August 2:
The opening paragraph for this segment could be subtitled Went the Day Badly, but for, accuracy's sake, it would have to read "Days," and I am stubbornly trying to resist the teeth-gnashing pall of pessimism trying so hard to overtake me.

The facts are that I have made a few errors in judgement, starting with the belief that an "Easy-Out" screw extraction device would be helpful in removing a broken manifold stud on the B20 I am preparing to install in my 1965 PV544. I may seem as though as I am being hard on myself, but I will, and do, admit to readers that I have never used an "Easy-Out" successfully. I always break them, and this time I had made a pilot hole in the broken stud with a cobalt drill bit, which had a reverse twist in it. These are really neat drill bits and, if used with patience in a reversed drill motor, can often produce the result I was seeking. For reasons I can't explain (trying what my own experience has already taught me won't work), I still have the broken stud plus, now, a broken "Easy-Out" and a cobalt reverse twist drill bit which I owe to the fellow who loaned them to me.

The guys in the shop where I work think the stud can be blown out with a cutting head and an oxy-acetylene kit. My boss seems to recall a shop somewhere near here that could employ a laser to do the job neater. The guys at Elk Rapids Engineering, where my wife Deb is working, think that EDM is the answer, and suggest a shop near here that has this device.

EDM stands for Electronic Discharge Machine. Here's how it operates: the work is placed in a bath of dielectric oil and an electric charge blasts the broken stud, tap, etc., out. This may be oversimplification, but it is what I understand.

After setting up a date to drop off the engine for its EDM session, I get away from work a half-hour late and miss the guy with the machine. He's off to Minnesota for a week's vacation ... hhmmm. The B20 makes the sixty mile round trip in the back of my quite undignified Chevrolet pickup. I work my way through being angry at the circumstances which put me in this situation, and finally talk myself off the ledge by muttering personal assurances that there are plenty of other things that need doing while the week passes.

In the meantime, there's just about five weeks left before the run to Road America and, if this is to be a pleasant trip, the car must be done at least a week ahead of that date so that any gremlins which surface can be ironed out.

August 5:
While waiting for the EDM man to return from vacation, I decide to haul the engine back to my workplace, Dave's Garage, after one of our technicians, Jerry Beattie, comes up with a suggestion. Jerry feels there is a good chance that if we weld a nut to the part of the stud which sticks out, we can simply turn the little bastard out. Worth a try, I think. Another technician, Mike Steele, has a MIG welder and is willing to give it try.

Instead of welding a nut on the stud, Mike simply glops some slag on the stud to make it longer and, with a vice grip, turns it out as if it was never stuck. I gingerly touch the cylinder head near the former home of this recalcitrant stud and find it to be at room temperature!

Now I am back up and running: there's work to be done and my attitude has improved dramatically.

Meanwhile, parts and materials are coming in from all over the place. OJ Rallye is shipping me some POR-15 for prepping the engine room and front frame rails. Eastwood is sending me something which will make the exhaust manifold look pretty. None of this will make the car run any better, but on the other hand, with the engine out, there will never be a better time to take care of some things about this car which have annoyed me for years.

It will be necessary to use the bell housing from the 544's B18 engine in order to allow the clutch linkage to work. Other necessities from the B18 will be the brackets for the engine and transmission mounts. At least for now, I'll use the generator, since it is in good shape. The bracket for this (plus all of the aforementioned items) will bolt directly onto a B20.

At this point, some items I am aware will require modification are: the throttle linkage as it runs from the firewall and over the intake manifold, also the intake manifold from the B18 engine, since I will use it with either a B20F exhaust manifold or cut away a late B18-early B20 one piece unit and save only the exhaust portion. The thickness where the intake and exhaust pieces fasten to the cylinder head differs, and I suspect it will be essential to weld shims to the intake and have the bolt surfaces milled to match the thickness of the exhaust in order to achieve a proper tight seal.

