ThermalWake

alright guys, im about to do a rear end swap and im going to be putting on an aftermarket header. im assuming that the rear end is a simple unbolt and rebolt the new rear end in kinda thingy. how do the drive shaft and half shafts (yolks) go into the rear end. do they just slide in? also, when going to replace the header, wat is the easiest way to dissassemble and reassemble the intake manfold. if anyone has pictures and how to do so, that would b great. thanks

BoulderZ

Just took apart the entire rear end of my '78 5 speed this past weekend.
Drive shaft: bolts to the pinion drive on the front of the diff. 14mm socket, I think.
half-shafts to diff: there are studs on the flanges on the diff and nuts on the outboard side. Undo those, again with a 14 mm socket.

If you can move things around enough, you can get the socket on there with an extension and an impact wrench, and it comes apart really fast. I did have to pop the plates with a cold chisel to get theme loose, stuck from minor corrosion.

If you decide to totally remove the halfshafts, you need a wrench on each end of the nuts/bolts at the hub end.

Put the jack under the diff (heavier than you think), undo the diff at the front under it's nose at the isolator, and the two giant bolt/studs at the back cover. Slide the diff forward until the studs are free of the holes in the bracket at the back, lower the back and slide the diff out the back while lowering it. Drain it before or after removal, your choice.
good luck,
Dave

Darrel

oh, and if you decide to do the spindle pin bushings, get a tool to pull them out instead of first pounding the heck out of the pin to see if they will come out before you bend the chit out of em. ;-)

sorry dave, couldn't help it. ;-)

BoulderZ

:-) I couldn't agree more! I very dumbly figured "well, I'll give it a try", and hammered on the liquid wrench soaked pin, intermittently, for about 45 minutes while doing other stuff, too. It didn't move one bit. Darrel's puller, on the other hand, did both in about 30 or 40 minutes. Highly recommended if you have to take them apart!
Dave

ThermalWake

alright, im a little confused, once i get underneath the car cuz its gana b on a lift, will i not b able to just unbold the old one, detach the DS and HS's and put the new rear end in?

ASA240z

Boulder, can you give me the info on where to get this spindel tool. I'm assuming it's custom? I want to rebuild/paint my Z's entire back end. So far I've planned in installing Tokico Blues and springs, energy suspension, and a 4.38 diff (R-180).

Thanks for the help.

Allen

BoulderZ

Thermal: Hopefully, that's exactly how it should work. However, there's a chance that just unbolting the HS's won't go so well. You may not have enough room to get at the HS to diff bolts. If that's the case, you may have to undo the HS at the hub end to be able to turn the U-joints far enough to expose the bolts at the diff end, or undo the main control arm pivots to be able to swing the hub away from the diff a little bit. If you're on a lift, this should be really easy. Darrel was mostly pointing out that if you do decide to just disassemble the whole thing as a while-you're-at-it rebuild project, then don't even bother with the hammer-the-spindle-pin-out (like I did), just use the puller. Saves a lot of time and potentially money.

ASA: Best way to get a hold of the spindle pin puller is to PM Darrel (in this thread). You're doing the exact same changes/upgrades as me. Just a suggestion: as long as you're taking it all apart to put in the new nice parts and paint the main pieces, you might want to consider getting the parts powdercoated. It's way more durable than paint, it should pretty much last forever. It's not expensive, either, if you find the right vendor. The guy I use did all the front pieces for me for $120 (including sandblasting). It would have taken $40 in spray paint easily, and several days time, to do it nicely at home, and I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have come out as nicely. I'm hoping to take the rear pieces to him tomorrow or Friday. Just a thought, don't know if you already considered it.
Dave

ThermalWake

no im not putting new pieces in, im taking my rear end unit completely out. not gears and parts the whole r200 and replacing it with a whole new r200