1989 Volvo 360 GLE
Discussion
Hi guys,
I'm pretty clumsy with the written word, but bear with me if your bored. So anyway, about two weeks ago, I was a pretty content guy, had a part time job as a delivery driver, nice modern reliable MK5 fiesta which I loved, worked fine other than a slight misfire, loved the corners, etc etc. Worked great as a daily driver for the 1700 or so miles I do a month. I had an essay to do for one of my uni modules (Am currently a first year student doing economics) and as usual I was procrastinating for ages and ended up on the driftworks classifieds. I've always had a longing for an old RWD car, but being 18 and having only been driving since march theres not much out there that's insurable. As I was flicking through the s-bodies and E36s that were for sale I saw a link for a Volvo 360.
I clicked on it and saw the beige beauty sitting there, and I knew right then and there that I was going to buy it. It had a welded diff and 12 months MOT and was based a few miles west of Worthing, so not far from my campus in sussex. I kept a note of the number and the next day I called up my insurance to see what sort of quote I'd get on it; lo and behold, the price would barely change for this 100BHP swedish beast. I called up the seller and went to see it the next day; it was pretty clean, with just a bit of rust on the arches, and it had a barely believable 63,000 miles on the clock. The paintwork (I believe the official name of this shade is peadophile brown) was in decent condition, etc etc, and mechanically it seemed fine, fresh fluids, matching tyres with decent tread, and crucially it had a welded differential; for those that don't know, it's an open diff that's been welded to lock it all the time, so basically an LSD that's always locked. I put the deposit down and collected it the next week.
For those who grew up around this car's generation, they probably see it as what was a pretty lowly-regarded car of it's class at the time, but for me, this is a retro old school RWD three-box saloon; in other words, exactly what I've been pining for. To say I was excited didn't cover it.
After counting down the days, I took the train down to Barnham and picked it up. As I pulled out of the lot, I had the biggest smile on my face; it just felt so right; these are quite small (escort class rather than full fat sierra class car) but after a mk5 fiesta it felt like I was at the helm of a proper car, the sound of the carb sucking in air, the big thin steering wheel, the square bonnet reaching out in front of me, it was great. The way home was nerve-racking though as it started cutting out; it had been left standing for a while and the fuel lines/carb were quite clearly a bit clogged up. For the next few miles it ran like a pig, but after a bit of caning it cleared itself up and ran perfectly. The sofa-like velour seats and the softly sprung suspension meant it was a great cruiser and it sat fine at 85.
Fast forward to later in the day, I took it to work. The welded diff made things interesting around the tight streets of brighton, and I was still worried that it would cut out, but it worked fine. It started raining for a bit, and the streets were pretty wet. Finished my shift, and on the way home I took the more scenic route and came across a well sighted 80degreeish corner; I thought well lets try the diff out. Approached the corner, h/t'd into 2nd and turned in with a bit of gas; like clockwork the back end stepped out and I caught it with about a turn of oppo, and threw it back straight. You literally could not get the smile off my face if you tried, I felt like such a hero, like richard hammond with the bowler wildcat. From then on every empty roundabout was taken looking out the side window, and now I'd like to think I'm pretty good at the whole dab of oppo thing(inb4 the "I spun it into a ditch" post). It's been four days now, I've done 370 miles and loved every single one of them.
A few issues though; it's a b
h to start during cold, requires the choke about a 1/4 way out and a bit of throttle pumping, usually fires up on the fourth or fifth time, never let me down yet. It's also running very rich, this is my first carbed car and I have no idea how to tune the thing. The left speaker is blown, I want to retain the standard system and wonderfully retro headunit so I wanna figure out a way to fix that. It's pulling to the left a little bit, hoping it's just the tracking and not the wishbones/bushings. Other than that it's great, I love the interior, I love how airy it is, the slide sunroof, the big cushy seats, the sound of the carb when you give it some, how predictable the back end is, how it stands out among the blobby bloated superminis that trundle around brighton, the fact that nobody understands why I bought it, the fact that you can fix everything with a hammer and a spanner, how theres so much feel and feedback from the steering, how you can feel the carb jet opening through your right foot, how nicely it rides, and just the fact that when people see it they assume it's going to be driven by some OAP at 15MPH everywhere. And it most definitely isnt.
My fiesta and the ovlov
Anyway that was alot of writing for very little car, but as you can see I'm just so happy with this loveable pile of crap at the moment. And I don't think I'll be getting bored of that diff anytime soon.
