Hello to all the readers ...

I am getting ready to purchase a 67 122 that is in good conditionfor a decent price. I have 2500 dollars and I don't know exactly what to spend it on, so I am trying to get some ideas. I know that I would like to put nicer suspension on it, thinking ipd of course. With a 122 I have no idea where to start the tweaking of the engine, it is the d weber motor. I would change the engine, would like to get something in the range of 160-200 h.p. Also any upgrades to exhaust, and i am sure something will have to be done about the transmission. Any ideas? Well ... any ideas that anyone has will be really appreciated.

Thanks.

Will

Save your money, buy my 86 245 for $1500.00. I'll even throw in an extra spare tire and distributor cap!

To get 160-200 BHP you are looking at spending serious money. You need to convert to injection and throttle bodies, ideally or a t least twin DCOE's A single webber won't get near, twin SU's will get nearish 160 but not over.

Personally I would start by sorting brakes and suspension, I wouldn't bother with IPD roll bars on a limited budget, make sure the standard stuff is up to scratch and fit good shocks, Bilstein , Koni decending in quality from there.

I'd fit Halogen headlights, proper Volvo alternator off a 140, I'd get rid of the foot dip switch and use a latching relay of a 240, tap a intermittent wipe relay into the park circuit of the wipers.

185/65-15 tyres, same rolling radius as a 165-15. Big bore exhaust system most important.

For the budget you have I'd use a decent camshaft. Piper fast road here in the UK maybe, or a K. I'd sling the webber in the nearest scrap metal bin that came to hand and use twin SU's. Bit of mild porting on the head... Get me 130 BHP or so. 2500 dollars spent.

Oh and you NEED an M41 gearbox more than excessive poer if you are going to regularly use the car, so as ever, you need MORE money.

Regards

Pete,

When you say a single weber won't get near, do you mean a DGV or a DCOE. Reason for asking is I've got (surprise, surprise) a 45 DCOE supposedly jetted for my B20 that I keep meaning to try....

You didn't mention head work. Any suggestion at what stage that becomes important? My previous thought was than no new cam or additonal carb work was going to be value without spending serious money on head work.

Can you tell me how to put the intermittent wipe relay in? That would be really handy.

And big bore: usual topic for discussion> How big is big enough, and how big is too big. Other bb contributors tend to talk 2" (ID I assume) and a single muffler, although I don't know whether fore or aft of the axle.

Regards

John H

68 122S with B20, stiiillll in many pieces.

When you say a single weber won't get near, do you mean a DGV or a

> DCOE. Reason for asking is I've got (surprise, surprise) a 45 DCOE

> supposedly jetted for my B20 that I keep meaning to try....

I meant the downdraft DGV. I've tried the twin DCOE and the power is very impressive, but so is the fuel consumption. Given that a litre if unleaded costs 1.17 dollars or so that is an issue here in England. No experience of a single DCOE but it ought to be pretty good.

You didn't mention head work. Any suggestion at what stage that

> becomes important? My previous thought was than no new cam or

> additonal carb work was going to be value without spending serious

> money on head work.

Yeah I did, cunningly hidden by the "a bit of mild porting on the head" phrase. Any serious power is going to come from compression, which is realistically limited unless you resign yourself to using expensive octane boosters, head work, and exhaust.

Conventional wisdom seems to be get an injection head and bung it on. Injection heads are getting rarer and they have a nasty habit of cracking. The bigger valves response is only a half truth. If you look at the valve seat the actual seat witdth is massive. You can remove a lot of metal from the inside of the port, narrow the valve seat and gain flow without investing in bigger valves. Basically by making the hole bigger under the valve you are effectively making the valve bigger. You can also unshroud the valves, ie flare the combustion chamber out a bit to gain more flow. Unless you have a massive budget the standard Valve should be adequate. Getting rid of any sharp edges in the combustion chamber will also fight detonation.

You absolute must have the later double downpipe exhaust manifold. Here in Europe the cheapest big bore exhaust is a swedish 2" system. It uses a tubular muffler under the floor (Zoom tube), and a dirty great big rear box. Don't know what is available in the US. I think the Swedish system is 200 dollars or so here.

I'll see if I can find the diagram for the intermittent wipe I drew on the back of an old envelope, scan it and mail it to you. I "think" I used the relay out of a 240.

Regards

FYI, according to Collector Car & Truck market Guide" (auction market guide) of July 2001, a '67 122s in good condition is worth:

2dr Sedan $2675

4dr Sedan $2600

4dr Wagon $2400

Auto trans, deduct -10%

You might want to think about big bore - 2130 cc and maybe a

75 240 electronic ignition system.

Probably will want an M41 tranny. I'd use the old shifter top

to avoid tunnel surgery.

Chances are good you'll need to do some corrosion repair to the

floors and reseal the windshield (where the water leaked in

and soaked the mats under the floormat, making acid that eats

floors). Floormats are expensive, btw.

Look closely at the lower rear of the front fenders and the

bottoms of the doors. May require corrosion repair at those

points, especially if the door drains are stopped up.

My opinions on valve springs - single is enough. I'm a lead-footed

driver and rarely float valves. I use the IPD/Isky street performance

cam and the IPD lifter/pushrod kit. I also don't think a header is

enough better than a late FI exhaust manifold to warrant the expense,

relatively short lifespan and other problems involved. I only use

one muffler though.

My dad used to build up B20 engines.

he would use a b20 block,

find a b20E fuel injected head for the higher compression and larger vavles? i know the ports are bigger.

he never liked the webber carb, but i would use it ( he was awsome at tuning the SU carbs)

i would find a cam, probably isky, one that ipd sells, with lightweight push rods, etc. stiffer volvo springs, somthin' about red springs.

I don't know the web site,but there is a man who races a p1800. he owns his own shop that builds these engines. he has a supercharger kit you might want to look into. he also has ported polished heads etc.

he alos has progressive wound springs for the suspension, only for the front though, but apreantly they really help out.

i honestly can't think of the web site or even the name of it. some one has to know though. try vclassics.com search their links section.

Jordan

You are talking about John Parker. His web site is:

http://www.v-performance.com/about.html

I think the progressive wound springs would be a better bet than the just plain stiffer IPD springs. Bilstein shocks and IPD sway bar kit would round that out nicely (reinforce the rear sway bar mounts in the floor pan sooner rather than later, however).

Your car might have the later style rear suspension - in which case a disc-brake 1800e axle would bolt right on. Get the OD transmission as well and replace the puny u-joint drive shaft with a beefier 1800e unit. This may not be such a weak spot on a 67 122 - my old 63 122 had tiny u-joints that bolted onto yokes with little u-bolts and the B20E wore them out quickly. I finally fixed it with a 142e OD tranny, driveshaft (with later style support bearing mount) and rear axle.

John Mc

Also, how would I go about getting all round gauges into a 122? Is it possible?

Yeah, Volvo, when they used to rally, replaced that speedo panel with one that had 2 big and 2 small round gauges. I thought about that for my 544, but decided to totally redo the dash. e-mail me, and I will e-mail you back with the pictures of my dash. I have 2 large and 5 small round, white-faced gauges.

BTW, why don't you just buy a chebby Nova with a 350 c.i. V8 and go fast? The Volvo chassis/drive train will not stand 160 HP long without mods.