New 360 owner - SW Scotland

[TasMan]

Hi All,
Been lurking on here for a while learning what I can, and I am now pleased to have put down a deposit on a rather nice E reg 3-door 360 GLT. Not many 360s appear for sale up here so when I heard about this one through a pal I jumped at the chance. It's in great condition and the current owner has done a few re-commissioning jobs over the past 3 years after it had been sitting in dry storage. I am due to collect it next week and will post pics when it arrives. It will need the timing belt done immediately and a few other jobs. Runs/drives very nice but idle is a bit lumpy and I am wondering about injector seals and how these are replaced ?
Thinking about lowering slightly, maybe 2", although I understand the GLT is already lower as standard.
It is on the original 14" alloys but needs 4 new tyres, would like to swap the wheels for some nice steels so makes sense to put new tyres on the wheels I want from the start, wheel suggestions welcome... (I'm a bit unsure about the best wheel size taking into account future lowering.....)
A stainless exhaust system will be on the cards along with a few other bits and pieces.
Will update again soon
Dave

[bogbasic]

Great work. What colour is it? It makes the pictures better to know. Don't lower it too much with all that rock and bog near you ;-0

Bests, bogs.

[TasMan]

Its metallic blue, with a couple of nice coachlines added by the current owner.
Its not so much the rock and bog up here but the bl##dy potholes....!!
Will have a think about all the jobs and mods required when it arrives....timing belt will be the main thing.
Cheers
Dave

[SteveP]

That car was for sale here a few years back, it looked very nice - so best of luck with it! I'd try and keep the mods sympathetic, the 3 doors are very rare. How about some earlier style 'Leo' GLT wheels? Same tyre size that way and a nicer design!

The injection cars are quite lumpy from cold start, but should smoothen out after 30secs or so - it's a 'feature'!

The cambelt is very easy to do yourself, if you're handy with the spanners - an hour max!

[TasMan]

Hi Steve, Thanks for your comments, sounds like you know the car, it came from the Edinburgh area. Really looking forward to getting it and I think I have been lucky finding one up here. The current owner kindly agreed to hold it for a couple of weeks until I get my garage in order (cleared of junk!!) as it definitely merits being garaged.
I am totally with you on the sympathetic approach, it will be looked after.
Leo's look great, good shout, would be very handy to find a nice set and I can just get tyres fitted and then swap over at home. Also keeps the Volvo theme original so I am quite keen on that idea....are they hard to find ?
I was taken a run in it, clears its throat very nicely. Slight hesitation when cruising along but it hasn't had leads, dizzy or rotor recently so I will be changing these too. Just going to gradually improve as time permits.
Spotted a couple of good youtube vids on the cambelt, does look straightforward. I tinker with vintage stationary engines so I think I will be ok giving it a go

[MCHUDD]

Hi mate and welcome.
I would do the water pump as well as your in that direction.
A three door 360! brilliant one.
Cheers Mark.

[TasMan]

Thanks Mark!
Speaking to the current owner tonight we will be concluding the deal on saturday coming
Think I have been quite lucky finding a 3 door GLT up here, was just by chance my pal spotted it for sale at a show.
I will definitely look into the water pump now that you mention it. I had noticed a post on here (will need to look for it) with discussion about the timing belt, tensioner and pump with varying ideas about whether to change everything or just the belt. Given the mileage (circa 50k) I would like to hope the pump and tensioner should be ok. I am pretty mechanically minded and was looking to do the belt myself but adding in a tensioner and pump might be a step too far, will see what I think when it arrives.

[Ride_on]

Reb blocks can be a bit lumpy, not sure the reason, it isn't like a BMW or Japanese car. That said some run like clockwork.

Injector seals I have never replaced and I've owned alot of cars with the same design, this is a low pressure NA system self sealing. The engine can manage a small leak, but do check the air bypass pipes. Anything rubber can be past it.

I wouldn't lower it if this car is the one I'm thinking of. Lowering ruins the handling and suspension geometry, especially the rear with lowering blocks. You can (as I have stiffening not lowering) run into problems with matching shock length to springs etc, loose front springs are bad.

