I agree with you, these cars are not rocket science.

Since I bought my first Volvo, a 1967 122s in October 1966 I went through many many good and bad experiences with that new car. I learned mechanic in many ways. I had to figure out what was going on many times.

I remember when I was driving fron Parry Sound to North Bay Ont. under melting snow the front of the two carburators froze in place with ice. I did not understand yet. At 50 miles an hour I happen to release the gas pédal and the car kept the same speed. Panic, because pressing the clutch over-reved the engine. Had shut the ignition switch and pull on the road side. Nothing looked bad on this four month old car. Waited a little and it started like perfect.

This happened a second time as it was getting dark. This time I took the flashlight and opened the hood just in time to see the crust of ice falling from the front carburator. Then a couple days later I managed to put a shield in front of the front carburator to protect the throttle rods. It was made of a plastic ice cream container cut to size with the bottom having holes and it was squeezed between the air filter and the intake manifold.

Guess what ? Volvo has added a metal shield in 1969 to block any freezing rain or snow from having the car throttle blocked at cruising speed. I wonder how many accidents resulted because of this defect.

I got hold of many tools afterward and succeeded with very most of my mechanic work. So do not be afraid of this timing belt job you are planing to do. We are lucky our b230 are not interference engines. Nothing will break if we are off one tooth on the timing belt.

Now about your timing belt change I can resume what I did but it was on a b21. B230 does not have the forged crank shaft but a little more fragile cast steel l understand, I may be wrong here but this is what I understood.

I suggest you to read many posts about how to proceed with b230 engine. With the b21 I use impact wrench and with the b230 I use a pulley retainer arm designed by Don Foster who gratefully sent me a graph that I can't find in my old e-mails. An other option is the rope method, insert a rope in the piston no. 1 to block the crank shaft. You will find this detailed method in the archives.

At the same time you have to remove the timing belt tensioner and make sure it is not worn, rolls smoothly, if not put a new one. I lock the tensioner spring shaft (it has a hole) with a 2 1/2 common nail. Then the belt is loose. Just make sure FIRST the camshaft pulley is in line with the mark on the metal back plate, and the distributor pulley mark is in line with the back plate mark, and the crankshaft is also in line.

Sorry about the long story taking your time. Just had this idea to share it.
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