I checked the new head gasket vs the old one and they matched. I didn't notice any leaking from the freeze plugs. But it can't hurt to check again.

I put the head back on and it still showed high on the temp gauge.

So, I rechecked the circuit board components (all good). I retested the gauge shorting the wire to the gauge to ground (went full), then inserting a 68 ohm resistor (series) to ground on the wire and it went 3/4 up. I bought a used cluster and inserted it and it still went to almost red after heating up.

I was stumped, so I took it to my Volvo/Saab Swedish auto shop in West LA. They checked it out said it wasn't overheating and said it needed a resistor in the circuit. They added it and it goes 1/4 up now. That makes no sense to me.

However, the car now runs like crap. Like the timing is waaaaay off. I rechecked it and the marks were spot on. I checked each spark plug, cleaned them and reinserted them and it still ran off.

I will bet it is something simple.

I am going to place all timing marks on, then remove the pully from the crank, and cam and make sure they are placed on correctly.

The oil is clean and there is no oil in the coolant either.

I will also check compression one more time to see if maybe the head gasket isn't on correctly.

I will also remove each injector (remember they were cleaned and tested a short time ago) and see if they spray consistently into small containers.

I will find this bad running issue now.