Does anyone have any experience in fitting a Amazon Estate (P220) with brakesdisks on the rearaxle?
I've heard somewhere that a P1800ES rearaxle could be compatible with the Amazon's rear suspension and in this way could be a possibility to fit brake disks in stead of the poor performance of the standard drumbrakes in the back. I would be very delighted with any tips on this conversion or other ideas to get what I want in any way!

Thanks a lot!

Leon

Leon;

I dispute your original premise in the first place...that the the rear drum brakes have "poor performance"...in the first place, the fronts, which are big disks, do 80% of the braking work...and that, they do very well indeed...the 20% the rears are left with, they are perfectly adequite for!

We've gone through it, at length, all before...the biggest improvement discs in the rear buy you is ease of maintenance...that's it!...but IMO that's a hellova lot of work to do so you have to change pads instead of shoes!...not to mention having different bolt circles after that...I suggest you exercise the search function...

Cheers

If you're like me, you don't have a working brake booster, which (I am told) increases the "feel" of your brakes. So you don't have to stand on the pedal when you want to stop.

All I've read seems to suggest that the drum brakes are adequate for one's needs.
But wouldn't it be fun to drop the entire rear end out of your Amazon and bolt on a different one? :) It appeals to me (kinda), but I'd rather get my Brake Booster working.

My issues are really that I don't like the stock wheels and wish I could use some other volvo alloy wheels.
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You mean Volvo makes cars that are *NOT* Wagons?!?

There is a whole universe of 4.5X5 bolt pattern wheels out there that will fit the 'old' pattern. Mustangs, Mopars, Jeeps, etc, etc all use 4.5X5. Now the 'new' Volvo pattern (metric, but just about 4.25) is much rarer, and about all you'll find to fit is Volvo wheels, possibly some late model Ford wheels (with offset issues).
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I'm JohnMc, and I approved this message.

Jeep wheels (at least the three stock styles I've tried) do not fit without a spacer at least 10mm thick due to lack of a "dish" at the mating surface. The spider hits the caliper... badly.

I have yet to do any Ford or Mopar rims (I really like Mopar ralleyes) but will keep notes.

p.s. one Jeep rim was steel 15x6 the other was alloy 15x7 and was worse interference.

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Mike!

Thanks, I know about all possible wheels to fit, but prefer the Volvo-ones.... It's sick, I know.

I just read this this morning. http://www.vclassics.com/archive/rbrakes.htm
VCOA's "Rolling" Magazine also covered this topic in the 1999 run.
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You mean Volvo makes cars that are *NOT* Wagons?!?

Thank alot! This article is very interesting and understandable, but unfortunately not about an Estate version. Drivetrain-components on the 2drs or 4drs versions are different so the used P1800 axle will probably not fit the Estate that easily....

About the poor performance: I'm aware that most of the braking appears on the front brakes. Nevertheless the rear drums are heating up pretty much while using the car for rally-driving and taking it for a high performance drive... When discs are mounted on the rear axle this might be solved because of the better coolingbehavior of the discs themselves and the possibility (when using late P1800 stuff) to fit alloy wheels of the 200 series that allow air to flow over the brake components.

In addition to this: does anyone have experience in changing the Amazon wheelbolts' configuration to 200 series specifications? Is this possible? I'm not that fond of using not-Volvo accessoiries and might consider to change rims with better colling possibilities like the ones on the 240 turbo.

Thanks again! Looking forward to your reactions!

Leon

Leon ,

If you can put in an '70-'73 E/ES rear end on a wagon, you can use the 240 Turbo (Virgo) wheels, the bolt pattern is the same.

If you do put in an E/ES rear end, you can then bolt up the front assemblies from an E/ES, directly onto the 122 crossmember, and, Voila, that accomodates the 240 Virgo wheels, and all other '70-'73, "later pattern" wheels, on the front.

I am planning this for my '67 122, using everything from a 36,000 miles '70 E, and will also upgrade to the '70 E Master Cylinder and Booster, with the dual circuit, independent rear brake system.

If you don't change rear ends, I don't know if the Virgo wheels will clear the caliper set up, even if you were able to have the rear drum/hubs redrilled to the later pattern.

If you find that the rears drums/hubs can be redrilled to the later bolt pattern, AND will clear the 122 calipers, and fit in every other way, then you can redrill the front rotors, too, or, again, bolt E/ES assemblies onto the 122 crossmember and you have a match all around, for the later bolt pattern wheels.

gary - '67 122S, '72 ES

Doh!

When I said "If you don't change rear ends, I don't know if the Virgo wheels will clear the caliper set up,"

and

"AND will clear the 122 calipers, and fit in every other way"

what I meant, in both cases, was "clear the 122 rear drums/hubs.

gary - '67 122S, '72 ES

I got it Gary, thanks!
Another thing is that the special tool to remove the drums should be redrilled as well or buy a rare 140-series tool for drumbrakes (are there 140-series with rear drums?

I have to investigate on my '70 P1800E of this rearend would fit the wagon. I've once seen a wagon with these Virgo's fitted so it certainly is possible. Thanks for your tips! Keep me posted about your conversion!

Leon

With enough welding anything is possible. I once put a 142E rear end underneath my old '63 122 sedan. Had to move the Panhard rod mount to the other side, and cut and splice the upper control arm so it had the 122 end on the front and the 140 end on the rear.
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I'm JohnMc, and I approved this message.