I.D. My Ball Joint Please? Options

[kenshapiro2002]

The car is a 1970 914 that was converted to 5 lug using late 80s/early90s 911 front end parts. Not sure if the A arms were changed over and whether the ball joints I need are 914 or 911 parts (think they're 914, but not sure). Can I get these ball joints out using non-impact, hand tools, or should I just pay a local Porsche wrench to do it? Also, I thought the retainer nut on the bottom of the joint was supposed to be facing the front. Mine is the opposite. Does it matter?

[Dr Evil]

Its obvious that the guy had no idea what he was doing. You have a bolt on the late model and a V pin on the early (exactly reversed). Had he just switched these fasteners, things would have likely been fine. Strut is now screwed. When you install the V pin, it should be flush when the nut is tightened. In your first set of pics it is obvious that the V pin was not properly installed and this is pathognomic for someone installing an old style joint with a V pin. The struts are not the same either so the correct joint has to go in the proper type of strut.

For removal I find a pipe wrench works the best, and is cheap and easy to get.

[kenshapiro2002]

Now I'm really confused...I thought the strut that was split on the end was the early style. No?

Its obvious that the guy had no idea what he was doing. You have a bolt on the late model and a V pin on the early (exactly reversed). Had he just switched these fasteners, things would have likely been fine. Strut is now screwed. When you install the V pin, it should be flush when the nut is tightened. In your first set of pics it is obvious that the V pin was not properly installed and this is pathognomic for someone installing an old style joint with a V pin. The struts are not the same either so the correct joint has to go in the proper type of strut.

For removal I find a pipe wrench works the best, and is cheap and easy to get.