The Webmaster Zone

This weekend I toook the opportunity to replace the steering rack boots, as you can see from the suspension pictures below they were torn and had been for some time. I counted the threads before slackening the retaining nut on the tie rod so the toe-in would be the same when I was done, then used my cheapo JC Whitney lever balljoint separator to pop it apart. Put on the new boots and pumped them full of hypoid gear oil as per the manual. It was very easy except on the second side I accidentally distorted the end of the balljoint shank so I had to file off the last thread to get the nut back on. After that I went to change the points with a different set; I had earlier tried to replace the points but saw the points that were in there had the kind of spring where the condensor and coil leads slip over a clip at the end. I thought little of it, as I've found slightly incorrect parts all over the car. The new points don't fit either: the plastic bit that rests against the drive lobes is too short! I referred to catalogues and manuals and it appears I have a 45D distributor when I should have a 25D distributor (PN 40897). My vacuum advance is therefore wrong and I'm looking forward to getting the right unit on there and compare performance. Now I just have to figure out why neither new or old style points seem to fit... In other news its a beautiful day today so I put the top down and went for a nice drive and gave the car a good wash and wax. Looks great, I hope the weather stays good for the Tulip Rallye in Washington next weekend.