- Joined
- Jul 26, 2020
- Points
- 74
I had heard tales of woe about boot floor spot welds failing and subsequent cracking, so I
decided pre-empt any future problems by fitting a twin eared diff cover. Of course it didn’t stop there I reckoned a complete rear end overhaul was the way to go. In the time honoured manner I stripped the total rear end. The sub frame beam, trailing arms, and ancillaries like brackets and anti roll bar etc: were removed shot blasted primed and painted with “Rustoleum” and all bushes were renewed with OEM. And the brake pipes although deemed to be serviceable were renewed in
Copper. An ever pressing thought was why am I doing all of this, when the boot floor was as new, no signs of spot welds popping, the only rust was on the little brackets carrying the old brake pipes and anti roll bar droppers etc. I was surprised at how little corrosion was present 37,000 miles. However too late to turn back. I photographed most bits, but mainly as a guide to reassembly. There are many photos of stripped out back ends on this excellent forum and mine are no different so I will withhold them.
The rear support bracket or ear, and the spare wheel carrier hinge was cut off, flush with the
bottom face of the boot support beam, which was carefully ground to give a flat face. The side components of the original diff support bracket were left in position and made use of during
welding. The cars original metal thickness was only around 1mm, so it was reinforced with a strip of 2 mm thick flat steel the same width as the boot support beam and welded to it the along its
entire length of about 12 inches.
The differential with the new twin eared back cover was mounted into the previously installed sub frame beam and jacked up to the correct height. I should here mention that before any dismantling took place, the distance from the support beam bottom and the bottom lip of the oil filler was established as 145mm and is effectively the diff oil level. A problem occurred while fitting the new OEM diff ear bushes, it was found that the outside diameters were too big for a satisfactory
interference fit and required 15thou to be removed. After the diff was jacked up to, give the
original 145mm, measurements were made to establish the length of the two diff support hangers which were made from the same 2mm sheet, but folded down their length in order to stiffen and prevent vibration and eventually welded to the reinforced boot support beam. With everything bolted back into place including a set of Mazza’s excellent fuel tank straps, work on the rear end is now complete. All I need is to dream up a cunning plan to remount the spare wheel carrier.
As there is quite a bit of winter left, I might freshen up the front end, and that will suffice. The clutch and the gearbox shift pins were replaced 2000 miles ago, and the sills were removed for
inspection and treatment earlier this year, so hopefully come spring all I will need is some petrol.
decided pre-empt any future problems by fitting a twin eared diff cover. Of course it didn’t stop there I reckoned a complete rear end overhaul was the way to go. In the time honoured manner I stripped the total rear end. The sub frame beam, trailing arms, and ancillaries like brackets and anti roll bar etc: were removed shot blasted primed and painted with “Rustoleum” and all bushes were renewed with OEM. And the brake pipes although deemed to be serviceable were renewed in
Copper. An ever pressing thought was why am I doing all of this, when the boot floor was as new, no signs of spot welds popping, the only rust was on the little brackets carrying the old brake pipes and anti roll bar droppers etc. I was surprised at how little corrosion was present 37,000 miles. However too late to turn back. I photographed most bits, but mainly as a guide to reassembly. There are many photos of stripped out back ends on this excellent forum and mine are no different so I will withhold them.
The rear support bracket or ear, and the spare wheel carrier hinge was cut off, flush with the
bottom face of the boot support beam, which was carefully ground to give a flat face. The side components of the original diff support bracket were left in position and made use of during
welding. The cars original metal thickness was only around 1mm, so it was reinforced with a strip of 2 mm thick flat steel the same width as the boot support beam and welded to it the along its
entire length of about 12 inches.
The differential with the new twin eared back cover was mounted into the previously installed sub frame beam and jacked up to the correct height. I should here mention that before any dismantling took place, the distance from the support beam bottom and the bottom lip of the oil filler was established as 145mm and is effectively the diff oil level. A problem occurred while fitting the new OEM diff ear bushes, it was found that the outside diameters were too big for a satisfactory
interference fit and required 15thou to be removed. After the diff was jacked up to, give the
original 145mm, measurements were made to establish the length of the two diff support hangers which were made from the same 2mm sheet, but folded down their length in order to stiffen and prevent vibration and eventually welded to the reinforced boot support beam. With everything bolted back into place including a set of Mazza’s excellent fuel tank straps, work on the rear end is now complete. All I need is to dream up a cunning plan to remount the spare wheel carrier.
As there is quite a bit of winter left, I might freshen up the front end, and that will suffice. The clutch and the gearbox shift pins were replaced 2000 miles ago, and the sills were removed for
inspection and treatment earlier this year, so hopefully come spring all I will need is some petrol.