Subject Clue No Clue More 245 dies right after starting Lower control arm bolt stuck 264 surges when tank drops to half Adding limited slip differential Swapping E head onto B20F '67 1800 no OverDrive '69 1800 plugged brake line Smiths speedometer Strength of cross-member? Rear disk brakes conversion Blue tips on injectors Lots more information will be found in the Archive!

Please E-mail us your questions for consideration by our editors. Our panelists are (in alphabetical order): Lee Holman David A. Hueppchen Cameron Lovre Phil Singher PV Consultant: Jim McDonald Ten or fifteen recent questions (depending on length) will be carried on this page, which is updated continuously. This is to permit in-depth discussion of topics as necessary. As questions "fall off the bottom" of the menu, they will be Archived, sorted by subject. As always, we welcome comments and elaboration from other knowledgeable Volvo enthusiasts, to be listed under More in the menu table. Back to the Menu 245 dies right after starting I have a 1976 245 wagon. When I start the car, it fires at first, then it dies. I can hear the fuel pump run and the filters are not clogged. The car dies as soon as you let go of the key. It runs about a second. It was warm when it started this; I have not been able to start it since. Do you have any suggestions? S C Kinney sck_1@webtv.net Lee says: This is the classic symptom of a faulty ballast resistor. The ballast resistor limits voltage during low speed running and keeps coil current from being too high. Higher voltage is supplied during starter operation, thus the car seems to start fine and then quit when you let off the starter. The ballast resistor is a ceramic cylinder with male spade terminals mounted to the inner fender that is wired into the coil circuit. It should be shown in any good manual. You can test it for resistance -- it should be 0.9 ohms (+/- 0.1). Disconnect leads before testing. Back to the Menu Lower control arm bolt stuck The archive article on replacing bushings and ball joints is very helpful as a step by step guild to taking things apart on the front end of my 1968 122S. I ran into a problem, however. I could not budge the long bolt which goes through the two ends of the wish bone. I put the nut back on and did some serious tapping. This was following some number of months of periodically saturating the area with all the fancy rust breakers and lubricants, etc. Of course, I don't want to get too serious with my tapping as I don't have an extra bolt hanging around and the 122 in question is my transportation. As I am going to take it all apart again soon I wanted to write you to solicit your advice on this particular problem. Stanley LUTRC@aol.com David says: We use and sell RostOff; it works better for us than anything we've tried. The bolts could be rusted to the bushings! The way to tell is if the bolt rotates when the control arm is moved. If a lot of force is used to try to push the bolt out, if it is rusted to the bushing by the bolt head, IT'S POSSIBLE TO BEND THE CONTROL ARM. With nut on the end of the bolt, use an impact hammer on the bolt (if possible, while someone else is turning the bolt -- or trying to turn the bolt) with an impact wrench. Now you are down to heat or voodoo! Before applying heat, determine where the bolt is rusted tight: bushing or tube in the crossmember. Place something disposable and nonflammable under the bushings before heating (melted / burning rubber stinks and sticks to stuff). Heat it where it's stuck or as close as possible. We coat the bolts with antiseize before reinstalling, so as to not have this problem again. Back to the Menu 264 surges when tank drops to half I recently purchased a 1978 Volvo 264GL. My wife and I love it! Our problem is this, when the car has a full tank of fuel it runs very well. No problems whatsoever. However, once it gets to about a half tank the vehicle begins surging, especially upon upon accleration from a stop and uphill climbs. Other than this the vehicle drives like a dream. I believe this should be a fuel pump issue, is it? Can I replace the pump myself? Jay Randolph otterpoint@mindspring.com Phil says: What you are experiencing is one of the classic problems for a fuel-injected Volvo of the era. There's a "pre-pump" inside the bottom of the gas tank which supplies the main fuel pump just outside the tank. The feed is through the sending unit in the top of the tank, and the pre-pump is connected to it by a rubber hose. The hose can deteriorate with age and crack, in which case the main pump will draw air when the level of fuel drops below the crack -- such as when accelerating, climbing hills or cornering. You can see a Tech Tip about this on the RPR web site. Remove the sending unit and replace the connecting hose. Be extremely careful about flame, sparks, or any other potential ignition source -- fuel vapors in the tank are highly flammable. Lee says: There are three pipes on the sending unit. One is the intake. The ones I have seen have a slightly