Hey guys, well officially last night I found myself back in a 340

Saw the one that was for sale on here down Bristol. I put my Polo up for sale and a deal was struck on it in just 3 days! Which I was very chuffed about

So yesterday me and my girlfriend Suze, headed on down to Bristol in her little MX5. Arrived down there, was pretty happy with the car and headed back up to Wolverhampton with Suze in front. We made it about 60miles up the M5, going well when I put my foot down and there was a constant misfire came off the throttle, back on and same again. Pulled over into the hard shoulder and the car cut out tried to start it and it just wouldn't go! With the way it went my first thoughts were fuel starvation.

I had a couple tools along with me, a couple spanners, sockets, although no p*ssing screwdrivers doh! had a mess around the carb etc with no luck. Suze had got AA breakdown so we called them out. The guy turned up, who was absolutely sound! Had a quick mess on the hardshoulder with no luck so he towed me down into a police layby where it was a little safer to tat. All in all it turned out to be a mix of condensation in the dissy cap and plugs coked up. He got him up and running and I was off again!

I had just past J1 on the M5 approx 20miles from home now when all of a sudden, same thing happened again! *B*llocks!* Again, I pulled over, got the bonnet up and luckily, wether vibration had caused it or we just hadn't pushed it back on properly, no.2 HT Lead wasn't on properly. Pushed it back into place, cranked him over and started again From there we reached back home with no issues

Theres a good few jobs that need doing on it tbf although nothing thats really beyond a little TLC and a bit of dosh spending. The drivers seatbelt is an absolute bodge job and I need to replace! Also I noticed the car wasn't reaching its full temperature properly on a run, so somebodies either removed the thermostat to cover up an overheating issue, or the thermostat is just defective so I need to replace it either way. It's also using a little water, theres no Oil in water or vice versa so i'm hoping it's just a leaky hose or water pump, i'll be getting some radweld in there tomorrow and see how things go from there on. The passenger side wing needs replacing, theres a chunk missing where rot has got the best of it

The area where the boot lock latch mounts too has ripped! Which made the boot unable to shut. My uncles told me we should be able to weld it back up, meaning we can salvage it also the rod that links the boot button to the latch has snapped, basically I can't use the boot for the time being

On top of all that, the car was absolutely filthy! Both inside and out. This is how it looked this morning..







The rotten wing



Can't see too great there but it was horrible! There was moss growing along the rubstrips and windscreen seal! Over time it's previous owners have obviously smoked in it aswell so it stank inside! So along with my great gf Suze we got cracking at having a clean up. We didn't get as in depth as polishing etc. but we gave it a blast with my snowfoam gun, rinsed off, snowfoamed again, shampooed and then rinsed and it has brought it up much better! The paint still has LOADS of imperfections in it which I don't think will be solved with anything less than a good mopping but to be honest i'm not too bothered about making it perfect, i'd just like it a little more respectable!

While I had gone out to pick up the customers who were buying my Polo, Suze stayed at home and gave the interior a good cleanout for me, cleared out the bits of manky rubbish, cleaned down the disgusting dusty dash and center console and gave it a quick hoover, to which she's done a fantastic job eventually we'll get the carpet cleaner in there on the seats and the floor to freshen it up that little bit more!

The guys had bought the Polo and taken it off into the sunset was a bloody good car that, but it means I have the Volvo so i'm happy! After they left I fitted my Teardrop alloys from the Polo, they look sooo much better than the steels did although with the lower profile tyres means the ride height looks even worse lol! So this is how it's ended up towards the end of the day with alloys fitted and the car cleaned





Don't know if you can tell much difference in the pictures but in person believe me the car is FAR cleaner than how we got it lol, the bucket was horrid with the amount of sh*t the mitts had brought off!

So from all this there are areas I need to focus on to start sorting him out although tbf it's nothing really major!

