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The "Georgia Peach" Project - A 35-Year Wait For a Special 1968 122s Wagon

I may go to KYB next time for shocks and struts. My Bilsteins are crappy on the dirt roads way too stiff.

Back in the late-1970s and on thru the 1980's, the 120 series and 140's cars fitted w/Bilsteins around here that were run on dirt roads, most of them ended up with problems. The shocks cracked and punched out front cross members and the truck floors on the sedans.

At the time I had much better luck w/Konis which were adjustable and seemed to last forever, but since then things have changed.
 
The Abarth exhaust, is quite a cool piece! Did they make more performance parts for volvo during that era as well?
 
The Abarth exhaust, is quite a cool piece! Did they make more performance parts for volvo during that era as well?

Not that I am aware of, Abarth's main business was producing and selling accessories and performance parts for Fiat, Lancia, Cisitalia and Simca cars, like inlet manifolds and exhaust systems.
 
Back in the late-1970s and on thru the 1980's, the 120 series and 140's cars fitted w/Bilsteins around here that were run on dirt roads, most of them ended up with problems. The shocks cracked and punched out front cross members and the truck floors on the sedans.

At the time I had much better luck w/Konis which were adjustable and seemed to last forever, but since then things have changed.

Good to know I have thought about going the Koni route.
 
Nice project! On my 122 I'll be running a Mitsubishi trigger wheel on my engine build with mechanical advance, as the petronix doesn't like above 6000rpm.
 
Good to know I have thought about going the Koni route.

As I mentioned earlier my experience has been with Koni's back in the early-1980s - I don't know anything about what they are producing today.

I would do a post about what is popular today in the performance and the maintenance Forums.
 
Nice project! On my 122 I'll be running a Mitsubishi trigger wheel on my engine build with mechanical advance, as the petronix doesn't like above 6000rpm.

Thanks - I believe Andrew Nance commented that he is planning to use the same trigger wheel on one of his cars.

Is there a thread on the Forum covering your car? If not have any photos of it you can share?
 
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Hope to drop by ASAP...
Michael in Orford
 


Summer has been super busy here in the shop getting client's vintage racing cars ready to run at events at both Indy and Milwaukee, rebuilding a 1914 Simplex 4-cyl. 600 ci engine and trying to get a little time in here and there on the Volvo.

The new micarta vanes for the supercharger are finally finished, and you can see them above in the aluminum rotor, mocked up in about the same location in the housing bore that it rotates in (there is clearance below it).

The assembly rotates clockwise, and the right-hand vane is shown about five degrees before it starts to pull in the fuel and air charge from the portion of the aluminum manifold fed by the carburetor at atmospheric pressure. It then compresses it under the rotor; next as it rotates the vane slides out of the rotor slot via centrifugal force, lets the compressed mixture expand until it is forced out of the housing into the intake manifold at a maximum of 5-7 psi.



The intake mixture enters in the bottom half of the blower housing seen above through the diamond shaped openings. The compressed mixture exits through the top half into the intake manifold. The divider helps to equalize the flow to both the front and rear intake runners.



The new vanes above placed in the rotor. They are made of micarda, a tough thermosetting plastic and cloth composite that is the same material used for Volvo "fiber" camshaft gears. The slots assist in collecting the gas, air, and oil mixture to help lubricate the rotor slots and the sides of the vanes.



The housing bore and the rotating assembly will be lubricated by an Ampco "Vapor Lubricator"; this one is a brand new old stock unit. It injects a very fine mist of "Marvel Mystery Oil" or 10 weight oil through a spray nozzle into the carburetor venturi in the amount of about one drop very 4-6 seconds. After passing through the blower, it serves as a top end lube for the intake valve guides, intake valve and seat faces and the cylinder bores and rings.

New pressure-sensitive aluminum ID plate below for the front end of the supercharger housing.

Next up is to hone the ID of the blower housing on the shop Sunnen precision honing machine, in the same manner as a cylinder bore is done. Then detail everything, get new bearings and seals and reassemble it.

