Tweet
Hey, its been awhile since I've posted on this forum. Used to hang out here alot just after I got the 2000 Camaro a couple years ago. Anyway, I'm back now and thought I'd post a couple pics of the Zexel LSD install I did last week.
I did alot of reading on this site trying to figure out what tools and stuff I needed to have on hand before tearing the rear end apart. Here's what I had.
1. The diffy, of course. Since SLP is out of them now, I found one at a local F-Body graveyard. It came out of a totaled 2001 TransAm, with 250 (!) miles on it for $150. When they cracked the pumpkin open, the oil was still clean, as was the diffy itself. Have a look below. They also included the gear(which I didn't use),reluctor ring, races, and even the bearing caps and bolts.
2. A rear end cover gasket. Bought from a GM dealer, about 7$.
3. GM Limited Slip additive, also about 7$ for a little bottle. There seems to be differing thoughts on whether this additive is necessary, but considering how cheap it was, I figured it couldn't hurt to add it.
4. Two quarts of Mobil 1 synthetic 75w-90 gear oil. 8$ each.
----
First of all let me say that this was a pretty easy job to do. I was a little skeptical at tearing my car apart, but there really isn't much that you can mess up, except you have to be really careful not to bend or destroy the reluctor ring. I was fortunate in that the diffy I got had the ring already on it, so I didn't have to mess with that. Here's a little list of the steps to do this:
1. Jack up the car, remove the rear wheels. If you can't do this, well, you probably shouldn't tear apart your rear end. :D
2. Drop the track bar, the long bar that runs diagonally down from the frame to the driver's side rear wheel. Although a couple guys have removed their diffy with this in place, it gives you alot more room under there and only takes a couple extra minutes. Bolts are different sizes on either side, I remember I used 18mm and 21mm alot.
3. Unbolt the 10 screws that hold the differtial cover on. Unscrew each little bit, and carefully pry the cover away from the housing so that the old oil leaks out into a pan. By the way, it smells great. Once the oil is drained out, remove the cover.
4. You'll now see your open differential. There are four bolts you'll need to remove to get it out. Remove them, and keep them separated left and right. You'll now have this:
pic 1
pic 2
pic 3
You need to remove the C clips that hold the axles in. There is a little bolt (7 or 8mm) that runs inline with the direction of the axles, which holds a pinion shaft (looks like a round spacer) in place. That little bolt is TIGHT, so make sure you get a good grip on it with a six point socket--there's a good chance you could round it off if you use a twelve point. The spacer keeps the axles from coming together. I found that I had to remove the disc brake rotors to be able to push the axles in far enough for the C clips to drop out. You'll also have to remove the calipers to do this. Once the clips come out, remove them, keep them separated left and right (maybe not necessary, but can't hurt), and pull each axle out about a foot.
5. Now you have to pry the differential out. This is the part that I was most nervous about, but it wasn't really bad at all. I used a 2"x12"x3/4" piece of wood to pry it out. I worked from the driver's side, prying on the ring bolts, using the diffy casing as the fulcrum. Once it moved a bit, I would move to the other side and try to keep it straight as it came out. I had my dad help at this point, because as I was prying I didn't want the diffy to fall out on the floor. It took me about 15 min. to get it out, but I've heard of others almost literally falling out, or being REALLY tight. Keep an eye out for the spacers on each side of the differential. You can see them in the pictures aboe, they're about 8 or 9mm thick. Keep them separated left and right! This is important to preserve the right alignment between the ring and pinion gears once you reassemble it.
6. Next, with the open diffy out, I used an impact wrench to remove the 10 ring bolts from the gear. The gear is also tight up against the round casing, it took a bit of 'persuading' with a hammer to get it off after the bolts were removed. I used about 4 of the bolts screwed in about 1 turn to give me something to pound against. I wouldn't recommend this if you don't have replacement bolts as the threads get a little f@#$ed up. After a little hammering with a brass hammer, the ring gear fell off.
