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 power train 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...

Artwork by David Doyle ©1998