Quick update for those who are following along. Sloooow progress tonight! All my parts showed up, so only thing holding me back now is not having the time and feeling the effects of lack of sleep!
Everything is all cleaned up and ready to go back together for the most part. One weird thing I found is, I figured since I had everything apart I'd go ahead and replace the thermostat. So i split the tstat housing from the intake manifold and.....its empty
There is no tstat in the housing?? The factory red Volvo paint was still completely intact and it doesn't look like anyone has ever been in there from what I can tell unless they sprayed it after so not sure what is going on there. I am going to replace the housing and the thermostat anyhow and we'll see how she runs. Maybe it disintegrated and is lodged somewhere in the block??
Anyhow, I have a buddy coming to help me tomorrow to get the head and intake installed (cast iron is heavy and its awkward climbing into the engine bay holding them!) and hopefully get the motor back together completely. I am hoping to test fire her on Weds using the muffs to make sure there are no issues then he head for Moultonboro on Sat morning.
Thanks to everyone for the words of encouragement and advice along the way! Hope to see you guys out on the lake in a few days!!