'85 360 GLS

[TasMan]

Looks excellent! Like the wheels....hopefully I have a set coming my way in due course for the GLT...
I'm sure it will pass the MOT no trouble, looks a very well looked car
I expect it will be a rather nice to drive with the carb engine compared to the LE injection.
Cheers Dave

[Logan360]

Yes the shift light is quite rare. I first saw it in my 2nd 360, an '85 360GL. A 360GLS i had a little while ago had it so i yoinked it out and am keeping it for my GLT.

[SteveP]

Cheers guys - yeah the car is in good shape really, apart from the fact it was sat for years before I bought it and the fuel tank was very rusty internally. I'll be interested to see how it drives compared to my GLT, it 'feels' as though the throttle is much more responsive, it will probably cruise better as it has the tallest factory diff. Your blue GLT will look great on Leo's Dave

This was the main issue :


Must have been stored with an empty tank for quite some time. Annoying really as nothing else appears to have really suffered from long term storage, but all sorted now - the inside of the tank from another GLS is mint!

Also reading back on this thread I sound like a total noob, I've certainly learnt a few things!

[TasMan]

Hi Steve, Yeah that tank was pretty grotty inside, good plan that you have swapped it out.
I think modern fuel doesn't help, the ethanol content promotes water absorption and condensation = rust.... I use a fuel stabiliser over the winter and will be filling the tank to the brim and adding stabiliser again this winter before putting it off the road. The stabiliser keeps the fuel fresh so there is little fear of ending up with a tank of rotten fuel.

Don't have the Leo's as yet, in the pipeline so to speak, might even be next year. I am in no rush, I like the standard alloys and they also suit the car.... Although I think the Leo's suit better !

Be interested to hear how you get on with running around, its a nice car.....keeper ?

Definitely not a noob.....I still very much have that status...!! Its a steep learning curve, I still have a lot to learn.
Cheers Dave

[SteveP]

Yeah it was pretty nasty! No other option but to swap it really - the shape of a 360 tank means it'd be very difficult to clean thoroughly when mounted to the car. Yeah, you're right - I've been paranoid about it since with my GLT as I don't use it over winter so have also been using Stabil.

I'm hopefully going to book an MOT for Saturday so we'll see how it goes. I'd like to keep it but realistically I'm not sure if I can keep both the GLS and GLT, so one may have to go. We are looking to move house and if I can find a place with a double garage they'll both stay but otherwise, not sure! Will see how I feel upon driving the thing. The silly thing is I'm a bit attached to the GLS after doing all this work

If I've learnt anything best thing to do is crack on and use any decent guides/green book info, I find it's a lot easier to visualise issues when in the moment rather than pondering about how best to do things and putting the job off.

[bogbasic]

Epic work. The GLT is mine already ;-0 Vrrrooommm....

[SteveP]

Epic work. The GLT is mine already ;-0 Vrrrooommm....

Hands off

The GLS now has an MOT, the tester gave me a verbal advisory about rear brake imbalance so I spent yesterday afternoon replacing the wheel cylinders and OSR flexi brake hose. Just need to bleed the system now and will use it through August to see how it goes.

On my brief drive to the garage all seemed good, apart from a rotational wheel speed noise (probably rear brake related). Excellent throttle response/torque compared to injected cars I've driven.

[TasMan]

Good news Steve...!
Seems like your GLT is in demand !!

I am in the middle of my rear brakes as well. New shoes (old stock Volvo!), cylinders, springs and hose.... The drums are serviceable but I was trying to find somewhere to skim them to get rid of the wear lip but seems to be a lost art these days...
As soon as I have the rears sorted I will do a full rebuild on the fronts.

What is your preferred bleed method ? I tried one of those vacuum guns but reckon I will need to give it another go, or resort to an old skool two man approach.

Sounds like a very nice car to drive!

[SteveP]

Cheers!

The rear brakes were not too bad, springs, shoes and drums were in decent shape with loads of life left so I didn't bother replacing them. When refitting the springs I'd recommend a strong set of long nose vice grips to grip them so you can pull them across, the top spring is particularly strong! They are also useful for the shoe retainer fixings.

As far as bleeding goes, I still need to do that this evening but when I've worked on the GLT or my S60 I've just used a Gunson Eezibleed, the 2 person method I still think is superior but if you're on you're own it's my preferred bit of kit. Be mindful that you will want to pull a fair bit of fluid across when bleeding the rear as you'll be bleeding all the way from the other side of the car.

I'd have thought somewhere would be able to reskim your drums - it's a fairly easy job really - plenty of classic cars still out there with drums!

[TasMan]

Thanks Steve, Great minds think alike, I had already bought those handbrake spring pliers you recommended which came in very handy. I can see those being a pain to re-fit without those. I happened to notice last week Toolstation had a deal on some decent long nose vice grips and figured they would be very good for brake springs....not wrong! I also picked up a nifty LED work light which has been really good for working on the car.

A friend uses an eezibleed kit with his 240 with good success, although I have read it is a pain to maintain the required pressure for the whole job ? Anyway, will definitely bleed through a lot of fluid to clear out the old stuff and hopefully this will be a success.

Still looking at the drums, a friend has a decent lathe so it may come to that....a couple of local places I have tried for skimming no longer have the equipment sadly, as I say, another loss for old skool engineering!

[SteveP]

Good move on getting some long nose vice grips, not sure how you'd get enough force on the springs without them. I was pulling the top spring with all my weight to get it all the way across to the other shoe I used them for the spring retainers too, as you quickly run out of hands trying to support the shoe and get it to sit in the right place. All easy enough to do though with a bit of patience.

I used the eezibleed kit on the GLS again with spare tyre set to 10psi, worked fine for me - didn't have any issues with pressure. Pedal feels good - will tax it and take it out for a test drive later.

That's a shame indeed, at least they are compact enough that if you have to ship them to an engineering firm it should still be possible!

[bogbasic]

@Tasman, you can easily remove the wear-rim on the drums with a Dremel. I was surprised how easy it was!!

[SteveP]

Anyone still following this, after various methods of investigation and a bit of trial and error, the rotational noise I mentioned when driving the car last year turned out to be the differential

So managed to source a spare from a 360 GLE so as to keep the taller-than-GLT final drive ratio. It's been very leisurely due to not even needing a car during the pandemic and having reassembled it today the problem is resolved. I'm yet to take it apart fully, no obvious teeth or chunks missing so I'm guessing it's an issue with one of the bearings. Frustrating to say the least give I'd already removed the transaxle for the fuel tank replacement. Did the diff in-situ this time and lowered the axle a bit instead. Also replaced the old rotten back box at the same time with a good used spare.

[TasMan]

Good work Steve.
I am about to get stuck in to replacing the fuel pump and hoses around the tank.
I dread to think of having to swap the tank, I have limited facilities so it would be a struggle.
Good you are back up and running and the noise is cured.
Cheers

[SteveP]

Cheers Dave! I dreaded it too but just had to be done, but it'll explain the time it's taken - a combination of being daunted and having limited facilities too. Don't think I'd ever recommend anyone to do it on the garage floor