diff --git a/src/basic/engine_variables/array_create.s b/src/basic/engine_variables/array_create.s
index 46026364..d40c1148 100644
--- a/src/basic/engine_variables/array_create.s
+++ b/src/basic/engine_variables/array_create.s
@@ -46,7 +46,9 @@ array_create_fetch_dims_loop:
 
 	// Check if the stack has reasonable space free
 
+	phx_trash_a
 	jsr check_stack_space
+	plx_trash_a
 
 	// Fetch the dimension, increment it by 1, and put it on the stack;
 	// confirmed with original ROM, that it also stores dimensions in the reverse order
@@ -172,8 +174,8 @@ array_create_store_loop:
 array_create_store_dims_done:
 
 	// Restore FOUR6, calculate number of bytes needed for storage
-
-	pha
+.break
+	pla
 	sta FOUR6 // XXX do we need to store this value in FOUR6? is it still needed?
 	sta __FAC1+3
 	stx __FAC1+4                       // .X is 0 at this point
diff --git a/src/basic/math/mul_FAC2_FAC1_8x8.s b/src/basic/math/mul_FAC2_FAC1_8x8.s
index aa903e0d..bfc0730c 100644
--- a/src/basic/math/mul_FAC2_FAC1_8x8.s
+++ b/src/basic/math/mul_FAC2_FAC1_8x8.s
@@ -12,10 +12,16 @@
 
 mul_FAC2_FAC1_8x8:
 
-	// Special case (optimization) - handle 0 in INDEX+2
+	// Special cases - handle multiplication by 0
+
+	beq mul_FAC2_FAC1_8x8_zero
+	sta INDEX+2
+
+	lda INDEX+3
 	beq mul_FAC2_FAC1_8x8_zero
 
-	sta INDEX+2
+	// Multiply INDEX+2 * INDEX+3
+
 	lda #$00
 
 	dec INDEX+3	// decrement because we will be adding with carry set for speed (an extra one)