The original exhaust system has been removed reasonably intact and will be used as a pattern for the new pipes. It seems like a good idea to use a larger diameter tubing here, as the B20 will breathe in better if it is allowed less restriction at the exhaust. The R-Sport system from the 145 donor car had 2" pipe with mufflers which flowed freer than the stock ones. The 544 will also get the 2" treatment, although the mufflers may not be as nice as those once offered by Volvo's (now defunct) Competition Service Department.

I am attempting to requisition a replacement head-pipe for an R-Sport system as I write this. If there are any left, they'll come from Sweden -- if ordered on an emergency order through a Volvo dealer. With any luck, the system will be built off this. Lacking luck, I'll order a headpipe made by Bosal to fit fuel-injected 140-series cars and build from that.

August 8:
Our apprentice at Dave's Garage, Ryan Quinn, knows a man with the right machine shop tools to modify the timing gear cover to accept the vinyl crank seal which is used in the B21 family of engines. I've sent him home this weekend with a couple of covers and a new seal for measuring purposes. For quite some time, I believed that Volvo used a vinyl front crank seal on the B20-equipped 1975 240s; alas, it would seem I am wrong -- only the rear main seal was reworked for these cars.

I splurged and bought a gasket scraper today. I'm looking forward to tackling the oil pan gasket which was installed with Permatex® aviation gasket cement some fifteen-odd years ago.

August 11:
Michael Schultz came into the shop today to pick a Bosch remanufactured starter motor for his 123GT and, on parting, leaves with a wry smile and a salutation filled with portents: "Four more weeks!"

I check the calender as he's pulling out of the driveway and determine that there are actually five. Who's counting anyway? Four or five weeks is pretty much a month away and I am determined, despite odds and occurrence, to have the powertrain landed in the 544 on the weekend of August 22nd -- that's weekend after next -- leaving me (depending on who is counting) two or three weeks to get the car dialed in and ready for the longest trip it's ever been on while in my service. The walls are closing in on me!

Yesterday, while getting the M40 transmission ready for new seals and a paint job, I picked the box up to move it and the input shaft slid out about ¼ inch. Remember, I've removed the snout from the front of the case to change the seal. On pushing the shaft back in, I hear a faint click; the kind of click you hear when something's come apart. I turn the box upside down over a drain pan and give a gentle shake which I hope will be for nothing. Wrong!

On the 1-2 and 3-4 slider hubs, there are three small metal blocks per hub. One of those blocks has escaped and, possibly, something else has come undone allowing this to happen. I have never had to take an M40 apart; they being as strong (or perhaps more so) as the engines they are usually attached to. Never, that is until now. On the bright side (if there is one), I'll order up some new synchromesh brasses to put in the box since I have to take it apart -- I've been curious for years about how much of a difference fresh ones might make.

Meanwhile, enough frustration! Looking for things to do that will bring me pleasure, I've degreased all sorts of parts and am prepping them for painting. I've looked at the photos of B18s and 20s in old sales brochures for years, and have long thought it would be nice if the engine in my 544 could look as nice.

To prep the parts after degreasing, I rub them down with lacquer thinner and, when dry, everything gets a couple coats of Permatex® Extend. After that, a couple coats of self-etching primer and then, a couple coats of the selected color. By the way, the block and cylinder head get the same treatment. I've experimented with the V4 engine in my 1972 Saab 95 using this method and so far, so good.

Getting the engine ready to paint means I'll have to get the oil pan back in place and, before that happens, I guess I really should put the oil pump back in place! In passing, the O-rings for the feed tube between the pump and the block were mentioned in the previous installment of this saga. I had a feeling that they ought to be checked.

Tonight, when they were pulled out of the places where they stuck on the pump and block, I found rings not of pliable rubber, but something more like a brittle plastic. They came out a tad reluctantly and in pieces. A pair of new rings, (Volvo part #418360) have replaced the old ones. This paragraph is devoted to these inexpensive (and usually overlooked) O-rings because when they fail, oil pressure drops. When that happens -- well, you get the picture, I hope.

