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Q: I believe (but haven't looked, as this was somewhat of an impulsive purchase) that the rear brakes are drums. Can disc brakes from a p1800 be fitted? Would this necessitate swapping the entire rear axle? I wonder what final drive ratio I would end up with. I know that the car currently has a 4.10 rear axle, but can't remember if the p1800 is a 4.30 or 4.56. I'm assuming that either of these ratios would give me better acceleration off the line at the expense of top end speed.
A: Unless some previous owner has gotten creative with it it will certainly have drums. Depending on the exact build date of your car (it seems like they swapped mid '67) it would either be easy or mildly difficult to swap an 1800 axle on. Early style 122's will need some mixing and natching of arms and some minor welding on the axle to make it work, later style 122's will bolt the 1800 axle right in. There are a few issues, however. First - 1800's only had rear disc brakes in the late model 'E' incarnation - which means they have the 140 style bolt pattern. You could also swap 1800 front discs on to get matching bolt patterns all the way around and get a new set of wheels. 1800E/ES's and 140's also had some sort of pressure limiter inline with the rear brakes - I don't know how critical this is for the braking - I swapped a 142E axle (probably identical to an 1800E axle) into my erstwhile '63 122S and didn't use the limiter and didn't have any problems with the braking. However - the rear brake do very little actual work so I really wouldn't bother going through so much work for something you will likely never notice in normal driving. The rear discs, that is. The rear end ratio will make a difference. 1800E/ES's axles would be a 3.91 if it came on an automatic tranny car, and a 4.3 if it came on a manual tranny car. I really really doubt you'd notice a decrease in top speed by going from a 4.1 to a 4.3 - a 122 will hit a wall on wind resistance well before it will hit the redline in OD (around 140 mph).
Q: I'd like to replace the front seats as they are well worn and lack headrests. I have been told that the front seats from a 140 series can be installed with relative ease. How about 240 buckets? I have, in addition to the 940 and Amazon, an '85 244 turbo parts car. I bought it on the cheap nearly two and half years ago with the intention of 'restoring' it, but soon realized that I was in way over my head (it needs head work, a new turbo, clutch, exhaust, and so forth). Anyway, it has a very nice pair of black leather buckets that aren't being put to good use (or any use for that matter!) at the moment. Is this a DIY swap? How much fabrication is involved?
A: I put a set of 140 seats in that same 122 and it involved making some simple brackets that bolted to the 122 floor mounts and to the 140 seats. Not terribly difficult - I can't recall if it involved welding or not - or just some sturdy angle iron with strategically drilled holes.
A: I'm fairly certain that she originally sported dual carbs, and at some point was converted to the Weber for economy reasons. According to volvoworld.com, the difference between the dual carb B20 and the single carb B20 is one of about 28 horsepower!! Is regaining this 'lost' power as easy as tossing on a pair of SU's, or were there other differences between the B20A and B20B engines?
Q: The single carb models were never imported to the US and were a Europe (maybe Canada too?) only entry level model. They had milder cams, lower compression ratios and were lacking in power. Your car was 99% likely to have been a two carb model that has had the twin SU's discarded in favor of a single Weber DGV. Its pretty much an equal replacement and will provide enough flow for a stock engine. SU carb's can be very frustrating if you don't know how to balance and tune them, and when the throttle shafts get worn they can be hard to tune using the normal methods. Frustrated owners often turn to the Weber kits sold from many sources as a cure to their SU woes. Not to mention the later FI cars - it might be cheaper to put on a Weber rather than replace all 4 injectors and a fuel pump! So with a stock engine you probably have similar power that you would with twin SU's. Of course, if you start tweaking the engine (head work, exhaust work, cam changes) the single Weber will run out of flow quicker than a pair of SU's will.
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