Differential refitting
Discussion
Suddenly, I'd run out of jobs to do on the reassembled diff and brakes! The new discs had been centralised, the caliper bolts lock-wired, handbrakes set-up... there was only one thing to do: get it back in the car!
I lined the scissor-table up and rolled it under the 390. Arse, the diff top beam won't clear the chassis
Out with the 4 bolts, tip the handbrake levers down a bit and under she goes.
The carrier beam was refitted (I really must get a better camera, god only know where this was focussing but it wasn't where I was looking)...
One thing that caused me problems when removing the diff subframe were the two bolts at the rear; they're usually fitted from the top down so the nuts are hidden in the channel section. I'd had to destroy the nuts with a chisel to get them off and the bolts were corroded into the chassis. I wondered if it'd be possible to fit them from below so that if the nuts seize again, it'll be a a lot easier to get a nut splitter onto them. It's also easier to hold the bolt head with a spanner inserted from the channel end and use a ratchet-drive socket on the nut from above.
So I located the bolts in the channel and kept them in place with a couple of bits of cardboard. Lots of copper grease was slathered about the place (after the photo was taken!):
It was then a simple matter of raising the scissor-table and wriggling the diff around until the bolts lined up with the holes
The top beam mounts get there first (plenty of Coppaslip again):
Raise the lift, keeping an eye on all the bolts and as they start to protrude...
... screw each nut on a few turns to avoid the bolts slipping back out as you wriggle the diff around to align the others:
With the four rearmost bolts keeping the diff in place you can crawl underneath to locate the two forward ones that secure the diff cradle to the chassis (grease not shown in order to keep the camera clean!) - a crowbar or big screwdriver is useful to help lever the cradle into position:
Now you can fit any washers you may have missed/ dropped and go around tightening all the nuts...
then it's time to lower the scissor-lift and shift it out of the way so you can finally tighten everything up
The eagle-eyed will spot a packing washer between the diff cradle and the chassis: it was there when I stripped it, must have been a TVR production tolerance
The bolt heads hidden in the rear channel:
In hindsight it'd have been a bit easier to get one of the forward bolts in if I'd left the exhaust silencer off; I slackened the new rubber mounts and there was just enough movement to lever the silencer aside.
Next up: connect the brake hydraulics and leak test. Soon be xmas
I lined the scissor-table up and rolled it under the 390. Arse, the diff top beam won't clear the chassis
Out with the 4 bolts, tip the handbrake levers down a bit and under she goes.The carrier beam was refitted (I really must get a better camera, god only know where this was focussing but it wasn't where I was looking)...
One thing that caused me problems when removing the diff subframe were the two bolts at the rear; they're usually fitted from the top down so the nuts are hidden in the channel section. I'd had to destroy the nuts with a chisel to get them off and the bolts were corroded into the chassis. I wondered if it'd be possible to fit them from below so that if the nuts seize again, it'll be a a lot easier to get a nut splitter onto them. It's also easier to hold the bolt head with a spanner inserted from the channel end and use a ratchet-drive socket on the nut from above.
So I located the bolts in the channel and kept them in place with a couple of bits of cardboard. Lots of copper grease was slathered about the place (after the photo was taken!):
It was then a simple matter of raising the scissor-table and wriggling the diff around until the bolts lined up with the holes
The top beam mounts get there first (plenty of Coppaslip again):Raise the lift, keeping an eye on all the bolts and as they start to protrude...
... screw each nut on a few turns to avoid the bolts slipping back out as you wriggle the diff around to align the others:
With the four rearmost bolts keeping the diff in place you can crawl underneath to locate the two forward ones that secure the diff cradle to the chassis (grease not shown in order to keep the camera clean!) - a crowbar or big screwdriver is useful to help lever the cradle into position:
Now you can fit any washers you may have missed/ dropped and go around tightening all the nuts...
then it's time to lower the scissor-lift and shift it out of the way so you can finally tighten everything up
The eagle-eyed will spot a packing washer between the diff cradle and the chassis: it was there when I stripped it, must have been a TVR production tolerance
The bolt heads hidden in the rear channel:
In hindsight it'd have been a bit easier to get one of the forward bolts in if I'd left the exhaust silencer off; I slackened the new rubber mounts and there was just enough movement to lever the silencer aside.
Next up: connect the brake hydraulics and leak test. Soon be xmas
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