Meanwhile, the block keeps getting wiped down with lacquer thinner for the past few days. The cast iron is porous and will require a lot of wiping if the new paint is to adhere well to the surface. I've rounded up some old spark plugs, a timing gear cover, water pump and valve cover that I don't mind getting overspray on, therefore eliminating most of, if not all, need for masking tape. When the paint work is done, the "old" parts come off and the ones I wish to run the car on are attached.

The transmission mounting brace is clean now, but the rubber cushion, believed to be original, is being stubborn. An impact gun handily removed the nut but the bolt is going nowhere. It spins but will not come out. I notice the metal inner sleeve of the cushion is spinning when the gun is engaged to the bolt. You might surmise by now that fasteners have it out for me; you might be correct.

I do have a friend, however, in a wonderful device called a reciprocating saw, which you may know as a "Sawzall." With the a bi-metal blade, not only is the stubborn bolt dispatched, but a heck of a nice massage is given to the upper extremities! When the new cushion is pressed in, the bolt going through it will have a nice coat of anti-seizing compound on it. Thirty-three years from now, when it's time to replace the second transmission mount, I bet I'll be glad this stuff was put on this time around.

August 15:
Several coats of GM red (as formulated by Seymour in their "Hi-Tech" line of engine paints) are now on the block and head as well as numerous bolt-ons. This red is deeper than the Ford red I've used in the past, and I am satisfied that it is very close to the formula Volvo used on the pushrod engines.

I waited until the red paint dried on the engine before changing the frost plugs. This is easier than masking or painting the plugs with a small brush. The contrast of the red with the grey of the plugs pleases me and I think it looks more "stock" than doing it in any other order.

My friend Jim Neal, visiting the area to play some gigs with his band "The Blue Rays," spends the afternoon in my shop providing a great deal of help in getting the engine room of the 544 prepped to be treated with POR-15 and subsequent coats of white paint. Lots of scraping, wiping, rubbing, and wiping some more. Jim seemed to enjoy himself, and I find myself feeling like a character in a Mark Twain novel, going on about how much fun it can be to work on an old car.

I hope it gives Jim a boost in the general direction of unearthing the 1955 Austin Healey 100-4 he's owned since his high school days. For the fifteen-odd years we've been acquainted, he's been talking about doing something good with the car (sound familiar?) that he's owned for some twenty-five to thirty years. A toast to top-down motoring if you please...

The POR-15 came earlier this week. It's nasty/great stuff. It goes on easily and covers well, but a word of caution is appropriate here: wear latex gloves (disposable or otherwise), or wear this stuff on your hands for days. It does not launder out. There is a technical article in the archives of this publication which does a fine job of explaining the uses for this interesting product. If you are curious, look it up and get the inside skinny on this stuff. To any one gullible enough to hang on my every word: try it! Look around your driveway or garage and you're sure to find something that could use what POR-15 can offer.

Because the manufacturers of POR-15 caution against returning unused portions to the original container, once done with what needed treating on the 544, several old jack stands, a bunch of rust spots on the '72 Saab 95 and a spare 240 series wheel, the bumper brackets and old exhaust from the 544 got the POR treatment. Despite any proclivities you may have regarding cats, it is not OK to treat them.

August 16:
Things are going along at a relaxed Sunday afternoon kind of pace when it finally dawns on me that perhaps the reason I'm getting a tad annoyed is not because things are going well, but rather that I am working in the midst of a very major fruit fly hatch which has inexplicably occurred in my shop. It would seem the building has been commandeered for flight training. There appear to be few or none outside. Perhaps it's time to mow the lawn.

August 22:
Now that the Fruit Fly Aeronautics Onslaught has abated, normal programming resumes.

