122dave’s 1968 Volvo 122

Here are some V8 Amazon pics I have collected, and the '28 Buick. This is the 'ole Buick, used to be my grand dad's. We used to ride around in the back woods of PA in it when we were kids. It was a beat up old jalopy back then. This is a nice looking car. Very clean installation. This guy installed a Mustang II front end. This allowed the use of stock Buick exhaust manifolds. Check out the cool steering mod. Here is a Chevy 350 in an Amazon. It is set back to let the exhaust clear the front suspension. Here is the inside of the same car. Saamokin'... Lightin' em up!! This is a nice looking job from Europe. That is the Rover engine(same as Buick).Check out the dual side draft carbs. This car still has the original fire wall, heater, and is stick shift. All the rest of the cars here are automatics. Page 1--In The beginning Page 2--First Moves Page 3--Power Brakes & Battery Box Page 4--Making Headers Page 5--Bringing it Together Page 6--V8 Volvos

First MovesHere is a shot of the engine bay with the old engine and trans removed. You can just make out on the right side the upper control arm bushings. This is going to be THE problem. Here is the Buick 215 ci V8. That exhaust manifold is off a mid 60's Buick 300. It works better than the stock one because it turns down between the last two cylinders and turns in. The stock manifold goes back further and turns out. That is a Volvo fan blade.This fuzzy picture is the 215 in the unmodified engine bay. The oil pan is sitting on the crossmember.So now the fire wall has been cut out and the old heater removed. The oil pan clears the crossmember. The exhaust manifolds have been removed because they were hiting the upper control arms.Here you can see how the stock manifolds would interfere with the controll arm. Headers?This is what it looks like from the insideHere Is the engine in place with the accesories bolted on. Setting it in place with all the accessories on was helpful to see where there might be conflicts. I was going to use a GM 200-4r trans. I got all the adapter plates etc but, this rebuilt Rover 3-speed came up on ebay, so I went with it. It was way cheaper smaller and with the money I saved I can get new gears and limited slip for the rear. If anyone wants 'em the adapter setup for the GM trans is for sale. Page 1--In The beginningPage 2--First MovesPage 3--Power Brakes & Battery BoxPage 4--Making HeadersPage 5--Bringing it TogetherPage 6--V8 Volvos

Years ago, I owned a '66 Volvo 122. It was a black 2 door sedan with a 1.8liter four banger and the 4 speed manual trans. I bought the car used, well used. The engine smoked badly and the thing left such huge clouds of smoke behind it I was embarassed to drive it. So I went to the bone yard and for 100 bucks I took home a 2 liter b20 block. I put it all together and the thing ran pretty good. My buddy Reid was upgrading the wheels on his Dodge van and he gave me the stock Dodge wheels. I slapped on some Baby Moons from the local Penn Jersey store and I was done. I tooled around in the thing for a few years while going to college. It was great and I loved it. But... I really wanted more power. I was constantly imagining all kinds of engine swaps. None ever happened and eventually I sold it to a friend. He totalled it. And that was the end of that.

Because I was moving the fire wall back I needed to widen the area between the battery box and the brake pedal mounting box. Here is a shot of the battery box after it was moved to the side about 1 1/2". I also set it at an angle, parallel to the hood hinge spring. Another thing I wanted to do was rework the power brakes. Because I was narrowing the pedal mounting box to make room for the V8 I went ahead and reworked it to take a Ford booster and master cylinder. In this pic you see the new mounting plate set on the narrowed(1 1/2") box. It is set at an angle of about 17 degs. Here is the power booster and master cylinder set in place. The car will now have 4 circuit brakes and inexpensive Ford parts. I changed to a '90 Mustang master cylinder. It has a better bore size for my application. So it is three circuit brakes, the front each on their own and one for the rear. The rear line is in front and leads down to a proportioning valve and a residual pressure valve. The old Volvo proportioning valve didn't work (the back brakes would lock up with out even trying)and I couldn't find a replacement so I got this ajustable one from Jegs. I also had to patch the rust out in the floor. More floor patches. Ain't a wire welder a great thing. Here is a view of the front of the engine showing the belts. The A/C compressor belt had to have that idler pully so the belt would clear the steering box. Page 1--In The beginning Page 2--First Moves Page 3--Power Brakes & Battery Box Page 4--Making Headers Page 5--Bringing it Together Page 6--V8 Volvos

