Cheap Tyres

I bought my 340 with a set of "BL85" Russian tyres on it and the steering was very light.

Since replacing these tyres with the Continental Contact ones off my other 340 which is going scrap, the steering is much heavier! I can only deduce that the grip offered by the BL85 tyres was minimal...

I had a similar thing happen when the RS Alloys were stolen off my old Escort: Direct Line replaced the Goddyear GT2 tyres with some cheap rubbish which quickly degraded to make the car feel like the suspension had all had it. Then when one of them had a blowout on the M62 I replaced them all with proper GT2s and the car drove like new again. All that was wrong was the tyres.

What do you all think???

i think the tyres will make a difference - my 340s only got £25/corner tyres on it, but the wheels are being swapped up to nice glt alloys with nice tyres on, so i suspect my arm muscles will get a workout..

what 340 are you scrapping? might have some bits off it..

[foggyjames]

Good tyres make all the difference in almost every regard (including to your bank balance). It's an old adage (sp?), but they're the only thing in contact with the road...

Hugh...want a Power Steering kit? ;)

cheers

James

Dear James,

Have just bought my 7th 300 series off E-bay. I'll collect it next weekend. The 'script' reads as follows "Volvo 340 DL Automatic 1988 with PAS - In February 1997 this car was profesionally fitted with power assisted steering by a company called Steering Developments Ltd of Hemel Hempstead. The technical papers and receipt for £2020.00 are included. This modification makes the car so much easier to drive". I only bought it for the PAS and I bet it does make a pleasant difference although I don't know how you get to £2k for power steering! Anyway, the kit is destined for my mint 340 1.7 after I've had some fun driving a variomatic (I've never driven one before). When it comes off it'll go under the microscope and I'll let you know the results. I feel pretty sure it'll be a clever assortment of standard production parts that could be put together for not a lot!

Now back to sorting out the intercooler on my GLT project.

Very Best Regards

Len

[foggyjames]

PAS was available from the factory as an option for 340s (£1000) - indeed one came up for sale a while back with it fitted.

I'm still after one of those engine mounts!

cheers

James

We'll help you through the fault finding when you discover it over-revs etc...

A bit of a low view of variomatics (I have one and it's so easy to drive around town) but I have done lots of work on mine to make it work properly. It seems very few people maintain them as they need.

i think one of the problems is they dont go 'high' enough, meaning they are noisy/un fuel economical out of town.. they could really do with having a gear thats as tall as 5th on the manual

The ratio change of the variomatic unit is about 3.5 to 1, which is indeed not as much as a 5-speed gearbox. More modern versions have wider ratios e.g. Ford CTX has 6.25 to 1
Also the centrufugal clutch will not transmit high torque at low revs so the controls are set to limit the minimum revs to 1800 which means you don't get into top gear until about 37mph minimum. The towing limit is also reduced as the clutch can't start a heavy trailer on a hill.

But I still thoroughly enjoy driving it...

Its a 340GL 1.4 Manual E registration with a rust hole in the sill, and scrapes on the rear doors, no tax or MOT.
Apart from that it has a new starter, a sweet unleaded engine of 110,000 miles and very nice grey velour seats and carpet.
I want to get rid of the whole car really, though, not just bits

I agree about the noise at "high" speed on a variomatic but do not find it unbearably bad. The fact that the propshaft rotates at engine speed (as with all rear gearbox cars) contributes to this, as does the fact that it is quite low geared.

That said, it`s a fine system when set up properly, and well suited to town driving and wafting along at sedate speeds.

For some reason automatics have always had a poor reputation in this country, and the CVT being an unusual implementation has attracted some (sometimes) undeserved critcism for unreliability. As John says, I reckon this is down to poor maintenance. Finding a mechanic who is familiar with the system and who doesn`t just write it off as "not worth fixing" (a catch all to cover their ignorance sometimes)is rare indeed. For DIY mechanics it is all under the car and easy to ignore until it fails big time.

Any mechanical system needs servicing to achieve its` planned design life and optimal operation. Keep your CVT going with regular oil changes and belt adjustments and just be glad as you crawl around under the back of your car that at least you don`t have a cam belt to do as well (now those are unreliable!)