340 360 transmission???????

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lee
Posts: 41
Joined: 04 Nov 2008 10:51 pm

340 360 transmission???????

Post by lee » 17 Jan 2010 11:26 pm

can anyone tell me if the 340 bell housing can fit the 360 transmission i have been told by a couple of people it can be done and a couple of people it wcant be done has anyone on here actually done this conversion??? and if so what sort of problems can i expect? any info would be appreciated cheers

Ride_on
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Re: 340 360 transmission???????

Post by Ride_on » 19 Jan 2010 01:36 am

You mean the torque tube fitted to the 340 bellhousing. I don't really know for sure but it would be a large engineering job.

You would need to make an adaptor for the 340 bell housing (without the clutch shaft) to bolt on the torque tube, then hope there is enough length on the drive shaft to reach the clutch. If someone could tell me the clutch shaft length remainder on the 340, I can tell you how much is available on the 360. Although its another issue whether the clutch plate will have enough splines to slide on. The 360 could be too long, in which case it can be adjusted by making the adaptor thicker, or too short which means shortening the torque tube or clutch housing.

It should then be possible to source a small enough clutch plate that fits the 340 flywheel and the 360 drive shaft splines, a similar problem to fitting a 940 engine to a 360. Sachs website has an excellent search facility. Getting an appropriate thrust bearing and frelease fork could be another problem. But again I can tell you the 360 diameter and we can compare.

The main problem I think will be the running height or angle of the drive shaft and engine. The 360 system means the engine and gearbox/diff are rigid to the engine so the 340 engine may need to be lowered slightly as I am not sure if there is enough clearance on the top of the torque tube for stuff like the gear change. The 340 system, everything is rubber mounted and is flexible. Using 340 gearbox and mounting (2 crossbeams) may present other problems. 340 engine and drive system is mounted on 8 points, 360 on 4, alignment could be a problem, nevermind mounting the gearbox if lengths are different. The Engine might need to come down and back.

Anyway several difficult problems, any one of which could be a show stopper, I'd say the probability of success is low.
1980 345 DL_______1987 360 GLE (project car restored to GLT spec and B230FT'd)
1984 360 GLT______1987 360 GLT
1983 360 GLS______1989 360 GLE
1985 340 GL_______1986 340 1.4
1985 360 GLS______1995 940 SE 2.3 Turbo Estate (daily)
1987 340 GL 1.7

lee
Posts: 41
Joined: 04 Nov 2008 10:51 pm

Re: 340 360 transmission???????

Post by lee » 19 Jan 2010 02:25 am

not really sure to be honest i was told u could take out the input shaft and bearing on the 340 bell housing take off the bell housing on the 360 set up then it apparently bolts up????????? but i am unsure of this as for the mounts i really am not sure how it is done as i have never seen the under side of a 360???? i was under the impression it was all the same as the 340 appart from the tube and bell housing??????? i really need to get a stronger transmission set up cos i'm sick of killing props and gearboxes so if i comes to it i'm going to rip out the williams engine n start all over again with a different engine box and diff :D

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volvodspec
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Re: 340 360 transmission???????

Post by volvodspec » 19 Jan 2010 09:43 am

if you kill propshafts then try not to clutchkick all the time.... or check the alignment of the engine.

gearbox is exactly the same unit for 340>360; i don't see any benefits of fitting the torquetube to a 340, if you want the 340 driveline to be stronger; get an uprated propshaft made. 360 torquetube is in it's standard form just as "weak" as the 340's prop.

lee
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Joined: 04 Nov 2008 10:51 pm

Re: 340 360 transmission???????

Post by lee » 19 Jan 2010 02:18 pm

i use the vehicle for drifting so clutch kicking is all part of it. i have thought about a custom prop but that will just make the end of the gearbox the weak point whiich i have snapped 3 of i have already checked the engine allignment and its dead true, was only thinking of putting the 360 set up on mine as i was told they can handle 300 to 400 bhp????? how true that is i dont no???? so is the 360 box a waste of time and money then????

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volvodspec
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Re: 340 360 transmission???????

Post by volvodspec » 19 Jan 2010 05:28 pm

i drift mine too, but never had the need to go clutchkicking it; pure throttle drifting works perfect for me.

the 300 gearboxes can cope with 250Nm, so yes; upgrading to a transaxle is a waste of money. fitting gearbox behind the engine would be a solution but most C or F type renault engines have fwd, can't think of rwd ones for an instance.. that with new transmission tunnel and volvo 240 rear axle is a way stronger setup.

lee
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Joined: 04 Nov 2008 10:51 pm

Re: 340 360 transmission???????

Post by lee » 19 Jan 2010 11:18 pm

fair play to ya ;) what i was thinking was using a sierra gearbox with a custom bell housing and prop and use the diff as well on a custom mount which would be pretty easy to do using the mounts from the chassis on the 340 i'm sure that would be able to put up with 150 bhp and replacement parts would be alot easier to source obviously it would need a clutch cable and hopefully use the friction plate from the sierra and the cover plate from the volvo and possibly a spigot bearing for support hopefully the tunnel wont need much doing to it apart from the gearbox mount and where the gear nob will come threw cant think of nothing else that would need doing

Ride_on
Posts: 2262
Joined: 26 May 2009 05:34 pm
Location: Belfast, N. Ireland

Re: 340 360 transmission???????

Post by Ride_on » 20 Jan 2010 02:14 am

What about torque de-alignment, the whole drive system will try to twist up like a rope and push out the alignment. That is probably what is causing the gearbox end to snap. Are your gearbox and engine mounts the best they can be?

The 360 has a solid steel drive shaft with a torque tube with bearings in it keeping alignment problems out of the equation. The torque tube is a very heavy solid steel tube that bolts to the clutch housing and gearbox. They are very different pieces of kit to the 340 so it won't just fit. You really need to start with a 360 and fit a 2.3 turbo to make it worthwhile pushing that heavy tube around. I've never weighed it but it seems comparable to the gearbox, you need a good pair of arms to lift it, whereas girls can lift the 340 drive shaft.
1980 345 DL_______1987 360 GLE (project car restored to GLT spec and B230FT'd)
1984 360 GLT______1987 360 GLT
1983 360 GLS______1989 360 GLE
1985 340 GL_______1986 340 1.4
1985 360 GLS______1995 940 SE 2.3 Turbo Estate (daily)
1987 340 GL 1.7

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