Atom's Amazon Wagon Project Update Thread

[Atom D&D]

Speed isn't a problem, the issue is keeping the seams straight when you go fast. The only "thing" is the biggest stitch I can do is 7 stitches per inch. Most car French seams are more like 5 stitches per inch.

[Atom D&D]

Since I made my front coilovers with stuff I had kicking around, the mounts were less than optimal. I wanted to thin down the upper mount setup.



So I found some eBay universal pillowball camber plates and tossed the flat part. Then I whipped up some thick plates that would allow for adjustment even if it goes beyond the opening on the strut tower.





Then to get the spring to sit up high I made some offset spring seats. I also integrated a reducer for the strut top mount vs the pillowball opening.



Which should slim down the overall thickness quite a bit.



On the way home ran into what my daily looked like when it was still stock. Same color even.

[Stiggy Pop]

does the sticker get you out of tickets?

[The Full Banana]

Originally Posted by Stiggy Pop

does the sticker get you out of tickets?

Painter's tape?

[Atom D&D]

Originally Posted by Stiggy Pop

does the sticker get you out of tickets?

I've been been pulled over once with no ticket and followed a few times without getting pulled over. I can't say for sure.

Originally Posted by The Full Banana

Painter's tape?

It's actually a strip of wrap vinyl. Had it on for a year now. Painter's tape leaves a crappy residue and would not last long in the Seattle weather.

[NONHOG]

My boy took a liking to your XC when you stopped by. It is a nice looking car.

[Atom D&D]

I’ve had these R32 seats my buddy gave me a long time ago. I’ve wanted to put them in for quite some time. The factory rails are too wide to fit between the trans hump and the vert sills so I had to do some modifying. I set up the winter workshop and got to work.



Left side is the first modified seat. Right side is what I used from the E30 stock seat. Then trimmed it down and added the R32 seat pan and back frame.

This way it bolts down to the stock location. Uses the stock tilt mechanism, but the R32 foams and upholstery (which I’ll switch over to cardinal)

[Atom D&D]

Still trying to progress towards getting this thing on the road so I can enjoy it, I started working on my LED taillight control panel. I’m using a voltage reducer/stabilizer for each circuit. One thing I ran into is that they bleed down when power is removed. It’s not instantaneous. So the turn signals wouldn’t flash. I added a low amperage relay to switch the low voltage output using the OE signal wire. At a stopping point tonight cause turns out I don’t have the right size heat shrink for the connectors I’m using.

[cwdodson88]

That’s why I’m always checking this thread. It looks awesome! Cnc router? I’m starting to get into g code. First up are tps, crank sensor, and maybe a coil bracket.

[Atom D&D]

Originally Posted by cwdodson88

That’s why I’m always checking this thread. It looks awesome! Cnc router? I’m starting to get into g code. First up are tps, crank sensor, and maybe a coil bracket.

Yup. I use it for everything. I’m not proficient enough to write straight to G code, but I can read it and modify when necessary. I just use BobCAD. It’s the dumbest simple CAD/CAM system and I’ve been using it forever. Real machinist laugh at me, but it does what I need it to.

[matt b]

Impressive

[cwdodson88]

Originally Posted by Atom D&D

Yup. I use it for everything. I’m not proficient enough to write straight to G code, but I can read it and modify when necessary. I just use BobCAD. It’s the dumbest simple CAD/CAM system and I’ve been using it forever. Real machinist laugh at me, but it does what I need it to.

That’s awesome! The 3axis at work doesn’t see a ton of running, so I can write my program and bring a 6pack in and one of the machinists can hang out to make sure I don’t crash it, so I’m looking into some CAD/CAM for the home laptop so I don’t spend all night at work writing my programs.

[Atom D&D]

Sample came in today



Very inefficient shipping



Spent time today swapping out the front spring seats, camber plates, rear springs and brake rotors/pads, but it was just too dark for pictures by the time I was done. I’ll take some more tomorrow. The good news is I’m pretty happy with the height. The bad news is the fronts struts are basically bottomed out. I’m going to have to buy some Corrado inserts and shorten the tubes.

[Atom D&D]

Took some steps forward this weekend and some steps back. Buttoned up a few small details (got seals in the middle side window openings, extended the wiper wiring, made sure the wipers are clocked correctly, trimmed the airdam and stuck it on, got both seats completely modified and got one taillight in place), but found out that the ride height that I want will require shorter struts and tubes, figured out (a bit too late) that since I used sedan seats to use for modifying that they don’t tilt forward, therefore there’s no access to the rear seat and found out that the wiper hubs I ordered won’t work (no inner splines). All in all though a productive weekend.

