Now that i've had my wagon back for a while and have gotten some time to drive it and tinker with it; i'm reminded of what i liked about my first volvo so much... these cars seem to want nothing more than to be driven and used. Today i actually used the wagon as a wagon, i helped a friend move and loaded a matress into the back of the car. Now, i don't know about you, but something about seeing my 67 volvo doing exactly what it was intended to be doing 40 years later just made me smile. Then later i used it to transport some(free!) pirelli tires (165 sr 15 for the stock steelies) to my house. Just knowing that it is a 40 year old car with somewhere around 300,000 miles on it... and still doing exactly what it's supposed to just seems awesome to me. It just seems like the most loyal, obediant, and willing vehicle around. So, considering it's being described as a dog, i guess you could say it's my pet... haha

On a serious, less-rambling note; i have a question for the brains here on brickboard. I got a speedo cable, and my speedometer works, but the odometer and tripodometer don't do anything... so presumably something in my gauge cluster itself is messed up. What should i look for? i know the junkyard here has a 544 sitting around, would that have the proper speedo parts i needed? any insight as to why the odometer doesn't work would be appriciated.

Thanks for reading, Gunch


oh, and just as a bonus here's a picture...

Hello,

Not all 544/122 insturmet cluster internal components are interchangeable!!

I recently had to do a custom restoration on an insturment cluster for a 1967 122 project I am doing for a customer.

Before the car went to paint, I removed the insturment cluster and removed the chrome bezel for polishing and I disassembled the lense assembly, because the customer wanted the metal face plate that usually has the gray crinkle paint to match the body color of the car.

When I did this I noticed that some idiot in the past had put in dash illumination bulbs that were too long and the green plastic bubbles that color the dash illumination were melted and it would be a total pain to swap these with another cluster because the retaining ring is staked in and these rings provide the ground for the bulb so it has to been done right.

So I dug out what appeared to be the same cluster with the later larger diamater threaded shaft for the speedometer cable hookup and good green illumination lenses with the intent of just swapping in the customers odometer and trip meter, but the little rod that drives the odometer/tripmeter just under the speed indicator drum would not fit nor interchange.

Upon closer examination, I saw that one cluster used a plastic gear on one end and the other used a bronze gear with different numbers of teeth.

So I had to reset the odometer to match the customers orignal odometer reading.

Eric
Hi Performance Automotive Service (formerly OVO or Old Volvos Only)
Torrance, CA 90501

How old are those Pirellis? The most recent Pirelli 165s I've seen were P3s, which I don't think have been made for quite a while. There should be a date code on the sidewall of each tire, consisting of three or four digits. The first two are the week (from 01 to 52) and the final one is the year (0 to 9) As this could lead to confusion about the decade, the year has been represented by two digits since the turn of the millennium (00 to 07 so far) If the tires are more than 10 years old, they are not to be trusted, even if they look OK. In my experience, Pirellis tend to become dull and oxidized looking more quickly than most other brands. They also seem to feel mushier than some others---for me, the definitive 165-15 is the Michelin XZX. They have excellent cornering ability, crisp steering feel, are good in the rain, and wear like iron. They are also among the roundest tires made, so they balance nicely with a minimal amount of weight, and run without vibration. The worst tires I have ever experienced were Firestone F-560s, 165-15, made in Brazil. They were incredibly out of round, and no mater what I tried, the vibration they set up was unbearable. The Pirellis, if they are recent enough to use, should have been fairly round when made, though, of course, they may be worn lumpy if they are used.

First, Nice wagon! I hope mine will look that nice when I get it returned to its original blue.

I undertook the odometer repair myself when I first brought amazon home. The odo quite working in the late 1980s when the car was at 300,000 miles. It was well over 500,000 when I repaired it in 2005 but I guess I'll never know for sure.

The actual repair is not too hard - but getting that cluster out is kind of a pain. Inside, there's a long rod with a small plastic gear on it had seemed to have either melted or stripped out. I had a spare from an earlier sedan cluster, that I transplanted. It wasn't too hard, but I worry that there might be a gearing difference.

The odometer works, but my odometer has never really read correctly. It's always turning too fast or two slow depending on the green (wagon) or yellow (sedan) speedo gear that I was using in the M40. Now that I've got a j-type M41 with a black gear, I've no idea if it will every read correct - even after I finish the 1800E rear axle transplant.

Hello,

When you get the 4:30 rear end gears of the 1800e rear end, you will be alot closer since you have the M41 with "J" style OD.

And do not forget that tire diameter will affect the speedometer accuracy.

Eric
Hi Performance Automotive Service (formerly OVO or Old Volvos Only)
Torrance, CA 90501

So nice! Thank picture makes me want to blow off work today and get me newly acquired P220 running!

Thanks for posting the pic. Yessss - precious Amazon it is. Nice wheels too.

The 544 gauge cluster is exactly the same as the 122. If you find one with a working odometer and trip odometer, then theorectically those parts can be moved over to your cluster.

It will be several orders of magnitude simpler just to exchange your cluster for a good one. It is often difficult to find a used cluster with a complete and working temperature gauge. However, if you already have a good temp gauge, then it can be easily swapped into the new cluster.

I have a spare cluster in the garage and can take some pics of the guts this weekend if it might help.

Joe M in WV

Just pay attention to the different sizes of the cable fitting at the speedometer end: small for PVs and early Amazons, large for later 122s. Not sure of the year they changed.
Bob S.

I had to rig up a spare speedo recently when I wanted to bench test an overdrive. Unfortunately I didn't have anything powerful enough to be able to turn it fast enough to use the speedo to verify the overdrive operation. I don't know what the speedo was off but I did have to machine up a brass fitting that would adapt from the smaller speedo thread to suit the larger cable.

I machined the fitting from a 1/4" brass plug so that the hex fitted up against the speedo body. M12 x 1.0 internal thread, M16 x 1.0 external thread. Worked a treat. It is now surplus to requirements so if anyone wants to use an early speedo with a later speedo cable drop me a line.

I've been planning an M41 into my '62 beater and would love to keep the early, "white-light" cluster.
If you can part with that adapter, that would be great.

I'm not able to log onto the BB, so if you'd be so kind as to drop me a line at
shayne at ipdusa. calm.

Thank you,
Shayne.

that is a truly BEAUTIFUL car.
--
...and the bricks keep on rolling

Oh yes nice wagon.
Real sweet!
Ken
--
69-145-S ; 71-145-S ; 72-145-E ; 72-1800-ES ; 87-245-DL

thanks for all the kind words; i wish it was as nice underneath as it appears on the outside :(

and i think when i get the time i'll go out to the junkyard and try to rip apart that 544's dash, see if there's anything i can use... if not it'll give me a good idea what to do and not to do when i decide to disassemble mine.