I have found a great way to install the front muffler doughnut mounts.

I have been wrestling with these confounded mounts on Volvos since the early Eighties. And the new cheap aftermarket doughnuts are stiffer yet.

I bought a stainless steel over axle exhaust and it has been quite "character building" getting it on the car and not vibrating on the late (1992) 240 wagon crash impact panels adjacent to the fuel tank.

I needed to modify the expensive system and I got it to work and only an occasionally clunk with one new doughnut and one old... Then the old doughnut looked so cracked from age I knew it wouldn't last and needed replacement.

The bracket on the new stainless front muffler is quite tight in clearance so working on ramps made any hope of stretching aftermarket doughnuts onto the assembly well beyond my capabilities.

I saw Art used ny-ties to force the muffler into a position that is closer to success and we discussed the possibility of removing the bolted-on mounts from the car to help maul the parts into position. I noted the fine chamfer on the bolts that hold the car bracket, so with that in mind I figured a little offset against a new stiff aftermarket doughnut might not cross thread and create a real mess.

Then came the Eureka moment-

I have little come-alongs that use nylon webbing that are used for tying down cargo.
They have a ratchet mechanism that snugs up the webs.

I secured one end around the new muffler (close to the end where it is stronger) and hooked it to the chassis jack lift plate. The other end I tied off. Using the ratchet I was able to pull the muffler against the tough new doughnut enough to line up the other bracket's holes and install the mounting bolt!

Very simple and a bare minimum of disparaging thoughts!

Downside? One must disconnect the Cat-pipe from the head-pipe in order to allow the needed motion of the pipes.

My 240 has a pair of triangular plates that hold the head-pipe to the Cat-pipe.
For many years I have used stainless steel bolts with two nuts separated by a lock washer on this union…

So for me it was a very simple disconnection- and on my 240 there is no gasket needing replacement at this union.

Bottom line?

When installing your new stainless or temporary exhaust system- use the ratcheting strap to install the twin doughnuts first. Then connect the rest of the pipes-

Working alone this went fast and easy.