I'm pretty clumsy with the written word, but bear with me if your bored. So anyway, about two weeks ago, I was a pretty content guy, had a part time job as a delivery driver, nice modern reliable MK5 fiesta which I loved, worked fine other than a slight misfire, loved the corners, etc etc. Worked great as a daily driver for the 1700 or so miles I do a month. I had an essay to do for one of my uni modules (Am currently a first year student doing economics) and as usual I was procrastinating for ages and ended up on the driftworks classifieds. I've always had a longing for an old RWD car, but being 18 and having only been driving since march theres not much out there that's insurable. As I was flicking through the s-bodies and E36s that were for sale I saw a link for a Volvo 360.
I clicked on it and saw the beige beauty sitting there, and I knew right then and there that I was going to buy it. It had a welded diff and 12 months MOT and was based a few miles west of Worthing, so not far from my campus in sussex. I kept a note of the number and the next day I called up my insurance to see what sort of quote I'd get on it; lo and behold, the price would barely change for this 100BHP swedish beast. I called up the seller and went to see it the next day; it was pretty clean, with just a bit of rust on the arches, and it had a barely believable 63,000 miles on the clock. The paintwork (I believe the official name of this shade is peadophile brown) was in decent condition, etc etc, and mechanically it seemed fine, fresh fluids, matching tyres with decent tread, and crucially it had a welded differential; for those that don't know, it's an open diff that's been welded to lock it all the time, so basically an LSD that's always locked. I put the deposit down and collected it the next week.
For those who grew up around this car's generation, they probably see it as what was a pretty lowly-regarded car of it's class at the time, but for me, this is a retro old school RWD three-box saloon; in other words, exactly what I've been pining for. To say I was excited didn't cover it.
After counting down the days, I took the train down to Barnham and picked it up. As I pulled out of the lot, I had the biggest smile on my face; it just felt so right; these are quite small (escort class rather than full fat sierra class car) but after a mk5 fiesta it felt like I was at the helm of a proper car, the sound of the carb sucking in air, the big thin steering wheel, the square bonnet reaching out in front of me, it was great. The way home was nerve-racking though as it started cutting out; it had been left standing for a while and the fuel lines/carb were quite clearly a bit clogged up. For the next few miles it ran like a pig, but after a bit of caning it cleared itself up and ran perfectly. The sofa-like velour seats and the softly sprung suspension meant it was a great cruiser and it sat fine at 85.
Fast forward to later in the day, I took it to work. The welded diff made things interesting around the tight streets of brighton, and I was still worried that it would cut out, but it worked fine. It started raining for a bit, and the streets were pretty wet. Finished my shift, and on the way home I took the more scenic route and came across a well sighted 80degreeish corner; I thought well lets try the diff out. Approached the corner, h/t'd into 2nd and turned in with a bit of gas; like clockwork the back end stepped out and I caught it with about a turn of oppo, and threw it back straight. You literally could not get the smile off my face if you tried, I felt like such a hero, like richard hammond with the bowler wildcat. From then on every empty roundabout was taken looking out the side window, and now I'd like to think I'm pretty good at the whole dab of oppo thing(inb4 the "I spun it into a ditch" post). It's been four days now, I've done 370 miles and loved every single one of them.
A few issues though; it's a b
h to start during cold, requires the choke about a 1/4 way out and a bit of throttle pumping, usually fires up on the fourth or fifth time, never let me down yet. It's also running very rich, this is my first carbed car and I have no idea how to tune the thing. The left speaker is blown, I want to retain the standard system and wonderfully retro headunit so I wanna figure out a way to fix that. It's pulling to the left a little bit, hoping it's just the tracking and not the wishbones/bushings. Other than that it's great, I love the interior, I love how airy it is, the slide sunroof, the big cushy seats, the sound of the carb when you give it some, how predictable the back end is, how it stands out among the blobby bloated superminis that trundle around brighton, the fact that nobody understands why I bought it, the fact that you can fix everything with a hammer and a spanner, how theres so much feel and feedback from the steering, how you can feel the carb jet opening through your right foot, how nicely it rides, and just the fact that when people see it they assume it's going to be driven by some OAP at 15MPH everywhere. And it most definitely isnt.My fiesta and the ovlov
Anyway that was alot of writing for very little car, but as you can see I'm just so happy with this loveable pile of crap at the moment. And I don't think I'll be getting bored of that diff anytime soon.
