Mild 86 MX72 Cressida Build

[MR2_FTW]

Brought the diff in to work and measured the backlash on the ring gear to be around 12 thousandths. Spec is between 5 and 7 thousandths, so that's part of the issue. The big thing is the passenger side axle gear's shim is so small that the gear has lateral play. This means that when under load, the gear moves away from the spider gears and has way way too much backlash. Now I have a couple options. I can spend like $25 and get a bunch of different sized shims to try and make it work that will take like a week and a half to come in. This will require complete diff dis-assembly and subsequent reassembly, including resetting the backlash on the diff and adjusting the pinion preload; none of which I've ever done before and I lack several of the tools required to do so.
OR
I can drive up to MD and pick up a Celica-Supra complete rear end with disc brakes and LSD for....many hundreds of dollars...which should just bolt on.

Thoughts?

[speakerboy]

Brought the diff in to work and measured the backlash on the ring gear to be around 12 thousandths. Spec is between 5 and 7 thousandths, so that's part of the issue. The big thing is the passenger side axle gear's shim is so small that the gear has lateral play. This means that when under load, the gear moves away from the spider gears and has way way too much backlash. Now I have a couple options. I can spend like $25 and get a bunch of different sized shims to try and make it work that will take like a week and a half to come in. This will require complete diff dis-assembly and subsequent reassembly, including resetting the backlash on the diff and adjusting the pinion preload; none of which I've ever done before and I lack several of the tools required to do so.
OR
I can drive up to MD and pick up a Celica-Supra complete rear end with disc brakes and LSD for....many hundreds of dollars...which should just bolt on.

Thoughts?

Do you really have to ask?

Celica/Supra rear end of course. You spent good man hours rebuilding those rear drums (props for that), but you weren't excited about them. If you've got the cash, and not trying to totally do this on the cheap, you know what you gotta do.

[MR2_FTW]

Yeah. I'm driving up Saturday to pick it up.

[MR2_FTW]

Long story short, talked to guy 3 hours away about buying his axle. Arrange time/place over facebook chat. I show up, he's nowhere to be found, not responding to messages. Time wasted, kinda pissed.

So, I ordered $25 worth of different sized shims and stuff to re-adjust the stock diff to eliminate the clunk. Looks like I get to learn how to clearance a diff. Hooray.

[MR2_FTW]

This evening I started working on the diff. Keep in mind I've never done anything like this before so this is all new to me.

I started by removing the retaining lock things for the diff carrier adjuster bolt things (yeah there's going to be a lot of that sort of language in here. Sue me.) and then removing the two caps that hold the diff into the 3rd member. I was careful to mark everything so it all goes back exactly the way it came apart. Here's my workspace:


Here's one of the races for the big diff bearings. Both of them looked great.


The bar that the spider gears ride on is held in with a little pin that is staked in the housing. That took some persuading to remove, but once I figured out it only comes out one way, I got it.
Here's one of the offending articles: the passenger side axle gear adjusting shim. This one is pretty much exactly 1mm thick. I don't recall the thickness of the ones I ordered, but it was over 1mm which is good.


And the left (driver's) side shim washer: 1.01mm


So now as far as that goes, I'm waiting on parts from Toyota. They were all in a warehouse in California so it will probably be Friday or early next week before I see them.

I did however have a pinion oil seal (two, actually which as it turns out was a good thing) and nut already from when I rebuilt the axle last summer. I never used them but now I can! So basically I used a punch to un-stake the pinion nut and my steering wheel puller to pull the flange off. Unfortunately when I put the oil seal in I forgot to put in the bearing oil deflector so I had to destroy that new seal getting it back out. Luckily I had accidentally ordered two pinion seals last summer so I had a spare. So now the pinion is all back together and shouldn't need to be re-adjusted since I never messed with the bearing.
Here's the new seal:


So now we wait on shim washers. I also ordered a dial indicator with magnetic base from Amazon so I can check my backlash and such. Also in that order is some awesome DEI gold heat reflector tape that I'm gonna go crazy with in the MR2 engine bay. Woo hoo!

[MR2_FTW]

So I got the shims in today, looks like the thickest is 1.3mm, which may not be thick enough to eliminate the slack in the gears. If not, do you think stacking two 1mm thick shims would be bad? To get a better idea of what I'm talking about, see the picture below. Shims are circled in red.

[MR2_FTW]

4/17/14
Alrighty then. Shims came in (along with a shiny new retaining pin for the middle bar thing)


And here's everything laid out all nice


Basically I said "to hell with it" and put in the two thickest shims I had, one on either side. This put the backlash on the side gears as good as I could get it. My shiny new dial indicator is.....well, it was $35 so it's not great. I then spent an hour and a half heating up the ring gear with a torch and trying to get it installed on the diff with the bolt holes perfectly aligned. Everything went together pretty well after that, I set the backlash and side bearing preload as best I could for my first time. Today I put it in the car and filled it up with some new gear oil. After a ride around the neighborhood it would seem that the clunking is gone! So I'm going to call this a tentative success, as long as bearings don't start whining from improper preload.


4/18/14
Xcessive Manufacturing skid plate is in. I chased the threads in the chassis with a tap and it went in super easy. I also coated it with Duplicolor rubberized truck bed liner, just for a little extra protection.



It fits great, though I think the oil drain hole is placed more for JZ or UZ swaps because it doesn't really line up with the 5M drain. Also, it sits probably 1-1.5" lower than the subframe so it's mad low. I'm gonna have to be super careful to not scrape it on anything.