The rear axle pinion seal is replaced. I used a National Seal #5778 from Federal Mogul. Volvo part number 9143317 is available as well and fits all Spicer rear axles Volvo ever fitted to cars imported here, as long as they are not the recent independent rear suspension set-ups. Now I expect the greasy smudge that comes from the rear of my 544 will retire.

The U-joints are getting replaced although, surprisingly, only one really felt bad. The drive shaft is out -- may as well do all three and the center support bearing. After the wear parts are replaced, the shaft tubes may well get the POR-15 treatment.

If I Hadda Doit Allover Department: I should have thought to loosen the bottom nuts for the engine mounts before removing the engine. Unless you have a good assortment of 3/4" deep-well sockets and extensions for a ratchet drive, you'll thank yourself later for doing the lowers first. The access to the lowers is somewhat hampered by the cross member and control arm inner pivot. With no weight from the engine to hold the mounts stationary while the crusty lower nuts are turned off, the mount spins instead. I got those nuts turned a bit before they bound up on the stud and decided I'd give in to the temptation to attack the things with the Sawzall. I held off as long as I could before doing this and, after it was done, coined an axiom to justify the action to myself: "Perfection accepts no compromise, while accomplishment often demands it!"

If you can relate to this, I'd appreciate it if you'd attribute it to me. If you don't agree, please feel free to peg it on someone you are viciously attempting to smear.

Meanwhile, in the Cosmetics Department: a light coat of "Self-Etching" primer followed, after drying, with a heavier coat of same, after first wiping the whole engine room painted surface with a wax-and-grease dissolving solvent. After this dries for a day, it will be time to lay down several light coats of final color.

I can't stand it! The primer's been drying for a few hours and I'm really anxious to put some color on it! We'll back in a little while...

...If you're still actually reading this and have come to this point in the story, you may wonder about the intention, expressed on August 11th, that says the powertrain should be landed in the car by August 22nd. Sorry, ain't happenin'. Yup, I'm disappointed too, but there's not much any of us can do at this point but be patient and try to work on any other thing that can be done while the transmission bits are coming. About ten days ago, I ordered the sliding blocks and the spring wire retainers for same through my local Volvo dealer. An emergency order was requested so that the parts would come quickly instead of in about a week.

Heh, heh, well you see, there was an error and they went on the weekly order instead. Despite my eagerness and disappointment, I can't come down too hard on the parts guys at the dealer. I've been in their shoes, and will go on record here as saying that most humanoids employed by franchise auto dealerships have a very heavy work load and a very puny salary.

The guy knows I should react with Molotov cocktails, based on how folks usually react to these sort of errors. Instead, it seems kind of pointless to go into a huff; the parts will be here in a few more days anyway and, what the heck, it really isn't that important, is it? Not life or death stuff here...

August 25:
The Fruit Fly Onslaught returns for a reprise. There is a brief season around here when they are most prevalent; it just happens to coincide with the few weeks I was most interested in using the garage.

Things are moving at a snail's pace -- a geriatric, rheumatoid-afflicted snail, bless its slimy little heart. I am feeling less charitable now than the preceding paragraph indicates, yet a whole lot more determined. Come Hell or High Fruit Fly, the powertrain lands in the 544 this weekend!!!

The timing gear cover is still not back from the machine shop, but it is likely to appear tomorrow. (There is, after all, always tomorrow!). I should've called ipd weeks ago to see if they still handle them.

The mainshaft of the gearbox is reassembled as of today. It went back together reasonably well and that scares me a great deal. Tomorrow, the whole mess goes back into the case. One moment of truth will occur when it is possible to spin the input shaft while going through the gears with the box on the bench. Another moment will be when the car moves forward under it's own power and, preferably, with no noise, thank you very much.