larger diameter where the hose fits to attach the pump. The others are: The longest one, with a diagonal cut end -- this is the fuel return. The small one, with nothing attached to it is the tank vent. The vent should have a hose on the outside that leads to a valve on the body and above the tank. This keeps it from seeping fuel in the event of a roll over. This goes forward to the emissions control charcoal canister at the front of the car. If the in-tank pump is not working at all, be sure to check the wires for 12 volts. Remember too, that 12 volts in is useless without a good ground. The power has to have somewhere to go. It is not out of the question to suppose that the pre-pump itself may be dead after 21 years. Phil's suggestion of the RPR website is a good one. They suggest pulling the fuse to the pump to check for operation, listening for a change in the sound of the main pump. Also, you can sometimes hear the in-tank pump from the filler cap. Back to the Menu Adding limited slip differential I am seriously considering a limited slip differential for my 1966 122. Whats involved; is it adding or is it changing components or installing a different rear end? What is the ball park figure for such a project? How do you do it? Can they be found at the local junk yard; if so, what do you look for? I am also inquiring about rear end ratios. What models / years did they differ? Or is this a totally a aftermarket project? Chris Hunter mricotti@worldnet.att.net Cameron says: A limited slip differential will offer a nice improvement to the driveability of the car overall. This isn't a terribly common modification, as it falls into the "pretty neat but not necessary" category. Traditionally, there have been two kinds of limited slips: "friction" type units (PosiTraction, Pow-R-Lok) are those that use clutch packs to transfer force to the wheel with traction, while "ratchet" units (Detroit Locker) use devices more along the lines of locking gears. Of the two, the friction version is the better choice for a street-driven car. Installation of either variety is a fairly involved process that is much easier if the axle has been removed from the car first. Depending on your skill level and collection of tools, this may or may not be something you'd like to try yourself. I'm all in favor of doing as much of one's own labor as possible, but since this will provide a good opportunity to have new bearings, seals, etc. installed, you may prefer to leave the axle with a competent rebuilder. There is another, newer, variety of limited slip which I know little about: this is also a ratchet variety which, as it's been explained to me, can be installed without removing or disassembling the axle. The first thing to do is to determine what rear end your car already has: this is something we've tried to find the logic for. According to the factory books, a '66 sedan should have either a Type 30 or a Type 27 differential (wagons are different). Necessary parts for either variety are (fairly) easily available. If you have a wagon model, all of this information may well be irrelevant for you. We've recently had a Type 30 rear axle rebuilt and fitted with a Pow-R-Lok limited slip. This was a complete rebuild that was delivered with the instructions: "Replace any component that shows any indication of wear." Final cost, parts and labor, came to $1065. Of course, this does not include installing the axle into the car. When you proceed, the final drive ratio is up to you: these are available in a variety of ratios which will easily approximate the ratio you desire. The sources I'm aware of include The Works, (541) 341-1316 and OJ Rallye. Good luck on your project; and please let us know what your results are! Back to the Menu Swapping E head onto B20F I have a stock '72 1800E with a B20F (low compression) engine. I have obtained (free of charge!) a good condition 1971 B20E (high compression) head complete with valves and springs. I am interested in swapping the B20E head for the B20F to gain a bit more power. Is this a straight remove and replace operation? Do I need to change timing, injectors, fuel rail pressure etc.? Is this a common swap or is it more trouble than it is worth? Thanks for your help. Dave aitken@echelon.ca David says: The "E" head fits in place of the "F" head. But, you are going from an 8.7:1 compression ratio to a 10.5:1, so you'll need more fuel. Without it, you may burn pistons from lean mixture. Volvo achieved this with a different control unit and manifold pressure sensor. Installing these parts with the head is the easiest. I don't know how the control units differ! The pressure sensor could be modified. We run over 11:1 in our 1800E racecar. We raise the fuel pressure; I suspect this would not be good for MPG on the street. The timing specs are the same "E" or "F." You should use at least one heat range colder spark plugs -- for example, NGK BP7HS instead of BP6HS. For mostly wide-open throttle driving, go to 8s. Back to the Menu '67 1800 no OverDrive I just took