Hello All:

1967 Volvo 122S wagon. She has been great to me for 18 months, but Virginia let me down (or perhaps I let her down) yesterday on a trip down to D.C. I had just done a tune-up two weeks ago and she was running as well if not better than the day I bought her. Please read on:

In southern Jersey (150 miles from home, according to the kind folks at K & M Towing) I pulled into a rest stop and noticed a sort of "clunking" sound. I drove her gingerly across the lot and she gave up the ghost. Pulled off the distributor, and the rotor was not turning under starter-motor power. I later realized that the new trick clear fuel filter showed no fuel pumping either. I am reasonably certain that my timing belt died.

The problem is that before I figured this out I thought that I had perhaps not seated the distributor properly when I removed it two weeks ago so I removed it. When I noticed the underlying ring-with groove was also not turning I dug deeper, removing the collar and then easing out the spherical gear beneath. I was never able to get it all of the way out, and now I cannot get it all of the way back down. Any suggestions?

The auto repair shop in southern Jersey was a nice group of fellows but since they did not have the belt anyway, nor did local suppliers. I decided to tow the beast home rather than miss a day of work to go back down and get her.

Does anyone know where I can get a timing belt? IPD does not seem to have one. Any tricks or tips on doing this procedure? I have never done it before on any vehicle.

Cheers,

Jeff Pucillo