As I mentioned in my earlier posts, I'm building my new-to-me 122S to do a massive rally/road trip this summer. Well I wanted to share with you guys what I'm actually doing.

You may have heard of the Shell 4000 Rally, which was a cross-Canada race in the 1960s. A 122S won it in both 1964 and 1965. What I'm going to be doing is a sort of "rally revival" running along the original routes of the rally and combining a few of them to make it a 5000-mile trek from Vancouver to Halifax. I've got the old route books from the original rallies and I'm now putting together the very long and complicated route (an incredibly time consuming process!).

I just partnered up with Alzheimer's Society and hopefully will be able to raise a ton of money and awareness for the charity.

So I'll be needing more of your help/advice over the next few months to get the car prepped for such an event!

You can read more about what exactly I'm doing here:

http://traveldriverace.com/2014/introducing-canada-5000

If you'd like to follow along with the rally and the build, I've got all my social media links on there, or you can subscribe by e-mail.

So more about the car!

I bought it from Lethbridge in October. It was originally a California car and it was brought to Canada in 2011, but never made it on to the road. I got it running but never had a chance to drive it before the snow hit. My plan is to rebuild the engine and go completely through the brakes, suspension, steering, etc.

Here are some pics!

Bringing it home







Had to move my Lotus Europa body to make room for the Volvo.

I didn't pay too much for the car and one of the reasons was the horrible state of the interior. So, I set out to restore a set of $20 seats that I had bought for my 122S. I cleaned them up, stitched up where they had split, and painted them with Duplicolor Vinyl and Fabric coating. Overall, I'm pretty happy with the finished product, especially since I only spent an additional $24 repairing them. I wrote up a how-to with all my photos on MyAutoProject.

You can read the step-by-step process here and see all the photos here:
http://www.myautoproject.com/2014/11/bringing-new-life-old-vinyl-volvo-amazon-seats/

And here's one photo of the front seat bases:

Nice work on the seats!! Opened your race link in another tab, will have a look when I get a minute, looks very interesting.

I used the same stuff on my back seat in the 240 - didn't stick to leather very well. I'm sure it will be fine on vinyl. Looks good - reupholstered seats?

Seats look awesome! Can't wait to see how everything pans out. Glad to see that two parties will benefit from it. Definitely something you'll remember forever.

I'll have an update on the build soon, but in the meantime here's our official announcement on the charity that we'll be working with - Alzheimer's Society of Alberta!

http://traveldriverace.com/2015/rally-a ... ouncement/

UPDATE: We left June 10, trying to make it to Vancouver, blew a wheel bearing between Kamloops and Merritt, which screwed the spindle. Spent way too long in Merritt awaiting parts, then heading to Van to dip the tires in the Pacific, before immediately heading east.

Matt and Dale swapped in a new trans in Calgary, then we did some brake work along the side of the road, ran a few laps at Mosport at the Canadian Historic Grand Prix, DROVE THROUGH A FRIGGEN TANK RANGE at CFB Gagetown today and broke my windshield wiper switch in the process! Tomorrow we are off to Halifax for the last day of rallying!

I've posted a ton of photos on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/traveldriverace

If you enjoy any of this, I'd please encourage you to go online to http://www.canada5000.ca and click DONATE NOW, as we're doing this as a fundraiser for Alzheimer's which has affected the mother of my co-driver Dave. Donate even a couple bucks if you can, it all adds up and stays in Alberta!

Aw wish I'd known you were going to be in van! Good luck on the rest of the trip!

Donated, and followed on Facebook. A few of my friends as well were following your adventures along the way. Well done,guys!

So after getting back from the rally, I kept driving the car here and there, but not as much as I wanted to. Quite a few little minor issues popped up with the car over the course of the trip. If I look at it as a 9000KM shakedown run, there was a lot of work that needed to be done to make the car a fun, comfortable daily summer driver.

Here's the list of everything that I'd like to do once I get some garage space back.

- Engine has timing issue and idles poorly. Check camshaft timing.
- Transmission slips out of first gear at idle while stopped. Rebuild spare transmission and replace.
- Choke cables stripped of outer coating and not functioning. Replace.
- Tiny leak from rear differential. Find leak and repair.
- Original brakes are weak and need to be upgraded. Research an upgrade and replace.
- Need bigger wheels to fit brake upgrade. Buy/sandblast/paint Crown Vic 16" 12ET wheels and fit with 205/55s.
- Fuel tank sender malfunctioning again. Replace.
- Original fixed seatbelts are clumsy and hard to adjust. Replace with 240 inertia belts
- Rally odometer not functioning properly. Test/replace.
- Speedometer is old and crusty looking. Disassemble, clean, paint and reinstall.
- Door panels fitted without covering. Remove, cover in vinyl and reinstall.
- Remove all rally decals and sponsor logos.
- Rushed paint job has imperfections. Sand/repair/recoat areas that need work.
- Straighten, clean and polish trim pieces and install.
- Rear seat base doesn't fit properly. Find correct base and install securely.
- Carpet is loosely fitted and has no backing/underlay. Research what it should have and fit it properly.

Well, that list turned out to be a bit longer than I excepted! Yikes! Although thinking about all the work we did in three months to get the car ready for the trip last spring, its definitely doable.

Haha, yeah that is a bit of a list, but it looks very familiar. I might be able to help with a few pieces, we'll talk.

Camshaft timing isn't something that's really adjustable. If you pull the timing cover you can make sure that the marks are aligned, but it's not like it can skip or anything. Chances are good that your distributor is worn and possibly that the springs aren't doing their job. If the distributor springs won't pull the advance weights back all the way, before the engine idles down, the engine may never settle into a proper idle speed until you drag it down there with the clutch. We should generate a how-to on distributor disassembly, cleaning, and reassembly one of these days...

I have 240 belts installed in my car, and I have some photos, I just need to clean them up and generate an article for that too. Problem is, this is a safety issue and welding is required, so I'm reluctant to make people think that anyone can *or should* do this. Buying belts is easy and is probably the right way to go, especially when you consider that even the newest 240 seatbelt has seen 21 years of sun and moisture.

Someone I spoke with in Europe about my timing problems suggested that it sounded like the timing marks weren't properly aligned, so my plan was to check that out. I've swapped in three or four different distributors now and upgraded to Pertronix ignition, and I've had no change. Mind you, all the distributors were old, so I should definitely attempt checking that out before anything else.

I didn't think there was any welding required for 240 belts. That's news to me! do you have a source for new belts? I hunted around last spring for a supplier for new belts, but didn't come up with much. I'm definitely open to that.

I expect to see your how-to articles ASAP!

https://www.seatbeltplanet.com/
http://www.seatbeltsplus.com/
http://www.seatbelts.net/

Those were the first three I've googled, I haven't bought anything yet. I was going to use 240 belts for the GT but I'm thinking that it deserves new belts. Now, in green to match the interior, in grey to match the original belts, or in some kinky colour?

I wish I had followed this more.

I'm a tech at the dealer in Edmonton. I helped out on your out of province and saw all the media in the dealer- so I b-lined it back into the shop.

Looked like an amazing trip/cause.

Jordan