my '67 1800S out of a six-month storage in Baltimore (freezing weather for a few weeks, I'm sure). Now the OD, which used to function quite well, refuses (and I have asked politely) to engage. The relay clicks, and the solenoid clicks when it's in 4th. But none of that "booster rocket" whiplash of which I have grown so fond. I last changed the OD oil in July, and the only other symptom I had with the unit was an occasional "jumping out" of OD in hot weather. What's the best way to deal with this problem? I want to rap on the unit with a hammer to unstick it, but I fear this instinct, developed over hundreds of thousands of years of evolution, may not be perfectly suited to the problem at hand. I also did quite a job on the rubber solenoid boot when checking the connection. (It would pain me to describe the result). Are these boots readily available or will I have to create something out of an old film can and silicone in my evil laboratory? Chris [E-mail address inoperative] Phil says: Rapping with a hammer is an instinct which evolved as a survival response to worn SU carb ownership -- misapplying it, in your instance, will do you about as much good as a possum's instinct to stop in the middle of the road to check out oncoming headlights does for it. Step one: Check the oil level. If it's full, that's not the problem; if it's low, top it up, see if it works and consider replacing seals soon. Step two: Drain the oil, disconnect the solenoid and unscrew it from the case, reconnect, and see that it actually does move. You should not be able to move the plunger back by hand when it's in the engaged position. Be careful not to short out the exposed hot terminal when doing this. Step three: Unfortunately, it is most likely that internal seals are shot -- they harden with age and with non-use; sitting for a winter may have been the final blow. It sounds to me like a problem in this area is preventing the OD's hydraulic pump from developing enough pressure to work its clutch. This would be precursed by jumping out in hot weather, as high temperatures thin oil viscosity, which would aggravate seal leakage. In this case, the OD will have to come off the gearbox and be taken apart. I can't say about boot availability, but simply cleaning the electrical terminals and applying a dab of dielectric grease (available in most electronics hobby stores) before reconnecting will go a long way towards repelling moisture and corrosion. Back to the Menu '69 1800 plugged brake line No brake fluid was getting to my rear Girling drum brakes. I took the brake valves off and cleaned them out; reinstalled and brake fluid dripped from them. I then reconnected the rubber lines that go to a connector at the top of the rear axle that turns into steel lines that run to the brakes. I opened the bleeder valves. No amount of pumping could get the fluid to come out the bleeder valve. So, I borrowed a bleeder kit. I got one hell of a suction going. I got about three drops of very dirty old brake fluid out. I was pretty tired/dirty/fed up and should have stopped at this point. So, I decided to give the brake pedal one last pump before putting it all back together and away for the winter. While pumping, I noticed a fine mist around the master cylinder. As I was working alone, I could not verify exactly where it was coming out. So, did I blow a gasket somewhere around the master cylinder and how should I fix this? And any idea about the back brake lines? I have a small compressor for inflating car tires. I was thinking unhooking the rubber line at the valve, opening the bleeder and seeing if I could blow some air through the lines. I believe them to be blocked. Is this an effective way of clearing the blockage, or should I just replace the lines? Taking the rubber lines off is not easy. I do not think they have ever been off before. Tips about unfreezing threaded lines or bleeder valves would also be most welcome. David Davidson davidson@atlsci.com Phil says: David, I know you're reviving a car that sat for a long time. Old brake fluid attracts moisture and becomes very corrosive with time. The fact that you can't get fluid all the way through the system indicates that a complete disassembly, inspection of components and replacement or rebuild is required. All brake cylinders need to be taken apart, for a start. New cylinders, cylinder rebuild kits and rebuilt calipers are obtainable from our sponsors (of course), as are new rubber or steel-braided flex hoses. Hardlines corrode and get tiny pinholes in them; leakage from such a pinhole may account for the fine mist you noticed. Hardlines covered by undercoating are no less subject to corrosion than the ones you can inspect more easily. If your fittings are corroded enough to be hard to loosen, that's another indication that the lines are highly suspect. New hardlines are not expensive, and most can be had at local auto supply stores with the correct fittings in place and in a variety of lengths. For the few that will have to be made up to fit, have