016 - Rear Differential

This one was fun, but also something that created a little trepidation and a deep inhale before we started.  Other builders warned that this was a struggle to install due to the frame design.

For those that don't know what a rear differential is here's a grossly over simplified description.  It takes a spinny force (driveshaft) and turns the spinny force 90 degrees into the axles and eventually rear wheels.  Also pretty sure "spinny" is a word even though my auto correct is trying to change it.

We found our first "oops" when we tried to install the sleeves into the differential bushings.  Don't worry if that sounds like gibberish, just know that we made a mistake.  Two of them fit perfectly and two were clearly the wrong size.  We had inadvertently installed the wrong bushings into the steering rack because they were close enough that it seemed to fit well, but just enough off to not work for the differential.  Blah, blah, blah, so I spent an hour and pulled out the steering rack and swapped the bushings and we were good to go again.

For installing one part with only (4) bolts there was a lot involved in wrestling this into place.  But in the end we were quite proud of the accomplishment.
  • (2) People
  • (1) Rear Differential
  • (4) Bolts
  • (4) Nuts
  • (4) Bushings
  • (4) Bushing Sleeves
  • (1) Floor Dolly
  • (2) Frame protectors
  • (1) Engine Hoist
  • (1) Floor Jack
  • (4) Lifting straps
  • (2) Blocks of wood
  • (1) Rubber mallet
  • (4) Clamps
  • (1) Open Ended Wrench
  • (1) Socket Wrench
  • (1) Torque Wrench
  • (1) Drift Pin
  • (1) Pry Bar
  • (1) Flat Head Screw Driver
  • (2) Ratchet Straps
  • (1) Scraped knuckle
  • (0) Curse words - proud of that
  • (3) Hours
And here are some pictures to prove we did a thing.  And yes, it's heavy and awkward to move around.






Jack discovered the Coupe actually does have a back seat... might be a little cramped once the body and rear hatch are installed.







Happily installed in it's new home and waiting for rear suspension and CV Axles.









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