340 Gearbox Mountings

[volvo_saint]

There appears to be a general shortage of spare parts for the 300 series.

I am looking for the bushes which are attached to the rear gearbox of a 340.

Can anyone recommend a shop/dealer/supplier?

[foggyjames]

You're quite right, Volvo are cutting off supplies. Charming, eh?

These are a part which is known to fail, and I don't have a source at present, I'm afraid.

cheers

James

[Chris_C]

What does the bush look like gents, I'd give someone like superflex a ring, they normally know what things look similar.

[foggyjames]

They're a flange (which bolts to the car) with a bushing above it (in the box section). A bolt sits through that (with a washer on top), onto which the crossmember is fitted.

They look rather like this...
http://www.polymax.co.uk/Catalogue%2...n%20Mounts.htm

cheers

James

[Chris_C]

Ok, so is the bush under tension or compression? If compression, that should be pretty easy to turn down from a lump of poly, and a dab of sticky stuff to stop the washer and flange from trying to escape during assembly.

If tension a bit harder, AFAIK, you can't bond lumps of stuff to poly well, hence why I'm normally sceptical with poly engine mounts in 300 style.

[foggyjames]

It's in compression. It should be pretty easy to get something off the shelf, never mind making our own (which would also be easy enough. You want it to be fairly soft...340s are more prone to driveline vibration than 360s anyway, and I wouldn't like to make it much worse!

cheers

James

[Chris_C]

In which case, ring someone like superflex, find out what else something similar is from, and buy from the rubber ones from the OEM stealers

[foggyjames]

I see where you're going with that

cheers

James

[volvo_saint]

Thanks for all the info.

I contacted the Dutch 300 Club and they suggested a list of Volvo dealers in Holland who might still stock this part.

Any chance of having such parts remanufactured?

And what happened to the 20 year rule? - where a car manufacturer has to keep a parts supply going until 20 years after the last production year.

If I cannot find the part I will look to clone the part.

[foggyjames]

Volvo don't ensure parts supply beyond 10 years. It appears that they started de-stocking in anger around 2 years ago, which conveniently puts us at 15 years since production of the last models.

I am potentially interested in helping remanufacture these parts.

cheers

James