I've always liked those wheels, and I think that with a little work they can look better. They need some shading and highlighting, being painted a single colour doesn't do them justice. They're very similar to the vintage Cobra wheel, and I think a similar treatment would help them out:

It's a hard car to get wheels that "work" and look right. To my eye, the lack of lip is the issue (stance aside) - two tone as Matt has mentioned would also really help. I've seen lots of American style wheels (torque thrusts come to mind or salt flats) and of course everyone has to have Panasports as they are Euro and period correct. I mean, I ran a super cheap BBS LM copy and no one complained. 17's also look better than 16's in my opinion. With a white car - it needs a centre that has colour. Just not black.

I've been hunting for years and still haven't settled on a wheel.

When I first the saw those wheels I wasn’t a fan, but they’re really not bad and like Matt said maybe some charcoal highlights would make them pop.

I might get some plasti-dip or some kind of temporary coloring to see how they would look. I'm not a very good visualizer, I tend to need to see the near-finished concept to really say yes or no.

Some Rota RBs would work just fine instead of Panasports... they seems to have a plethora of different sizes as well.
http://www.rotawheels.com/product/rb-rb-rear

If I ever went up in size from my Panasports those RB’s would definitely fit the bill. Are there other specs somewhere for the RB’s, the page you posted are all 4 bolt pattern?

Hells bells, that's embarrassing. I didn't even notice the bolt pattern. I'll do more checking.

Edit: Looks like they don't have them in 5 bolt. The search goes on.

They have a close wheel in 5 X 114.3 17 X 8 with a 0 offset

http://www.rotawheels.com/product/rkr-fr

These would need a 25 mm spacer...but that's fine. If you don't want to run spacers, then you can run these...

http://www.etmags.com/lt_iii.html

Thanks, Craig, those wheels are smokin' in a 17 inch size.

I think VTO are another decent choice. I think they would fit without spacers. Decent price too!
http://www.vtowheels.com/Classic-8-Whee ... p_347.html

Oh, I got my gauges mounted today with the help of a friend, will get past C's and a write-up soon. Mounted autometer volt, oil pressure and water temperature gauges.

I think I have a lot of issues sorted out in this last go-around with the car.

I got my Auto Meter (AM) gauges all installed in the car and they work great. There's something about moving gauges needles that is so satisfying, almost like VU meters on old audio equipment. Love it. I won't take credit for the process, I have a document I downloaded from the web from a gent named Derek Heming who has done it before via the Volvo UK forum. If anyone wants, I can post the doc up somewhere, or PM me and I'll get you a copy.
Gauge preview:


Everything went really smooth with the oil pressure sending unit, I won't detail out that process. Now when it came to the water temperature, some trickery/shenanigans got involved. The AutoMeter head adapters won't fit the Volvo block. When I separated the water temp sensor with the head adapter, the inner section of the adapter is smooth. I just needed to use a 1/8" -27 NPT tap to cut some threads for the AutoMeter sending unit. I was a bit concerned, I haven't done too much of this yet, but everything went perfect. I did end up having to cut the factory water temp sending wire in order to makes this work. A tear was shed, but I would prefer a more precise temperature measurement. This car is beyond original anyways, so any modification is up for grabs in my book.


The AM sending unit in the modifiedVolvo adapter.


A little Teflon thread and bingo bongo, it's installed.


Here's the oil pressure sending and water temp sending units installed.


I had both factory and AM wires hooked up to the AM sending units to hopefully keep both gauges going, but the AM gauges wouldn't work as a result. Disconnected the factory wires from the AM units and the new gauges worked fine. Result.

Now onto the tuneup phase. I have an AFR gauge I would like to install, and since I had a bung welded in for an O2 sensor, I would like to get that hooked up as well. But, since the car seemed to be running so rich, I held off installed the AFR in order not to foul up a brand new O2 sensor unit. I wanted to get that all figured out first before going further. Enter the Colortune.

