Dear Bill,

Good a.m. and may this find you well. If this is a 940 series car, with an AW-71 tranny, removal of the aluminum (aluminium) brace, at the front of the oil pan, will not cause the transmission to shift.

The brace in question, is held in place with six hex bolts. Two of the bolts are of one length, four are longer. Make a note as to where they go.

Do not apply maximum torque - or use a breaker bar - to tighten these bolts. They go into the aluminum bell housing. Aluminum does not stand up well to abuse. I do not know, the specific torque value: it is not to be found, in Volvo's pocket data booklet, which contains a wide range of torque specs, for different components, e.g., suspension.

Once the bolts are removed, you can access the front oil pan bolts. To snug the oil pan bolts, use a hop-scotch (sp?) approach. Tighten opposing bolts, partly, and make three cycles. The goal is to compress the gasket evenly and gently.

Hope this helps.

Yours faithfully,

spook