Jlhalsey3

Thank you NewZed, your picture shows clearly the only thing retaining the outboard joints to the hubs are the 6 bolts. Mine must be stuck together by some corrosion or paint as you suggest. The other issue you raise is more troubling, that the axles should not have just slid out of the differential! The circlips seem to be missing. I assume the circlip is intended to locate the axle laterally within the differential, without the clips the axle will move back and forth somewhat as the suspension goes through its travel. Perhaps this was causing the metal debris I found on the drain plug. Probably not the whine which is more of a continuous noise at constant throttle. I assume the circlips must be installed after after the axles are inserted into the differential on the bench and then the rear cover installed? Is there a procedure somewhere describing the process? Then the differential with axles inserted and retained by circlips is installed in the chassis? Cheaper to buy a new what? I assume you mean new circlips? Still hoping for recommendations on potential shops to inspect/repair the R200. Thanks for your help.

The end of the shafts I'm having difficulty removing is the outboard end nearest the wheel. The inboard ends slid right out. I will post a picture. The CV joints and shafts were part of a kit I bought years ago from Modern Motorsports. I think the shafts were custom made but not positive. The second picture is the inboard end. of the shaft which plugs into the diff. The last is a shot of the car before I tore it apart. Is rebuilding an R200 the sort of thing a novice can do successfully? Probably better ship it somewhere that knows them well. Suggestions welcome. Thanks for the replies.

Greetings, years ago I was active here during construction of my Viper powered 72 240z. Car has been on the road for almost 10 years and I am now retired and have moved from LA to rural eastern Long Island where there are very few sophisticated automotive service shops. Since I have time and no local expertise to help me, I am in DIY mode. I am undertaking some maintenance tasks (ball joints, tie rod ends) and refinement on the Z. It runs very well but has very noticeable driveline noise. To provide some background, the drivetrain consists of: Gen II Viper crate motor (stock except dyno tune), Viper headers with collectors rotated 90 degrees, Viper hydraulicly actuated clutch, T56 Tranzilla (from Rockland Standard Gear), aluminum driveshaft (approx 18” long due to engine setback, balanced, w heavy duty U joints), R200 long nose differential with Quaife LSD, Modern Motorsports CV joints/half shafts. The transmission rear mount is rubber while the R200 is mounted with Arizona Zcar Moustache bar and a solid lower mount. The transmission is pretty noisy and shifts are notchy until it warms up. It has only about 1000 miles on it and the correct lubricant, just its nature I believe. The differential is also noisy. This week I drained the lubricant and found significant debris on the magnetic drain plug. I am now in the process of removing the differential. My immediate problem is I do not understand how the outer CV joints are retained to the wheel carriers. I have removed the 6 small bolts on the circumference of the outer joints but the joint does not disengage from the carrier. I dropped the lower control arms (Arizona Zcar tubular steel, before billet) and was able to swing the struts outwards enough to disengage the axles from the differential. However, I have been unable to remove the axles from the car. I have done some banging on the outer joints with no success and am reluctant to apply more force and risk damage until I understand how they are retained to the carrier. Modern Motorsports is no longer in business so no help is available there. I can remove the differential without removing the half shafts from the car if I have to but would prefer to remove the shafts to clean and paint. The next problem will be where to get the R200 rebuilt so any recommendations for a shop to do that would be very welcome, the further east towards NY the better. Not sure how badly damaged it is but I had a shop in LA go through it before I moved. They found the pinion angle to be excessive, welded up the Moustache bar and redrilled the differential mounting holes to achieve the correct angle. In addition they replaced the ring and pinion with good used parts (apparently new gear sets are not available), cleaned and installed new bearings and reset lash. I thought It was noisy when I got it back then and now I know something wasn’t right. Unsure if the damage is just due to torque loads or incorrect setup. I have 275/35 R18 rear tires which provide moderate traction and I don’t drive the car hard or dump the clutch. I am also thinking I need to do something about the solid lower mount under the nose of the differential to reduce noise. I have ordered a top mount bracket with a urethane insulator but not sure I can make it fit in my car as there is a hydraulic brake “line lock” unit situated in that area acting as my emergency brake. Will see if it can be made to fit when it arrives. I don’t want to change the emergency brake setup as it has worked well. Well, that’s it for now. When everything is back together and running well, I plan to make a video of the car, it sounds, at least to my ear, great, especially at higher revs. I would very much appreciate any feedback or recommendations the community can provide. Jim Halsey