[MR2_FTW]

Sunday night I was depressed because of the whole "MR2 needs a rebuild" situation, so I went around the west end taking pictures and decided to try and hit the City and see what I could find in terms of photo spots. Let me just say boy am I glad I put my skid plate on because holy crap RVA has some of the worst "roads". Also, I apologize for my less-than stellar pics. I am not a photographer and my Nikon P90, while a very nice point and shoot, is nowhere near as nice as a DSLR.

[raam0]

There's something about those wheels, idk what it is but they work so well in that type of cars. Awesome wagon, love it!

[MR2_FTW]

Since my MR2 is down for an engine rebuild, this has become my daily driver. Being an old car it's starting to show some issues that are starting to pile up and really irritate me.

1. Front passenger window will go down, but not up.
2. Driver's rear window does nothing
3. Stereo tape player broke so no more ipod in the car
4. Rear speakers have never worked
5. Dome light doesn't come on when you open the door
6. Or the hatch
7. Rear window washer hose is broken somewhere in the rear pillar, causing massive internal leakage if you try to use it
8. Passenger door lock is insanely hard to move by hand and won't move with the key or power switch
9. Rear hatch lock won't turn
10. All window tracks need to be lubricated to speed up the slow ass rolling up/down
11. Speedometer cable broke AGAIN
12. Need to figure out how to get my fan to only work when the ignition is on so it doesn't potentially kill the battery
13. Rear end clunk still present. When the MR2 is back up, the diff will be coming back out and getting double shim stacked and/or welded to shut it the hell up
14. Headlights are still dim as well as being aimed way too low. The adjuster bolts are now comprised entirely of ferric oxide so I think to aim them higher will require shimming the brackets with washers

[MR2_FTW]

Just found a MK1 Celica-Supra axle for sale in PA not too far from where I'm gonna be going anyway in July.
Called up the yard and she's all mine! And for about half the price of the going market rate!
Combine that with the LSD I'm picking up this weekend, add some new seals, bearings and brakes, and I'll have myself an LSD/disc brake rear end! BWAHAHAHAHA

[MR2_FTW]

Passenger side Celica-Supra seat is in. Now they match!

[MR2_FTW]

Picked up the axle! It's super gross looking, but it's there. One of the brake dust shields is pretty rotten, so that may end up getting deleted or something.


Here's the info plate from in the firewall. Axle code is F302 which is 7.5" open diff, 3.727 ratio.


The stock X72 Cressida axle is an E292 which is 7.1" open diff, 4.10 ratio

The MA60 diff I have is a 7.5" LSD with 4.30 ratio.

Now my dilemma is this: Do I use the 4.30 ratio ring and pinion from the MA60 Supra, or the 3.73 from the MA40 Supra? I'm leaning towards the 3.73. It would make the car accelerate slower, but would be way better for highway cruising. Plus if I ever go V8 or 7MGTE, the longer gearing would suit the power better.

Also, I ran the Mk1's VIN through the system at work, here's what I came up with.
1981 Celica-Supra liftback
Automatic 4 speed, sun roof, power package, cassette upgrade, production date 11/80, 5M-E engine

[MR2_FTW]

7/30/14
Tonight I did the most redneck thing I think I've ever done while working on a car.

I was disassembling the axle tonight. I got one axle out no problem (well, with a pulley puller looped through the holes in the stub and a big hammer) but the other was mega-stuck and wouldn't come out. I ended up tying it to a tree with a ratchet strap, and attaching the stub of the axle to my tow hook with another. The straps couldn't pull it out, so I gave the car some gas and one of the straps snapped. BLARG. So then I went and got a chain, and used THAT to hold the axle to the tree, and attached the stub to the tow-hook on my Subaru with a car tow strap. I pulled once and it wouldn't budge. I pulled it again and the axle was suspended taught in the air, and then POP the axle came right out. Nothing broke, nobody died. I am a champion.


8/4/14
Heard back from the local 4WD Specialties shop about an estimate on the diff rebuild. I sent them the link with the super detailed rebuild step-by-step, they showed it to the guys in their shop and said they could do it for $400. The dude in AZ that wrote the how-to wanted $300, but I'd have to ship everything at over $60 each way.
Plus, if I keep it local and something ends up going wrong, it's easier to deal with potential issues with someone a mile away from work rather than in another time zone.

[MR2_FTW]

Today I dropped off the diff and 3rd member at the shop. The tech suggested that I come back tomorrow to pick up the third member housing after he removes the pinion and races so I can clean it up and paint it while he builds the diff. But this evening Mitchell came over and helped me wire wheel the ends of the axle shafts so I could paint them before the new bearings get pressed on tomorrow at work. Here's before:



And after:



I also hit the centers of the new rotors so those don't rust:



However tonight I did discover that the calipers I got are not right. Unfortunately I had to get one from Rock Auto and one from Amazon so I need to figure out how to return those. Also the pads that I got from NAPA seem to contain two pairs of differing friction material, so those will be going back tomorrow, and I'll probably end up having to order calipers from NAPA at way more expense. The holes in the caliper brackets are too far apart to mount up to the axle. They also don't use the right e-brake mechanism, so I believe these are standard Celica calipers. This could end up being a real wild goose chase. I think AE86 calipers/pads will work in a pinch (lol geddit?), but the MA40 brakes are bigger.

Also, I don't know if I made a note of it on this thread or not, but last week when I was doing some work under the car, I noticed that when I jacked one side of the car up, a TON of power steering fluid leaked out of the rack boot. So I got a reman rack assembly from NAPA for like $120, and ordered some poly rack bushings from Xcessive Manufacturing since they were the same price as new stock ones.

It's always something.....