this done by a brake specialist with the correct equipment to double-flare the ends. Most of the flare tools you're likely to get at your local car paraphenalia store only produce a single flare, which is not suitable for the high pressures involved. Take what's left of your old hardlines in to the shop for use as patterns. You can produce a lot more pressure with the brake pedal than with an air compressor -- abandon that idea. I'm sure you realize that the brake system is not the place to scrimp -- degraded performance or unreliability doesn't just leave you by the roadside; it can leave you or someone else dead. Spend a few hundred dollars and a few weekends of work to get this 100%, please. David says: What you have is hoses that are rotted and swollen shut on the inside. An extreme case, I'd like to add. You need new brake hoses! What we see more often from hoses is a lesser blockage that acts like a check valve (one way valve). The master can, with pressure, push the brake fluid through the hoses to cylinders or caliper pistons, but there is nothing to generate force to move it back through the restriction. If this is suspected, try moving the piston back in after opening the bleeder screw. The fine mist, seen while pumping the brakes trying to get fluid through the blockage, sounds like a small leak. It could be a pinhole in a steel tube, or a fitting not having adequate torque for sealing, or a poor flare on the tube (not made right, cracked, etc.). Your concerns with disassembly of the fittings to the hoses due to rust causes me great concern with your hard brake lines in general. They are thirty years old; likely it would be wisest to replace them all. We've seen brake lines that were not as old as yours appear to be very good in the places they could be inspected. They did, however, have leaks from small rust holes in the areas where the steel line is clamped to the body and the front crossmember. An overhaul of the remaining hydraulics should also be completed at this time. New or rebuilt master cylinder, calipers, wheel cylinders and the valve for the brake warning switch would make it complete. Then, with annual changing of fluid to remove moisture, you should have brakes you can have confidence in for several years. If penetrent does not help with rusted bleeder screws, we heat them with a torch. To prevent problems with bleeder screws: remove all rust, clean thoroughly and coat the threads with antisieze compound. Back to the Menu Smiths speedometer I recently acquired a '71 P1800E. This is the second car I've owned that had a Smiths speedometer. Both do the same thing: the needle wavers as the speed increases. I can't tell whether I'm going 50 or 65! Is it the speedo, or the cable? I don't want to replace parts needlessly. Advice? Please don't tell me me to "live with it." Patricia Donnelly pdonnel1@san.rr.com Phil says: Our 1800S, which has a brand-new cable, does the same and worse. It's a common problem. Who can tell us the solution? I'd really like to know, too. Answer from a reader: This is often the result of a bad speedometer cable, but it may be caused by missing teeth in the speedometer drive gear or the right-angle drive adapter. The only way to find out for sure is to test them individually. It's not too difficult to remove the drive gear from the transmission for inspection. You can test the cable after disconnecting it from the right-angle adapter by twirling the inner cable between thumb and index finger. If it's difficult to turn, the cable should be replaced. I assume you can test the right-angle adapter the same way after removing it, although I have no experience with this item, as my '63 does not have it. Glenn Goodspeed ggoodspe@startext.net Back to the Menu Strength of cross-member? I have a '73 1800ES with ipd sway bars and 15" 205/R55 tires. While I don't mind generating the torque required to steer the front wheels, I'm not so sure the cross-member mounting bolts are designed to handle it. I recently heard moaning and creaking noises from the front end while cranking the steering wheel to park. On examination, I found the bolts connecting the front of the cross-member to the frame were slack enough to allow the frame to visibly twist from side to side. Torquing down the bolts eliminated the symptoms, but the design of the mounts struck me as mechanically unsound. While the frame is double-bolted into a box joint at the rear of the cross-member, the front extension of the frame is just resting on a ledge on the front of the cross-member. The only thing that keeps the front of the frame and cross-member aligned is the tension on a single vertical bolt in an oversized hole. It seems to me that welding a short lip on the outside edge of the cross-member ledge would wedge the frame into the cross-member, bracing the frame against the shearing forces generated by hard cornering. Have any thoughts on this issue? Lee Powell lpowell@machinecode.com David says: The majority of the front end steering and suspension was designed