Better, Faster, Stronger (Team LOL Volvo 122 Build Thread) (Page 1 of 2)

As the captain of the only other team in Lemons to have ever campaigned a Volvo 122, I have to say...I always wondered why it's taken another team so long to do so!

Pre-build:

First race:

3rd or 4th race:

Can't find any pictures of it's last race, painted black in "Spaceballs" theme.

Gentle words and lots of lube I am sure.

Our team is entirely in favor of dragging '60s Swedish sedans out of someone's back forty and turning them into fine racing machines.  Congratulations and best wishes.

Volvo 122's usually don't rust badly.  1800s are way worse.  That said, I have some 122s on my property that look like they've taken a decades-long bath in a flooded salt mine.

As for our fuel cell...well, you see, back in the Tunachuckers 122's day...the Lemons rules on "safety" and "fuel cells" were a bit more lax.  That said, we absolutely had to ditch the stock tank- the fuel filler stuck out about even with the back bumper.  It would be worse than a Pinto.  One of our teammates found about a 15 gallon rotomolded plastic "fuel cell" from a relative who used to drag race and we removed the stock tank (which sits through the hole in the trunk floor) put some metal straps around it to hold it in place, and called it good.  Hey, it had foam inside it...

Towards the end of the car's career Lemons started requiring a metal encased fuel cell.  So, I welded up a box out of ~16 gauge sheet metal and we dropped the old plastic "cell" into it, and then back into the trunk hole.  Again, metal banding straps held it in place.

For reference, our driver's seat was some sort of plastic/ fiberglass thing that I wouldn't put on a lawn tractor now.  But again, back in those days you could still run a stock driver's seat, so it was sort-of an improvement.  Maybe.

What would I do now?  Well, it's a little tricky.  Obviously you want the fuel cell as far forward and low in the trunk as possible for weight distribution, but the rear axle kinda gets in the way.  I'd probably take a stock tank and cut it in half horizontally, and leave the bottom half in the car to act as a "floor" for the cell.  Then get whatever modern, safe fuel cell that fits in that size hole and weld angle iron around it to hold it in place.  A 5/16 fuel line should be plenty to feed any B20 you care to use. 

Can you tell I've been thinking about this for myself?  ;-)

And, yes, I have a warehouse full of used Amazon parts if you need anything- I ship almost anything, almost anywhere.  For new stuff, obviously you probably know about IPD and Olaf Malberg and VLVWorld.

The front cross members on these cars are a weak spot. I have had the rear a-arm gussets break away from the cross member. I have also heard that the shock towers can break (I have never actually seen this happen before). I can see why these parts don't hold up on a race track, they did a pretty minimal amount of welding from the factory. With the engine out is obviously the best time to tackle this job. It is really amazing how little time it takes to pull the font end completely apart.

Here is the fix for the shock tower. I think the real problem with the factory set-up is the hole drilled for the shock is way too big, almost to the point that the rubber could be shoved through.
Assembling the front suspension in the comfort of my garage. Everything but the crossmember is coming from the 1800. We had been using IPD poly upper control arm bushings, but after 4 track events, they were totally thrashed. This time I installed stock rubber bushings, hopefully they will have a longer life span. Even though the 122 crossmember looks similar to the 1800's, they are very different. I had to do quite a bit of re-shaping the brake lines to fit on the 122 crossmember.

I think that can be done. I have never tried it. I'll throw that idea out to the fellas on turbobricks and see what they say.

When we were building the 1800 we ran into the problem of front rotors made out of unobtainium. Only available from the dealer for almost $200 a pop! We fabricated a new bracket to accept Volvo 240 calipers and vented rotors. We are sticking with the Volvo bolt pattern. I really wanted a '67 or newer car to bolt the rear-end onto with no modifications, but this car became available for free (previous owner was more than happy to have us take it off his property!)

So, here is the plan for the slightly cheaty rear axle...

Cutting holes in a Volvo floor to clear the driveshaft? I've never heard of that before. :-)

Welding to the original sheet metal, so cheaty.

Wow.  this is _much_ nicer than our Amazon was.  You have floorboards.

In Soviet Russia... (witty reversal goes here, I've got nothin')

Caged. Now we are committed...

Looks killer. Glad you made it. What are those wheels off of? They look great.