Hi,

With my son (15) I've recently purchased this 1981 343 GL 1.4 manual. He wanted something a bit different to tidy up before he is 17 and to run as a first car. It looks like it has done 38k, all the MOTs back that up. It starts and runs but is rough and lacks power. The carb is ok but needs balancing, I suspect a part of the exhaust may have collapsed too. The interior is really tidy, just missing a rear view mirror and the struts for the boot are shot. Externally there is a fair bit of surface rust, and a couple of holes in the valance. Otherwise all good. We plan to just take our time, get it running right, service it etc and then tackle the bodywork in prep for a full respray.

No idea why the image is rotated.....

Cheers,

Huttopia

Hello, great work and good luck. Hopefully rotated correctly now.

Hi, Good luck with the project, quite a rare survivor these early models I believe.
I like the front end on the 343's.
Should be insurance friendly if kept standard and tidied up/recommissioned.
This forum is a great source of searchable information.
There is a FB group for the 300s, but you have to wade through a lot of dross, the forum always wins for searchable information.
Cheers Dave

Thank you. I've managed to insure it fully comp for £95. The plan is to keep it completely standard, so I'm on the hunt for NOS parts and accessories. Holland seems to be a good place to look, are there better places closer to home?

Thanks,

Huttopia.

Brilliant to see this car back again, it's quite a rare thing now - the previous owner used to be on here too so you may find an old thread!

Also a good place to look is www.Born-Built-Beauties.eu
Plenty of parts.
Looking in the UK, it is probably good to put an ad on this site and the fb forums.

SteveP wrote: ↑

01 Aug 2022 02:24 pm

Brilliant to see this car back again, it's quite a rare thing now - the previous owner used to be on here too so you may find an old thread!

Great! I didn't realise it was known at all. We had some good news yesterday, the engine is running fine, the lumpy running and lack of power was down to the leads being connected in the wrong order - not something I'd checked . Stupidly I started with the carb (which was leaking). The dizzie cap also fits really poorly, so a new one of those is in order (there is some arcing going on). Hopefully the delivery from Holland with the new rear view mirror and the boot struts will arrive in the next few days.

We will then head over to a classic car resto place in Upton upon Severn, to discuss how to tackle the body work. Ideally Oli and I can do some of the prep work. The guy who owns the shop is happy to have the vehicle there and for us to go over and work on it.

All good (I think!).

Utopic!

SteveP wrote: ↑

01 Aug 2022 02:24 pm

Brilliant to see this car back again, it's quite a rare thing now - the previous owner used to be on here too so you may find an old thread!

I've had a search but not found anything yet!

Found an old for sale post here: http://www.volvo300mania.com/uk/forum/v ... 37#p187337

I saw the car at retro rides gathering around that time, great to see it still survives - always liked that metallic green colour.

The bodyshop sounds good, especially if they will let you take on some of the prep work while it's there! Well worth sorting it out, as far as I saw it looks like it might need some rear arch attention?

Hi Steve,

Yes it does need some rear arch work but it is only surface rust. The place I bought it from rubbed one down to see the extent of it. Helpfully they then left it.... The valance has holes each side where there is a join.

Does anyone know if it is possible to get replacement heated seat mats? The one in the drivers seat has crumpled up and I'm assuming it is shot.

Thanks

Paul

Had a look at it up on a ramp today- unbelievably clean! Also…and this is a bit weird, someone had lowered the rear and put adjustable coil overs on the front sus. I’ve got the original front sus parts, so could easily return it stock. I think I’ll have to before my son starts driving it otherwise it will need to be declared as a mod on insurance.

Very happy with the underside though. Obviously it has been garaged for most of its life

If you plan on refitting the front struts, would recommend getting new shock inserts as it makes quite a difference on old shocks. The rear should just be a case of removing the blocks and possibly chopping down the bolts/finding an original length set.

SteveP wrote: ↑

21 Aug 2022 10:33 am

If you plan on refitting the front struts, would recommend getting new shock inserts as it makes quite a difference on old shocks. The rear should just be a case of removing the blocks and possibly chopping down the bolts/finding an original length set.

Good shout, thank you.

Obviously the temperature gauge doesn't work, but I've sourced a NOS sender at ridiculous cost from somewhere in Germany. It should be here on Tuesday. She is in the garage at the moment as they are trying to sort out the lack of power / jerky performance. I think it is all related to carb and setting that up correctly.

Fingers crossed I'll get her back next week and then we can crack on with the bodywork over the winter.