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researching a 122

airplanes18

airplanes18

New member
Joined
Jul 24, 2012
Location
San Diego
couple questions for 67 amazon 122s

is it supposed to all 4 drum brakes? and can i convert to a disc system from, say, a 240?
what all performance wise can to it? i know what ipd has, but i dont see springs and such. ive surfed a bit, but id rather ask a group like you guys. i dont own one as of yet, but chances are high, so im looking into it now.
shoot me any other suggestions for me, if you will.

also, please dont yell at me for the search function, i have no computer, and this site hates mobile for the search function. thanks guys!
 
Discs up front and drums at the rear. I have yet to service/upgrade mine and it appears you can upgrade to almost anything depending on $$$$ flow. Bigger brakes = increased safety.

There are other parts sites too....Swedish Treasures, CVI Automotive...
 
would it be easy, maybe possibly? i have yoshifabs rx7 conversion on my car, so if you can transfer 240 rotors amd such the 122, rx7 conversion sounds doable.

ill check those sites, thank you!
 
Anything is possible if you have time, skill, or money. You can convert to Wilwoods on the front with a simple and easy-to-obtain adapter and get a disc rear from an 1800. The disc rear ends will bolt into a '67 or later car. There's also the Swedish Ops stuff (Iamtheonlyreal1's line). There are already some of those out on the road. With those kits you could knock out brakes and suspension with one kit. Classicswede also makes custom lowering springs and shocks.

As far as power goes you can have 130HP out of a stock b20e. Head work, a nice cam, bigger carbs, and a free-flowing exhaust can get you to 150+ which you will like in a 2300lb car.
 
The very easiest conversion is discs & axle from a '70-'73 1800E or ES. It's mostly bolt on with some tweaking for the e-brake cable.
 
You can't run 240 hubs etc on a 122. The 1800 disc brake rear is a bolt on if you don't have wagon. It is possible to run Wilwood if you don't mind an adapter - I think there's a group buy running right now. Rear drums on these cars are taper fit and a real bear to get off without the right tools. I did a rear end swap rather than dealing with changing drums and shoes when they were both warn.

Oh, and look at the threads that show that people are having trouble getting parts from the guy selling Mustang 2 IFS conversions.
 
LloydDobler said:
The very easiest conversion is discs & axle from a '70-'73 1800E or ES. It's mostly bolt on with some tweaking for the e-brake cable.
Click to expand...

Then put 1800E/ES discs up front to have the same bolt pattern all the way around.

This would mostly be a cosmetic upgrade though. The front brakes are the same, the rear brakes don't really do much braking anyhow, and the drums are perfectly adequate.
 
Later twin line barkes are very good and have great stopping power. Converting the rear to discs is not much of an improvment over drums in good order.

For racing the front could benifit from going to vented.

If you had a early example with drums all round then converting to front discs is a very good idea.

converting to 240 discs has been done but it is a lot of work.
 
what did you guys do for springs? anything from others cars work? something i can pick up from b&g or something like that?
 
I looked into the possibility of converting to vented 164 front brakes on my 122. My thinking was the 1800 front hubs and discs swap over, with the only difference being dual brake lines on the 1800 versus single on the 122, and since the 1800 is so close to the 140, and I've done several 164 front brake swaps to a 140, how hard could it be? Turned out the 164 swap was a no-go, as nothing lined up. Ended up going with the 1800 front hubs/discs/calipers to match the rear disc axle conversion I did. The brake system ended up being a hodge-podge of 140 and 1800 ES components and some custom brake lines. Even was able to adapt the 1800ES master cylinder and vacuum booster. It all worked out pretty well.
 
JohnMc said:
Then put 1800E/ES discs up front to have the same bolt pattern all the way around.

This would mostly be a cosmetic upgrade though. The front brakes are the same, the rear brakes don't really do much braking anyhow, and the drums are perfectly adequate.
Click to expand...

This is true, probably the only true disadvantage of the drum axle is that it is known to be weaker and if you push the car hard the axles can snap off with the wheel. I'd say that a more practical reason to ditch it is simply that lots of people don't know how to maintain drum brakes anymore, like on my car the parts that aren't supposed to be worn were worn out due to improper maintenance and assembly. On my car I had to replace the whole axle anyway because of that.

One really nice thing about the 1800 front hubs: you can put a brake rotor from most Volvos made between 1970 and 2010 on to them. 240, 850, 740, 960, V70, they all fit. The caliper mounting plate is a separate piece, and you can fabricate a completely new caliper mount that is a direct bolt-on with a few simple measurements, or by dropping the parts off at a competent machine shop.

Here are the pieces of the front spindle without the hub:

122_341.jpg


Here is a 122 spindle and 1800 front hub, test fitting a S60R rotor and caliper.

122_392.jpg


Here is an example of a custom caliper mount, what I plan to do for my R brake installation:

122_399.jpg
 
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Progressive rate lowering coils are available, just not sure if there are any in the US. I can check tomorrow.

If your planning on driving the car hard, 4 wheel discs from an 1800E do provide improved braking. The 4 piston calipers are an improvement over the 3 piston, and the dual diagonal split circuit system greatly improves safety. You also have a lot more choices of friction material especially for the rear. A booster is recommended because of the increased pedal effort of the dual circuit system. I like to weld the pedal box from an 1800E in place of the 122 box to use the ATE dual diaphragm booster. It also has a different pedal ratio. You'll need to fab a mount for the parking brake cables and use the adjuster with the center pull wheel from an 1800E.

My brother had this setup on his car and it stopped way better then a stock 122. Those are 50mm Webers on a 2350cc stroker. Sorry for the picture quality, this is a scan of an old Polaroid of my brothers car before it was totaled by a hit and run driver.

1800EBooster.jpg
 
I will risk sounding like an a$$hat by telling you to search. Things like springs have been gone over 1000 times (they are not special - and are available from a variety of race suppliers...you're looking for 450 lbs/in or 500 lbs/in if you want something even more race-like. Progressives are hard to match shocks to.


HPIM0831.JPG


Here you can see the brackets from the back side and the new brake lines.

HPIM0834.JPG


Front suspension all rebuilt.
HPIM0842.JPG


Other side. There is some rubbing at full steering lock, but the wheels are 7" wide for heaven's sake.

HPIM0844.JPG




Here they are from the side. I've added the Volvo hub caps and the brakes are sporting Q-Matrix pads.

HPIM0837.JPG


This set up will rip your face off when you hit them hard and will do so all day long on the track without any fade. No booster, 240 rear with stock discs/pads - brake bias pretty much bang on. I know this because I've done this.
 
This thread, so much goodness. I gotta get a thread up and pictures about what all will be happening. Heres some more questions.

Can spring from a different car be used? Ive seen that so common on other cars, might it work here?

Also, if anyone has a fuse and wiring diagram, that would be very appeciated.

And lastly, radio ideas. not removing the stock one, just mounting a secondary.

thanks so much for this guys.
 
NChoy said:
Inspiration...

1800 vacuum booster mounted with adapter plate:




1800ES rear axle with disc brakes installed on 122 (yes, those are progressive lowering springs):


1800ES front hubs, calipers and rotors:


As for wiring diagram, here's the one I used to put my car back together:
http://www.auto-wiring-diagram.com/.../04/complete-wiring-diagram-of-volvo-122s.jpg
Click to expand...

super hero right here. also, where did you pick the springs up? im starting to pool resources so when the time comes, i know what im grabbing.
 
Hey, what about carb filters? I only have one, and im not too excited about blowing 90 bucks for stock ones from ipd, as much as I love them.. anyone know of socal junkyards that might have some?
 
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