Hi everyone...

[345GLS]

I found this (very usefull) forum today and registered to be part of this great Volvo 300 comunity...
My affair with Volvos started a couple of days ago, when i went to my late father in law´s garage to help clean things up (the garage had been closed since he died four years ago) and stumbled upon a very used, old brown, 2.0 340GLS. It has almost no rust, the interior is fine and the engine almost started (with jumper cables).
My father in law was the original owner and the car needs lots of care and atention as it was used mainly for his fishing trips.
Slowly, i will try to restore it to its former glory, but will need some help to find out more about the car, and how to do what needs to be done.
I´m also thinking about an LPG (GPL in portugal) conversion, because the gasoline is realy very expensive around here...

[SteveP]

Wow sounds good, wonder if its the same colour as the 345GL my folks had around 10 years ago... got any pictures? Welcome!

[classicswede]

Sounds nice. I'm sure you will able to find the advice you need on this forum to help with the restoration.

Converting to GPL (LPG in the UK) is a good idea. I run all my cars this as it is so much cheaper. If you need any advice on GPL let me know and I'll try and help you out

[345GLS]

Thank you for the warm welcome.

Steve, i´ll take some photos as soon as i can and post them here.

Classicswede, can you give me some details on your LPG kit (brand, what kind of sistem, etc...). I´m thinking of using one of those smaller round tanks that fit in the place were the spare wheel usually is, to keep the luggage space. The are lots of LPG pumps in the south of Portugal, so i dont need a big tank.

Does any of you know if it is possible to install the rear seatbelts in a car that didn´t bring them as standard?

[petefarrell360]

Welcome! With regard to seatbelts, I seem to think someone asked this before and I think..... only think the answer was the mounts are there. Have a look under the rear seat base for some mountings such as a threaded hole near the bottom of the backrest.

Pete

[V6 Man]

345GLS? So that'll be a Mk1 then from 1980 or there abouts?

Mk1's did have the mounting points for seatbelts, well the 1980 345DL my parents had (which I also learnt to drive in) had the mounting points as my dad and I fitted seatbelts to it when we bought it.

[classicswede]

All Volvo's from about 1967 onwards have the rear seat belt mounting points. That may exclude the 66 - I'll have to take a look and see.

I'll PM you some details on the LPG kits.

[345GLS]

Once again, thank you all for your help.
Im going to try to find some rear seatbelts to fit in the 345. Do they have to be genuine 345 seatbelts, or are there any cheaper compatible seatbelts?

A friend just gave me some brand new black steel whells from an Opel Corsa, that he says will fit the 345. These are 5jx13, 4x100. When the time comes, I´ll buy some 175/70r13 and put them on those wheels, because the original ones really look very second hand indeed...

Im making a list of things that i must buy from the local junkyards, but because the Volvo 300 is a rare site in Portugal, im looking for alternative parts. Is there any online store that sells 300 parts?

The LPG conversion will be one of the last things to do (because there are so many things to do first), but thanks for the information, classicswede, when the time comes, i will say something.

This will be a very slow job, due do lack of time and money, but i will get this job done... And i´ll be posting the details here...
Today i´ll try to take some before photos to post here, and i´ll try to find if there are some photos of the car when it was new.

[SteveP]

You could quite easily sand back and repaint the stock wheels, put on the chrome trims and they'll be looking nice! Far nicer than some Opel Corsa wheels