Slow Progress....

It's been a few weeks since my last post, and progress has been slow.
I had a couple of weeks off, doing some DIY at home, decorating my Son's room and making a craft area for my wife, needed the Brownie points ;-)

Last weekend the front suspension was completed with the hubs assembled, brake discs and calipers fitted.

I'd been debating whether to get my diff rebuilt with the Tranx LSD or have a go myself. As I'd never built a diff before........., I decided to have a go!!
I found a site that explained the basics of stripping in and rebuilding the diff, http://www.mc2racing.com/tech/20081104a/index.html

First job was to make a tool to remove the bearing carriers, lucky for me, George didn't need the old discs from his Mazda doner (cheers George).
We measured the pitch of the teeth on the carrier, drilled and tapped a series of holes around the disc that matched the castellations, then fitted some M6 screws. With a lenth of bar bolted to the diff, we had a carrier removing tool.
Holding the diff in the vice, the carriers were unscrewed carefully, to make sure the crown wheel didn't get damaged.
With the old diff removed the crown wheel was unbolted and carefully removed with a brass drift.
I'm not planning to remove the Pinion so will only replace the diff carrier bearings, these are going to need to be done on a press, so I need to call a friendly workshop I know.
With the crown wheel removed it was aligned to the new Tranx LSD and bolted together.

With the help of George, Gavin and a swan necked lift, we fitted the engine loosely, to start thinking  about cooling pipes and rad location.

 

This weeks been another lost weekend, as my backs been playing me up (nothing to do with the engine).
I planned to fit the radiator, but could hardly stand, so after making a bracket up, I called it a day.
Big thank you to Gavin though, he got under the car and fitted my reverse box.

Hopefully my backs better this week, I hope to get the diff in next weekend.