Amazon: New (to me) 1963 Volvo 122

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Much better Alan!

... in practice the dashboard switch and inhibitor would swap order in series in order to make it easier to install.

[john.wigley]

Gentlemen, I'm afraid that all this talk of electrickery is so waaaay over my head that it might just as well be written in Chinese, but I do so agree with 'L.S.' on the question of oill.

I always endeavour to use the grade/type of oil that was specified by the maker at the time the car was current, maybe upping the SAE rating as the engine wears.

Consequently, I only use (expensive£££) fully synthetic in the turbo powered Saab, and a decent semi-synth in the other two cars.

Incidentally, have you seen the price of a bog-standard s/s these days? The best price I found locally was £28 for five litres. Straight SAE 30 (a once common 'summer' grade oil) is now virtually unobtainable outside of specialist outlets.

But there is nothing new under the sun. A friend once used a flushing / cleansing oil in his well worn SV Ford Pop. He quickly realised his mistake when the engine rattled like a tin can, his oil consumption increased to 50 - 100 MPP at best and wherever he went he left a permanent blue trail of which any self-respecting two-stroke owner would have been proud! Happy days!!

Keep up the good work with GAM Allan; can we look forward to seeing her (and you too, of course) at Calverton as the weather improves?

Regards, John.

[Laird Scooby]

The price of lube oil has gone up in line with petrol and heating oil John, all thanks to Comrade Putin and his ambition to take over the world, starting with Ukraine.

As for SAE30, have you tried Smith & Allan?

https://www.smithandallan.com/produc...motor-oil-4166

I think that's the one you might be looking for?

[Derek UK]

Check Morris Golden Film oils. They do straight 20,30,40,50SAE. Much loved by VW Beetle owners. They also do 20/50 and 10/40 Dino oils.
https://www.morrislubricantsonline.c...ine-oils-en-3/

[Othen]

Regular readers may recall that GAM had a M40/Type D OD fitted by the PO (let's call him David - because that is his name), but the inhibitor switch was omitted, such that OD could be engaged in all 5 gears. The hole that the switch fits into on the gearbox top plate had inadvertently been tapped to the wrong size (5/8" if I recall) rather than M16x2. David was very candid about this issue, and it is something I'd been meaning to get around to fixing for over a year. I had all the parts and tools available, yesterday was a nice day, so I put GAM up on some ramps and stands and got on with it.

I was slightly wary of the engine block moving backwards when I dropped off the gearbox crossmember, so I disconnected the throttle linkage:



... and wedged a wooden block in the gap between the back of the head and the bulkhead:



The gearbox/OD unit is fiddly rather than difficult to remove in one go, it doesn't need any special tools, just lots of ordinary ones; this is the arrangement I needed to remove the two top 8mm internal hexagon bolts that hold the gearbox onto the bell housing:



I suppose it took an hour, or maybe two, to get the unit out:



I checked the M40 gearbox did have the necessary dog to engage with the inhibitor on the shaft:



... David had assured me it did (the unit came from a P1800 with OD).

The next job was to drill out, tap and insert this helicoil into the existing 5/16" hole. That was easy enough to do on the bench and worked really well. The thread is only 5 turns long, but it doesn't take much force from the spring-loaded switch.



It worked!



Whilst the gearbox was off the motor car I took the opportunity to change the rubber mount - the old one turned out to be a bit scabby:



I included a spare control wire in case I decide to add a second tell tale to indicate when the OD is actually engaged:



So far so good. I had to do some thinking about how I was going to get the gearbox and OD back into the motor car. It is a bit of a heavy and awkward lump, I don't have any sort of transmission jack and there wasn't much clearance underneath. I decided to have a beer and sleep on it.

This morn I jacked GAM up a bit higher to give another 3" or so clearance:



... the front suspension is drooping onto the ramps in this photo. The weight is being supported by the axle stands under sills. I don't have a transmission jack, so I adapted my motorcycle lift:



This worked perfectly; with GAM jacked up a bit more I had just enough clearance to slide the gearbox, OD and lift underneath and then jack it up into position. Once in the tunnel it wasn't all that difficult to slide it forward through the thrust bearing and into the splines. The rest was just nut and bolting everything back into place.

I've retained the old switch and relay:



I think this is a re-purposed HWR switch, but it is simple and works fine. I decided not to use a latching relay and the tell-tale still just lights up when the switch is in the down position, rather than when the OD is actually engaged.

I took GAM for a little test drive and I'm pleased to say the system functions perfectly: OD will only engage in top gear now, as Mr Volvo had intended. I quite like the control switch as it is, but I may change the tell-tale (or maybe add a second one) to show when the OD is actually engaged.

I suppose this little job took me a whole day, spread over two days - less some Bobwalkin and quite a few cuppas. I now have some skinned knuckles and several full swear boxes, but it wasn't really all that difficult, and will prevent inadvertent damage to the Type D unit by leaving it switched on. The switch came free in the spares box (thank you David), I'd acquired the tools (helicoil inserter, tap, drill bit...) some time ago and can't remember what I paid for them, but it wouldn't have been much (eBay opportunity buys). All the sundry items I had anyway, so perhaps it cost me less than £20.

All in all a satisfying outcome - I do so enjoy solving these little challenges on my 40 to 60 year old Volvos

Alan

[Steve 940]

Alan,

A rewarding days fiddling about, and you've solved the problem that you've been thinking about for several months if I recall correctly.

Also, I bet you win the most number of extensions/wobble bars used all together on a project this weekend😀👍

Cheers
Steve

[Bob 1967]

Excellent work! Necessity being the mother of invention, you've certainly earned a gold star.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Steve 940

Alan,

A rewarding days fiddling about, and you've solved the problem that you've been thinking about for several months if I recall correctly.

Also, I bet you win the most number of extensions/wobble bars used all together on a project this weekend😀👍

Cheers
Steve

Originally Posted by Bob 1967

Excellent work! Necessity being the mother of invention, you've certainly earned a gold star.

Thank you chaps,

This one had been on my mind; it was a fair amount of effort for no obvious gain - but I now have peace of mind that the ancient Type D OD can't be left switched on when in reverse.

I really do enjoy this little maintenance and repair jobs - as much as I do driving my old Volvos.

[Laird Scooby]

Excellent work Alan! Did you put some Threadlock on the helicoil threads when you screwed it in to the gearbox?

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Excellent work Alan! Did you put some Threadlock on the helicoil threads when you screwed it in to the gearbox?

Oh no! I'll take it all apart again and put a drop of thread lock on the helicoil today, otherwise it won't work!