Anybody Seen This Before?

[CJ460]

As title says, has anyone seen this volvo and more to the point, the front bumper that it has on it? I really like the look of the car but can't find any info as to how I can lower mine(without cutting coils) or where I can get that front bumper from!

[AndysR]

Looks like a phase one 460 with a phase two front end. The front bumper looks like the accessory sport front splitter/bumper which was offered as an optional accessory for phase one 460/440 series cars by Volvo when they were new. Well if it isn't looks very similar to that which is pictured in a brochure I have somewhere on the 460 series cars circa 1990 ish.

[Baffler]

Didn't Roo have this for sale. Probably sold now though.

[ahal]

Originally Posted by AndysR

Looks like a phase one 460 with a phase two front end.

Yes, definitely a series 1 bumper, with the black rubbing strip painted to match. Imho mods usually look sick on the 400's, but this I REALLY like. It has that BTCC look about it ... very cool. Be interested to see what responses this thread generates ... I would certainly be well up for such a kit myself

[Daniel M]

That is a Mk1 460 with a face lift front end. Wings/bonnet/headlights/indicators have been changed. The bumper is that of the 400 series (440/60) bodykit.

If you have a Mk1 440, then the front spoiler will fit directly to the original bumper, if you have a facelifted 440/60 however, you will need to retro-fit the the Mk1 bumper. It can be done, as seen here. The valance then clips over the top, like so. I don't have an image of the 440 kitted, but I do have an image of the 460 kitted up here. This black one looks nice as it's on the 'Vega' alloys. Very rare!

I do still have the part numbers for the kit if anybody's interested. The numbers are for the 440 kit however, but the only difference will be for the rear valance, as the 460 is slightly longer (as you know). Things to take into consideration if retro-fitting the Mk1 front end would be the foglights. Unless you fabricate some brackets, the facelifted foglights will not fit the Mk1 bumpers correctly, so you'll need a set of early fogs (which have much stronger glass), make a bracket to fit the new ones, or blank them off. Please don't fit little oval non-Volvo fogs, as they look naff (sorry in advance to anybody who has!). The guy that bought my 440 done that exact thing, and it looked awful.

I'm still a big fan of the 440/460. If I ever came into a large sum of cash, I'd have a facelifted 440 (prob a 2.0i, due to the fact Turbo's are too high maintenance lol), fully kitted, but with the boot tip spoiler as opposed to the regular spoiler, lowered on those Vegas, in that lovely metallic blue (think it's 235 Pacific Blue, the indigo is Non-metallic). I'd have the Rococo interior with the CD spec leather door cards. But I digress....and dream!

As I said, I do still have the part no's for the kit, if anybody wants them I'll try and dig them out.

Dan

[Daniel M]

I've found the email I received from Volvo when I was looking for the kit. But if you do phone a dealer, bear in mind the prices are from 2003, and they did have all parts in stock then too: I'd bet they're probably NLA at Volvo now though. Still, may be of use to somebody!

"We used to do a kit that contained side skirts, wheel arch extensions and different bumpers. The kit (3450484)is not available as a kit any more but the individual parts are still available and are as follows:

Front Spoiler 3451241 - £282.73
Rear Valance 3451243 - £284.92
Side Skirt Left 3451244 - £154
Side Skirt Right 3451245 - £154
Wheel Arch Extension Front Right 3451247 - £54.13
Rear Right 3451249 - £20.10
Door Rear Right 3451251 - £20.10
Wheel Arch Extension Front Left 3451246 - £54.13
Rear Left 3451248 - £20.10
Door Rear Left 3451250 - £20.10
Clip’s 3344212 - £1.73
Adhesive 1161384 - £???

The kit is made up of one of each part with the exception of the clips where 12 are needed. Regrettably there are no instructions for fitting these parts so you would need to be technically proficient to work out which bits go on in which order! Your dealer will be able to advise you on the costs of each part and also the delivery time scale involved."

The prices on the list were obtained by myself from Volvo in Halesworth (they didn't have it stocked, just they are my nearest dealer).

With regards to lowering the 440, avoid Bilstein springs/spring kits. The shocks tend not to fit 100% so knock quite a bit. The springs do break down and are very hard too. My advice, if lowering, would be to change the shocks (I can highly recommend KYB Excellence oil filled). I had Avo 40mm springs on mine, and they were good. Not too hard, but just right for a little stiffening and handling. If you click my 440 2.0i SE link in my signature, you'll see how high the 440 was on the first pic, and how it differed with a 40mm drop on the 3rd pic. The wheels are 14" for reference.

With regards to purchasing springs, I'd imagine you'd be able to get them from anywhere that sells modified parts, but I got mine from www.needforspeed.co.uk (the link to the Volvo section can be found here). They were very efficient, polite and delivered very quickly.

Hope thats a little more help anyway.

Dan

[volvomania]

Sorry for hijacking the thread, but I have one of these front spoilers in my lockup. Have no early 440 though so it can go.