I woke up in the middle of the night and remembered that I had fitted a new 12v non ballast coil to another similar age car a couple of years ago, as the one on it looked like it could have been the original, and the old one should of course be in the box marked 'may come in useful one day', and this morning it was!
On went the very antique looking very black bosch item and deep joy and to my shock and amazement the wire that used to go to the ballast resistor is long enough to plug straight on to the coil. I contained my excitment long enough to tape the redundant wires safely out of the way and there you are, an engine that ran long enough for me to get my timing light out and set the ignition. I hope to be able to get a test drive later.
Even more joy when I noticed that the tray I now keep underneath did not have any ATF in it. I had previousely put about half a litre in and the level cold looks to be ok but I will keep a close eye on it and fingers crossed it will still drive ok.
I'm tempted to say that after a bit of a struggle the god of volvo is happy and things are looking up, but that would be tempting fate so I won't.
I think that when the holiday is over one of my first investments should be another new coil.
A happy new year to all.
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