 
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Wow this build keeps getting more and more interesting.

The amount of period correct wizardry in this thread is extremely satisfying.

Thanks to both of you.

The progress has been slow due to lack of enough time right now due to other commitments. After I get finished with a vintage engine rebuild for a client here in the shop I will have more time to spend on the project.

I have gotten the wagon registered and on the road though.

As they used to say when radios first came out - stay tuned, there is more to come.
 
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Have run the "Peach" during the last two weeks on a number of test drives after having gotten a lot of routine repairs finished. The wheels have been painted and have it up on some good old style Michelin XZX tires until deciding what wheels and tires will go on it a bit later down the road.

The air conditioning is going to be restored for this car over the winter, but the first part was to remove the entire system from the car starting w/the condenser seen in front of the radiator.



The space between the condenser and radiator contained a lot of debris that blocked off about 30% of the air flow. In addition, 25% the fins on the backside were folded over adding to the loss of air flow thru the radiator. No wonder it was running on the warm side and getting hot sitting in traffic with the temperature in the low 90s.



The radiator top hose connection had cracked, which is common on these cars after a lot of mileage, and it had been soldered in the past by a repair shop and opened up again. This is what it looked like after all the old solder was removed and the stress left in the remaining part of the connection opened it back up. If clamped down and soldered again it would just crack again in the future.

The connection was entirely taken off, the edges smoothed out and fitted back together again, but this time, w/lead-tin solder containing 1% silver. I have found over time that this alloy works the best for connections that are under constant stress and shock forces like this due to the standard Jello-like rubber Volvo used for the motor and trans mounts.



The connection after being soldered together again.



The radiator after blowing out all of the dust, dirt and debris between the fins and tubes w/compressed air. It is now back in the car, and the temp gauge runs 25% lower, and only gets up to the 3/4's mark on the gauge w/the temp. in the 90s while stuck in traffic. It runs much cooler now and lower than the halfway point on the gauge when out on the road and up to speed with the temp. in the lower 80s. A new thermostat is going in very soon to get it back up into the zone where the engine will run more efficiently. In the meantime the bottom 25% of the core is blocked off with cardboard.

It sure is nice to work on a radiator that can be picked up w/one hand, compared to the truck-sized units that are on most of the early cars that come thru the restoration shop for rebuilds and weigh 100+ pounds.
 
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Are you going to keep the original york compressor or switch to a sanden type? Wasn't there a guy that made a B18/20 bracket for the sanden? I wonder how old the Sanden type is. Their website says 70th anniversary, so maybe that would fall under vintage parts. IMO the york takes up a lot of space in the engine bay, it's heavy, and isn't very appealing to the eye.

Love this build btw. Love the use of vintage period correct performance parts.
 
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Are you going to keep the original york compressor or switch to a sanden type? Wasn't there a guy that made a B18/20 bracket for the sanden? I wonder how old the Sanden type is. Their website says 70th anniversary, so maybe that would fall under vintage parts. IMO the york takes up a lot of space in the engine bay, it's heavy, and isn't very appealing to the eye.

Love this build btw. Love the use of vintage period correct performance parts.

Mike, I just took the entire system out as it needs a total restoration which will happen down the road after the more important things are completed and it doesn't get all that hot up here very often in Vermont. This is the only component I may replace with something more modern and if I do a Sanden will be used, but I have not given it that much thought yet.

Yes, the compressor and bracket is heavy and both probably weigh in at about 50 lb., and it is VERY ugly. These units also take quite a bit more power to run that others. Would estimate the entire system weighs in at about 100 lb. or more.

A different mounting bracket that locates it farther away from the engine is show below.

Great to hear you like what I am doing. Your car is also a very nice original piece!

This photo was taken by Bob Waldman of Casadia Classic in Portland, OR, when he sold Keith Martin, Editor of "Sports Car Market" 122s sedan this spring

 
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