Headers Here are some pictures of the construction of the headers. More will be added as things progress. This is what you start with. A box of J bends and a pair of header flanges. This is going to be a Tri Y setup. Or as close as I can make it given the tight space. The primary and secondary pipes are 1 1/2". The two 1 1/2" secondary pipes merge into the 2" dual exhaust. This worked out pretty good. But I didn't use it. This is for #4 cylinder(left). Then with the piece added for #2 cylinder. Here are some pictures of the left side header coming together. Here are the finished headers. I painted them with some PM Industries ceramic coating. The close header is buffed, the other is not...yet. Page 1--In The beginning Page 2--First Moves Page 3--Power Brakes & Battery Box Page 4--Making Headers Page 5--Bringing it Together Page 6--V8 Volvos

Bringing it Together I just got the last major peice, the radiator. Here it is clamped in place to locate the mounting brackets. On the right the lower bracket clamped in place, before welding. I had to ajust the side brackets slighty. I made new flanges to be a little wider. On the left, ready for welding. On the right, the top tank is the old Volvo bottem tank. It was narrowed about a 1/2 inch to match the early 60's T'bird bottem tank. It has a 3 tube core on 3/8 inch centers. It is supposed to cool as good as a 4 tube. Here is the engine and trans.That is a mid 70's Rover 3-speed. It is a Borg Warner 35 which happens to be the same one Volvo used in this car. It was nice because with a little modification the Volvo out-put shaft is being used in the Rover trans. This bolts right upto my drive shaft. Sweet huh? My friend and ace transmission mechanic John Pope modified the Volvo out-put shaft. Thanks John. Starting on the motor mounts. To locate the motor mounts I set the engine in place, blocked up on wood scraps, set the motor mounts in place and tacked them in. I then removed the engine and finished welding them. I put the engine back in to check the fit. Fits good. This is the transmission mount adpter I made so I could use a chevy mount. Here it is with the mount attached. This is the beginning of the cross member for the trans mount. And here it is in place. Here you can see the radiator expantion tank on it's new bracket. That is a new Accel Billetproof distributor hiding behind the radiator hose. The hose was made of tubing left over from the headers. The expantion tank is from a late model Volvo. This now being a "high pressure" system, it has a 22lb radiator cap. Here is a shot that shows the pipe to fill the radiator from the expantion tank. The pipe is made from 1/2 inch EMT. I borrowed the bender from an electrician buddy. I picked up this Lokar shifter on ebay. It is really for a chevy th350, but it will work with the Borg Warner with a shift cable. I had to fabricate mounting brackets too. I got the long shifter to be like a Volvo shifter and mounted it up front like an original one. Also, you can just make out that the driveshaft is now in place after being shortened 4". Firewall build up It Runs!!! This is how it looked the day I started it for the first time. That engine runs, believe it or not. I am working on a nicer air filter and valve covers. Tomorrow I'm taking to the muffler shop. Hot damn. Page 1--In The Beginning Page 2--First Moves Page 3--Power Brakes & Battery Box Page 4--Making Headers Page 5--Bringing it Together Page 6--V8 Volvos

Here are some V8 Amazon pics I have collected, and the '28 Buick. This is the 'ole Buick, used to be my grand dad's. We used to ride around in the back woods of PA in it when we were kids. It was a beat up old jalopy back then. This is a nice looking car. Very clean installation. This guy installed a Mustang II front end. This allowed the use of stock Buick exhaust manifolds. Check out the cool steering mod. Here is a Chevy 350 in an Amazon. It is set back to let the exhaust clear the front suspension. Here is the inside of the same car. Saamokin'... Lightin' em up!! This is a nice looking job from Europe. That is the Rover engine(same as Buick).Check out the dual side draft carbs. This car still has the original fire wall, heater, and is stick shift. All the rest of the cars here are automatics. Page 1--In The beginning Page 2--First Moves Page 3--Power Brakes & Battery Box Page 4--Making Headers Page 5--Bringing it Together Page 6--V8 Volvos

