Well, had a super interesting track night on Friday. First session went out and got a few good laps in then I saw something fly out from the side of the car and a clunk, so I came into the pits.

Got the car up in the air to find that the body mounted sway bar bushing had ejected out from the sway bar clamp. I never realized until that day that there was really nothing holding the bushing in at all from sliding side to side. I think some power steering fluid helped lube it up and it just spit out.

I cut up some heater hose into chunks, wrapped it around the bar and stacked up some square bits, wrapped the whole thing with electrical tape and zip ties and went out on track again.

Had some slower cars to get around then found myself in the faster cars, passed them in the passing zones until I caught up to that one guy. Dude was in a newer white Mustang GT350 and would not give me the point by. I made it very clear that I would like by, I was very courteous at first just getting close to his bumper, then half way into the passing zone, hanging out (he was way off line through the turns) in the corners, He was well aware we made eye contact numerous times in his side mirror that I would like by but he was having none of this old ****ty car getting around him.

I finally got a little tired of it after maybe 10 minutes of this and pulled up right next to him at about 110 mph and looked over at him, finally he gave me the point by. 4 or 5 corners later, he wasnt even in the mirror on the straights and I had a great rest of the session. I am not that fast of a driver, but I have a fair bit of seat time and pay close attention to the mirrors. If I am the slower car I dont want to hold anyone up at all, hell, I usually learn something when I get passed by a faster car. Just with everyone had that mentallity on fun track days, nobody is winning today, we are just having fun.....everyone gets competitive though I get that.

I ran the car hard the whole 20 minute session. Temps creeped up to 230 at the checker and I smelled fuel....cool down lap got me to the 2teens temp wise.

Pulled into the pits and cracked the gas cap to a **** ton of pressure in the tank. Apparently I finally have a gas cap that is tight and sealed up =)

I called it a night, shot the **** with some buddies and grabbed dinner.

Spent Saturday fixing what I believed to be my problems.....

When I initially installed all of this I was having fuel sloshing out the filler neck so obviously was not able to hold pressure.

I had installed the rollover valve inside the fuel filler door but it was mounted on an angle. I believe that when the fuel got warm it expanded, on a hard left hand corner the ball on the rollover valve closed the valve and once it had a little pressure on it it just stayed closed. I proved this theory in the garage Saturday.

So another rework of the fuel tank and vent. Built a little bracket in the filler door to hold the rollover valve at the proper position.

https://i.imgur.com/D49nKp5h.jpg

Here is my vent loop on the drivers side to keep any raw fuel from getting into the charcoal canister and out the vent.

https://i.imgur.com/76Po4Hnh.jpg

Still tucks away almost all unseen. I want to build a rear firewall to go behind the seats, thats in the short term plan.

https://i.imgur.com/ugAvMtEh.jpg

So while going through all this, I found the fuel tank to be really warm, like almost hot to the touch. With the exhaust so close to the fuel tank I took some time to pull off the rear section, fix a hanger issue, add in a taller bump stop to keep it from banging on the exhaust.

I hate this stuff, but it does work. So I wrapped this small section with the titanium wrap and put a titanium heat shield on it right next to the fuel tank. I hope that it helps.

I also wrapped the tank with some DEI reflective stick on stuff to try and reflect the heat rather than absorb it.

https://i.imgur.com/5kg7r4mh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/0wD3julh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/94BZT3dh.jpg

I have been pushing the car pretty hard the last few months. Its time for a little break from beating on it. Going to get the front sway bar ironed out and install a stereo, work on the rear firewall and call it done for a little while.

Radwood on the 20th, then GoodGuys Puyallup the weekend after that.

Took a break yesterday and took the buggy out, I have had this thing probably 15 years. Its like old trusty...

https://i.imgur.com/iFrZAsrh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/BxnqIPLh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/UNvo46uh.jpg

Couple of buddies just finished their rigs so we had a first run. They all did awesome and beautiful rigs.

I didnt have a passenger so not too many pics of action.

Happy Monday!!

Sean

That's awesome.

Those damn slow Mustangs and their slow Ford motors! :lol:

Clearly it was all the driver and not the car, I know those things rip. Either way it was fun.

Seems this forum, well, forums in general are pretty dead these days.

I am not a facebook fan so where is everyone hearing about events these days?

