By Jeff Perry

On Sunday evening, September 13th, San Diego VSA members Art Banks, Bob Skoog and I rendezvoused in Barstow, California in our P1800 Coupes ('71, '63, '66, respectively) for a road trip to Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin to attend the VSA East Coast Concours at Road America. Before daybreak Monday morning, we cruised east on Interstate 40 through the Mojave Desert and into the northern mountain range of Arizona. On this picture-perfect day, our luck suddenly changed at about mile 485 when Bob's engine began emitting what sounded like a serious exhaust-leak near Williams, Arizona. Upon investigation, air could be felt exiting beneath the exhaust manifold around cylinders 1 & 2. The exhaust manifold had recently been welded to repair a crack, so the leading hypothesis was that it had warped allowing exhaust gases to escape from between the manifold and engine head. This theory was further reinforced when the unwanted noise was somewhat diminished when the manifold nuts were tightened further. Given this, replacing the existing gasket with two new gaskets was decided the best course of action to band-aid the effects of a warped manifold.

A part search then ensued by calling local auto parts stores, but this proved unsuccessful so the calling area was expanded. Bob contacted the Phoenix Volvo dealership's parts department and discovered they didn't stock the part, so it would first have to be procured from Los Angeles. Our estimated delivery time was three to four days. When asked why the part wasn't on site, the employee responded that the car was too old for one to expect such parts to be in stock. Considering this an unacceptable option, we proceeded onward to Flagstaff in hope that after- market gaskets would be available in a larger city .

Once in Flagstaff, we stopped at a Denny's for lunch; thereafter, the parts search was recommenced at payphones from within the restaurant. After initial tries to local stores failed to identify a source, Bob contacted a customer service representative of Volvo Cars of North America, Inc., located in New Jersey. This woman empathized with our situation, and said their dealers should stock such garden-variety parts. She also confirmed our suspicion that the next Volvo dealership along our route was Albuquerque, New Mexico - 327 miles further. Upon checking, we soon learned that both Albuquerque & Phoenix Volvo dealerships followed the same stock management policy, neither one stocked gaskets for B20 engines!

With no known part sources immediately ahead, further attempts were made of locating the parts in Flagstaff, when finally, a CarQuest store was found that could have them the following morning by special order. Still wishing to minimize downtime and to travel further that day, the next repair attempt was to seal the leak with JB Weld epoxy; and if this failed, to special order the gaskets and spend the night in Flagstaff waiting their arrival. Inevitably, the epoxy idea failed, and we spent the night in a modest two-star motel along a stretch of old Route 66.

Being the early risers that they are, Bob and Art obtained the gaskets from CarQuest when it opened and began affecting repairs early Tuesday morning. Around 10 a.m., when the work had completed, Bob started the engine... and to everyone's disappointment, the leak was still present! It was then evident that at least another day in Flagstaff would be required.

The paradigm had now shifted. The manifold must be so severely warped that even two gaskets were not enough to seal the leak, so replacement was the next logical step. Having no illusions that Volvo would have this part, Bob called vintage Volvo repair specialists, and fellow SDVSA members, Bob & Cindy Workman of Bob Workman's European Auto back in Vista, California. The Workmans were not only willing and able to supply a restored manifold, they would make all of the necessary arrangements to have the part shipped to us by overnight express, too.

Meanwhile back at the Saga Motel, Art finished separating the manifolds from the head and had vacated the right side of the engine compartment. Thinking we might be going down the wrong path, I carefully began looking for possible evidence to indicate another cause for the problem. That's when I spotted a small split in the head gasket's outer edge, adjacent to cylinder 2. After examination by the 'committee', consensus was reached that this was probably our smoking gun, so removal of the engine head was immediately initiated. Within a half-hour, we had confirmed the gasket had split completely through to the combustion chamber. With this new development, Bob called the Workmans again, luckily in time, to have a new head gasket included in that night's shipment. The rest of that day we cleaned and readied the engine head and block for assembly.

On Wednesday morning, Bob and Art fetched the relief package from a local distribution center; in which, we found an exhaust manifold, gaskets, torque wrench, telescopic magnet, and head alignment dowels. With all the needed parts in hand, the team shifted into the following roles: Bob Skoog, crew chief; Art Banks, master mechanic; Jeff Perry, junior mechanic. As the work of installing the engine head and intake manifold progressed exceptionally well, Art commented that we were operating in a state of "harmony." Thereafter, in a state of internal calm, our master mechanic proceeded to install the valve train and adjust the valves. At this point, we chose not to replace the exhaust manifold that had been sent in fear something might be broken in the process - it was less work too.

Upon completion Bob started his car, and to everyone's relief, its old purr had returned! Finally, at 1:45 p.m., after remaining fifty hours in Flagstaff, we were back on the road. We eventually arrived in Elkhart Lake on Friday, Sept. l8th, around 5:30 p.m. - about 24 hours later than originally intended.

In retrospect, this road-trip and the obstacles we encountered are now as memorable as the destination itself. That Tuesday, feeling bad that he was impacting our vacations, Bob told us to proceed on without him, which Art and I briefly considered. Fortunately, good judgment won out and we stayed. Having witnessed how fast we repaired Bob's car with the three of us working together, it would have been a real mistake to leave without him. Moreover, Art and I were rewarded for our efforts with the satisfaction of seeing Bob there, with his car, at Elkhart Lake - especially since he was responsible for coordinating this trip. In the end, we relearned the value of sticking together.

Keep 'em rollin'