Well gang I'm back from a ~3 week vacation/road trip with the family. It was fun and a nice change in scenery. All my parts from Rock Auto have arrived, and the puller that v8volvo recommended.

There is a small list or chores to do around the house. Once those are done I'll try and get over to the Volvo.

Hey gang,

I also got in the 18mm tap and die set I from Amazon. It's cheap, but it did work!

I used the die on the 18mm crank bolt and I think it came out pretty well. Once back at the car I'll use the tap on the crank snout to try and clean it out.

https://bbs.planetb.net/~jbg/image0a.JPG

https://bbs.planetb.net/~jbg/image2a.JPG

It was successful in removing that very stubborn putty or sealant that was in the threads. That's all for now. We're in a heat wave here in Maryland, so I'm hunkering down in the house this weekend until the heat breaks on Sunday.

Cheers!

Nice! Looks good at least. Will be interesting to see how it feels threading into the crank after the tap cleans that up. Hopefully didn't lose too much metal from the bolt.

It's hot here as well but hard to wrap one's head around the reality that there will be snow on the ground in 10 weeks or less..... I am trying to forge ahead on projects, gotta fight the heat, it's better than the winter! Hopefully you may have more of an autumn where you are than we tend to get here in the Northern Rockies. Our main two types of weather are 90+ and smoky, or frozen in a snowdrift for 7 months.....

Wow, that's quite the swing in temperatures and weather! 90+ F or a frozen hellscape! Didn't you used to live in the Pacific Northwest? Maybe in the Seattle area?

Here in the Mid-Atlantic, we typically have about 2+ months of autumn, specifically in Maryland, about 60 days where the temps are roughly 50-70 F. In the nights it'll dip down into the 40s. Then winter sets in.

But we also get hurricanes and hurricane Lee is making a few of us nervous!

Now that school is back in session I plan to get going on the Volvo again. We also got a puppy that has been keeping things entertaining.

Nice. Glad to hear you're still at it. Autumn weather sounds ideal for getting outdoor work done.

Yes, grew up and lived for years in the Seattle area. Still have family/friends there and get back several times a year to visit. It's paradise for old Volvos (And old cars in general -- gentle climate with no extremes of heat or cold; used to be they didn't ever use salt on the roads either though that has unfortunately changed in recent years; just about the only thing that can ruin a car in the PNW is mildew if left to sit for a long time with any kind of interior water leak.) Still see many 2, 7, 9 series on the road used as daily drivers out there, and lots of shops and parts houses around to support them.

Anyway, thread distractions aside, hope progress continues for you! I took the cover off my '76 262 for the first time in months, to try to get it out of my garage and sold before winter hits here. Hopefully thereby make space for projects this winter, starting with replacing engine and trans in my 745. So I'm right there with ya on the revival process.

Ah yes, the dreaded mildew. We have some of that here. Rust is the bigger culprit though.

Well at this point I'm pretty sure that I have all the parts and tools for timing the engine. I still need to rebuild the power steering pump, but I don't need to do that right now. I just need to square away some time in my schedule to get over to the car.

If I hadn't mention, we also got a dog. A puppy, actually. In the middle of writing this I had to run him down, grab him, and wash off his front paws, as he was digging in the wet yard. He has been a welcome distraction ... fun times!

Jim