Ahhh, geez, I've never noticed..... who'd have thunk Many thanks to Carson 356 for the 'heads-up' re the center coil electrode. No problem getting the 5mm Allens out - even the one at 5 o'clock (hey, I just finished removing my water pump ). My problem was with the available clearance to try and 'fold' the cap up onto the top of the engine to have a look at it and the rotor and how good/bad things generally looked in there. I did and try to yank the wires off but quickly came to the conclusion that it would be more of the same as getting the wires off the plugs.... only likely worse. Mind you, meanwhile I've learned that simply giving the wires a 'determined' tug at the plug will make them come off.

- cheers, will give this a try

ps. any comments about the 220k km (140k miles) with the same cap/rotor?