Going into the weekend with stock rear springs and front spring seats:



After rear spring swap and camber plates/dropped seats (the chain is to keep my pop up from walking away over night):



With airdam installed:

[kampman]

That ride height is just about perfect.

[M.H. Yount]

^^ My thoughts exactly...so I guess whatever has to be done so that the struts/dampers have (more or less) equal travel in compression/rebound at that static height should allow things to both look good and work good.

[Atom D&D]

Originally Posted by kampman

That ride height is just about perfect.

Originally Posted by M.H. Yount

^^ My thoughts exactly...so I guess whatever has to be done so that the struts/dampers have (more or less) equal travel in compression/rebound at that static height should allow things to both look good and work good.

Pretty much the same process as putting SAAB inserts in my 240 tubes back in the day. Except this time it’s VW Corrado struts in the front and third gen Camaro rear shocks. NBD. Just gotta pull it all apart again is the only real problem.

[cwdodson88]

wow... that height is perfect.

[Atom D&D]

Interesting E30 conundrum is that the oil pan is the lowest point under the front of the car. There'll be LOTS of E30s out there with cracked oil pans. Skid plates aren't really enough either. I'll be building a "roll cage" of sorts for the bottom of the engine.

[Atom D&D]

This weekend I didn’t have much available time. It’s Nutcracker season at my daughter’s ballet school so we all are in hectic mode. I did get the heater box swapped out (mine was non-AC, early stuff that I couldn’t find fan covers for), the wiper hubs pressed on to the linkage assembly and started trimming the dash. The bad news is that so much of the dash needs to be trimmed off that the OEM E30 cluster will not fit in the stock placement. The Volvo (stock) had a thin dash and the footwell space was out under the hood. The windshield sits much more vertical than the E30. The E30 has a longer dash and the foot well space is in the car. I think I can metalwork the Volvo firewall a bit and get the cluster to fit further back, but I don’t see it getting far enough back.

To get the vents working I’ll need to basically make adapters for the back of the vents and use flexible hose to get to the heater box (like small shop vac hose). We’ll see when I get the dash fit and mounted a bit better.

Next steps are gonna be tougher since it’s so cold out (fiberglass work in the near future).

Stock Amazon dash:



Trimming:

[gdogg16]

I think you should fit the stock dash in the car now that it's on the E30 chassis.

[Duder]

I'd second that. Looks like it would be a ton of work to get the E30 dash rearranged sufficiently. Why not use an Amazon dash and fit the E30 components into that (gauges, wiring, heater core, etc)? Plus it would help the illusion that this is still a modified Amazon, not an E30 wearing a Volvo hat.

[Atom D&D]

Originally Posted by gdogg16

I think you should fit the stock dash in the car now that it's on the E30 chassis.

Originally Posted by Duder

I'd second that. Looks like it would be a ton of work to get the E30 dash rearranged sufficiently. Why not use an Amazon dash and fit the E30 components into that (gauges, wiring, heater core, etc)? Plus it would help the illusion that this is still a modified Amazon, not an E30 wearing a Volvo hat.

I put a fair amount of thought into it and there’s just no good way to use the Amazon dash and get the rest of the controls to work/fit. I’d be better off building a dash from scratch and if I’m gonna do that I may as well start with all of the mounting points for the pieces and go custom from there. I’ve got some ideas to bring the E30 dash back to the styling of the Amazon. I think it’ll be ok once it’s done.

[Atom D&D]

The narrow front end of the 122 is gonna limit my wheel options a bit. I’ll eventually get custom wheels made to my spec, but what’s on it now are 17x7 adjusted to +38et in the front. Strut clearance is gonna be a limiting factor. More room in the rear though.

Sorry that I took exactly zero pictures of shortening the strut tubes. I took 1.5” out and added spacers to the bottom of the Corrado inserts.

[BJORNAGN]

Originally Posted by Atom D&D

I put a fair amount of thought into it and there’s just no good way to use the Amazon dash and get the rest of the controls to work/fit. I’d be better off building a dash from scratch and if I’m gonna do that I may as well start with all of the mounting points for the pieces and go custom from there. I’ve got some ideas to bring the E30 dash back to the styling of the Amazon. I think it’ll be ok once it’s done.

Funny...I am at the same stage with the dash and have arrived at the same conclusions.

At a glance, it looks like the P1800 dash could be made to fit. And I fully agree it would be the ideal choice.



But then when I got to trying to make it work, it requires not only all new dash metal, but also re-designing all the HVAC stuff. Just not up to that especially as the design intent is to have as few bespoke parts as possible for future maintenance.

So, ended up with this plan and hope to blend in some retro with wood accents



Really look forward to your updates. Wish mine was going as fast as yours.

Pete