Volvo RWD 120-130 Forum

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sound-proofing a 122 120-130

Sweet. I guess a 132 is pretty much the same thing as was marketed over here as a 123GT - only a late production with a standard B20B. Does it have an OD tranny? If so, it already has what will make it more comfortable at modern highway speeds.

The main bits of advice I can give you about driving an old Volvo:
1) Don't scrimp on parts - unless it was neglected maintenance-wise by the previous owner it shouldn't need much. But when it does put the very best parts you can find on. Over time the reliability of the car will reflect the quality of the parts you put in it (as well as the quality of the wrenching). The car will be around for a long, long time, so don't try to economize on parts.
2) Other than a random accident (knocks on wood) rust is the likely killer of an old Volvo. Mechanically they live on forever, and you can fix anything that goes wrong. But rust will eat the car and send it to the junkyard unless you stay on top of it. Don't buy a rusty car, don't drive it in the winter if they salt the roads (get some other car as a sacrificial offering) and pre-emptively strike at the usual spots before it gets a strong foothold. On a 122 these spots are:
1) Front fenders - around the top of the headlight and along the back edge where narrow gaps trap gunk and hold moisture
2) The sills - there are drain holes along them that get plugged and will quickly rot the sills if so
3) Around the rear wheel - on the inside of the body the inner and outer fenders make a narrow cavity - this is hard to get to.
4) Floorboards - take the carpets out and kill the rust

As for performance there are lots of thing you can do to pep it up - from the current 118 HP (stock) to 250+ depending on how much you want to spend. You best bet is to drive it until it needs a rebuild, then use performance parts. It will only cost you slightly more than a stock rebuild will. A couple of likely sources:
www.KgTrimning.com - Swedish company with by far the best selection of mild to wild performance parts for B18/20 engines. Heads, cams, cranks, headers, ignitions, Webers, etc, etc, etc. They sell everything except (oddly enough - since they sell special 'turbo' heads) turbo or supercharger kits. But not to fear:
www.v-performance.com - John Parker has been developing (and may be shipping by now?) a neat supercharger kit complete with an air-to-water intercooler. Combine this with some parts from KgTrimning (big pistons, cam, stroker crank, low compression 'turbo' head) and you could probably have a 250+ HP 2.4 liter monster. And you'd be just that much faster due to your lightened wallet;)






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New sound-proofing a 122 [120-130]
posted by  TomTom  on Wed Apr 3 02:01 CST 2002 >


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