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So, I have started to become a little concerned about the strength of the tapered drum axles that were available for the 122. I have heard stories of people breaking the axles during racing and other such things. Since I have an early Amazon with the different mountings pre-1967, there are no viable or cost effective options for a replacement axle.
If you don't know, I am swapping in a fairly stout B20 that I am building to replace my tired B16. I am hoping for 160 HP and I am making some changes to support this power. While I am working on the rear brakes, I have decided to make some possible changes to the rear axle as well.
First of all, I came across this article. Please read it and see if it makes sense: http://hotrodsandhemis.com/PolaraRearBrakes/TaperedAxleBrakes.html This requires some work, but it should make servicing the rear brakes much easier in the future.
Secondly, I was reading about Richard Hayden's race car and how he was working on strengthing the rear axles: http://www.vclassics.com/sebring1.htm Maybe this is overkill, but I thought about getting both axle shafts magnafluxed and shot peened (if there are no cracks). Do you think that this is a good solution?
Finally, what makes racing harder on the axles than street driving? I am not running sticky tires and they are the same size as stock 165 SR 15 Michelin XZX. I like hard cornering, but I am not pushing high speeds. I can occasionally see doing donuts. Side note: I do not have the spicer axle, but the ENV which is front loading with a welded carrier (not cast) and larger axle tubes.
Am I just crazy or do these sound like good improvements?
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1959 Volvo Amazon 121, 1998 Volvo V70R AWD
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