In reply to orthoxstice :
I have a 122 I'm sawing up now (never worry; I'm not scrapping it, but I am modifying the trunk floor/fuel tank mounting). How much material around the flange do you need, and how many pieces would you like the surround in?
In reply to orthoxstice :
I have a 122 I'm sawing up now (never worry; I'm not scrapping it, but I am modifying the trunk floor/fuel tank mounting). How much material around the flange do you need, and how many pieces would you like the surround in?
I feel like it will be easiest to make diagonal cuts into each of the corners so you can ship them as strips, right? I have no problem with that. My main priority is having somewhere solid for the new tank to rest. And I'd say an inch out from the curve would be plenty for me. Most of the rust is at or below the tank edge, though the passenger side extends up to the downward curve at points.
I really appreciate this!
In reply to orthoxstice :
NP. Again, apologies for being somewhat unresponsive for the past month or two. Getitng back into the swing of normality again. I can make 4 angled cuts and keep an inch out from the radius of the flange. I'll mark it out with a sharpie and cut with my angle grinder. Then I can get it all boxed up for shipment. Did you PM me your address, so I can figure out shipping?
Will get you the gas cap, too. Anything else you need while I'm putting together a box? Any stupid little clip or hardware or anything?
None that I can think of off the top of my head. I'm sure the second I get it in the mail I'll think of a dozen things I should have asked for, but that's how it goes!
No updates today, I got a 240 step relay from the junkyard and am in the middle of wiring that in to replace the footswitch for the high beams but I forgot to take any pictures. I probably wouldn't have minded the footswitch but it had been stomped on too many times and was actually broken in half.
Awesome project. Keep the SU's, dump that autotragic box. Oh man the BW35 is a power suck. First volvo I drove with one was an 80 242...not impressed. A 4 speed with OD is the way to go, it will reeeealy wake that car up and make it a hoot. Drive it like you hate it!
In reply to orthoxstice :
The footswitches are available, I've replaced a few of them. Personal preference, I prefer them, but to each their own.
Sad news, cleaning up that gas tank surround last night the passenger side of it has some rust holes. The other 3 sides were pretty decent, though. I will check and see if any of my other parts cars have a better tank surround. Maybe I can piece one good one together.
One weird thing about 122s, I have seen enough of them to see them rust in all different places. Some have solid trunk areas and are completely rusted out front, others have good floors but the trunks are completely rotten. Etc.
The amazon is light enough that it isn't a total slug with the auto. I DD'd one for awhile. The 4 speed is definitely better, even without OD, and the swap is easy, but I can totally understand wanting to get the damn thing on the road with minimal fiddling. A driving automatic 122 is better than a sitting manual swap project. 
This car has been a PA car much of (most of?) its life and its crunchy pretty much everywhere. I'd say this trunk area is the worst I've seen so far. Probably due to the trunk seal being shot. Let me know what you find. Three sides are better than none!
As long as I own it it won't ever be kept outside again or drive in snow or rain. For now, the plan is just get it on the road. 10 years from now? Who knows maybe it'll be taken down to bare metal for a true RESTORATION.
Finally got that tank out. Just had to grind big notches into the screw heads and then hammer them around with a punch. I wish I'd remembered to take a picture of the inline fuel filter the previous owner had placed between the tank and the fuel hardline, it was absolutely FILLED with orange rust. Anyway, feels good to move forward inch by inch.
Yikes. Pretty crunchy. I'll work on getting those pieces cut out for you this weekend.
In other news...I'm revisiting my stance on the generator/ alternator issue. Maybe. I was just introduced to the world of compact tractor/ equipment alternators. These were little 20-60 amp units fit on small diesel engines. Since the original Bosch gennie is rated around 35 amps, one of these compact alternators pushing 40 amps or so should be fine. Wiring is super simple, internally regulated. The main attraction, though, is the weight- they weigh like 3 or 4 pounds, way less than the old gennie lump.
I'm going to work on mounting one and see if I have any better luck. I still maintain for a standard 122 the generator is pretty fine, and if one was working I wouldn't rush out to replace it. But for weight reduction, or if the gennie was fried, perhaps the alternator is worth a look.
I relocated the boat tank to the trunk area and took the car for a rip around the block again, this time with the hood down. I'll admit that the BW35 haters have a bit of a point; this car is terrible off the line, at least right now. That may be the state of the tune, but it is lazy from a stop. Once under way, it moves along pretty well and makes crisp shifts into the other two gears. I only went up to 40 but was pleased to see the speedo works. Brakes feel good, though it's been a long time since I last drove something with manual brakes (a '77 standard Beetle).
