M42club.com - Home of the BMW E30/E36 318i/iS
DISCUSSION => Engine + Driveline => Topic started by: mtle30 on February 17, 2012, 03:22:10 PM
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I recently purchased a 4.10 LSD medium case, also got a drive shaft off a parts car (325) which I know is about 2 inches smaller, I figured this would compensate for the extra length on the diff, however it's not the case, the driveshaft doesn't line up with the center support to the car, soo.. I've seen others to slightly adjust the stock driveshaft, my question is how? And will it be enough to put the medium case differential in?
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There's a pretty large hex shaped sheet metal flange (or bell?) in the middle of the driveshaft above the heat shield & exhaust pipe. It'll be rusted together a bit, but with some PB Blaster and back-breaking effort you can loosen it with large pliers. I used a big set of channel lock slip-joint pliers (and threw out my shoulder). The two parts of the shaft are splined pretty tightly, but are only secured with an internal rubber compression sleeve. I didn't need to shorten the shaft very much, the diffs are nearly identical other than the medium case being a bit fatter.
Be sure you clean out the hex bolts on the half shafts really well, they're easy to strip out. I found the easiest way to re-mount it was to jack it up and get the driveshaft flange studs threaded first, then the four large upper subframe bolts, then the half shafts, then finally that rear "ear" mount. I also had to bend the rear mount a bit to get it lined up.
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Thanks!! Given I'll be using he stock d/s I'll need to change the center support as well but I'll give it a shot and I'll post back if it works with some photos.
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keep a BFH hanging around too! i smacked the rust off my diff when it wouldn't cooperate.