Edited by Gooly on Sunday 9th December 16:34
Thanks for all the replies guys! The 340 has renault derived engines (1.4 and 1.7, latter of which has problems where some port in the carb melts/deforms and borks things) which means you get various renault 16v swaps, which is great but you also need a garage full of propshafts at the ready if you do that; 340s have notoriously weak props, even 1.7s driven hard with welders can pop propshafts.
The 360 has a volvo "redblock" engine with a different transmission and a much stronger torque tube encased prop; renault swaps are not options but the 2.3 DOHC and DOHC Turbo redblocks are straight swaps, the latter of which being particularly potent; there are people in sweden running them with 300bhp redblock turbos on stock gearboxes.
Im going to keep mine stock for now, i wanna get used to the power I have. Would like some mesh wheels though and maybe lower it two inches or so.
The 360 has a volvo "redblock" engine with a different transmission and a much stronger torque tube encased prop; renault swaps are not options but the 2.3 DOHC and DOHC Turbo redblocks are straight swaps, the latter of which being particularly potent; there are people in sweden running them with 300bhp redblock turbos on stock gearboxes.
Im going to keep mine stock for now, i wanna get used to the power I have. Would like some mesh wheels though and maybe lower it two inches or so.
petrolveins said:
Thought I recognised that car park... another Sussex Uni Student here, if you get a toot from a Blue 330i that'll be me.
Nice car mate too, really want to go down the old-skool rwd route and weld it. 330i is a bit too nice for that sorta treatment.
Nice mate, you a first year as well? And yeah wouldn't weld the diff on a 330i, for one the grippy back end would give you hell when your parking, this is bad enough on 175 section ditchfinders. E46s are a little too nice for this sort of thing haha. Checked out your thread, hopefully see you about!Nice car mate too, really want to go down the old-skool rwd route and weld it. 330i is a bit too nice for that sorta treatment.
Don't know anyone who drives here let alone interested in cars 
my mates aren't into them at all. Hopefully see you around though.
Update on the car, took it to two tracking places today and neither could find the problem... even had it up on the ramp to check underneath, suspension all looks tight and sound, although the left balljoint had been replaced quite recently by the looks of it. Took both wheels off today and brakes don't seem to be sticking, it brakes in a straight line, tyre pressures are fine, tyre weights are fine... really at a loss as to what it could be? I have to hold the wheel at about 1 o'clock to get it to go straight, the wheel feels normal though, it self centres fine and sits straight but the car pulls left when the wheels straight, and you can feel the castor wanting to self centre the wheel when it's held at 1'oclock. Does anyone have any ideas? No odd tyre wear either...
I'm beginning to get a little suspicious about the entire left side though as well. All minor things, but a cap on the left of the front bumper is missing (as seen on the first few thread pics), theres a large dent on the front left quarter, it pulls to the left, it's had a new balljoint on the left, the left door speaker is blown, the left rear door won't open from the inside... something must have happened but I don't really understant what? The dent on the front left quarter is about a foot in length but completely self contained if that makes sense, ie it's within the panel and doesn't indicate a spillover into other panels in terms of impact, but either way somethings up. I really want to get this tracking thing sorted as one thing I absolutely cannot stand is a car that pulls in either direction.
my mates aren't into them at all. Hopefully see you around though.Update on the car, took it to two tracking places today and neither could find the problem... even had it up on the ramp to check underneath, suspension all looks tight and sound, although the left balljoint had been replaced quite recently by the looks of it. Took both wheels off today and brakes don't seem to be sticking, it brakes in a straight line, tyre pressures are fine, tyre weights are fine... really at a loss as to what it could be? I have to hold the wheel at about 1 o'clock to get it to go straight, the wheel feels normal though, it self centres fine and sits straight but the car pulls left when the wheels straight, and you can feel the castor wanting to self centre the wheel when it's held at 1'oclock. Does anyone have any ideas? No odd tyre wear either...
I'm beginning to get a little suspicious about the entire left side though as well. All minor things, but a cap on the left of the front bumper is missing (as seen on the first few thread pics), theres a large dent on the front left quarter, it pulls to the left, it's had a new balljoint on the left, the left door speaker is blown, the left rear door won't open from the inside... something must have happened but I don't really understant what? The dent on the front left quarter is about a foot in length but completely self contained if that makes sense, ie it's within the panel and doesn't indicate a spillover into other panels in terms of impact, but either way somethings up. I really want to get this tracking thing sorted as one thing I absolutely cannot stand is a car that pulls in either direction.
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