Since I am, for various reasons, held up as far as doing any of the big work at this time, I've been using this time to do some cosmetic work in the engine room: working on removing twenty-plus-year-old overspray from the wiring harness covering. A very slow process, which (more or less) works, involves lacquer thinner on a shop rag, held on a spot for thirty seconds or so, and then subsequent rubbing. I've pondered the idea of removing the shrink-tubing from the harness altogether and replacing it, but have yet to locate a source for the stuff in bulk lengths.

Another cosmetic procedure involves replacing worn or ugly rubber grommets that insulate the body from things like the wiring harness. I was unable to spend much time pursuing replacements in this area, but did have an idea: there are some grommets used where the tube-overriders for the bumpers pass into the body, and they look to be close in size to the one for the harness. This is the one right beneath the fuse box, by the way. I sliced the grommet and placed the cut facing the ground. It fits! Another small but desperately needed victory.

August 30:
The engine is in; also up and running. Michael Schultz came over about ten this morning and we spent a leisurely day putting things together. The fruit flies minded their own business and we went about ours for the better part of the afternoon. Only after we finally got the engine running and warmed up did the little buggers get out of control to the point that... Well, it was a long day's work and time to call it a day anyway.

A couple of things to get sorted out. The seals for the water pump seem to be leaking. This confounds me a bit, as it is a genuine Volvo pump. The other thing is the oil all over the engine since, in my excitement, I ran and warmed up the engine without first changing the valve cover which I was using as a mask for painting. It did not have a valve cover gasket. Oops! Have shop rag -- will wipe!

I did figure out the simplest way to make the HI-F carbs work on the 544 linkage. If anyone wants to know the details for this, please E-mail me; this story has already developed a life of its own and is now at least five times as long as I had envisioned.

What's next? Still have the exhaust to have fabricated and some trim to put back on. There's a whole lot of wiring to hook back up. And the brakes... (oh, the brakes...)

September 3:
Spent my lunch hour at the Secretary of State office getting tags. Correcting the water pump leakage was easy: there were two sets of seals in the kit; I used the wrong seals the first time!

Being all back together, and with the thought that the 544 would be transported to town tomorrow morning, I figured the time had come to get in a little test drive. About 10:00 PM, with tags in place, the old girl is idled down to the highway for a quick spurt on US 31. Deb stood out in the driveway, a quarter of a mile away. When I returned a few minutes later, she was able to tell me that southbound, I'd turned at Winters Road and, returning northbound, had overshot our road and did not turn around until the fruit stand a mile north of here. Driving on a Thrush muffler attached directly to the headpipe means one cannot exactly sneak around. In the morning, Ken from Ken's Frame Shop will show up with his flatbed and haul the car to Traverse City for a real exhaust system.

September 4:
The car's exhaust is done by lunchtime and sounds sweet. Nice snarl when the right foot requires it and a purr the rest of the time. The system, as mentioned before, follows the original path but uses 2" pipe. Should I leave the car at my shop and drive the 245 home tonight? You're joking, right? Thought so.

On the way home, things do feel a bit sloppy in the front end at speed, and there's this constant judder even when the pavement is smooth, which is not often in Michigan. Too aggressive off the line, and a groaning sound is heard which later reveals itself to be the front pipe banging into the frame horn. The clearance between the pipe and frame is less than a ½ inch owing to the dual down pipe. Engine mounts are new, but the small 544 ones. Maybe I'll try using ones from a 140 next, suspecting they might be a little more rigid and prevent torque-rocking from the drivetrain.

September 6:
Michael has been out to our house numerous times in the past few years, usually driving his 123GT. I've maybe been to his and Martha's house two or three times, and then never in one of the "cool" cars. It seems appropriate now to load Deb and myself aboard and make the fifty mile trip out to the Chateau Schultz.

Michael and Martha live in a particularly scenic region of the state and so, after a tasty nosh, I suggest we and our spouses should drive our respective cars on an impromptu tour of the Leelanau region. This is the area perhaps most noteworthy to "outstaters" as the home of the Sleeping Bear dunes. It is also a very favorable place to grow grapes.

