A Dashing Panel

Many thanks to Daniel from the FAQer forum for sendng me this splendid under-dash panel! They have been NLA forever. Why and when mine was removed from the car is another great mystery.

Engine Bay Details

Some fresh improvements to the egnine bay. Here is the old, creatively messy look on the driver's side, complete with misplaced voltage regulator.

Now the boxes are correctly placed and the wires cloth-taped to factory specs, or close enough.

Also, a previous owner had left the wiper relay dangling in mid-air while festooned with red electrical tape.

Perhaps he or she couldn't afford long enough wires to seat it properly on its hook opposite the wiper fluid pump, further down the side of the compartment.

Once again, thanks to Midnight Motorsport for making it real.

NOS Door Light Switch

No matter how many times I cleaned the contact points of the old, unpleasantly oversprayed switch, it just didn't work consistently.

Here it is pulled out of the door frame, looking even more nasty.

Luckily there's there's a stand-up, great guy on ebay, whose handle is "pmauto". He sells all kinds of cool little trinkets for NKs. So this is my latest acquisition from him - four bucks and well worth the five-minute install.

New Transmission and New Guibo

It's a good idea to keep an eye on the guibo, because when it looks like this your driving days may be numbered.

Much better to slather some armorall on a new one and switch it out.

Thus making a good complement to a shiny transmission, freshly installed (another four-speed, but with this one has perfect syncros).

With due thanks again to Midnight Motorsport.

The Dimmer is Brightened

A few years ago I replaced the turn signal stalk. This made obvious the worn condition of the left side headlight dimmer switch knob.

Using a small bottle of high-gloss black craft paint I was able to bring back a shine to the dimmer knob. The knob unscrews for easy removal and painting with an artist brush.

Now the knob is as shiny as a morning daisy in the sun. Or something.

Alignment Specs and Steering Rehab

I had the wheels aligned yesterday, after putting new tires all around. (The old ones were eight years old.) Here are the specs:

The car drives straight as an arrow now and as an added bonus the steering wheel turns easier. The techs at the alignment shop took the car for a spin when they finished, an acitivity I managed to record from the garage waiting area.

The shiny new 185/70 tires - on stock steelies - look great, too.

New Track Rod/Center Link

Yesterday, in need of distraction, I drove to Midnight Motorsport where Patrick was kind enough to replace the track rod on the car. I had noticed for some time that the steering creaked when turning the wheel to the left and a quick examination under the car revealed that the driver side joint in the track rod had lost its rubber seal, allowing water to get into the joint.

The old rod didn't take too much persuasion to break off the ties rods. The castellated nuts came off easily, and then a few well-placed taps of a hammer completed the task. The old rod was found to have lost all its rubber.

The grease on the driver's side joint was our attempt to mitigate further damage last year while I waited for the right time to replace the piece. The new track rod looks great and the difference in steering is quite astonishing, the feel is so tight.

Now the wheels must be aligned, after taking the steering apart. A small price to pay for such vast improvement.