Well, I finished putting everything back together. I'm sure it

is an easy job with the right tools, but for me it was a royal

pain in the butt. Next time I will probably take the radiator off.

I didn't on this car because it also had the AC radiator thing and

I'm not sure how well that is in there or what I'd have to take off

to get it out of the way.

The napa aluminum gear was very noisy at start up, a really cool

whirring gnashing sound, but it quieted down after a couple minutes.

I should change the filter to get the aluminum filings out of the

filter, I suppose. I'd actually say that the aluminum napa gear is

about as quiet as the worn out timing gear was a month ago before it

died completely.

Napa also sold me a front seal kit for a 1974 volvo 164 but it

looks like it was the same 2 seals as in my B18 and B20A gasket

kits -- it didn't have the neoprine main seal and the gasket that

went between the block and the timing cover wasn't the right shape.

I wound up making a gasket out of some rubberized cork sheets that I

had from another project. I'm hoping that since this part of the

motor usually doesn't see large volumes of oil, just spray, that the

improv gaskets will hold out until the next time I need to open

the motor (probably for the cam). No oil leaks so far. The moral of

the story is to make sure if you're doing this for a neoprine seal

timing cover (factory neoprine, that is) make sure that it is a

different part from what would be on a 1968 140. I guess I'm lucky

that my 144 also has a broken timing gear so I can use this seal setup

on that car...

The car still makes a ticking / clunking noise but it almost sounds

like the mechanical fuel pumps that I've played with when I took

them off of other B18s. If there's something really wrong I'll probably

see it when I change the oil in another week.

Next time I do this I'll probably be more careful and do things like

drop the pan to clean out the gunk, but frankly I was tired of walking.

Thanks for all the help -- I would probably still be under that car

cussing otherwise.

chris