I've posted a little about my intent to do this swap, and I successfully did most of it on Saturday at my friend's vintage Volvo shop. Praise be the lift.

The BW35 came out fine, it was my first time so it took a little short of half a day (3 hours or so). The first part that would have stopped me dead was the plate pressed in on to the rear of the crank, covering where the pilot bearing would go. Thankfully I had someone far more experienced than I on hand, and he showed me the old trick of filling the cavity full of grease and using an appropriately sized punch to force it out. It was quite a neat trick.

What actually ended up stopping us was the front driveshaft. I assumed I would have to swap out the flange on the M410 at the very least. I got excited when I noticed, with the transmission side by side, that the flange size is the same. I got sad when I also noticed that my BW35 is 6" shorter than the M410. Apparently there are some snub nose BW35s out there. While the shop had an absolute wealth of front shafts on hand, none were the appropriate length, so I'm having it modified this week while the wagon sits. Sad, but I'll make it. Thankfully it's only one bus to work.

So, once I get that, I'll be nearly done. Just some buttoning up to do around the pedalbox, it's a pain to work around there. Then I cross my fingers. My buddy that owns the shop had a look around the M410, said it looked and felt really good, so I'm confident that I'll have at least 4 gears. We'll see about the OD.

The big moral of this story is that for the slightly inexperienced, make friends with a mechanic! I would not be nearly this far in the process if it weren't for this guy. I kept his lift occupied all day Saturday, he spent at least an hour or two helping me out, and it only cost me $50. So well worth it, I'm thinking I'm going to have to get him a little something more to show some appreciation. Gift certificate to a nice restaurant or something.

Also, someone from the Brickboard stopped by and said hi. I've forgotten your name again, but my offer stands to come by my place and wade through my parts.