Hello to all on the board, it's been quite some time since I posted and in the meantime I have hatched a scheme which I'm anxious to pursue: pardon the long post but bear with me if you are in the mood for a harebrained proposition. First the outline, for there be many questions here:
1. anyone converted a B18 or B20 to propane, esp. using the original SU carbs as throttle bodies? I am interested to hear about this conversion in any car from any period.
2. anyone have strong positive or negative feelings about PV body repair panels they've obtained from any particular sources?
3. anyone want to weigh in on the wisdom of stripping my daily driver, world champion, lightly modified 63 PV544 to provide the guts for a crackpot Duett project, and then trying to sell off the 544 chassis?
4. windshield wipers.
In depth:
1. I plan to use a 1957 Duett (slumbering this past year and more in my garage, haunting my dreams, etc. as you would expect) as my daily vehicle in my two businesses, woodworking and upright bass playing. Both involve a pretty much continuous schedule of carrying heavy, bulky boxes around in a car/truck, and I propose that the Duett is obviously the greatest vessel ever built for this purpose. I am not looking for speed here.
I would very much like to reduce the impact of my driving activities, for political and environmental reasons. So far a conversion to LPG looks to me like the best way to do this while remaining within the beloved B18/B20 framework. Where I live (Illinois) the state will pay the cost of conversion to any alternative fuel if the components are purchased from an IL-based supplier. Any suggestions? I have seen fuel rings for SUs advertised on UK-based sites for use in Rovers, etc. but can not find any information about their usefulness in real life.
I will most likely use the 10:1 compression B18 from my 544 (about which more to follow) for this project: first and foremost because it's still quite fresh with less than 50k on it, and secondly--importantly--because LPG runs around 110-120 octane and will be much better suited to this engine, which has proved cranky to time properly on pump gas (or at least it was so until I moved to the Midwest and stopped needing to drive up hills). Additionally, I would like to look into "detuning" the exhaust system for maximum efficiency, and possibly adding an aftermarket catalytic converter. The most efficient exhaust system will probably prove to be a stock-sized one, but I'd welcome any comments on this subject, as well as any input from someone who's added a cat to their B18. I am not looking for speed here.
2. This 57 is in quite good shape overall but needs at least one rocker panel, and most floorboards. A couple of rear doors would also not be turned away, and a B18 nose will be needed, roof rack and some kind of front bumper...but I swear it is a contender. I'd like to know who's making well-formed replacement panels, esp. the rocker which I don't fancy trying to hammer up myself.
Only slightly off subject: did the doors on these vehicles ever seal well? There appears to be little or no provision for weatherstripping on the side doors at all.
3. As much as it pains me to say so, the days of keeping lots of extra PVs around are drawing to a rapid close; with a 1-year old baby already demanding to be given the keys to my 63 544, and the aforementioned heavy bulky boxes, and the ever-increasing shortness of time: something has to give. So my current idea is to remove the crossmember with its 122 disk brakes, rebuilt suspension and fancy shocks, pull off the twin-master cylinders and their bracket, remove the B18 w/alternator, M41d and its modified tunnel, driveshaft, etc., and move all this stuff over to the Duett, leaving me with the forlorn, abandoned shell of a still-beloved car. So I'd need to get rid of the carcass as quickly as possible in order to avoid concocting further schemes involving, say, transfering the entire mechanicals of a certain 5-speed equipped 145 into it, and then supercharging that B20 powered, fat-tired, four-wheel disked 544 into HYPER SPACE. See, it's happening already. I learned this from watching you all and I hold you responsible, especially Cam.
Has anyone ever tried to sell a decent (very repairable rust) non-rolling chassis? It's either going to be a 544 or a 145...if I were looking for any speed here which I am not.
Or do I have to bite the bullet and rebuild a B20 and another M41, make new caliper mounting brackets, rebush another PV suspension...what's that? You say that if I do, I will probably stand a better chance of doing most of it right this time around? You make a good point.
4. Windshield wipers: I need these. I love this Duett but the jankety linkage and blithely smoking wiper motor on my 544 has driven me to the edge of madness on several occasions, and this one looks like its less-cooperative forbear. Alternatives? The split-windscreen hot rod guys may have something up their sleeves on this one. Hot rod guys? Hello?
Lastly, congratulations to Phil Singher on having been rightly singled out as the person to interview about vintage Volvos if you are writing a piece for the New York Times and you have already talked to Colin Powell. Well done and hard earned.
All best and thanks in advance for your always-valued words--Nathan
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