mock Up intake pieces, sure seems like they would give you more pieces, but you can get the idea..

[Iamtheonlyreal1]

Well, it has been a bit since I have updated anything on this car, but there has been alot of development and behind the scenes going on.. I have been waiting for a few more key parts be finished up with the CAD work and cutting programs, so I can install actually production parts on this car.. I didnt want a car on the road, that wasnt actually running the production parts people are buying.. I think it would be a bad thing to take this car to events, and have people notice some key items are different from what Swedish Ops is offering to the public... I hope to have it on th road in the next couple of weeks, and I am waiting on the Production Driveshaft, LS Conversion Radiator, Conversion Headers, and the New LS engine to be delivered..

Here is the Mock Up Accessorized Ls Engine/Tremec TKO600 5-speed in the hole, and as you can see, it fits great.. Here is the interesting thing about our Front Suspension/Crossmember kits. The motor sits lower and further back than the original 4cyl, but you can drop the oil pan, remove the headers, change spark plugs, change AC compressor/altenator/power steering pump, etc, without even jacking or moving the motor..

In these pictures, you will see the multi piece firewall conversion mock up, but it has all been CAD'd and in production, so I will be installing the new productionfirewall conversion kit during the new engine replacement. Most of the underhood is still the factory structure, with only the actual firewall changed.. The fender wells, core support, and unibody structure is still factory and un-modified, as you can tell by the factory paint.

You will also notice the cowl air intake for the heater box is still there, and I cant cut it off, because it has Car Numbers on it, so I am going to use it for a engine compartment heat escape.. I am going to make a nice dual funnel system, that will draw the heat out the cowl vent.. I hope I can make it look right, along with function correctly, because I cant really remove it without potential paperwork problems later..

I will also be running the Wilwood Pedal Assembly hidden under the dash, with the remote fluid resevoirs, so the brake booster option for the firewall will not be there also.. Once the production Firewall conversion kits is fully installed, things will look much cleaner, and I can prep and paint under the hood..

Before






After, before paint and new motor

[Iamtheonlyreal1]

Here are some pics of different views of the P1800/Amazon front and rear kits together.. Keep in mind, this is our base kit with base brakes, but this what you see is the minimum of what you get... All the front end kits come fully assembled and ready to install, no welding, no cutting, so once you have your factory components removed, it literally slide right in and matches up with all the existing Volvo bolt holes.. You can also see the front end kit actually has longer braces forward of the OEM. And we do this, because after you remove the factor steering components, the extra reienforced holes are there to utilize for extra support and bracing of the new front crossmember.