Ok, so things turned out to not be so bad. I soent a good portion of yesterday trying to find a 40 torx bit that was long enough to avoid the head-rounding problem that screwed me up in the first place.

Two hardware and one auto shop later and no such luck. I eventually wandered into AutoZone hoping for something. To my surprise, they actually had something that looked like it might work. It was a set of 9 "L" torx bits that came with a chintzy plastic torque handle. they were long enough but...

Long story short, length was great, but I broke the handle in 3 seconds of effort. No way I was going to be beat this time, so I jammed the bit into what was left of the handle and turned like a mo-fo. Broke that b!tch free. Very glad I have been hitting the gym all these years.

After that, it was a snap. I switched the slightly rounded bolt from the back to the front just so itd be easier should I ever have a problem with it.

Took her for a drive, and she was warm in under 4 minutes.

Interesting to note though, I ordered a 90*C from FCPGroton and received a Scan-tech unit. No problem with that, it seemed to be a nice build quality. Needle now goes a little higher than it used to with a functioning "Volvo" thermostat. Not enough to worry me, but just around 2:30 as opposed to the old 3.

Just thought Id share and say thanks for all your input.