Headers Here are some pictures of the construction of the headers. More will be added as things progress. This is what you start with. A box of J bends and a pair of header flanges. This is going to be a Tri Y setup. Or as close as I can make it given the tight space. The primary and secondary pipes are 1 1/2". The two 1 1/2" secondary pipes merge into the 2" dual exhaust. This worked out pretty good. But I didn't use it. This is for #4 cylinder(left). Then with the piece added for #2 cylinder. Here are some pictures of the left side header coming together. Here are the finished headers. I painted them with some PM Industries ceramic coating. The close header is buffed, the other is not...yet. Page 1--In The beginning Page 2--First Moves Page 3--Power Brakes & Battery Box Page 4--Making Headers Page 5--Bringing it Together Page 6--V8 Volvos

Because I was moving the fire wall back I needed to widen the area between the battery box and the brake pedal mounting box. Here is a shot of the battery box after it was moved to the side about 1 1/2". I also set it at an angle, parallel to the hood hinge spring. Another thing I wanted to do was rework the power brakes. Because I was narrowing the pedal mounting box to make room for the V8 I went ahead and reworked it to take a Ford booster and master cylinder. In this pic you see the new mounting plate set on the narrowed(1 1/2") box. It is set at an angle of about 17 degs. Here is the power booster and master cylinder set in place. The car will now have 4 circuit brakes and inexpensive Ford parts. I changed to a '90 Mustang master cylinder. It has a better bore size for my application. So it is three circuit brakes, the front each on their own and one for the rear. The rear line is in front and leads down to a proportioning valve and a residual pressure valve. The old Volvo proportioning valve didn't work (the back brakes would lock up with out even trying)and I couldn't find a replacement so I got this ajustable one from Jegs. I also had to patch the rust out in the floor. More floor patches. Ain't a wire welder a great thing. Here is a view of the front of the engine showing the belts. The A/C compressor belt had to have that idler pully so the belt would clear the steering box. Page 1--In The beginning Page 2--First Moves Page 3--Power Brakes & Battery Box Page 4--Making Headers Page 5--Bringing it Together Page 6--V8 Volvos

Fast forward a bunch of years and I have finally completed the restoration of granddad's old '28 Buick(see p.6) and I'm wondering what to do? I remember how much I liked that old Volvo. In the intervening years I had a '62 Buick Special with the 215 c.i. V8. I am now back to dreaming up great engine swaps and of course I put the two together. As it turns out, this is not all that original an idea. The little Buick alumminum V8 has been a favorite to put into small foreign cars and in europe swaping the Rover V8(same as Buick)into the Amazon has been popular for years. The Volvo bulletin boards even have a few postings of guys thinking of trying this. So I decided to jump in. What follows is that still evolving story. If you have any tips or you want to point out something I am doing all wrong you can reach me at db.nash@hotmail.com