If you are going to mod a car get a GLE or something more common / less valuable and convert to GLT spec and Turbo whatever.

On the water pump, I'm going to disagree with Mark there. The original factory water pumps where made better than any aftermarket ones and even Volvo spare parts (which are unheard of now), if the water pump is good leave well alone. The only thing to consider with the timing belt off is the front crank oil seal. Tensioners usually last well too so if it seems ok leave it.

Make sure you get a square toothed belt (not the round one)

[MCHUDD]

Hi Ride-on.
I will bow to superior knowlage lol.
Cheers Mark.

[bogbasic]

The water pump should be good for another 100k or two.

[TasMan]

Thanks Ride-On (and all) for the feedback.
The car runs very well when driving but does seem lumpy at idle. The current owner has replaced the spark plugs and coil but not the distributor cap, rotor or HT leads. For the small cost I will renew these.
He advised he had a bit of bother getting the car past the emissions test and the cold start injector is currently disconnected. The mixture has also been tweaked to compensate for the emissions pass so it made me think about injector seals and air leaks. Will also check the rubber air pipework as you suggest. Have you had any experience with emissions issues, or the cold start injector ? I will need to investigate further when I get the car.
I have already ruled out lowering the car, it's too good to ruin and I will focus spending the cash on refining and doing the various service items that are needed. I noted the diff cover has a small weep so that will also be on the to-do list.
Hadn't considered the crankshaft oil seal, will look into that, do they need a special tool to change ?
Noted about the timing belt, the part number appears to be 271713 and it seems easy enough to get a genuine Volvo belt.
Good to hear about the water pump, should be good for a few miles yet!
Cheers Dave

[Ride_on]

Emissions no, but do check fuel pressure, leaky cold start injector. Servicing is fine, but do thry to diagnose rather than replace random parts.

Crank oil seal is easy enough, I drilled it and put in self tappers to remove. But if its good again just leave it.

[SteveP]

I believe this will be the car you're referring to? viewtopic.php?f=8&t=16143

Looks great if it's still in that condition! Well worthy of a little project. You can still buy genuine cambelts so I'd recommend doing that, they're only about £10-12.

pettaw1 on YouTube (and pettaw on here) did a series of cambelt videos and it examplains the process pretty thoroughly.

You're right, you are lucky to find it countrywide nevermind nearby GLT's are getting very rare, especially 3 door examples.

Leo's shouldn't be too hard to find, you may have to refurbish them to bring them up to spec with the condition of the rest of the car, I'd recommend joining the Volvo 300 Mania facebook group also as parts tend to exchange there too.

I believe the eBay user robsue888 should have a set of Leo's, he's been breaking and selling off his 300 series collection and parts of late.

Diff cover leaks are common. You should be able to buy a new set with bolts from here http://www.born-built-beauties.eu/html/ ... parts.html

[TasMan]

Hi Steve,
Yes that's the car, hadn't realised it had been on here before and its funny how news of such things gets around as it hadn't been formally advertised.
Still in the same condition and the current owner has looked after it well after re-commissioning and carrying out a few repairs. He was looking to move the car on to focus on another restoration project hence why nothing further was done.
Appreciate the feedback, I am looking forward to 360 ownership!
Will check out the cambelt videos for sure, good to have those available....will set aside a quiet day for that job.
Have to admit the standard wheels are growing on me, but will keep a look out for Leo's The original wheels will of course be kept with the car if they are changed. Nice one on the Ebay user suggestion and I am already on the 300 FB page so will try a post on there soon.
Yep, a diff gasket kit is on my radar, looks easy enough to do. A friend of mine has a pit in his garage so will take the opportunity to sort the diff and wondered about changing the gearbox oil while I am at it.
Thanks again, will update when the car arrives.
Dave

[SteveP]

Sounds good! I have a similarly aged GLT too and considering putting the original wheels back on, simply as you don't see many like that anymore

The gasket kit comes with decent instructions, I'd personally use a bit of blue hylomar with the kit too for belts and braces. I had a 360 15 years ago that locked the rear diff because it had ran dry on oil... oops!

Looking forward to seeing how you get on with it!