Glad to hear you got it straightened out.
Sometimes that is what it takes, another set of tinder hands and eyeballs!

I can understand what you mean by wanting to learn!

If we were born knowing all, about everything there was, what fun would that be? (:)

As far as the Saks clutch kit it is about as good as you can get short of getting a dealer package for what ever price they want to dream up.
It my understanding that supplied original equipment to Volvo in the past and labeled for them.

I have only used one other clutch in my cars and that was one from Beck Arney company. They are a repackaging company. They by from various vendors just like OEM's do.
You can get good and not so good from them for the price. It depends on their deals and whether it gets pass along or not?

Now whether a dealers is better or not, than a Saks, off the shelf ones, is hard to nail down. One can say there should be no difference. That means why make inferior products just for yourself and better ones for your big buyers? You want to attract all buyers if you are going to make something.
OEM's get their deals on the prototype specification bids first and then quantities that follow.

Past that, any variations are subject to licensing contracts and other suppliers working their charms.

One could say OEM's go a longs ways but one has to remember that Volvo starts out with everything brand new down there. No bad oil seals, wear and tear from dirt, lots of temperature changes and most of all types of drivers over time.

The best I can say is the closer you can keep the parts you buy to what held up before for you and the manufacturers intent the better the out come, most of the time!

I put in an exception in that, sometimes, the original part can be a bust and using another's might turn out better. Study reviews from other users is like the old days.... What's the news on the street of repair shops. Those, that truly warranty their work, follow the above advice.

That's sort of what you are doing! Wise man!

The pulling of the transmission is not light duty work but doing it yourself, it pays many dividends, as you point out.
You end up with tools, a good manual and most of the time, some good friends can work out to be a nice get together!

I suggest you have a couple long extensions for the very top bolt on the transmission. You need to be back up to around 18 inches with long arms. This is whether they have a rack or you on your back!

If you pull the flywheel for a resurface have it ground like the factory and change the rear seal with a 92 mm seal from Timken or Volvo. Not the 93 millimeter one from Elring.
If in doubt measure the crankshaft diameter. I have the number if you go to Timken or National Silicon or Viton if available.

Make sure you mark exactly the flywheel as to how you took it off.
This is a CPS engine mark its orientation on the crankshaft and to the backside of the engine in the number one firing position. There are holes all the way around the perimeter but the solid space is the timing point.

You will have to start another post or thread for the real good advice!

Good luck
Phil