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Amazon engine swap

Benzine

Member
Joined
Dec 23, 2007
Location
UK
I've had a '67 Amazon since 2010 that I put hundreds of hours of welding into. It's now a rolling shell with new springs, dampers and a fully painted and protected undercarriage without an engine or transmission. So a solid blank canvas.

I've not touched it for years for lack of funds but my dad is interested. He's wanting to get rid of his Boxster (too low and manual) and is wanting to help out for us to finish the amazon and both use it. Ideal! An auto would be nice (it originally was an auto... B18 with a bw35 3 speed - both engine and trans are gone). He'd like to keep it a volvo engine. Not after daft power, something peppy would be good. So if we're going the auto route I'm guessing my options are:

  • b18/b20 with bw35
  • redblock with aw71
  • t4/t5 or n/a whiteblock with aw30-40

Any other volvo options and opinions on what's the best route? I'd have thought a red block with aw71 would be best cost wise and, from what I remember reading, could even link up to the existing dashboard auto shift. T5 is tempting but is it going to be a nightmare controlling the trans? Any thoughts on this welcome
 
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Redblock with aw71 is the best option. It will have the least amount of headaches. In the land of manuals, I don't know how much trouble it is to find an auto.
 
Redblock with aw71 is the best option. It will have the least amount of headaches. In the land of manuals, I don't know how much trouble it is to find an auto.

Thanks. It's easy enough to find an auto over here. Even a couple in the local scrap yard at the moment.
 
Hi
I am in England
have a amazon estate
i have fitted a 16 valve Volvo Penta 2.5 Lts its running twin su carbs 175 horses
nice easy fit
5 speed manule but you could use aw 71
PM me if you would like to come and have a play
or i can give you my phone number
 
Hi
I am in England
have a amazon estate
i have fitted a 16 valve Volvo Penta 2.5 Lts its running twin su carbs 175 horses
nice easy fit
5 speed manule but you could use aw 71
PM me if you would like to come and have a play
or i can give you my phone number

Can you post some photos?
 
Hi
I am in England
have a amazon estate
i have fitted a 16 valve Volvo Penta 2.5 Lts its running twin su carbs 175 horses
nice easy fit
5 speed manule but you could use aw 71
PM me if you would like to come and have a play
or i can give you my phone number

That?s very interesting, where did you source a good engine from. Nice power for a Amazon.
 
Hi
yes will post some pics in a few days for you
engines well I have 3 blocks and 5 heads
2 sets of car cams and 4 sets of penta cams
if you buy a penta head the week spot is the exhaust valves
take them out and give them a good wack on the edge of the seat
a lot of mine have snapped where the stem is friction welded to the head
you could just put a penta head on a B230 block use a cosmic head gasket
and that stops the valves hitting the pistons

B30 i have a 164 the B30 is much longer and a lot heaver so you will get real bad under stear and it less power than the penta
 
8v B21/23/230s fit really good in these cars at a slant. Stock intake and exhaust manifolds fit N/A or Turbo. M46/47 or AW70/71 would also fit with slight tunnel mods. You can even use the 740/940 rear mount distributer. Your best bet would be to find a cheap 740/940 turbo and swap everything over.
170797393.jpg
 
8v B21/23/230s fit really good in these cars at a slant. Stock intake and exhaust manifolds fit N/A or Turbo. M46/47 or AW70/71 would also fit with slight tunnel mods. You can even use the 740/940 rear mount distributer. Your best bet would be to find a cheap 740/940 turbo and swap everything over.
170797393.jpg

Thanks for the info everyone. That looks great. What's clearance like between turbo and inner wing? My steering is on that side


Grumpy dad, thanks very much for the offer! Where abouts are you in England? I'm lincs/Notts/leics border
 
Josh [Yoshifab] sells slant mounts for the vintage models to stick a OHC redblock engine into

Im going that route on my 1800ES
 
What's clearance like between turbo and inner wing?

Not enough, I'm afraid. If you mount the block upright so the turbo clears the steering then there's not enough room for the later inlet manifold. I forget if the k jet swan neck maifold fits with the block upright.
 
Not enough, I'm afraid. If you mount the block upright so the turbo clears the steering then there's not enough room for the later inlet manifold. I forget if the k jet swan neck maifold fits with the block upright.

B21 intake will fit and should work well with the steering on the right side. I fit one to mine and it only didn’t work because there wasn’t though space to fit an elbow into the throttle body because of the steering column.
 
8v B21/23/230s fit really good in these cars at a slant. Stock intake and exhaust manifolds fit N/A or Turbo. M46/47 or AW70/71 would also fit with slight tunnel mods. You can even use the 740/940 rear mount distributer. Your best bet would be to find a cheap 740/940 turbo and swap everything over.
170797393.jpg


Hey Mike, got any more info on that swap? I've got an 1800ES, and trying to decide between an upright vs slanted engine mount. With slanted, I'm just not sure how much room there is for a turbo. I know with upright, I'll have to make a custom intake to clear the brake booster.
 
I doubt it?s much tighter than a 240 turbo. I don?t think the turbo is pushed much farther toward the passenger side when mounted at a slant, it just rotates it around a little. If I was starting mine over I?d probably go with slant mount instead. Using a factory b230 intake manifold would save a lot of hassle.
 
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