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Hi,
I'm planning on replacing all of the critical nuts and bolts in my 1974 144. Has anybody ever made a list of what's in one?
Regards
JohnH
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JohnH, Sydney, Australia
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Your idea has quite a bit of merit. A spares strategy can be developed as well.
My friend who drove rally cars in the US for Subaru and Suzuki took all the fasteners out of his cars. Spot welded seams were welded along their entire length.
The hardware that was subject to vibrations were safety wired, The others had the nuts tack welded where ever possible, this made them much easier to remove and replace in the field. This had to be done with potential problems in mind, but it is easy to grind small welds off in a pit setting.
The most useful thing that he did to his cars was to add a 1/2' thick flexible sheet plastic belly pan made from the plastic used to line hockey rinks. Rocks beat everything up, especially since competition on seldom used roads stir them up.
He purchased extra strong wheels from England - still he had some fail - they replaced them.
I read a great article in Cycle World about fasteners coming loose on racing motorcycles. Vibration frets on new threads polishing them so that they no longer grip properly. In this setting, safety wire is the only solution, even then, retorquing them is necessary from time to time.
BTW - what are you doing about low octane?
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'96 855R,'64 PV544 driver, '67 P1800 basket case, '95 855, '95 854, the first three are mine, heh, heh, 485,000 miles put on 9 bricks
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I've been meaning to fashion some kind of belly pan for my 142 not for rallying but because it pains me to think of the engine compartment exposed like that! The 240 belly pans have me spoiled. I was thinking of using thin sheets of aluminum - lightweight, cheap and rustproof. Securely attaching it to the chassis would be a challenge.
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Mike F - 1984 244 DL - 317,000 miles
Original engine, transmission, drive train, starter
Undergoing reconstructive surgery with POR-15
1972 142 S - The Yellow Brick - 135,000 miles
All stock except for Weber Carb. B20B engine. M40
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Hi James,
All good advice: protection against rocks is a must.
re the low octane, the worst we will encounter now is, unfortunately!, here in Australia. In RON terms (about 6pts higher than what you measure in the US) we will need to use 91octane and build the engine accordingly or carry loads of octane booster. Not sure yet which way to go. Getting a better idea of the route from the organisers will help there. After Australia we go to Turkey and overland ultimately England. My research so far is that we'll get at least 95octane there, so whatever we build for Australia will work elsewhere.
Regards
John
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JohnH, Sydney, Australia
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I would NOT do this unless you think they are distressed.
They are good quality, high strength, mostly plated and should probably only be replaced with due cause.
BTW the VAST majority have Unified threads (Mostly UNC but some UNF).
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George Downs Bartlesville, Oklahoma
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Hi George,
For normal driving, I'd agree with you entirely. However I'm building this car to do the Sydney-London Marathon Rally in 2014. There are a lot of competitive special stages (well over 2000 miles) of forest/gravel high speed driving. Plust another 8000 miles of transports. I don't want a 38 (by then 40) year old bolt giving up on me.
Regards
JohnH
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JohnH, Sydney, Australia
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I think the risks of a mislick in this far outweigh the benefits other than in the very
few cases where there are known problems.
I would concentrate on things like motor mounts, tranny mounts, ball joints, suspension bushings, etc.
A bolt that is in good condition is much less likely to come out on its own than one recently replaced.
Further, age in itself does NOT damage bolts. (Corrosion and OVERstress do.)
Not sure which exact model you have but if you have the cantilevered clutch pedal mount
common to early 140/164, the one bolt that holds it IS subject to fatigue and the best bet
is to install a later pedal box that supports the shaft from both ends. (73+)
I got to drive 50 miles home with no clutch on my 164 because of that...
BTW I am a (retired) professional metallurgist/materials engineer with specialty in failure analysis.
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George Downs Bartlesville, Oklahoma
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Hi George,
It's a 1974 144. Motor mounts are well worth changing because they are a known problem in rallying a 144 because, I think, they were designed to shear on impact and allow the engine to slide under the passengers, rather than into them. In the stresses of rallying they do fail with monotonous regularity. Here (Australia) it is common to replace them with something like a Datsun 240Z mount that has a built in cage, plus chain or cable wire them top to bottom in case they do let go. I will renewing everything else you mentioned, plus taking spares of them.
re bolts, I was planning on removing pretty much everything to reassemble with locktite/split washers and nylocks or cone nuts to minimise the risk of bolts loosening off. Hence, if they were coming out, I thought to replace them anyway. Loosing is a real issue: a friend of mine has done two Round Australia rallies (long, hard, rough events) in his 1974 144 and every day had to retighten the bolts that hold the lower suspension arms to the diff, even though they were done up with nylocks. His suggestion there is to use castellated nuts and split pins.
I understand I'm looking at overkill, but this is a 10000+mile rally so if anything does give up, I may very well be a long way from anywhere - and need to keep going somehow!
By the way I was aware of your profession from many earlier posts and have great respect for your opinions - and knowledge of the best Volvos!
Regards
JohnH
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JohnH, Sydney, Australia
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Can't help with original question, however, if you do swap them out I'm interested in the old ones if marked BUFO on bolt heads.
Don't know why, I just like them.
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Hello,
How many Bufos do you want?
Back to the original post, I would replace the front upper control arm bolts.
We have not had any major trouble with those specific bolts on the 140/160, but we have had to extract more than one broken upper control arm bolt from 122 and 1800 Volvos.
So much so, that we routinely install new bolts when old ones are obviously present when we are changing upper control arm bushings as preventive maintenance.
The 140/160 bolts are the same diameter as the 122/1800, but are shorter.
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Eric
Hi Performance Automotive Service (formerly OVO or Old Volvos Only)
Torrance, CA 90502
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I'd like about 2 dozen each 1/4 x 1/2 UNC and 5/16 x 5/8 UNC and a dozen or so 5/16 x 3/4 UNC, 3/8 x 3/4 UNC and 3/8 x 1 UNF bolts with excellent threads and good cad plating.
I'll write you.
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