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Hello everyone!
This is my first post here and I ended up here since nobody at finnish volvo forum couldn't help me. I hope my english is readable.
My girlfriend insisted on having a Volvo Amazon with automatic transmission. I've never owned a Volvo (so far I've owned a '62 Chrysler, a couple of 80's Chevys and a few russian Ladas), but since it's a beautiful car and since everyone says how reliable those old Volvos are, we started looking for one.
Because we live next to Sweden, I thought finding one with automatic here in Finland wouldn't be so tough, but after one year of searching with no success, we desided to widen our search to Sweden. Quite quickly we found a suitable one and since my girlfriend's parents have lived most of their lives in Sweden, the communication was easy. What we found was a 1966 Volvo 121 2-door, color code 89. The car has "only" been driven 135000 kilometers (84000 miles). Girlfriend's parents went to Sweden to get it and drove it back to Finland. The car worked fine the whole trip, over 750 kilometer (460 miles)
The car is in excellent original condition (see pictures here -> http://www.kotiposti.net/jessel/Amazon/Amazon.html), excluding few things. It has been repainted with color that probably isn't quite the tone it should be, the front fenders are made of plastic/fiber, the hubcaps are missing and the transmission has been replaced with a newer one. In my opinion the tranny doesn't work quite like it should (compared to my experiences with american automatic transmissions). Also when I clean the dipstick, the rag gets little dark/black stuff on it although the oil looks quite good. I'm still planning on changing the oils just to be sure.
Few questions I hope you can help me with:
1. Is there a way to indentify the transmission and it's year? I've searched the net for a long time and I came up with nothing. Still people claim there are lots of different BW35 transmissions.
2. Are the bands adjustable and if so, how? We bought a Haynes repair manual but it doesn't cover the automatic transmission too well.
3. Is there a replaceable oil filter inside the tranny?
4. What else should we know about the tranny? I know it uses type F oil, but anything else?
Big thanks in advance!
Best regards,
Jesse Laakso, Finland
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The BW35 in the 1800ES I have did have cooling lines, so you might still be dealing with a BW35. The inspection plate with the numbers on it is on the left side of the transmission, about halfway up the side. This will make it rather difficult to see with the transmission in the car, I believe. The plate for the BW35 reads AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION MODEL 35, in addition to all the serial numbers. You can adjust the front and rear bands on this transmission. The rears are done through an adjustment in the back. For the front you must pull the pan. I have a Volvo manual that describes servicing the BW35. If you want I will scan the pages and e-mail them to you (about 30 pages) or can describe the adjustment process.
Tim
'72 ES, '90 240
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posted by
someone claiming to be bill nesbitt
on
Wed May 11 12:33 CST 2005 [ RELATED]
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I've had 2 with the BW35: a 1964 white 4 door parts car, and a pale yellow '68 station wagon. I also have a '67 123GT with manual + overdrive. For driving, there is no comparison. The auto is sluggish, slow, and very busy at highway speeds. The wagon had air conditioning, and between the AC & the transmission, it was a wonder it could climb a hill on a hot day! Driving the GT is the most fun I've ever had with my clothes on.
The only major break-down/mechanic's bill I've ever had in 12 years of daily driving is a rebuild of the tranny in the '68 wagon. I don't think that transmission is up to the standard of the rest of the car. Still, I'd choose a 122 with a BW35 over a lot of newer cars.
BTW, last week I was in northern Ontario, Canada, in an area that was settled by Finns. The first building those settlers would build (even before a house and barn) was a sauna! It was snowing where I was, and after a long, cold day's drive, the sauna was wonderful!
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Thanks to you all for your responses!
Very nice to know about the paint thing, since I've always been interested in WW2 planes, especially the 'Flying Fortress'.
Manual transmission won't do, because my girlfriend insists it being automatic. It's much nicer to cruise around that way ;) There are plenty of manual tranny Amazons here and the mileage doesn't bother us. Also because automatic Amazons are very rare, my girlfriend likes to keep it as original as possible. In Finland we have own system for "museum cars" (cars that are over 25 years old), which is voluntary and when a car is registered to it, it has all kinds of tax and other reliefs. We probably won't go for that, since for the "museum car" title, the car needs to be very close to the original and there are few things that woud need to be "fixed". But by keeping it atleast this much original, the resale value remains much better.
