Arne

Were the KYBs used? They should have shipped with them. Most strut inserts come with their own matching gland nuts. If yours did not, you'll have to check several things to see if the Mulholland gland nuts will work, as they are not all interchangeable.

I see no ballast resistor, is that correct?

I don't know the size, but the threads are BSP (British Standard Pipe), not NPT.

You mention a slight change with speed. Is the change road-speed linked, or RPM linked? The reason I ask is that I chased a noise that I was absolutely certain was in the rear end, but it turned out to be in the transmission instead. Noise seems to travel oddly in these cars.

Agreed. Not just the lack of clunk, but the big reduction in lash (or slop) in the driveline when getting on and off the throttle. And with no change in NVH. This is one of the biggest improvements in drivability that I have done - ranks right up there with the improvement in freeway stability from the spook. Maybe a brand new strap would do as well, but I doubt it.

That's a Pertronix Ignitor. I agree, we need to see how it's connected at the coil, and what else is connected there. WAG - the Bosch coil is overheating?? Maybe?

I use a large pipe wrench on mine. When I did these for a living, we had a VERY large pair of channel locks that was the preferred tool.

FWIW, the strut tube design on our S30s is totally standard practice for the '70s. I can't recall any car maker using a complete (i.e. sealed) strut assembly until the early '80s. The tube/insert design was used by Datsun, Toyota, Mazda, VW, Audi, Fiat, Ford-Europe, etc. Nothing unusual for a car of this age.

I wouldn't worry too much about the numbers, more concerned with how even they are. (And that looks good.) Every gauge is different, so direct comparisons are tough to make. But that said, readings in the 170 range don't sound at all out of line to me.

Preview of what's to come. The length of the tips is not finalized (can't do that for certain until I get the MSA system itself), and they will certainly end up shorter, perhaps by as much as 3" each. But this gives you the idea.

Those plates were issued in Oct. of '72. Been here in Oregon a long time.

I have all three of mine, in a box in the garage. My car was one of those that was not properly PDI'd when new. They are not on the car now, because to me they aren't at all attractive. So if they don't add anything appearance-wise, no real function, and weren't really supposed to be on the car after delivery, why put them on?

True. But my question would be - why mount it? If it's in a quest for "originality", it is a mis-placed quest as none of us were ever supposed to have them in the first place. Their presence on a car is/was direct evidence that the car was not correctly prepped prior to delivery.Add to that the fact that they have no function or purpose once the car was rolled off the boat, and they become (to me) just ugly, dirt-catching bits.

Motorsport Auto offers several 2.5" pre-fab systems.

In the immortal words of Marvin the Martian, "Delays, delays..." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppGtDOG7ujk While the parts for the rear muffler swap are scheduled to arrive tomorrow, I got an email from MSA saying the system itself is backordered, 2-3 weeks out. I can do some testing w/o the entire system, but don't want to weld anything up until I can test fit it. Dang!

My bad. Start with #20:http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?23699-Hi

The cast hook is/was NOT a tow hook as such. It was a shipping tie down and was supposed to have been removed by the selling dealer during PDI, before delivery to the original buyer. Take a look at this thread, starting with post #20.

Errors happen, and even the best manufacturers build a bad part now and then. The key is in how your vendor handles it. I'd call MSA on the phone (not email) and talk to them. I suspect they'll take care of it. As for the return spring question - my heat shield mounts to the intake manifold, not the exhaust. You should be able to use the factory heat shield with the headers, unless there are other mods going on at the same time.

Tried (and failed) to find NGK BP6ES-11 plugs locally. Gonna have to order a set.

I don't think the price is too far out of line - IF the body is solid (minimal rust). The electrical issues do put people off though, so that will affect the demand, and may require you to come down a bit.

If those are the only two you are considering, Panasports, hands down. The Opals look too modern to me, not appropriate to a classic car.

Parts ordered. Crunch time coming up.

It can be disassembled, I have done so on my original, as well as on a spare from one of my parts cars. I suspect your tumbler pins (aka wafers) are worn and are jamming. Mine were. I had access to a supply of replacement wafers at that time, so I replaced them all in my original, and re-keyed my spare to match the car as well. However, knowing what is inside there, I see no reason for you to disassemble it if you don't have access to the replacement wafers. Lacking that, I'd remove the ignition lock from the car and take it to an old-time locksmith.

For now, I've completely removed it. I'll do some research eventually to figure out where it should/would have been connected from the factory. Still want to try one more test - wide-gap plugs. Will do that in a few days.

Maybe I've got different priorities than some, but I'd rather have re-lined originals than either Brembo-copies or repro-originals. I don't need any now, but if I did I'd get mine re-lined. The price is fair, and the finished product looks correct.