Bringing it Together I just got the last major peice, the radiator. Here it is clamped in place to locate the mounting brackets. On the right the lower bracket clamped in place, before welding. I had to ajust the side brackets slighty. I made new flanges to be a little wider. On the left, ready for welding. On the right, the top tank is the old Volvo bottem tank. It was narrowed about a 1/2 inch to match the early 60's T'bird bottem tank. It has a 3 tube core on 3/8 inch centers. It is supposed to cool as good as a 4 tube. Here is the engine and trans.That is a mid 70's Rover 3-speed. It is a Borg Warner 35 which happens to be the same one Volvo used in this car. It was nice because with a little modification the Volvo out-put shaft is being used in the Rover trans. This bolts right upto my drive shaft. Sweet huh? My friend and ace transmission mechanic John Pope modified the Volvo out-put shaft. Thanks John. Starting on the motor mounts. To locate the motor mounts I set the engine in place, blocked up on wood scraps, set the motor mounts in place and tacked them in. I then removed the engine and finished welding them. I put the engine back in to check the fit. Fits good. This is the transmission mount adpter I made so I could use a chevy mount. Here it is with the mount attached. This is the beginning of the cross member for the trans mount. And here it is in place. Here you can see the radiator expantion tank on it's new bracket. That is a new Accel Billetproof distributor hiding behind the radiator hose. The hose was made of tubing left over from the headers. The expantion tank is from a late model Volvo. This now being a "high pressure" system, it has a 22lb radiator cap. Here is a shot that shows the pipe to fill the radiator from the expantion tank. The pipe is made from 1/2 inch EMT. I borrowed the bender from an electrician buddy. I picked up this Lokar shifter on ebay. It is really for a chevy th350, but it will work with the Borg Warner with a shift cable. I had to fabricate mounting brackets too. I got the long shifter to be like a Volvo shifter and mounted it up front like an original one. Also, you can just make out that the driveshaft is now in place after being shortened 4". Firewall build up It Runs!!! This is how it looked the day I started it for the first time. That engine runs, believe it or not. I am working on a nicer air filter and valve covers. Tomorrow I'm taking to the muffler shop. Hot damn. Page 1--In The Beginning Page 2--First Moves Page 3--Power Brakes & Battery Box Page 4--Making Headers Page 5--Bringing it Together Page 6--V8 Volvos

First MovesHere is a shot of the engine bay with the old engine and trans removed. You can just make out on the right side the upper control arm bushings. This is going to be THE problem. Here is the Buick 215 ci V8. That exhaust manifold is off a mid 60's Buick 300. It works better than the stock one because it turns down between the last two cylinders and turns in. The stock manifold goes back further and turns out. That is a Volvo fan blade.This fuzzy picture is the 215 in the unmodified engine bay. The oil pan is sitting on the crossmember.So now the fire wall has been cut out and the old heater removed. The oil pan clears the crossmember. The exhaust manifolds have been removed because they were hiting the upper control arms.Here you can see how the stock manifolds would interfere with the controll arm. Headers?This is what it looks like from the insideHere Is the engine in place with the accesories bolted on. Setting it in place with all the accessories on was helpful to see where there might be conflicts. I was going to use a GM 200-4r trans. I got all the adapter plates etc but, this rebuilt Rover 3-speed came up on ebay, so I went with it. It was way cheaper smaller and with the money I saved I can get new gears and limited slip for the rear. If anyone wants 'em the adapter setup for the GM trans is for sale. Page 1--In The beginningPage 2--First MovesPage 3--Power Brakes & Battery BoxPage 4--Making HeadersPage 5--Bringing it TogetherPage 6--V8 Volvos

Here are some V8 Amazon pics I have collected, and the '28 Buick. This is the 'ole Buick, used to be my grand dad's. We used to ride around in the back woods of PA in it when we were kids. It was a beat up old jalopy back then. This is a nice looking car. Very clean installation. This guy installed a Mustang II front end. This allowed the use of stock Buick exhaust manifolds. Check out the cool steering mod. Here is a Chevy 350 in an Amazon. It is set back to let the exhaust clear the front suspension. Here is the inside of the same car. Saamokin'... Lightin' em up!! This is a nice looking job from Europe. That is the Rover engine(same as Buick).Check out the dual side draft carbs. This car still has the original fire wall, heater, and is stick shift. All the rest of the cars here are automatics. Page 1--In The beginning Page 2--First Moves Page 3--Power Brakes & Battery Box Page 4--Making Headers Page 5--Bringing it Together Page 6--V8 Volvos

