‘91 E30
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^dumbass me forgot about the orings/seals on the flanges so I ordered those as well
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Started pulling the diff, which turned into pulling the axles because I observed some weathered boots, flung grease and the axle stub bolts were coated in watery axle grease. Luckily I have enough GKN/EMPI repair kits to replace/repack every boot. It’ll be nice to check this off the list, car is getting closer to 99.9% “done”.
side note: cv grease sucks -
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Both are rebuilt and ready to go in once the diff is finished. The drivers side was near death in terms of lack of grease/grease condition, so the timing of this couldn’t have been better.
Should've waited till you were on the way back from the picnic to address this
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Got around to pulling the diff out.

comes apart quickly. Thanks @B C for removing the grime from a previous life.

gutted, reassembly of the internals is exactly the opposite of disassembly, less replacing the spacer with a third friction disc & dog ear plate.

also replaced these clips that retain the axle stubs. They came with with new seals for the output flanges so why not.
^engage safety squints for those
slapped new o rings on the output flanges too for good measure. Need to find a drift/socket large enough and pop the shaft seals out and replace them as well.

slapped the carrier back together with the new discs that’s where I left off for tonight. Once I get the seals in, it is ready to get slapped back into the case. Then I can start on replacing the pinion seal. Punched/marked so I don’t screw up the preload

here are the worn out discs that gave up the ghost at 41ftlbs (breakaway tq)
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Whats the 1-10 difficulty level on this job? Any good guides out there?
It’s easy. Just take your time and keep track of the order of the parts. Tons of good info on it as well.
these are the main ones I used. One link is a total rebuild that involves setting preload. With the replacement I did above I don’t need to mess with that.
part I was most nervous about was stripping the stock hardware on the carrier. I had an extra set of hands and they all came out without any issue. This hardware gets replaced with Thayers stuff anyways
http://buildraceparty.com/diy-tech-how-to-rebuild-a-bmw-e30-differential/
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Well car is all back together & everything is torqued. Highly recommend the diff studs. Even changed the trans fluid. Last thing on the list is to replace the plastic rad drain with an aluminum one/new oring. The threads are supposedly m14x1.5 in this radiator, but the new plug doesn’t want to thread in nicely and I’m sick of coolant. Might send a tap thru it quickly and spin the new plug in. All while getting coated in coolant.
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Well car is all back together & everything is torqued. Highly recommend the diff studs. Even changed the trans fluid. Last thing on the list is to replace the plastic rad drain with an aluminum one/new oring. The threads are supposedly m14x1.5 in this radiator, but the new plug doesn’t want to thread in nicely and I’m sick of coolant. Might send a tap thru it quickly and spin the new plug in. All while getting coated in coolant.
crazy idea for you enginerds - any way to easily pull a vaccum on the system at the reservoir to hold the coolant so you can remove the plug without spillage? just literally attach a wet vac and cross your fingers? maybe a piece of duct tape between with a certain size hole to reduce the vacuum if its too strong?
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Re-tapped radiator drain last night and put the new plug in
nose of car was already on jack stands so rebleeding was basically just fill up the reservoir and let it run for a bit.
When I was letting it bleed I was adding air to the tires for the commute to USAIR which is when I noticed this leak:Going to replace all the rubber lines as well as the fuel filter & going to add back in the rubber isolator that goes around the fuel filter
bummed on the timing as that means no USAIR for the e30, luckily my gf has cooler cars than me so I’ll just codrive
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Ended up co-driving the evo. Took first in STU and 3rd overall for raw time.
http://www.fvscc.com/results/2020_Summer/Event2_raw.htm -
Damn it's like watching a young Tommi Makinen toss that Evo around! Nice job.
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Parts have been ordered to fix the leak and replace the filter. Then I’ll be able to get the diff broken in and test the lockup
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Ended up co-driving the evo. Took first in STU and 3rd overall for raw time.
http://www.fvscc.com/results/2020_Summer/Event2_raw.htmAwesome job out there! It's nice to watch that video and see how you took the course.
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Slapped the new Fuel lines/clamps/fuel filter in and went for the first drive since the diff refresh. Took it easy and will continue to do so for 50ish miles, but happy to report no coolant leaks/diff Leaks/fuel leaks/odd diff noises.
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