I have the possibility to add a 122 4 door to my fleet of old Volvo's. The car in question is unfortunately(for me) automatic. How much work is involved in changing the transmission, I have a 1972 P1800es parts car with a good transmission ect, will that fit, and will the pedal assembly and drive shaft from the p1800es fit the 1966 122?
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65 122, 73 P1800ES, 79 242GT, 80 262C, 81 242, 87 780,88 745T X2, and a plethora of parts cars and eventually to be finished projects

From the ES, the transmission will work *unless* it has an M410 (very unlikely).

Pedal assembly will not work. Totally different bodies, not to mention cable clutch as opposed to hydraulic that you'll want to go with in the 122.

Which leads to that transmission. You'll need a bell housing from a 122 for the hydraulic clutch setup. If your ES has that M410, a 122 bell housing won't bolt to the tranny.

Driveshaft in the ES would work, but it'll likely be larger in diameter, so flanges wrong. And carrier bearing assembly won't likely work.

Crossmember won't work without some manner of fabrication.

Basically, chances are the ES transmission is an M41, and would work. Unfortunately, from your ES, that's about it... and no matter what you do, there's going to be a good bit of fabrication, and lots of other parts that you'll need.

Were I you, I'd hold out for a 122 that already has a manual transmission..

Unless it's a really good car at a really good price, and you're ready for a daunting project.

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-Matt I ♥ my ♂

Matt, no ES came from the factory with an M410, so it almost certainly has an M41. The output flange will be the same size as the one on the car as well. You are right that the pedals won't work.

There are two main problems:

1) Automatic 122s have a much wider trans tunnel that manual ones, so a transmission mount will have to be fabricated. The location of the bolt holes is also different.

2) Due to the wider tunnel, the gas pedal is offset to the left on automatic cars, and you can't get your foot between the manual type brake pedal and the tunnel to reach the gas (not gracefully, at least). This requires putting some sort of offset in both the manual type brake and clutch pedals.

It can be done and it has been done, but I agree that if it were me, I'd hold out for a car that had a manual trans in the first place.

Right, Phil. I should have clarified my reason for saying 'very unlikely' on the M410. Any more, I just make no assumptions that parts are original. Especially on a parts car. Never know what's been swapped out.

I've found a couple M410s in cars that weren't right for them...

Flange same though? I'd have thought the ES would have a large flange, and a 122 auto would have a small flange.

Guess it's time to crawl under the ES and have a looksee :)

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-Matt I ♥ my ♂

They went back to the small flange in '72, although of course there might be exceptions.

Thanks, looks like it will stay self shifting.
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65 122, 73 P1800ES, 80 262C, 87 780, and a plethora of parts cars and eventually to be finished projects