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PV, 120 (Amazon), 1800 General Forum for the Volvo PV, 120 and 1800 cars |
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1964 Amazon 122S restoration projectViews : 28504 Replies : 246Users Viewing This Thread : |
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Dec 12th, 2023, 13:44 | #241 | |
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This time of year I use the silver wheels with 175/60 section winter tyres (M&S, not really proper winter tyres), which lower the gearing back to what it would have been with a 4.56:1 rear axle. That makes the motor car noticeably more spritely and it keeps up with traffic really well (I’ve even overtaken a few cars - and no, they were not just milk floats). In the summer I use the red wheels (same pattern as yours) with 165/80 section tyres, just like your motor car the gearing is about 7% higher than standard. I think the taller gearing is pretty good, acceleration is still at least good enough to keep up with old people driving Fiestas to the golf links. With the 165/80 tyres high speed (70 MPH) cruising is much better than with standard gearing, which is a huge advantage for longer journeys. In conclusion: I think your Amazon should be able to keep up with modern traffic pretty well. Alan
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Dec 14th, 2023, 11:09 | #242 | |
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I find it quite lively at lower speeds actually, and around town it's far from being the slowest car amongst a sea of modern and electric rubbish. I do find it a bit breathless doing an uphill slip road onto the motorway but I may be asking a little much of it. I am not sure what BHP the high compression head and D cam combination outputs in the real world. Interesting to note the ability to change wheels and essentially have the shorter diff. I have a set of spare wheels I could fit some cheap tyres to just to see how it feels. At the moment I am quite enjoying how relaxed the cruising is at 60-70. In comparison to my partner's Toledo 1300 which must be doing 4-5k at 70 it's night and day. I imagine it's doing sub 3000rpm at 70 which is brilliant. |
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Dec 14th, 2023, 13:03 | #243 | |
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A bit more usefully, i found an advert from c. 1964/5 that proudly announced the 122S returned 25+mpg. This might not sound like something to celebrate but those were US gallons, ~0.8 of an Imperial gallon so 30mpg should be realistic or at least very close to. I had hoped to find a copy of something like a "Motor" road test with the figures recorded for performance but this was the best i could manage - hope they give a bit of insight!
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Dec 15th, 2023, 04:28 | #244 | |
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Times change.
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Dec 15th, 2023, 04:41 | #245 | |
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Dec 15th, 2023, 16:03 | #246 | |
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I get what you say about times changing but even in the 70s, 25mpg wasn't something to shout too loudly about from a mid-sized car. By the early 80s, many manufacturers were boasting of 50+mpg from a mid-size 1600cc car (Mk2 Cavalier with 5 speed box, 51.4mpg) so times definitely do change and with it, technology.
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Yesterday, 12:46 | #247 |
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I just realised I haven't updated this thread in 2024 at all.
A lot has happened. Some of it, not so good. In January we were out for a Sunday drive when going round a roundabout the front right suspension separated. Thankfully we were uninjured and the car was mostly unscathed. What caused this was a faulty locknut on the brand new lower ball joint. Either it was extremely poor quality or the nylon insert just gave way, either way the nut was nowhere to be found. The scary thing is that I'd checked over the car less than 12 hours before this happened including checking the tightness of some critical things like this. There was absolutely no warning that anything was wrong. It goes without saying that this had absolutely been torqued properly with a calibrated wrench - not my first rodeo. Fixing this was simple enough. I replaced the nyloc with a proper castle nut and drilled a hole for a split pin. I also damaged the threads for peace of mind. That's not coming off without a grinder now. Frighteningly, I checked the other side too and found that the nyloc nut was finger tight and had already started to wind itself off. Needless to say this was taken off and thrown away, and replaced with a castle nut and split pin. I think I will be sceptical about any nyloc fastners that come supplied with parts from now on. One minor casualty resulted from this which was the offside tie rod. Here you can see it isn't exactly straight any more. Versus the one which replaced it. When something like this happens it's always a bit frightening getting back in the car again, but I forced myself to put miles on it which I ended up really enjoying. It is also developing some very nice ecosystems in the paintwork. Some general tinkering was done as can be expected. Boot handle broke. Thankfully I still have all the parts from the spares car to dip into. Was getting sick of the gearbox leaking. Front and rear seals were replaced as well as the speedo seal and reverse switch gasket. Unfortunately this didn't really help. It's still dripping from the bellhousing and the rear seal. Very annoying! Lots more updates waiting to post, just trying to keep the posts short. |
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