Diff refurb

As mentioned previously the diff was feeling a bit loose and getting some clonking noises on overrun so decided it was time to get this sorted.

Problem number 1 is getting the thing out of the car as a) its 50 lbs in weight and b) there is a fair bit to dismantle to extract it.

Fortunately my new lift has made life a lot simpler.

So, rear wheels off,
Fuel tank drained and removed,
Diff Oil drained.
Handbrake cables unclipped
Coilovers unbolted from lower arms
Lower suspension a frame removed.
Drive shafts removed,
Propshaft unbolted from pinion.
Rear suspension carrier and tie rods removed from Diff.

At this point I'm thinking about how to unbolt and lower the diff without injuring myself so came up with an idea to build a jacking system to catch the diff when unbolted.
I made this out of timber and its essentially a lifting bed that I can raise and lower using a trolley jack.
This worked a treat and I could safely extract and lower the diff to drag it from under the car single handed.

Problem number 2 is getting it refurbished.
I spoke to Simply Performance as recommended by Jon at AK and arranged to take it to their place in Dorking. They did a full rebuild service - its not cheap but I'm hoping it will do the job.
All new bearings and washers, a new carrier (cross pin had made the holes in the diff carrier oval (hence a lot of play), all set up and painted.

Problem number 3 is getting it back in the car.
My lift bed was really handy in positioning the diff and sliding it back into place single handed. Then simply  a case of bolting all the suspension, drive shafts, brakes etc back into place. For the re-assembly it took me about an elapsed day.

Fuel tank sender
The old fuel tank sender had never worked properly so I invested in a VDO dip-tube unit.
This caused a challenge in that the tank is drilled for a 6 hole sender mounting at 60mm PCD wheras the new VDO requires 5 holes at 54mm PCD. There was just enough room to drill new holes on the tank to suit the new sender and great news - I now have a working fuel gauge!

Road test - its actually a different car with the refurbed diff. The clonking noise on overrun has gone and driving pleasure improved significantly.