for very skinny bias-ply tires on 4" wide rims. When your bolts loosened, did you lose or remove the shims that go between the crossmember and the box section? The only problems we've encountered from extra cornering and braking forces generated through my driving and Hoosier 225/50/15 street TDs is more frequent replacement of tie rod ends and breaking upper A-arm bolts. The upper A-arm attachment bolts are now 1/2" AN where 7/16" grade 5 coarse-thread bolts used to reside. Welding a lip on there would not hurt anything as long as it did not affect the alignment of any components. Some racers weld the cross-member to the body at this point. I have not done this with the 1800E we race. I have not seen any evidence of movement there with fresh grade 5 bolts torqued and locktited. Back to the Menu Rear disk brake conversion Note: This is an older question that had actually "dropped off the board." We liked this new answer we received so much that we're running the question again. The original answer is in the Archive. I have read many references to converting the rear drum brakes of an 1800S to disk brakes, but cannot seem to find any technical info on same. I have a 1967 1800S that is currently being restored from the ground up and would like to add the rear disk brakes. Can you get me in the right direction? Bob Yapp Rock Island, IL yapperman@email.msn.com Answer from a reader: I'm in latter stages of completing the conversion of my 1963 1800S into a vintage racer. One of the changes was converting the entire suspension system to a 1973 type... including the brakes. First some comments: 1. The conversion of the rear brakes to drums does make a difference on a race course. However, the actual increase stopping power in a street application will not be very noticeable. The reason is that more than 70% of the brake system's stopping power comes from the front brakes. So why bother for racing? Well, during braking, the fore/aft weight transfer is much greater in a street car than in a race car. This is due to the stiffness of the front road springs. The standard 1800 front road spring is about 280 in/lb. However, a typical front road spring on a race car is 800 in/lb... and rides like a truck! 2. It's harder to find wheels with a late-type (4 1/4") bolt circle than the earlier type (4 1/2"). With all that said, here's how I converted the 1973, disc-braked rear axle to my 1963 1800S: the 1973 axle is actually a Dana Type 30 axle made under license by Spicer in England. This means that gear sets and limited slip units made for Dana 30 axles will work in the Volvo axle. I installed a limited slip unit and replaced all the bearings. The bearings were obtained from my local bearing supplier at a much lower cost than from Volvo. A. Neither the 1973 axle assembly nor the 1963 car body were modified in any way. B. The upper and lower axle control arms were modified to conform to the mounting points on my 1963 car's body. I started with the four control arms from the 1973 car. I found that their length was about 1-1/2" longer that those of the 1963. Also, the method of mount the arms to the body is not the same -- the 1963 has a threaded "pin" for the upper arm and an "eye" for the lower; the 1973 arrangement is "eye-eye". I cut the 1973 arms off, determined their inside diameters and fitted them with mild steel inserts. All the inserts were 2" long and drilled & tapped. The upper arms were fitted with threaded rod (from the hardware store) and the lower with high-strength ball-end (Heim) joints obtained from Pegasus (the race parts people). C. The axle's brakes were tied together at the Tee fitting from the original 1963 axle that mounts on the LH side of the differential. D. A Tilton variable pressure regulator was installed to control the amount of rear braking. However, a single pressure regulator from a 1970-73 1800E/ES will work as well. E. A standard emergency brake cable from a 1973 1800 was used. The conversion takes place at the pull rod. The original 1963 pull rod was used. Attached to it was the nylon wheel emergency brake assembly from the 1973 car. In conclusion, the conversion is great when it's completed, but it is time consuming and costly. It's a "must" for really competitive racing, but not for street use. Del Lance Blue Ridge Chapter - VCOA dellance@sprintmail.com Back to the Menu Blue tips on injectors Are the blue tips on the D-Jet injectors needed to make a good spray pattern? How much rust on the top and under the blue plastic cap with the electric connection is OK before the risk of a fuel leak is too great? Marcus Weiner marcus1@vermontel.net David says: I don't recall testing or spraying any without the tips. I think they get replaced by the people that flow test, clean and recondition injectors. I'm not 100% sure of this. I've never seen or heard of injectors leaking fuel out through the body. I guess it's the amount of rust required to weaken the metal so it won't hold 30+ psi. Another great fuel leak risk is old rubber hoses. Back to the Menu