7. Ok, halfway done now. Bolt the ring gear onto the Zexel, torque to 95 ft/lbs. I also put a little blue loctite on each bolt just for extra fun.
Here's mine:
pic 4
8. Carefully put the diffy back in the housing, after putting the races on the bearings. Put the driver's side spacer in (beveled edge OUTWARD) and put the zexel in place. Push it over toward the drivers' side. You can now start pushing in the passenger side spacer, mine only went in about 1/2" before it got too tight to push. I gently pounded on it with the brass hammer, using my wood prybar as a 'cushion'. After about 5 minutes of pounding, it was finally in. Put the bearing caps on, and bolt them down to 55 ft/lbs.
9. Insert the pinion shaft. The Zexel one is flat, not round. I had to wiggle the gears around a bit to get it to drop in. There is a diagonal slot in the spacer to allow oil to lubricate the ends of the axle. I put the diagonal edge facing down, that way when the car is moving forward, the diagonal channel will 'scoop up' the oil. Put the retaining bolt in to hold it in place. I used blue loctite here as well.
10. Put the axles in, put the disc brake rotor on. Bolt up the calipers.
pic 5
pic 6 (had to include this picture with my Dad's vette)
11. Clean off the differntial housing and the cover so the gasket can seal well. I used a scraping razor and a fine file to do this. I also used some silicon to help seal it. I bolted the cover on (15 ft/lbs.) and let it sit overnight to dry. The next morning, fill up the pumpkin first with the limited slip fluid, then about 1 1/2 quarts of the gear oil. Put the wheels back on, drop it down.
-----
A really nice mod, I could notice the difference immediately when I took it for a ride. The car felt entirely different, more stable and responsive. It is much more sure of itself in the rain now.
If I forgot anything, somebody please let me know and I'll edit this. Hope this helps somebody out there. Thanks to everyone on this site who posted information about this that helped me tackle this!
Peace
Wozzeck
[ July 01, 2005, 12:55 PM: Message edited by: Wozzeck ]
I did alot of reading on this site trying to figure out what tools and stuff I needed to have on hand before tearing the rear end apart. Here's what I had.
1. The diffy, of course. Since SLP is out of them now, I found one at a local F-Body graveyard. It came out of a totaled 2001 TransAm, with 250 (!) miles on it for $150. When they cracked the pumpkin open, the oil was still clean, as was the diffy itself. Have a look below. They also included the gear(which I didn't use),reluctor ring, races, and even the bearing caps and bolts.
2. A rear end cover gasket. Bought from a GM dealer, about 7$.
3. GM Limited Slip additive, also about 7$ for a little bottle. There seems to be differing thoughts on whether this additive is necessary, but considering how cheap it was, I figured it couldn't hurt to add it.
4. Two quarts of Mobil 1 synthetic 75w-90 gear oil. 8$ each.
----
First of all let me say that this was a pretty easy job to do. I was a little skeptical at tearing my car apart, but there really isn't much that you can mess up, except you have to be really careful not to bend or destroy the reluctor ring. I was fortunate in that the diffy I got had the ring already on it, so I didn't have to mess with that. Here's a little list of the steps to do this:
1. Jack up the car, remove the rear wheels. If you can't do this, well, you probably shouldn't tear apart your rear end. :D
2. Drop the track bar, the long bar that runs diagonally down from the frame to the driver's side rear wheel. Although a couple guys have removed their diffy with this in place, it gives you alot more room under there and only takes a couple extra minutes. Bolts are different sizes on either side, I remember I used 18mm and 21mm alot.
3. Unbolt the 10 screws that hold the differtial cover on. Unscrew each little bit, and carefully pry the cover away from the housing so that the old oil leaks out into a pan. By the way, it smells great. Once the oil is drained out, remove the cover.