First MovesHere is a shot of the engine bay with the old engine and trans removed. You can just make out on the right side the upper control arm bushings. This is going to be THE problem. Here is the Buick 215 ci V8. That exhaust manifold is off a mid 60's Buick 300. It works better than the stock one because it turns down between the last two cylinders and turns in. The stock manifold goes back further and turns out. That is a Volvo fan blade.This fuzzy picture is the 215 in the unmodified engine bay. The oil pan is sitting on the crossmember.So now the fire wall has been cut out and the old heater removed. The oil pan clears the crossmember. The exhaust manifolds have been removed because they were hiting the upper control arms.Here you can see how the stock manifolds would interfere with the controll arm. Headers?This is what it looks like from the insideHere Is the engine in place with the accesories bolted on. Setting it in place with all the accessories on was helpful to see where there might be conflicts. I was going to use a GM 200-4r trans. I got all the adapter plates etc but, this rebuilt Rover 3-speed came up on ebay, so I went with it. It was way cheaper smaller and with the money I saved I can get new gears and limited slip for the rear. If anyone wants 'em the adapter setup for the GM trans is for sale. Page 1--In The beginningPage 2--First MovesPage 3--Power Brakes & Battery BoxPage 4--Making HeadersPage 5--Bringing it TogetherPage 6--V8 Volvos

Because I was moving the fire wall back I needed to widen the area between the battery box and the brake pedal mounting box. Here is a shot of the battery box after it was moved to the side about 1 1/2". I also set it at an angle, parallel to the hood hinge spring. Another thing I wanted to do was rework the power brakes. Because I was narrowing the pedal mounting box to make room for the V8 I went ahead and reworked it to take a Ford booster and master cylinder. In this pic you see the new mounting plate set on the narrowed(1 1/2") box. It is set at an angle of about 17 degs. Here is the power booster and master cylinder set in place. The car will now have 4 circuit brakes and inexpensive Ford parts. I changed to a '90 Mustang master cylinder. It has a better bore size for my application. So it is three circuit brakes, the front each on their own and one for the rear. The rear line is in front and leads down to a proportioning valve and a residual pressure valve. The old Volvo proportioning valve didn't work (the back brakes would lock up with out even trying)and I couldn't find a replacement so I got this ajustable one from Jegs. I also had to patch the rust out in the floor. More floor patches. Ain't a wire welder a great thing. Here is a view of the front of the engine showing the belts. The A/C compressor belt had to have that idler pully so the belt would clear the steering box. Page 1--In The beginning Page 2--First Moves Page 3--Power Brakes & Battery Box Page 4--Making Headers Page 5--Bringing it Together Page 6--V8 Volvos

Headers Here are some pictures of the construction of the headers. More will be added as things progress. This is what you start with. A box of J bends and a pair of header flanges. This is going to be a Tri Y setup. Or as close as I can make it given the tight space. The primary and secondary pipes are 1 1/2". The two 1 1/2" secondary pipes merge into the 2" dual exhaust. This worked out pretty good. But I didn't use it. This is for #4 cylinder(left). Then with the piece added for #2 cylinder. Here are some pictures of the left side header coming together. Here are the finished headers. I painted them with some PM Industries ceramic coating. The close header is buffed, the other is not...yet. Page 1--In The beginning Page 2--First Moves Page 3--Power Brakes & Battery Box Page 4--Making Headers Page 5--Bringing it Together Page 6--V8 Volvos

Bringing it Together I just got the last major peice, the radiator. Here it is clamped in place to locate the mounting brackets. On the right the lower bracket clamped in place, before welding. I had to ajust the side brackets slighty. I made new flanges to be a little wider. On the left, ready for welding. On the right, the top tank is the old Volvo bottem tank. It was narrowed about a 1/2 inch to match the early 60's T'bird bottem tank. It has a 3 tube core on 3/8 inch centers. It is supposed to cool as good as a 4 tube. Here is the engine and trans.That is a mid 70's Rover 3-speed. It is a Borg Warner 35 which happens to be the same one Volvo used in this car. It was nice because with a little modification the Volvo out-put shaft is being used in the Rover trans. This bolts right upto my drive shaft. Sweet huh? My friend and ace transmission mechanic John Pope modified the Volvo out-put shaft. Thanks John. Starting on the motor mounts. To locate the motor mounts I set the engine in place, blocked up on wood scraps, set the motor mounts in place and tacked them in. I then removed the engine and finished welding them. I put the engine back in to check the fit. Fits good. This is the transmission mount adpter I made so I could use a chevy mount. Here it is with the mount attached. This is the beginning of the cross member for the trans mount. And here it is in place. Here you can see the radiator expantion tank on it's new bracket. That is a new Accel Billetproof distributor hiding behind the radiator hose. The hose was made of tubing left over from the headers. The expantion tank is from a late model Volvo. This now being a "high pressure" system, it has a 22lb radiator cap. Here is a shot that shows the pipe to fill the radiator from the expantion tank. The pipe is made from 1/2 inch EMT. I borrowed the bender from an electrician buddy. I picked up this Lokar shifter on ebay. It is really for a chevy th350, but it will work with the Borg Warner with a shift cable. I had to fabricate mounting brackets too. I got the long shifter to be like a Volvo shifter and mounted it up front like an original one. Also, you can just make out that the driveshaft is now in place after being shortened 4". Firewall build up It Runs!!! This is how it looked the day I started it for the first time. That engine runs, believe it or not. I am working on a nicer air filter and valve covers. Tomorrow I'm taking to the muffler shop. Hot damn. Page 1--In The Beginning Page 2--First Moves Page 3--Power Brakes & Battery Box Page 4--Making Headers Page 5--Bringing it Together Page 6--V8 Volvos

