Managed to snaffle some high tensile bolts with longer threads today, glad I did because I checked the depths and I was only getting 4 threads on the old bolts... this is why - look at them side by side.




The LSD carrier is like 4mm thicker to where the bolts sit compared to the factory carrier. Basically lost most of the threads on the standard bolts, the new bolts are like 5mm longer and still don't bottom out!


 
I would have preferred if they didn't have a coating on them but at the end of the day it won't make any difference. They took 74hm which is well below the max rating for that level of bolt and 25nm more than stock, I wasn't comfortable leaving them at 47 - seemed too low for a crown wheel.
 
Next was on to making a jig up for setting the pinion pre-load, needed to get my dad to swing over to be an extra set of hands for this, got everything in spec - for those who are interested the preload is 20 to 26 lb/inch at the bolt with the seal in. I converted that to a KG scale reading so I could use a hanging scale on the jig and got it within spec across 10 readings, took the jig off, spun it a couple of times, gave it a tap and then checked it again and actually had to tighten it a little more to get back in spec.

 
 
Next was rough setting the crown wheel position and checking the gear contact patch - I didn't have marking compound so did the paint and grease trick, the white teeth were evenly covered in blue grease before rolling it through the pinion, it looks good but I will get some marking compound to be 100% certain.
 

 
 
Then I went to set the backlash....... Turns out my dial indicator has gone missing.... no idea where it's gotten to but I spent an hour looking for the bloody thing before getting over it and coming inside . I'm sure it's not far but I've been out in the garage most of the day so I'll kick on tomorrow.
 

 

Nice progression Mark, lucky you found the clearance issue as that could later on cause silver oil..
That brought a memory back with my Quaife in my mk2, same with the cap heads but on mine I had to grind the whole side away, while there I polished the oil cavity and sides mainly the top where oil spits or sprays from the crown. I have no idea if it's a worthy thing to do but must help the oil glide around better, I just wanted to test a few die grinding burrs out !!

I decided while waiting on the dial indicator to give the garage a clean and put the pedals back together. I've got new rubbers coming for them too.

Came up a treat, can't recommend a good powder coater enough, all the parts he's done for me have come up so good.


 

 
I also need a new brake light switch, back in the day the original one failed so I jerry rigged up an falcon one to fit, it did the job but may as well get the right one on there.

Ok buckle up - big day in the garage!

LSD backlash is set and the cap spread done, took me a while though - I found that these English axles are sneaky. When you set the cap spread the backlash increases by about .10mm, makes sense though as I was tightening down from the far side of the crown wheel so pushing the crown away from the pinion, I ended up setting the backlash to .05mm then doing the cap spread and that got me right bang on .14mm


 

 
 
I set it on the low end of the spec, since the new center and bearings will have moved things about a bit. I used the same pinion spacer and the contact patches look good but there will still be some wear in as the pinion and crown wheel re-seat. 


 
Decided to give it the old paint pen treatment and now it's ready to go in tomorrow. 
 

Another big day in the garage, this will be one of three posts to split up all I did today .

Headlights are back in and ready for final adjustment once the nose cone goes back on. I managed to hide the crappy chrome to the bottom of the drivers and passenger outer headlights, there is only one little blemish on the tops now. I may get them re-chromed at some point in the future but for now that's good enough.


 

 
They look funny without the bumper on .
 

 

 
And here is a closeup of the new springs - Bunnings specials.
 

 
I still need to polish the chrome a bit more to get rid of some more blemishes and bring the shine up, that can happen later though.
 
One more thing to fit, plus the wiring etc and the nose cone will be ready to go on!
 

Then it was on to putting the axles in, getting the rear caliper hardware on and the calipers mounted. Was a little bit of a head scratch until I figured out that the kit wants you to put two washers in between the axle retainer and the housing -  plus re-use one of the original axle retaining bolts.


 
I will take a close up of the mounting bracket and share it when I am doing the next part of the handbrake fitting. 


 
You can kinda see what I mean in this shot, I needed to space the axle retainer as the original brake drum backing plate is about 3ish mm thick.

The axles themselves have some play in the splines, not a massive amount but enough to make me convinced that if something it going to break once it's on the road, it will be those axles. There wont be any clutch dumps ( or not that many  ) so it should be ok. 

Also Good LORD that LSD is tight, the wheels will not free spin at all - everything rolls over nicely though so I think this thing is gonna really bite the road.



I started routing the handbrake but remembered that the rear shockers will need to be in place - or something mocking them up - so I don't accidentally route the cable and mount it in a bad spot. So next on the list is rear shocks.

Also I will need to get the handbrake cable shortened, not sure what is going on here but the cable is almost 30cm too long! 
 

 
The local brake shop should be able to do it no drama, so I will drop it down after I am back from my work trip next week.

And putting the axle in wouldn't be complete without mounting a wheel! It's so close to being a roller I can taste it! All i need is rear discs and she could be on the ground by Christmas!
 

 
 

That's what I'm actually trying to figure out now - the mob I bought the kit from when I was in the UK gave me a Eicher part number, that cross references with 90s model Escort, Courier, Fiesta and Orion front rotors. So I am trying to find an Australian model with the same part number to cross reference it further. 

Bit of an oddball one because in the seller lists these as cosworth rear brake calipers (don't think they're genuine - repo probably) and that the discs slide straight on with no modifications. 

I've managed to find a lot of euro hits but no Aussie ones, the reference is 90R-02C0100/1093