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Luke, I had a socket for three-wing knock off nuts (as found holding Borranis onto 330s) that looked just like Mike Kumar’s socket, only his is cast from brass or bronze. Mine was made by Stainless Steel Brake Company from a large (3”?) ¾-sq drive socket normally used on a semi-truck or -trailer. It...

Peter, The original W knob fit the Miura switch fine, apparently, and the “new?” system worked fine. I looked at several cars, both Series I and II, on the Fantasy Junction website and could not see a foot-operated windshield washer switch nor any room to put one (the pedal is about 3” in diameter)....

Hi Peter, My shop eventually installed a new Miura switch (right period, anyway) in the W spot. It has two pull positions and two rotation positions. The pull positions are off and on for the wipers and the rotation positions are off and on for the washer. (I think I have that right.) The knob still...

John, I looked at what few receipts I have for prior service work and there is no indications of work on the differential, but, since the car is now at 82,000 miles, there was plenty of time for the need for diffy work to develop (Remember the broken clutch disk?) and the work to be done. To do this...

Hi John, Not being an expert in these things, I can only guess. Chris said the differential was not properly adjusted, so I think the excessive backlash present allowed the teeth to hammer on each other causing the noise AND the spalling (chipping out of many small bits from the surface of each gear...

Tifosi, Good news!! I took Federico for a spin of a few miles, today, and the differential was totally silent and not in danger of departing the car as in American Graffiti. Now, it is not the loudest noise in the car!! Thank you all for your support and suggestions. See a close-up of one of the dam...

Guys, Nope. Has two even in a car that has never had air conditioning. The Lucas motors are bolted to squared-U brackets that are welded to the X-tubes in front of the radiator. 9129 got its radiator re-cored with an additional row of tubes. Now, even in the 90s, the temperature gages are at 40 to 5...

Guys, Dyke is correct. I think the noise was always there, after the car became drivable near the end of the restoration process. I drove the car about 800 miles, getting it broken in for valve adjustment, head-tightening and other final service tasks. The differential quickly became the loudest noi...

Hi John, Excellent question. The hypoid gear set of most differentials requires a rather involved adjustment procedure to insure proper mesh of the teeth of the two gears. The white paint (or other marking material) is used to show how well (or poorly) the teeth mesh. One side of each tooth is the "...

Guys, The repaired differential should be back in 9129 soon. Vintage Connection put a used but serviceable ring-gear-and-pinion set in. Chris talked with some peers and the consensus was that used OEM was better than new reproductions. Some pictures of the adjusting process (the nose of 9129 is in t...

John and Cornelis, As a set. Sitting next to the damaged old set is the smooth and proper new set (cropped out of the picture, above). If one of the old parts were re-used, the damage dynamic would continue, transferring to (literally "infecting") the new part with things no better than before. Of c...

Tifosi, After the discussion above, I parked the car and had Vintage Connection collect it and take it back to their shop. They took the rear axle out and the differential apart. Not only was the ring and pinion (especially the pinion) damaged, some of the clutch disks were also damaged (see below)....

John, When I was overhauling the engine in 9129, I liked the concept behind the Roelof rocker arm mods, so I bought a set. They cost €1625 in March of ’06 plus international electronic funds transfer fees. I heard no complaints about the installation (done by Vintage Connection) of the Roelof mods, ...

Cornelis, The one in your picture was obviously done by Sergio the Slob. Mine was done by Pietro the Perfect, Sergio's son. In Parker Hall's catalog there are several pictures of labels that are obviously original. A very few stampings have some slight, obviously human-made imperfections, but most a...

Ed, The car came with no tag on the air filter housing, just the two rivet holes. It didn't even look like anything had EVER been there. I bought the reproduction tag, with the cute little rivets, from Parker Hall who sells his labels blank. I didn't want to install it without the data stamped on it...