New to the wolrd of volvo's

[Lowandslow]

Hi guys,

I'm new to the world of Volvo's and have just got myself a 3door D reg '87 340 gl 1.7. so first thing is making it sit down as I can't sit next to the stratosphere and am used to pulling up next to landrovers and not being able to see over their bonnet.

I'm from the land of fords where I understand quicte a bit but I'm out of my depth here so its question time.

I hear the rear can be dropped using ford blocks ie from graystons etc, correct? I'll be going 2 inch on the rear so what size bolts will i need to put the leafs back together as from what I can see they don't use U-bolts and is there anything else I need to look out for when dropping the rear that low? I'll be putting some landrover 90 shocks on the rear too, that sound about right?

Now then the front, this sounds like a bit of a hard part to me, want to lower the same 50mm (2") and I have no idea how you bleed the shocks as I've read somewhere thats the thing to do and re-fill with EP90 gear oil, where's the best place for some springs to do this, also I am a bit concerned about the arches since they're not very tubbed so I'm worried about smacking the tyres on the top of the arch on every bump I hit or hard cornering, it'll be on standard wheels and tyres for a while till I get some money for wheels, which the last question on ride height etc would be what wheels?

Final question, what type of carb is on a 1.7 as I'd like to get a pancake filter or something similar to get rid of the mass amounts of space the current airbox system takes up.

Cheers for any answers guys it'd be an awesome help to a newbie

[jon-ovlov]

Howdy bud! First of, search bar is your friend! Tons of stuff has been covered already, so its relativley easy to find out stuff. Also, welcome. ford blocks'll fit, bolt wise you'll need around 4" length, M12 off the top of my head (dont take as gospel, as I'd need to double check). And your right, U-bolts will not fit. However, your better off getting the kit off Dai on here: http://www.volvo300mania.com/forum-uk/v ... f=8&t=1804 £25 including bolts you cant go wrong. Front landy 90 shocks fit directly to the rear of the 340.

He also does lowering springs too, as you can see, and the polybushes I'd definatly recomend. As for bleeding the shocks, never done that, so couldnt say, however with regards to rubbing, Ive gone -3" at the front, -2" at the rear, on 13 x 9s at the back, and only had to role the arches a little but. Those wheels are now on the front, and also fit fine. You'll be ok with standard wheels if you lower it, as there is a surprising amount of clearance in the arches.

As for the carb, theres not much point replacing the filter, unless you get it re-jetted, as it'll be running too lean otherwise. wouldnt make too much difference to power either, as far as i know.

Any other plans for it? And get some pics up! Hope that helps.

Jon

[Lowandslow]

Hi Jon,

Cheers for the reply, very very helpful, don't think I'm gonna go as mad a 9 inch wide wheels, was thinking of 13 by 7 minilights matt black with et-7.

I'll have to give him a shout at some point in the very near future, car is currently at a garage at the moment being checked over and MOT'd as I just couldn't be bothered to crawl around in the rain checking things. I have a ford capri I've had for 5 years that I have as my ongoing project but now with with cosworth V6 engine waiting to go in that I'm doing myself so this will be my daily, just wanted something retro and rearwheel drive so here's a pic of the new car when I finally got it home last week. I think I'll end up getting a bit carried away once its lowered on some nice wheels tho which my bank account won't be happy about.



Just realised I even spelt world wrong for the title of my first post, first class fail.

Cheers for all the advice, I'm looking forwards to getting it back from the garage now.

Ian

[volvosneverdie]

Welcome in dude.

Car look nice.
Never seen a 3 door in that colour.
Its gonna look awesome on minilites, if you can dind some in 4x100 flavour for less than a million pounds.

[theo2468]

liking it

[jon-ovlov]

Very nice car lad, love 3 doors! As for the help, no problem, theres tonnes on here like i said, helped me out no end!

Minilights look superb on 300s, especially matt black and polished lips, I know what you mean by the getting carried away. Ive ended up doing an engine swap on mine, which I didnt intend to do for a bit! I can't help it though, I just like building stuff. It helps you've got car knowledge already too.

[Speedy88]

3 door and red. Winrar

[mrsoundcraft]

Hi, welcome.
Your car looks good and solid in that picture anyway, I think they're better lowered though, closes up the arch gap nicely. Ive got 3" at the front and 40mm (nearly 2") at the back and its fine on 15's no rubbing.

When I fitted my lowering blocks originaly I put this post up, might be of use to you?
http://www.volvo300mania.com/forum-uk/v ... iff+shocks

As far as re-filling the shocks at the front I dont know, undoing the bolt on the top of the damper I was such a struggle that when I got it off I was ready just to throw the damper cartrage away, sure I'd knakered the seals on the inside of the dampers anyway.
I just got oil everywhere and made a mess, I found it far easyer to fit cartriges instead, but then there are a good few people on here that have been succesfull with the gear oil upgrage.

[Hell Driver]

Is that the one with the D340 *** number plate, was for sale in Wakefield recently? Used to see that round here if is is, looks like a solid car.

[Nimminz]

looking good mate! welcome!

[Lowandslow]

Cheers for the friendly welcome guys and bags of advice, picked it up from the garage the other day, flew through the MOT with just 2 wipers required and took it for a bit of a drive, gotta say it's comfy but like being captain of a boat so can't wait to get it lowered over the next few weeks and hunt for some wheels.

Is that the one with the D340 *** number plate, was for sale in Wakefield recently? Used to see that round here if is is, looks like a solid car.

Thats the one, partially personalised no. plate for the car of course

Just one more thing, is there a thread on changing the stereo since listening to MW and LW is taking me back to the days of my dads old metro radio I would love some music. I guess it's not hard but always easier to prepare since it looks like it'll be a screwed in job.

I'll post pics up as it makes its transformation along the way, so far after 1 day I love it already.

[Lowandslow]

Just thought I'd put some pics up from when I lowered my car ages ago, might be up for sale in a few months time if people are interested.

[volvosneverdie]

Nice man.
Actually looks ok on the standard steelios.

Did you re-white the mud flap lettering?

[Lowandslow]

The lettering on the flaps is as I bought it, had done less than 70k and was owned from new by the previous owner, I even have the original bill of sale with the docs and stuff, expensive car back in the day, couldn't afford it new even now.

[MCHUDD]

Hi mate.
I would keep the car.
Looks like you have a good one.
Cheers Mark.