Gen 1 Camaro/ASA Stock Car Build

I called Tiger Rears and spoke with (awesome) Wayne. He confirmed the diagnosis and put a package of needed seals and bearings in the post for me. 
I am now in the process of tearing down the rear and building it back up. 

In reply to jh36 :

It's a shame your track time was cut short, but that just seems to be the way racecars are sometimes. At least you caught it before it turned into a more expensive problem!

In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :

My thoughts exactly. I'm trying to approach this project with an attitude that preserves my sanity, as well as the car.  Until I've gone through a couple of weekends with only "normal" issues, I am going to consider the car to be in development.   (At the same time, I am admittedly eager to see how quick it can be.)

The weekend was half a success. I tackled the leaking side first. The bell and axle came off easily, the seals came right out with my autozone rental tool and I had the driver side done painlessly. 

Unfortunately, the passenger side (which was not leaking) did not succumb to the rental tool. 
I returned the tool and put an order in for a blind bearing extractor which hopefully gets me back on schedule. 
I am not going to refresh the entire rear, as there is one (maybe two) weekends left for me. 
After speaking with Tiger, my plan is to take the assembly to NC where they will give it a thorough look, refresh what's needed and I will have peace on that component. But it's good to understand how it works a bit better. 
 

jh36 said:

The weekend was half a success. I tackled the leaking side first. The bell and axle came off easily, the seals came right out with my autozone rental tool and I had the driver side done painlessly. 

As always, love this project but that looks suspiciously like a big Healey in the background...

In reply to AxeHealey :

Good eye!  My first car was a TR4 ex-race car that I literally dragged out of a field and rebuilt when I was in high school.  This Healey was my second car.  I'm hoping this winter it comes back together...it's been off the road for a long time.

In reply to jh36 :

Awesome! Although I finally "finished" our Healey, I spent a lot of time with it when it looked like that so the image of a stripped down Healey is forever burned into my mind. 

In reply to AxeHealey :

I need to head over to your Healey/BMW/Truck post for some inspiration!  The Big Healey's were the first cars I fell in love with as a child.  

It was a hectic week at work and I ended up burning a lot of hours in a medical center with a spider  bite....that said, some progress was made.

I could not get the second seal out of the passenger side axle, so I made a purchase of this blind bearing extractor.  I was a little nervous since a couple of reviewers basically said it broke immediately or didn't have all the needed parts.  For me, it worked well and the removal was a success.

This is the tool.

I shot a video of it smoothly sliding out, but it's a huge file and not all that interesting.  Here is the seal with the tool attached.  It was harder to remove, and also the rubber o-ring seals were in much better shape than the the drivers side.  Which makes sense, as that's the side all the liquid came out.

The rear is back together and in situ. Everything went back together smoothly...I'm just hoping that the seals were indeed the only issue and I did the job well. 
I trimmed the rear wheel arches a bit more and raised the car 3/8". 
Heading to my son's shop next week for a pro corner balance and then it's on to Hyperfest. 

In reply to jh36 :

Nice!

In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :

the best part was just sitting in the driver seat adjusting my mirrors while my son James made the magic happen  

Looking at the picture of the rear axle made me wonder do you have a weight on it?

In reply to Rons :

If you are speaking of the block on the back plate, I believe that covers up what was an oil cooler inlet.  

My cooler is larger and located on the driver's side.  The supply and return side are not using all of these fitting locations, but works the same in theory. 

I thought Rons was asking how much the entire final drive assembly weighs...

TurnerX19 said:

I thought Rons was asking how much the entire final drive assembly weighs...

Oh...sorry!  I did not weigh it. A guess is everything except the wheels/tires is around 75-100lbs. It was fairly easy for me and one other to lift and snake it across the frame. 

Just thought I'd pop in for a little call back to page 1 where Jack casually mentioned that he had a second chassis and engine and trans and almost enough parts for another car.

I saw Jack today.

I saw Jack's car today.

Against my better judgment, and after me directly asking him not to, Jack is sending me a detailed list of what's in his parts pile for me to take to a possible future editorial meeting, or burn in a pit and forever forget about. Not sure which of those is a better idea...