I am just in the process of shimming my diff. It looks like it is going to need about 60 thou of shims. Would there be a problem putting 40 thou on the RHS and then doing the fine adjustment on the left? The crownwheel is aligned very much on the RHS of the pinion and I thought 40 thou of shimming would be a good idea to move it over a bit. It is a Mk 2 S box and I am fitting a new cross-pin diff with new bearings. The side cover gaskets I have are about 17 thou thick uncompressed. I'm also having trouble with the initial tightening of the LHS cover for the measurement. Most instructions say just nip it up - but what exactly does that mean? It seems that a slight change in the tightening changes the gap for the measurement. Any help appreciated.

I routinely hav put a 20 thou shim on the RH side and the rest on the left. These aftermarket gaskets are roughly 10 thou thicker than factory ones were.
I use Loctite 515, currently both our family Minis have NO side cover gaskets, and no leaks.

_________________
DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

I'm not familiar with the manual diffs but are you measuring without the gasket on the side you are shimming?

With the gasket removed work out the gap.

In regards to tightening the cover, you need to very lightly do the bolts up until the gap is even all around. If the gap is uneven you need to loosen them etc.

I've seen someone watch a video on it and then they were trying to do it all wrong.

_________________
1986 Mayfair (998 auto), 1974 S, 1974 Van, 1972 PMG Van

Too many minis

I think when i had a cross-pin diff, I put a thick washer between the diff centre and the bearing to take up the gap

I did my diff the other day, the gaskets were 0.012"

_________________
did I tell you that I won a trophy?

Black aftermarket gaskets last time I used were 17 thou,
Factory brown ones way back when were about 5.

_________________
DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

is there a "proper" way to measure them? I grab them with a micrometer and do them up reasonably tight - I measured another just now (the spare rod change gasket that came with the set) and came up at ~0.33mm / 0.013"

_________________
did I tell you that I won a trophy?

I measure the same way. Look there's no standard now, anybody can make and sell Mini gaskets. I've seen 3 different thickness flywheel housing ones too.

_________________
DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

Thanks for all the information. I would have to say, though, that - if at the end of it all you end up with the prescribed 1-2 thou pre-load, you are very lucky! Graham