Sean

Congrats on getting the car track ready Sean, now just keep it a while nad enjoy it like you do your buggy.

Speaking of your buggy, is it street legal? Now that I'm in an area close by the mountains, I'm itching for some sort of trail rig again. My last one was a 1953 Willys Jeep when I was 14 years old. :D

I'm trying to decide which way I want it to lean, more trail rig or more highway rig with trail capabilities. it'll probably end up like my Monte, split personality and not do any of it real well...

Sean, it is great to hear about the evolution of the Volvo--that and your MacGyverisms. It's hard not to feel suddenly defeated when stuff breaks at the track, which is like every time for a lot of us, so good work on that front. You're making work fun again.

At the auto-x I went to last weekend (first one in years), Bob (Panteracer) and I were talking about how few pro-touring types were around. The scene begged the question of what happened to all of the people building bitchin' Camaros for just that thing a few years ago. There were exactly two bitchin' Camaros (and some usual suspects in Corvettes, but they've been there for 40 years, like the Maiers) that I noticed, and this was like a prime northern CA event. Just keep doing what's fun for you; the dopes like us who have it in our blood will always be around.

That Jeep is awesome. One day . . .

Really enjoy the evolution of your build!! Absolutely learn a ton watching you sort through your issues. The build is supposed to be fun, even when things dont go perfect.

Sincerely appreciate the time you spend taking pictures and typing out the details!


Jeff-

I will do my best Lance, but you know how I am, I get bored with things pretty fast, going to keep going on this one though and see what I can do with it.

Thats a call only you can make. A very capable street rig is super fun, I have owned a bunch of super built toyotas a few jeeps and have had a blast with them. The buggy is nice cause its the more extreme end of what you can do, 40" tires, full hydro steering, front and rear separated outputs and no factory sheetmetal make it so you can do rediculous stuff with them and not really hurt anything.

I have gotten a little used to **** breaking or not working how you expect it. But I usually overcome those issues and make it work. The fuel system has kind of been an issue since the beginning, hoping that this solves the last of them and we move on with other fun stuff.

Ill keep doing this cause its fun, I really enjoy track days more than autocross but find autocross a good time, wish you got more seat time and less stand around shagging cones time.

I dont see any pro touring cars up here actually doing anything, never see them at an autocross or track day. I have only seen one pro touring car at 1 Track Night. Nothing to offend anyone here but those that only get driven to car shows seem like the next "hot rod" to me. Something that looks cool but rarely gets used.

I do however find myself wishing that I had built the car to be a little more racecar. Or maybe Its just time to love the Volvo for what it is and get a dedicated track car, or lucky dog car. I have some drive for actual racing now.

Thanks Jeff!! Its been a boat load of fun the last few months, have used the car a ton and gotten a lot of seat time in it, working out the bugs is something I pride myself on and it will all get ironed out.

I enjoy the build threads and hope that they help give someone some ideas or help them along the way. I know that they are a dying breed but its a good way to document what I am doing so I keep up on it.

Appreciate the kind words,

Sean

Lucky Dog? Hells yes! You go I go...really.

Lance-Newer jeeps are super capable, even back to the TJ which started in 1997. Fairly comfortable on the street and easy point and shoot rigs off-road. Doesn’t take much to make a stock Jeep enjoyable off highway. Sean and I both have newer JK wranglers, set up a bit different but both comfortable on the highway and a blast off-road.
Get one, you’ll have a blast.

Absolutely nothing exciting to report. Summers in the HVAC service industry get pretty chaotic so I spend a lot more time at work than in the shoulder seasons. Work is good though.

Been messing around with cleaning stuff up in my shop, getting the superhitch retrofit on the 2018 3500 ram from the 2014 2500 has been a pain. Hope to have it all buttoned up tonight or tomorrow if the parts show up.

Got the new inner window seals on the volvo and did a bunch of clean up on some things inside that were bugging me last night. Touched up a spot on the dash, did some good cleaning on the seatbelt latches, cleaned the seat tracks and installed a few final missing pieces of hardware.

Have a couple weekends of car shows, this Saturday is Radwood up in Seattle and next weekend is GoodGuys at the Puyallup Fairgrounds. Not too sure how that will go since the car is totally not goodguys material but we shall see.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!!!

Sean

Fyi