Amazon: New (to me) 1963 Volvo 122

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

That's the same as mine Alan except mine has the 30mm hole for mounting - i had some 30mm exhaust tube floating around so bought the duck head to suit.

... for some reason the 28mm one was £7, the 30mm was £36: I'll find a 28mm tube to fit!!! :-)

I'm looking around for something that is more or less this shape - a bit of fence post - suspension trailing arm - a bit of farm machinery... ?

[JC T ONE]

Originally Posted by john.wigley

That one is clearly from a time when motor cars were expected to boast hat, as opposed to head, room.

Regards, John.

Agree, there are some great "hats" in those GT pics.

I bought the checkered helmet for my collection.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by JC T ONE

Agree, there are some great "hats" in those GT pics.

I bought the checkered helmet for my collection.

If you want to get ahead... get a hat.

Alan

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Othen

One issue with the 175 section tyres is that they are just (by millimetres) too wide for the spare wheel well. As a compromise I've bought a 165/60 tyre (same brand and type as the 175 section tyres) for the spare. It will end up being a 'space saver' but only 6mm less radius than the others, so almost indistinguishable I think.

:-)

To bring the silver wheels sub-project to its conclusion: I picked up a fifth 8 hole type wheel whilst Dan and I were in Hampshire visiting my parents last week. It has been cleaned up, repainted (silver Hamerite again), a new 165/60 tyre fitted and balanced. The slightly thinner 165 tyre fits the spare wheel well (which is nice):



In practice the difference in rolling diameter between the 175/60 and 165/60 tyres (from the same manufacturer) is tiny (millimetres) so I'd be very happy about using the spare.

This little aside has worked out very well.

:-)

PS. I put a hubcap on the spare because:

a. I have lots of that type of hubcap spare.

b. It would give me somewhere to put things like wheel nuts if I ever have to change a tyre by the side of the road.

:-)

[Laird Scooby]

I wonder if a 165/65/15 would have given the same diameter Alan? A space-saver ahead of its time! At least it would be as wide as the original tyres were!

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

I wonder if a 165/65/15 would have given the same diameter Alan? A space-saver ahead of its time! At least it would be as wide as the original tyres were!

Actually, I think you are right Dave, a 165/65 would have given 23.6" diameter, as compared with 23.4" for the 175/60, whereas the 165/60 is 23" - so it would have been an even better match. In practice I stood the spare next to one of GAM's roadwheels and the difference in height was not discernible (although there would have been some deflection due to the motor car's weight on the roadwheel of course).

I went for the 165/60 tyre for the spare because it was a size listed by the same manufacturer. I'm happy with the compromise - as you say a space saver years ahead of its time!

:-)

[Snow White]

Originally Posted by Othen

If you want to get ahead... get a hat.

Alan

Or a Hermes Headscarf!

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

If you want to get ahead... get a hat.

Alan

Originally Posted by Snow White

Or a Hermes Headscarf!

I'm getting confused here - i was brought up with Worzel Gummidge!

He just asked the Crowman for a new/special head!

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Othen

I have just taken GAM out for a test drive to check the brakes (they are absolutely fine, including the hand brake which now holds the car easily of steep slopes). GAM is becoming a really nice can now.

It would be nice to get GAM to be as good a daily driver as the RB, but I doubt that will be possible - the design is just too old, but that does not distract from it being enormous fun. Cabin ventilation seems to be a design problem - the only solution seems to be opening a window, but I think that is just the 1960s driving experience.

One thing I must improve is visibility - the door mirrors are almost useless - particularly the NS one:



The mirror is invisible from the driver's seat - hidden completely by the A pillar. I'm guessing these are not the original mirrors - does anyone know of mirrors that would fit (I think about 3" further back) that work?

More good news: the BT receiver and the cell phone holder I have fitted are both perfect. I had Bruce Springsteen for company as I drive and the lady from Google Maps giving me directions :-).

I'm very happy with Aunt Maud.

Alan

PS. More authentic 1960's driving experience: I stopped at Pipewell to adjust the windscreen washer with my Leatherman.

Those with good memories may recall some discussion about GAM's door mirrors back in January this year. It turned out that Volvo didn't dit them from the factory, they were a dealer addition. Anyway, the passenger side one has always been useless - obscured by the door frame:



I have been looking for something that might work better and found these on eBay:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/184987203...53.m2749.l2649

... they are for a 1975 Peugeot 504, but looked about right and had mounting holes with 65mm centres. They were only £37/pair delivered (compared with abouy £60/each for the Volvo replica ones), so I thought they would be worth trying. The mirror would end up being about 3" further to the rear, and so be visible through the quarter light.

The old mirror was well past its best and had been glued previously:



It was fiendishly difficult to get off, first I had to remove the door cards where this little tool that I'd borrowed from SW came in really useful:



... it looks home made, I was very dubious about it, but in practice it is really good at removing and re-fitting the little omega clips behind the window winder and door handle. With that off the two nuts holding the mirror were really difficult to access (with a 10mm ratchet ring spanner), but eventually came off:



Whoever had fitted the mirrors did a really scruffy job:



The holes were a little too big for the self tapping screws supplied with the new mirror, so I filled them with a couple of rawlplugs, assisted by a smear of black silicone adhesive. Fitting the new mirror with screws from the outside was much easier (the captive bolt/nut idea inside the door skin was just plain daft).

The result works pretty well in that the mirror is visible from the driver's seat and I can see behind on the left side:



It looks okay on the car as well, and the rawlplugs fix it well:



So the passenger side mirror problem is solved. I now have asymmetric mirrors, which is not a problem for driving, but it looks slightly odd. I'm in two minds as to whether I change the driver's side mirror as well - I'll think about it whilst walking Bob and let you know later.

:-)

Alan

[Laird Scooby]

You know you'll fit the matching mirror on the drivers door Alan!

Can i suggest Rivnuts instead of Rawlpugs? I'd go for aluminium ones seing as the loading isn't high and you don't want to risk deforming the door while setting them but they would take up the excessive clearance. Steel Rivnuts would be better from the point of view of galvanic corrosion but offset against the risk of deforming the door i'd go for aluminium versions.