> The book says it's an Allen-head, but it looks like a 12-point Bristol
spline key needed. Anyone know just what the head is on this bolt (before I
resort to the universal vise-grips)?

It's not Torx, it's an 8mm "star" head and you need a thin shaft version of
the tool at least 40mm long to clear the UJ yoke, there is a ball head
version that is supposed to work at an angle but it doesn't have enough
internal contact and damages the bolt. Buy the best quality tool you can
find for this application, I had a "snap-on" version but have lost it so if
anyone finds something of quality that fits well and is available mail order
then let us know - at the moment I use the wrench that was supplied with the
original Amphicar toolkit !

You can replace the bolts with dome head Allen but not normal hex head as
they foul the yoke, the other place where the star bolt was used was to hold
the brake backplate on the rear hub (but only on early cars) if the ones
holding the prop shaft are chewed up then use the ones on the hub and use
ordinary M8 hex bolts to hold the backplate on.

David C




        
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