We pass through towns like Glen Arbor and Empire, the host of the infamous Empire Hillclimb event which, I think, was hosted by the SCCA until some dolt wrapped his formula car around a tree. Maybe he wasn't a dolt; to be fair, I wasn't there. But that was the end of the event anyway.

All around the region, the roads twist and bend up and down hill. All the while, magnificent scenery whizzes past. At one point, rolling past a beach, a stroller walks by and says "Old Volvo tour, eh?" As much fun as it is, I can't help but think the car could be a lot nicer to drive if it weren't for all the shakes and knocks from the front end.

September 7:
Earlier in the week while at work, I had the car on the lift and could graphically see the play from the right-hand kingpin. Now I must do something about it, or the trip to Road America may be a long one instead of a fun one.

At home in my garage, having removed the wheel, it's now possible to see that the right-hand upper trunion is also worn, as are the inboard bushings on the upper control arm. Have I mentioned the tie rods? Not shot, but not that good either. It's at least some consolation to see brake shoes which show very little wear. I am in no position, mentally or financially, to replace the king pins, but I do have a good right knuckle assembly from a spare front end which will suffice.

September 8:
Armed with a list of a dozen or so part numbers, I call Jeff at Traverse Motors and request an overnight order. It will take two days for the parts to come this way with Volvo's new system for obsolete car parts. Seems like the most rapid option, and at least I can spend more of my work day working. Five minutes of phone calls and two weeks pay is dispatched horribly fast.

September 9:
The right side suspension is completely off the car and attention is turned to the left side. The driver's side of the car has not benefitted from the oil thrown from a leaky front main seal as the right side has. This is the tougher side of town.

The shock came off willingly, and it degrades from here. The cotter pins retaining the castelated nuts on the tie rods are not budging. The correct procedure, if there is one, would be to drill out the cotters. Unfortunately for the tie rods, the body work interferes with this possibility. The solution comes in the form of the Sawzall. It seems rather like carnage, but the tie rods are toasted to begin with, so the action happens with a reasonably clear conscience.

The big stumbling block at this point is merely this: the left lower trunion bolt is immoveable. It seems to not have received much lubrication in the past thirty-two years. Heating the unit with a torch and trying to force some grease through, I am reminded of how this particular fitting has always seemed different during past greasing sessions: it never seemed to take much grease. I have soaked the fitting with an industrial-grade penetrant called Kroil. Tomorrow we shall see...

Back on August 11th, I made the comment that the "walls were closing in" on me: I now sense that doors as well, are beginning to close. There are eight days left and, for each step forward of late on this project, it seems two steps back occur as well.

September 10:
Lots of heat from the oxy-Acytelene and a lot of hammering. Finally, the left lower trunion bolt budges. Turning it with a box wrench, I get about twelve twists and then everything binds up again. On closer inspection, the sad story is revealed: the bolt has not freed from the lower trunion; the trunion itself is turning out of the knuckle with the bolt which goes through it still firmly frozen in it. Have I sighed lately?

Looking back, if I was to start this whole project fresh, it might have been prudent to ask my doctor for a prescription for Prozac. I have been through so many highs and lows this time around that maybe something like this famous pharmaceutical would have been useful.

September 11:
And the parts order? Well... The wheel bearing kits and the left tie rod showed up. The upper wishbone inner bushings are not available, and neither are the sway-bar vertical link bolts or spacer tubes. The right-hand tie rod is due, I'm told, in two weeks.

Obviously, this will not work. Six more days and a 123GT and a PV544 from Michigan are scheduled to depart for Wisconsin. Dave at Swedish Classics is asked to arrange a shipment to arrive in two more days. I should have done this days ago. A search in my garage coughs up a used set of upper wishbones with good inner bushings; they'll do for now.