4. You'll now see your open differential. There are four bolts you'll need to remove to get it out. Remove them, and keep them separated left and right. You'll now have this:
pic 1
pic 2
pic 3
You need to remove the C clips that hold the axles in. There is a little bolt (7 or 8mm) that runs inline with the direction of the axles, which holds a pinion shaft (looks like a round spacer) in place. That little bolt is TIGHT, so make sure you get a good grip on it with a six point socket--there's a good chance you could round it off if you use a twelve point. The spacer keeps the axles from coming together. I found that I had to remove the disc brake rotors to be able to push the axles in far enough for the C clips to drop out. You'll also have to remove the calipers to do this. Once the clips come out, remove them, keep them separated left and right (maybe not necessary, but can't hurt), and pull each axle out about a foot.
5. Now you have to pry the differential out. This is the part that I was most nervous about, but it wasn't really bad at all. I used a 2"x12"x3/4" piece of wood to pry it out. I worked from the driver's side, prying on the ring bolts, using the diffy casing as the fulcrum. Once it moved a bit, I would move to the other side and try to keep it straight as it came out. I had my dad help at this point, because as I was prying I didn't want the diffy to fall out on the floor. It took me about 15 min. to get it out, but I've heard of others almost literally falling out, or being REALLY tight. Keep an eye out for the spacers on each side of the differential. You can see them in the pictures aboe, they're about 8 or 9mm thick. Keep them separated left and right! This is important to preserve the right alignment between the ring and pinion gears once you reassemble it.
6. Next, with the open diffy out, I used an impact wrench to remove the 10 ring bolts from the gear. The gear is also tight up against the round casing, it took a bit of 'persuading' with a hammer to get it off after the bolts were removed. I used about 4 of the bolts screwed in about 1 turn to give me something to pound against. I wouldn't recommend this if you don't have replacement bolts as the threads get a little f@#$ed up. After a little hammering with a brass hammer, the ring gear fell off.
7. Ok, halfway done now. Bolt the ring gear onto the Zexel, torque to 95 ft/lbs. I also put a little blue loctite on each bolt just for extra fun.
Here's mine:
pic 4
8. Carefully put the diffy back in the housing, after putting the races on the bearings. Put the driver's side spacer in (beveled edge OUTWARD) and put the zexel in place. Push it over toward the drivers' side. You can now start pushing in the passenger side spacer, mine only went in about 1/2" before it got too tight to push. I gently pounded on it with the brass hammer, using my wood prybar as a 'cushion'. After about 5 minutes of pounding, it was finally in. Put the bearing caps on, and bolt them down to 55 ft/lbs.
9. Insert the pinion shaft. The Zexel one is flat, not round. I had to wiggle the gears around a bit to get it to drop in. There is a diagonal slot in the spacer to allow oil to lubricate the ends of the axle. I put the diagonal edge facing down, that way when the car is moving forward, the diagonal channel will 'scoop up' the oil. Put the retaining bolt in to hold it in place. I used blue loctite here as well.
10. Put the axles in, put the disc brake rotor on. Bolt up the calipers.
pic 5
pic 6 (had to include this picture with my Dad's vette)
11. Clean off the differntial housing and the cover so the gasket can seal well. I used a scraping razor and a fine file to do this. I also used some silicon to help seal it. I bolted the cover on (15 ft/lbs.) and let it sit overnight to dry. The next morning, fill up the pumpkin first with the limited slip fluid, then about 1 1/2 quarts of the gear oil. Put the wheels back on, drop it down.
-----
A really nice mod, I could notice the difference immediately when I took it for a ride. The car felt entirely different, more stable and responsive. It is much more sure of itself in the rain now.
If I forgot anything, somebody please let me know and I'll edit this. Hope this helps somebody out there. Thanks to everyone on this site who posted information about this that helped me tackle this!
Peace
Wozzeck
[ July 01, 2005, 12:55 PM: Message edited by: Wozzeck ]
Comment