360 GLT Shitbox Rally 2017

martinp

Hi there here is my little entrant for the 2017 Shitbox rally from Adelaide to Cairns via Alice Springs. We are a father and son team. Never owned a Volvo before and saw this little beauty on eBay a month or two back, won the auction and drove it home the next day. Fixed a few oil leaks and door seals and the ever present taillight earth faults and now its my everyday driver till the rally. I'm presently waiting for a new cam belt to be sure to be sure to be sure. Parts are hard to come by but Berry motor group in Mitcham have a full car to get bits off. I do need to harden the underbelly by making up a bash plate for the engine and boosting the rear bash plate area.
I am looking at getting rid of the alloys (Leo's 5 off in pretty good nick) and putting some steels on it as the smaller wheels will hit the holes, rocks and cattle grids hard. I'll put some commercial tyres on it to harden them up a bit as they have done the trick the last few rallies I've done.
Look forward to anyones help and suggestions. I'm located in Rokeby near Warragul Victoria.
Martin.
PS Alien Express GLT is the rally team name https://shitboxrallyau-2017.everydayhero.com/au/AlienExpressGLT is the donation address if anyone is feeling generous to donate some money towards the Cancer Council.

A_Volvo_Driver

Have fun guys! I have a soft spot for the 360's.

pfeffernuss

So much win!

We'll have to be in the same team @martinp.
This forum has been really awesome.
How's your fundraising going?

martinp

Fundraising is slow as I need to catch up with he son and get him organised, we both live pretty busy lives.
I was not going to put much into it till after christmas.
I'm not sure if parts for mine will fit yours or vice versa I was wondering if crank angle sensor is the same?
Just make sure all your tyres fit both front and back..... 2015 rally we sat on the side of the birdsville track for 3 hours (less than 2 hrs out of B'ville) as the bloody volvo in our buddy group ran out of tyres - their last spare would not fit on their car and we could not get it to seal when we struggled swapping tyres on rims.

pfeffernuss

Commercial tyres. I noted that you're planning on running them?

Can you advise why

martinp

Tough little buggers you will try very hard to ruin one of them. Light truck, commercial or 4wd type of tyres have a stronger wall thickness (ply rating) which don't puncture that easily.
Ran them on the old falcon van in 2015 and did not even get one flat.
They are a bit harder in the ride and less grippy. They are often slightly bigger in diameter which gives you a better ground clearance. Oh and they can be quite cheap too.
You don't need grippy tyres on the rally as its not a race, you only go as slow as the slowest in your buddy group.
We didn't even bother to dodge the bumps or rocks either.
So thats why.

Ex850R

I ran Michelin cargo tyres , used ones on a wagon years ago , they were better than the generic Bridgestone ones it had before , insane in the wet!

egads (she/her)

Have you tracked down some steel wheels for it? The set of those alloys I had on my old 360 got a bit bendy after lots of enthusiastic dirt road work

martinp

No I've not yet chased up steelies for it yet, the alloys on it have brand new tyres so I'm just trying to get something out of them first. Lots of fun in the wet though (read hoon hoon hoon 1st, 2nd then 3rd wheel spins oops my foot slipped)
Do you want to buy the Leo's?
Michelin Cargo's are not a familiar tyre but they sound like they are commercials or light trucks to me.

Ex850R

*cargo or something similar name.

egads (she/her)

Wiring can be dicey in the 360s so carry some spare and a crimper and a multimeter

martinp

I've heard the wiring is dodgey even suffered a bit with the roadworthy. But getting on top of it. I've already bridged out the Parker lights so they both work. I'm not going to put up with a fault upon faults so will just hard wire as much as I need to get it working again as it comes up.
Anyone have any real cheap suggestions for the fog light lens replacement?
Both of my original ones are cracked (so I took them out for the RWC). Have checked them they both work - but not from original wiring.
For the rally a few hundred metres of wire some assorted crimps etc multimeter are almost mandatory.

egads (she/her)

Awesome , yeah simple enough to rewire on the run

Philia_Bear

Replace stock with $20 ebay 18w led fogs
Work better and far more reliable

jamesinc

egads;85936 wroteWiring can be dicey in the 360s so carry some spare and a crimper and a multimeter

Definitely run a second wiring circuit for headlights. Bypass the stock headlight relay and use your own. I'd bypass all controls actually. Just mount a nice big toggle switch in the cabin somewhere and a standard Narva relay under the hood.

martinp

About time for an update, I have replaced the radiator hoses (with whatever was close to doing the job a cut here a cut there and join them up with a bit of expanded steel exhaust pipe. All good.
New cam belt and tensioner as the bearing was a little rough.
Now the rotten thing is leaking like a devil out of the water pump.
It looks like alien blood (horrible green stuff oozing out of its nose).
So a new water pump is in the post on its way.
It runs well though for an old beast.
I even fixed the odometer it is now working, except I tweeted the speedo needle a little too slow, So I had best take that off again a make it a little less inaccurate.
I even fixed up the leaky breather hoses from the filler to the tank so I can now have a full fuel tank.
Cheers for now.

pfeffernuss

Good tip on the bypass of headlight switch/relay. I noticed my 240 is a bit dodge sometimes.
Add that to the list..

martinp

Its been a while since I last posted an update. We have enhanced the speed somewhat by doing a magnificent paint job on the old 360 even put the fog lights back in and they are up and running again along with a couple of driving lights I may even be able to see in the dark now.

pfeffernuss

Looks much faster!! Well done on lights

jamesinc

@martinp can I feature your 360 on Oz Volvo's Facebook page?