As I said, the transmission has been changed and it does have external cooling on it (forgot to mention). If I understood correctly, it could be as late as 1980(?). The previous owner couldn't say from what year it was, so indentifying it IMO would be the first thing to do. I just don't have a clue how!
Is there any book available for that tranny?
And what is a "tranny flush"?
Tim, the procedure info would be highly appreciated!
Cheers,
Jesse
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Welcome JJ;
Your English is far better than my Finnish (and most American English)!
A tranny flush is a proceedure where the transmission is hooked up to an external source of fluid (or a micro-filtration unit) and an "out with the old in with the new" process is performed. This is nice as it removes much more kaka and deposits than a regular sump dump and refill.
There should be a number plate on the tranny (no matter what kind it is). That will give you the manufacturer, model and serial number. Exactly where? Um, dunno, I have the m40 of course.
G'luck
--
Mike!
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A BW35 does not have adjustable bands. It does have a replaceable filter though.
You can buy a filter kit that comes with a new pan gasket. All the BW35's are basicly similar but the one in the 122 doesn't have provisions for external oil cooling so you can't do a "tranny flush" like you could with a 140 or 164. The best you can hope for when removing the pan is 3 or 4qts of atf. Hope this helps.
Jim 66 122S,BW35
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I am curious about this. My '72 ES had a BW35 and I am quite sure it had adjustable bands. Don't have my book with me right now, but I will try to look it up tomorrow. One of the bands was supposed to be adjusted through an access hatch in the floor, but my floor didn't have that. The problem may be that I had a manual for a '73; maybe they did an upgrade. I will try to post the procedure soon, if that is of interest.
The BW 35 was not a great transmission, at least as it was configured in the ES. Still, it got be back and forth to work for quite a while before quitting on me. Now converted to the M41.
Tim
'72 ES, '90 240
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Hi Jesse .. and welcome to Volvo ownership. Can't tell you much about the automatic except that my car came new with one and it was changed to a manual VERY early on .... like in 1966 ... the car was bought new in Sept of 1965. The colour #89 was a short run of 1965 and very few 1966 cars and from your picture appears to be correct ... check out the picture of my car with this posting. The source of this colour is very interesting .... the underside of the WW2 Luftwaffe fighters were this exact colour Licht Blau and the paint number was also #89 ...
Good luck with your transmission .... as far as I can tell, from what I have heard from the original owner of my car, the best thing that can be done with them is to swap to a M41 with J type Overdrive. Having never driven my car as an automatic all I can say is it works great with the standard and the overdrive really helps out with mileage and quieter less frantic running on the road.
regards
Brett
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Brett Sutherland & the 1.5 million mile 122 CANADIAN www.ecvintagevolvo.com
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Brett-
Thanks for that bit of info on the color! Gave me a flashback to painting the underside of a Messershmidt model as a kid... My paint on my '66 is actually starting to take on the same 'flat' appearance, so a paintjob is in the future. We call our Amazon 'the Bird,' because of the robin's egg hue.
I wonder if all the #89 blue Amazons were automatic... Yours was, mine was, Jesse's is, and I seem to recall seeing a few on eBay in the blue that were too...
Tom
NYC
PS- Welcome to the cult, Jesse!
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BTW I have the paint mix code for the Acrylic Enamel for RM Paints
RM Code 89
LB-900-1959.4
LB-401-2538.2
LB-202-2655.4
LB-704-2764.3
LB-708-2818.9
LB-301-2865.2
LMC-2 -4049.7
MAKES 1 GALLON
Also at bottom of list is scrawled as best I can make out
L inc 2
Brett
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Brett Sutherland & the 1.5 million mile 122 CANADIAN www.ecvintagevolvo.com
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Hi Tom ... that is interesting ... a friend just down the road also has a '66 4 door Light Blue that is an automatic .... Hmmmm My car was assembled in Halifax, Nova Scotia.... I wonder .... Guess I will have to check that out with some of my sources....
Brett
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Brett Sutherland & the 1.5 million mile 122 CANADIAN www.ecvintagevolvo.com
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