September 12:
Back to the recalcitrant trunion. The left lower control arm and knuckle is detached and hauled in to Dave's Garage, my place of work. More powerful air tools and a nicer torch set should make short work of the mess.

After setting up the work in a vise, massive doses of heat are applied. "Stubborn" doesn't begin to describe it. A stuffy, windowless room with a bare light bulb doesn't break the witness: the bolt refuses to cooperate. A fifty mile round trip to home and back gets the dreaded Sawzall on the scene along with a spare used trunion and bolt.

You guessed it. The troublesome piece is cut off and replaced. The old cut-up trunion and bolt is left on Jerry's vise with a note attached saying "Don't let this happen to YOU!!!" The left and right lower arms are attached to their respective knuckles and hauled home for a coat of POR-15.

September 13:
Now that the POR-15 has dried on the lower A-arms and the knuckles have been reattached to them, lets hang these puppies! Round up the stand-ins for the upper control arms and bolt 'em to the cross member -- What the heck?!? The two bolts which hold them to the car will not fit in the holes of the substitute upper control arms... Prozac! Where's my PROZAC!!! (Deep breath) OK: the castings are the same as the original inner-uppers; we'll haul them off to work in the morning and drill them out on the drill press.

Tomorrow is Monday, by the way, and you know, if this mess isn't reassembled by bedtime Tuesday night to meet the Wednesday morning appointment at the alignment shop, it probably will have to stay home while I sulk from the passenger seat of Mike's 123GT en route to Elkhart Lake. A really nice car to be sure, but not the real reason I've spent all of my spare time alternating from the garage to the PC, pounding out this story for this past month and a half.

Funny thing: the front end is not together yet, and I find myself fretting because there is still some trim to attach and the seatbelts are still not back in. They may not be mandatory, owing to the car's age and, of course, when I was a bike-riding kid, there weren't helmets to wear either. I think I turned out OK in spite of it, it, it, it, it, it. (Please no nasty letters here folks! The other two folks who read this stuff on the Internet think that this is at least mildly amusing).

September 14:
A thirty-dollar cobalt drill bit and a drill press later, the upper control arms are attached to the car. We can assume that the upper arms which had to be drilled out came from an older 544 and a production change took place somewhere in the eighteen-year production run of this venerable beast. The lower arms and knuckles follow suit. The outer tie rods after that. I stopped here, as I installed the left tie rod incorrectly and had to redo it after painstakingly detaching it (harder than you might think if you intend to reuse the rod!).

Fatigue has set in and it is time to quit before I overlook something. We're dealing with equipment that is not so complicated, but could cause great harm if an oversight occurs. Tomorrow night, everything must be done and the car must be on the ground again. Need to leave myself time to go over everything that has been done. A rush job, to whit, it will be more than a shame if something fails due to human error.

September 15:
Reused the shock absorbers, which work well but had bad bushings. Saab 900 lower shock bushings are a perfect substitute. I forewent the urethane ones for the regular rubber variety. The brake drums, wearing new wheel bearings, are back in position.

At 8:50 PM, the jack stands are removed and the car hits the ground running. The road test proves the desired results have been obtained -- so much so that I am tempted to skip the alignment appointment, but, no; we've come this far being as particular as was allowable. No point in skimping now. No shakes or rattles from the front suspension now!

It seems anticlimactic to say too much more; indeed, what more need be said? Lets say you have followed the project, started too late for comfort, to what appears to be a successful completion. Along with the victories, however small, you have witnessed by word: the broken stud, errant parts orders, Stupid Gearbox Tricks, frozen trunnion (put mine on a sugar cone, please), biblical-sized swarms of fruit flies, the Traverse City Sawzall Massacre, and I don't know what all else!

The feeling of accomplishment courses through my brain, and I am wondering when you are going to finally get around to doing something with that old Volvo you have laying around?

While you think of a good comeback to that last question, I hope you'll excuse me:

Artwork by David Doyle ©1998

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