Mondial CV Joint



So by this time,  it's pretty clear that to me, part of the necessary bonding with any car I own is to do some work on it. You know, earning some mutual respect and stuff. So among the simpler tasks that were needed for the Mondial (what Mondial, you say? I'm not explaining here; let's just take the fact that a 1988 3.2 Mondial Cabriolet is in my garage as a given), there was the right hand side CV boot that was torn, letting the all important grease to come out and all sorts of dirt and debris to enter into the CV joint. Ferrari or no Ferrari, a freaking piece of rubber could not be that expensive. So for around 56 dollars I got the new boot and the two metal bands that secure it to the shaft and joint housing from Superformance UK.

From what I read online, the absolute most frustrating part of the job was to get the 12 bolts that hold both ends of the driveshaft-joints assembly to the transmission and the wheel hub. I had the tools (except for the torch --you sometimes need to apply heat to help dislodge parts that are stuck together and kind of rust-welded to each other). So I set out to do the job, bond with the car and save myself some expense. I would need the savings, because the timing belt job is expensive (let's say a whole Miata kind of expensive, IF you don't do it at the dealer which is maybe 2x the cost) and I don't feel confident enough to tackle that myself.

The following is a partial photographic account of the procedure, helpfully commented by yours truly.

https://plus.google.com/photos/102301819339392179947/albums/6109630809945452417?authkey=CP_Cu6HQ3OfXNQ


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