1966 Volvo 122s Project

Trying to finally get around to documenting my long-term project Volvo. I've had it for a little over a year and I'm still picking around the edges of making it run right.

So far the high points have been installing a GM Alternator and moving the "angry pixies" around to a solenoid. I've also replaced the transmission (a few times, I'm afraid to admit) along with the clutch.

Other high points include lowering the car and rebuilding the suspension while I was under there.

Here's how it sits now;

On the to-do list include a new exhaust, the installation of a Ford 8.8 axle and the replacement of the rear shocks with something that is not a KYB. In the longer term, I plan to re-wire it and replace the fuel injection with Megasquirt. Also, getting rid of the white walls, but don't tell my wife - she loves them.

Sweet wagon. I agree with your wife, the white walls are awesome

the whites rock with this stance.......

Gosh, that's a handsome car.

8.8? Lot of axle for stock power. Plans to change that?

That looks great.

Love the 122 Wagons, it was one of the cars I wanted when I was looking for my current project ( P1800 ES)

Couple of questions if I may?

That car did not come from the factory with EFI or did it? B20 swap?

And what is with the gearboxes, I thought Volvo boxes were bombproof?

Also, putting an 8.8 in the back is a lot of work when the factory part is quite robust. What is the goal with that?

And for the record, I kinda like the whitewalls

The car came with Dual SU's and I've swapped on a Weber 32/36 since the SU's were in horrible condition and the weber was the cheaper option. The B20 EFI manifold will fit on the B18 and I can either rig up a 36/1 wheel on the crank or buy a DSM CAS adapter for timing.

The Volvo gearboxes may be bulletproof, but in this case they were also 50 years old and some hard parts are hard to find (blocking rings). I had a M41 rebuilt (yay overdrive) and swapped that in.

The stock diff is specific to the wagons (spring placement and different arms), so its hard to come by a replacement. Plus they're a Dana 30 with and odd-spline that makes the parts hard to come by. It also needs to be rebuilt, badly. With the Ford 8.8 swap I get better ratios, rear discs, limited slip and part that should be easy to find. My biggest motivator has been that the rear-end ratio is dreadful.

I will need to get the 8.8 shortened (make the long-side match the short-side) and brackets made. The fun part has been finding somebody to do the work. The other option would be to find a 240 limited slip and throw that in.

In reply to sporkfan:

Where you live? We probably know a guy that can do the shortening. Hell, ive done 2 myself.

I've had lots of 122s, and found the Dana 30 to be quite a good rear end. You can actually buy different gear sets for them and swap just the gears, if you want a different ratio. A set of gears is about $100 I think, last I checked. The only limiting factor will be there's a cut-off point at around 3.73 (I think) for these ratios. The stock wagon ratio was either 4.1 or 4.56. If yours had OD stock, you probably have the 4.56. You can just swap in a 4.1 from a sedan (and change the suspension arms, as you said they're different) to get a better ratio. I'm not sure where you're located but I have lots of 122 sedan rears that I'd sell pretty inexpensively.

With the B18, you probably don't want to go much taller (lower numerically) than a 4.1 with the Overdrive, or the OD won't be too usable.

A nice bump would be installing a B20. There's not a ton of extra power, but I've found the B20 to be much more tractable at low RPMs, with more torque.

I think you'll find most parts for these cars are out there, either as good used (which I have many) or new. There's a huge following for these cars overseas.

Great looking wagon, BTW, especially with the new stance.

Your car is beautiful!

One benefit of using the Dana 30 or the 8.8 over the 240 rear is that the 240 used a different bolt pattern for the wheel lugs. You could get an adaptor, but then you'd be looking at at least a 1" thick adaptor to convert the bolt pattern.

An 8.8 wouldn't be a bad swap, but narrowing it might be more of a task than simply finding a sedan rear and swapping over the suspension points from your current axle. Plus, the 8.8 will also need the suspension points swapped over.

If your current wagon axle could be revived with a set of new gears and some basic wear item replacement (bearings, seals) that might be the easiest option overall. I understand a brake upgrade to discs is a motivator, but unless you also upgrade the fronts, and potentially the master cylinder and prop valve (there's a stock prop valve thing mounted just in front of the rear axle) you could end up with an ehem unfavorable brake balance.

It's not really the disks my main goal is to get away from the 4.56 gearing.

sporkfan wrote: It's not really the disks my main goal is to get away from the 4.56 gearing.

Then the best bet would be either to find a sedan (4.10) rear and change the mounts over, or swap the gears with a new 4.10 set.

Volvo engines gotta love'm... a fair amount can be done on a Volvo "B" engine (B18/B20). As I remember they took to boost (S/C) rather well.......

Progress, or something like that. The original felt (!) seal on the crankshaft had stopped holding the oil back, and I wanted to check on the condition of the timing gear since it was an unknown and they are a wear item.

All looks good, except for the tearing of the oil pan gasket, so now I get to finagle that out to change that seal. Fun. Other work includes replacing the heater control valve since its stuck on full hot - all the time and putting in a new horn wire and rag-joint into the steering column.

Keep us posted -oh and any new pictures? I can't see the first few on this thread and I'm thinking I've been photobucked.

Not sure what happened to the pictures that were already there. I think that flickr is the new hotness for picture hosting, I'll give that a shot and repost.

I'll be pulling the engine out this weekend to go over the rear-main seal and replace the transmission. The M41 is having issues and I've got another M40 to replace it with. The lump will go back in with an IPD header new seals and a carburetor setup that makes sense. I'm fighting the desire to replace the DGV with the original SUs or a DGEV so that I can mount four way flashers where the choke lever used to be. We'll see what happens.

Then I need to hunt down a 4.10 rear end..

Dunno where you are, but I have friends all over the US who have old Volvo parts. Tell me where you are, and I may know someone there with a 4.10.

I have a 4.10 set of gears I'll sell you, but they're for the 1031 axle from later 240/740/940 cars.

I gotta set of four tens from an Amazon. Pulled them out of a sedan we swapped to 4.88 gears. Good wear pattern, didn't make any noise when we pulled them.

volvoclearinghouse, make me an offer.

I'll get around to fixing the pictures soon. I pulled the engine out today to fix the oil leaks (rear main felt seal), swap transmissions, and clean things up.

Good to meet you yesterday!

Since you are apparently local, let me know if you need a hand sometime.