For those that aren't aware, the Gunson Colortune allows you to adjust your fuel mixture by color (colour). A spark-plug-like device with a clear viewing area is threaded into a spark plug hole, a special lead is hooked up to it, and the spark plug wire is hooked to the lead. Fire up the car, and a flashing combustion color will appear. If it is orange, it's too rich. Adjust the mixture on the SU carb by using the main mixture nut underneath the carb until you see a bunson-blue color. And la-de-da, you're adjusted.

I had wanted one for a while, but I didn't have any personal experience or usage that I could rely on. But when a gent from BC came through on his way to Saskatoon and told me about it and liked it, I thought I would give it a try.

Car fired up and the Colortune in Cylinder 1, I saw a bright orange flashing light. The mixture nut gets turned inwards, it starts to change color. Engine smooths out instantly, and I go to a blue color. Carbs adjusted for idle to 800 RPM and re-synced. It is sounding really good right now.

On to Cylinder 4. Same situation, same results. Not as much adjustment needed, but the engine does smooth out a bit more. Idle speeds adjusted back to 800 RPM and balancing re-checked with my carb sync tool. I didn't go too far into the blue range, just to keep it a bit fat for now.

I bought one of those plug sandblaster units from my local Princess Auto. I cleaned the plugs to get them back to baseline, popped them back in the car, and headed for a drive for about 45 minutes. I kept an eye on the temp gauge to make sure it wasn't climbing in a potential leaning situation, and went for a pleasant cruise. I then got back home to pull the plugs to see how they were doing. I think they turned out well, please reference the pic below. Plugs were nice and tan, not thick with black carbon like they would have been before. The car is nice and responsive now to throttle inputs and drives really nice. There's also no more rich gas stench either, which is a bonus. I'll clean the junk O2 sensor that is in the bung right now, run with this for a bit, then examine the plugs and junk sensor to determine if more adjustment is needed, or I go with the AFR install as planned.



Carb sync tool I got ( although I think you might not need this deluxe model): https://www.cip1.ca/ProductDetails.asp? ... D43%2D5712

Finally found my pictures of the pilot bearing removal and engine install after PhotoBucket went down, and updated the previous posts. I helped a dude on Facebook a few weeks ago when he couldn't figure out how to remove his pilot bearing, turns out he didn't factor the retaining clip in to the equation, and after that was figured out, it came out with no issue. If only I had the picture back then, I could have pointed him to the forum. All's well that ends well.

I cleaned up the old junky O2 sensor for a carbon baseline, and took the car for another drive today. Plugs were good again, but haven't checked the O2 sensor yet. Temp holds at a rock solid 180 degrees. Progress feels good.

I am investigating the Overdrive next, it doesn't seem to want to engage. I just got a new switch, and will attempt to confirm the safety switch connection on top of the trans. One of the highlights of an auto trans-original car is the bigger tunnel, it gives a little more elbow room up there.

I've wondered about that Colourtune for a long time too - I remember seeing one in the Seven Enterprises catalogue back when I had my first car, a Mini obviously, and wondered how well they'd work. I never did pick one up, but it sounds like they're less a gimmick and more an interesting tool. Sweet!

Hey guys, nothing really new here, just one observation to report.

I had ordered the Rally springs from Classic Swede back in July. I paid for them, and haven't received them yet. I have followed up with 3 separate emails, and even mildly called him out on Facebook asking where my order is. I have been friendly and professional this entire time. He publicly said he would respond, but that was over a month ago. My last email said that if he can't provide the product, then I would like a refund. I cannot comment on others experiences, only my own... and I cannot recommend their services.

Ugh, that's no good. Sorry to hear it, but thanks for the warning.

If you do decide to go after them, make sure you tag them on your post to the Volvo 122, Volvo 123GT, and Volvo Classic Resto-Mod Facebook pages. That'll get their attention.

Ya, that's not great. Not sure what's going on as he's active enough. I moderate the resto-mod page - we don't tolerate this kind of behaviour.