Here are some V8 Amazon pics I have collected, and the '28 Buick. This is the 'ole Buick, used to be my grand dad's. We used to ride around in the back woods of PA in it when we were kids. It was a beat up old jalopy back then. This is a nice looking car. Very clean installation. This guy installed a Mustang II front end. This allowed the use of stock Buick exhaust manifolds. Check out the cool steering mod. Here is a Chevy 350 in an Amazon. It is set back to let the exhaust clear the front suspension. Here is the inside of the same car. Saamokin'... Lightin' em up!! This is a nice looking job from Europe. That is the Rover engine(same as Buick).Check out the dual side draft carbs. This car still has the original fire wall, heater, and is stick shift. All the rest of the cars here are automatics. Page 1--In The beginning Page 2--First Moves Page 3--Power Brakes & Battery Box Page 4--Making Headers Page 5--Bringing it Together Page 6--V8 Volvos

Headers Here are some pictures of the construction of the headers. More will be added as things progress. This is what you start with. A box of J bends and a pair of header flanges. This is going to be a Tri Y setup. Or as close as I can make it given the tight space. The primary and secondary pipes are 1 1/2". The two 1 1/2" secondary pipes merge into the 2" dual exhaust. This worked out pretty good. But I didn't use it. This is for #4 cylinder(left). Then with the piece added for #2 cylinder. Here are some pictures of the left side header coming together. Here are the finished headers. I painted them with some PM Industries ceramic coating. The close header is buffed, the other is not...yet. Page 1--In The beginning Page 2--First Moves Page 3--Power Brakes & Battery Box Page 4--Making Headers Page 5--Bringing it Together Page 6--V8 Volvos

First MovesHere is a shot of the engine bay with the old engine and trans removed. You can just make out on the right side the upper control arm bushings. This is going to be THE problem. Here is the Buick 215 ci V8. That exhaust manifold is off a mid 60's Buick 300. It works better than the stock one because it turns down between the last two cylinders and turns in. The stock manifold goes back further and turns out. That is a Volvo fan blade.This fuzzy picture is the 215 in the unmodified engine bay. The oil pan is sitting on the crossmember.So now the fire wall has been cut out and the old heater removed. The oil pan clears the crossmember. The exhaust manifolds have been removed because they were hiting the upper control arms.Here you can see how the stock manifolds would interfere with the controll arm. Headers?This is what it looks like from the insideHere Is the engine in place with the accesories bolted on. Setting it in place with all the accessories on was helpful to see where there might be conflicts. I was going to use a GM 200-4r trans. I got all the adapter plates etc but, this rebuilt Rover 3-speed came up on ebay, so I went with it. It was way cheaper smaller and with the money I saved I can get new gears and limited slip for the rear. If anyone wants 'em the adapter setup for the GM trans is for sale. Page 1--In The beginningPage 2--First MovesPage 3--Power Brakes & Battery BoxPage 4--Making HeadersPage 5--Bringing it TogetherPage 6--V8 Volvos