-New Plugs, Leads, Dissy Cap and Rotor Arm
-New Thermostat
-Identify and remedy water loss (although luckily it's not a massive leak so hoping Radweld can cure it!)
-Replace front passenger wing
-Fix the boot
-Attempt to rejuvenate various door seals etc
-Replace driver seatbelt

I think thats it in the ways of fixing things. As for mods, I don't plan to do much I don't think (so he says, I know exactly what Suze would say to that comment )

-Lower 3" all round with stiffer shocks to suit
-Fit my White steering wheel from the BMW
-Either space out Teardrops to get them sitting quite flush or find some wider wheels with lower offset
-Stickers (i'm a bit of a stickerwhore lol )
-Remove rear screen wiper
-Pressed metal No. Plates
-Tint rear indicators red

Either way i'm happy It comes with 12months MOT and 6 months tax and it also came with the Weber carb instead of the Solex which from reading various things both here and elsewhere I think is a good thing lol! Either way, it's pretty darn cool being back in a 340!

Hopefully I haven't bored you guys lol!

Doesnt look too shabby man.
New wang and some stickers ftw.

For the money the money it was up for and with the 12month ticket that doesn't look like a bad purchase. Your black 340 was one of the 1st i saw modified on RR and it's kind of what made me get mine

I've often wondered what Golf alloys would look like on a 340, i was thinking P-Slots as they are suitably 80's and i think they'd suit it quite well. The Teardrops look good though mate.

stickers are always a winner
nice car

Thanks guys! Yer Magnum, in the end including the tax it came to a little more than what it was advertised on here for but I was still happy paying what I did

P-slots would look awsome on a 340 I reckon! Only thing i'd like to do if I decide to keep the Teardrops on is get some spigot rings made up as the VW Center bore is a little larger than Volvos, it's not a major problem even more so with the fact that the wheel nuts are tapered so it keeps it all in line a bit better but still...

The offsets are very similar aswell, I noticed the steels were ET40 and the Teardrops are ET38 (as are most of the older VW OEM alloys) i'm going to wait until it's lowered before I decide on spacing, see what arch room I have left to play with. I reckon a good 20-30mm of spacing will be safely acheivable though! Again thats if I decide to keep it on the teardrops, I may end up going 13-14x7+ with a lower offset, we'll see. Just want to get it more reliable first before I can consider things like that. Don't think it'll need much

Nice to see there are other sticker whores on here lmao! This was how the windows on the Polo ended up....



I already have a couple of stickers in the Post lol

Well done on getting home safely, and cleaning the car up nicely

Look forward to hearing more about how you get on ...

Cheers

Tom

Glad your back in 340 dude, let me know if you are after a wing.... I have a lovely blue one but its pretty rot free from memory!!!
Adam

Awsome dude, I did mention to you on MSN i'd probably be asking for a wing off yourself, didn't see the chunk missing out the corner until seeing it in person lol! Going to definately need one now haha!

A quick hit with the Photshop lowering stick (also got rid of the scabs on the bottom of the doors and red tinted the rear indicator lens)

Clean and simple = sorted


I had some spigot rings made up for my Minilites, a local machinist charged £25 for 5 spacers if my memory serves me correctly.

Hey Griffo!, I rem seeing your black valver, made me want a 340!
Good luck with the new yoke!,

Good progress mate! Glad to see you're back in one - will keep an eye out in Brum! If you aim for your photoshop you're heading in the right direction!

Oh and I'd avoid radweld... find the source of the leak, parts are cheap on the 1.4 and sometimes radweld causes more trouble than its worth!

I agree with Steve ref Radweld. The 1.4 has wet liners with paper seals and Radweld can play havoc. Before you know where you are you'll be looking at a full rebuild....

If you need a second pair of eyes I'm only in Brierley Hill if you want to pop over one Saturday morning..

I've heard breaking 2 raw eggs into the system works. It was also a woman who told me that though

Arrr I knew Radweld wasn't great, didn't realise it was that bad for wet liner engines at least. Fair enough i'll keep off that idea. To be fair driving it to Birmingham today it didn't give me an grief so i'm happy. However the temp gauge is still reading just above cold unless i'm sitting in traffic, the cooling fan still kicks in when needed though and the heaters still blow hot when set to hot. So i'm thinking it to maybe be the temperature sensor rather than thermostat. I'm going to buy both still just for peace of mind though!

I think it's lost a little bit of water on the trip to work today although I don't think it's been alot and as said I don't seem to have any water in oil or vice versa so it's gotta be a little leak somewhere, i'll have a prod around tonight, hopefully i'll be able to get all my parts tonight and get it all swapped over