Hi all-haven't been here for about 4 years and had forgotten how great this site is. A couple of days ago I picked up a 67 122 wagon. Except for some pan rust, body seems nice with decent oxidised paint that I'm currently polishing. Car is drivable, I drove it home on freeway about 15 miles, but is most likely not too safe at the moment, but that never stopped me lol. Engine, clutch, and transmission seem fine, but brakes, suspension/front end, and a lot of little things need work. Although I have some disability in my hands and limited mechanical ability, I'd like to fix what I'm able to. Except for the old "vw idiot's manual" by john muir, I've always found auto repair manuals to be for those people who already know what they're doing. I'd like to find someone in the los angeles area who knows these cars well, and will, for a reasonable price, go over it with me and let me know what has to be done, what can wait and about what it will cost if they or someone else does it. As money is definitly an issue, would want something pretty detailed. Instead of just saying "your front end"s messed up" which I already know, tell me this, this, and that on the front end needs to be fixed. Maybe it all needs to be done but maybe not. I know plenty of independent volvo shops but they're all too pricey for me so what I think I need is an amateur volvo mechanic who wants to make some extra dough but will be cheaper than an independent garage or dealer. One last thought--I love the look of these amazons and love the pale green paint of mine but I'm not sure I want to keep it. Perhaps I'm spoiled by my 95 850, but the older I get the less discomfort I want to put up with, and as I was driving home the 122 without power steering or air conditioning in 95 degree heat, sweating buckets, I thought, what have I gotten myself into--a sweedish sauna. Any way to add ps and ac to a 122 or is it way too costly and difficult?

Occasionally the 122 factory manual shows up on ebay and it is great, lavishly
illustrated and pretty thorough about explaining how things work as well as
how to fix them. Some of the jobs do require substantial manual strength.
The manual is a looseleaf notebook with about 10-12 sections and you should
find the issue date before bidding because you will need one as late as your
car. Quite a few things changed in the last few years of production so the
early manuals are less useful on late models.

Meanwhile post your questions here.

I'd recommend that you get under the front of the car and get someone to turn
the steering wheel back and forth while you watch the various joints in the
steering system and see if any are loose. (All of them could be.)
Those will be parts to replace. Also look over the ball joints and A-frame
bushings, both lower and upper. You can usually see if they are bad.
Upper and lower mounts of shock absorbers should be good and tight and if
the car bounces, then you will need to replace the shock absorbers too.
The whole front end is pretty straightforward as cars go in general.
Once you get the parts replaced a wheel alignment at an old-fashioned alignment
shop should fix you up pretty good for ride and steering/handling.
--
George Downs Bartlesville, Heart of the USA!

Do all those parts need to be ordered from a vintage volvo specialty company or can I get them from any good parts house?

Parts are easy to find- ipd, swedish treasures, skandix, etc.

email me off-list if you want a digital copy of the shop manuals. Handy to have.

Congrats on the purchase. My own amazon is a 67 wagon.

I can't give you any info on the shops and such, but I can tell you that you could get AC for the car, as it was a dealer option. You'd have to find a another amazon or an early 1800 or 140 and pull the whole setup out. Which still might not work too well with the freon switch over. My 1800 parts car has AC, and just teh addition of the center vents, really helps cool me down - even w/o AC

From what I've heard, adding power steering is not really feasible. The amazon was designed for manual steering.

Good luck on the shop hunt. My wild guess is that your tie rods and ball joints are your issue, but the steering box and some of the oterh bits (e.g. swaybar) sometime is the culprit. The original owner of my own wagon did all that work himself, so I'd think that it quite possible -though I've not progressed that far myself...

I can symathyze about no AC. I drove my Amazon back to St. Louis from Houston Texas with no AC. All windows down, and being blasted by hot dry wind all through texas... I couldn't hear out of my left ear for a while after we stopped.