I'm moving up exhaust repair on the priority list because it's downright obnoxious. At some point a newer exhaust was put on from the downpipe back, but it's a slightly larger diameter and can't be clamped down enough to seal. I'll mig that on.
And another angle, forgot to put that in the post:
In reply to orthoxstice :
My recollections of the BW35 are similar- couldn't spin a wheel on wet pavement or dirt, but shifted pretty crisply in the 1-2 and 2-3.
Watch the downpipe on these- I've had a few of them rust out or split around the flanges. I think I have some good used ones in my stash. There's also the dual output exhaust manifold with the dual downpipe with Y. Our old LeMons 122 (retired about 8 years ago) we cut the Y off and ran full duals, which sounded sort of like 2 motorcycles running side by side. It was pretty cool.
That second photo looks like you are threatening it "Behave or I'm giving you to Josh"
TurnerX19 said:That second photo looks like you are threatening it "Behave or I'm giving you to Josh"
haha I would never. We take all the rest of our scrap metal there, though.
VCH, this car actually has the combined intake and dual-outlet exhaust. The downpipe seems okay, though I think the gasket between it and the manifold is at least a little blown out.
Picture posts are always better but I didn't snap any this week.
IPD finally sent my fuel level sender over so I grounded it with a jumper and hooked up the wire. The fuel gauge works! One step closer to road ready. I spent about 10 minutes checking the wiring for the inoperable AM radio and could find no faults. There is power to the unit but it doesn't turn on. Not exactly a high priority for the car, but I always like everything to work on my cars.
Well it has been awhile and I haven't accomplished much. Graduate school dominates most of my time and I have only scattered chunks of time to fiddle with the 122. I had fired it up recently and was thinking about how awfully loud it was... time to do something about that. When I got the manifold off I could see that there was a missing stud at the back of the head and the gasket had gotten completely blown out there. Unfortunately only part of the stud is missing, the rest is still in the head...
The appropriate thing to do is pull the head off (which seems tremendously easy in this car) and drill out the broken stud in the drill press, but part of me wants to give it a go in situ.
Graduation is May 2 and I'd like to have this registered and on the road by the Vintage Grand Prix week in July so I can drive it over to Schenley Park to catch some races and the car shows. More soon.
Nevermind I just watched a video of what's involved in taking the head off and I'd be crazy not to just do that. This is my first OHV four cylinder and I forgot how straight-forward it is when you don't have to worry the timing stuff at all.
20-30 minutes of time today and I had the head off, no problem:
As you look at picture you might notice something...
Now I've never pulled a 54 year old engine apart, but that looks pretty funky to me. I'm thinking of calling a machine shop Monday to see about having everything cleaned up. Thoughts?
These engines are particularly sensitive to valve recession from no lead fuel. It is pricey, but you should get hardened valve seat inserts done while you have the head off. As far as the funky look, it would have looked just like that after a single year of service.
Had a half hour to mess around at the shop today and so tried to drill out the broken exhaust stud. Luckily this particular stud goes through to the head bolt and so I didn't have to worry about punching a hole through the waterjacket or anything.
I drilled a pilot hole and then stepped it up and it worked just great (I had a rag in the ports when I was drilling btw).
As for the machine shop; no one had a reasonable turn around time that I talked to so I'm just going to put this back on the car as I need it out of this shop relatively soon. Given how easy it is to get the head off, I don't feel like that's too big a deal. As for the valve seats, I've been using rotella oil and putting additive in the fuel; hopefully it will be fine.
I'd at least decarbon the valves and lap them back in as well as changing any valve stems seals. That's all easy DIY stuff that you can do for pocket change. I've always used one of those cheap suction cup valve lap tools and a tube of valve grinding paste.
Cousin_Eddie (Forum Supporter) said:I'd at least decarbon the valves and lap them back in as well as changing any valve stems seals. That's all easy DIY stuff that you can do for pocket change. I've always used one of those cheap suction cup valve lap tools and a tube of valve grinding paste.
x2, since it's already off. This was routine maintenance back in the day.
If I understand things correctly, the B18 motor doesn't have stem seals, they have these little rubber umbrella things that fit over the top of the valve up at the spring retainer. Can't remember how mine look, but I'll examine when I'm back in the shop this weekend.
doing a quick valve lap is a smart idea though.
You are correct about the umbrellas which are probably gone by now. They used to come with a head gasket set. It is an easy mod to put proper seals on the guides. and reduces oil consumption a lot.
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