So I was doing a bit of research on the flame trap on my car ('85). I'm fairly certain that this is causing oil leaks. I saw some posts that recommended removing the disc completely from the flame trap to prevent it from plugging up. However, they mentioned that the flame trap system was to prevent ignition of the crankcase gasses in the event of a backfire, but this was quickly dismissed in the post because the EFI Volvo motors aren't supposed to backfire.

I am just concerned because my car does backfire once or twice when using engine braking - there is not cat on my car (chassis is pre-75) nor center muffler - only the rear muffler is in place. Should I be concerned about removing the flame trap disc to prevent oil leaks? What could be causing my backfires? My car runs fairly normally, albiet it idles a bit high (1,100 RPM or so).