Got around to fiddeling with the diff prelaod as I ran out of time when I put the diff and housing together. After raiding all the shims I could find - all of which were 3 thou thick I ended up with about 10 (does trying to herd cats come to mind) and still about 10 thou short.

Is it normal to need 35-40 thou in shims for preload? I see Karcraft have 6 and 10 thou listed but MiniSpares UK had 20 thou as well so I've ordered one of each from the UK but hope I haven't overlooked something in my measurement.

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David L


My greatest fear in life is that when I die my wife will sell my Mini and tools for the price I told her I paid for them!

It would be abnormal to use that many if the gaskets were original (.005-.007) but nowadays they are far thicker- .015" I think.
I built 2 of my boxes with no side gaskets, I used Loctite 515 master gasket instead. NO leaks.

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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.

You are right - the gaskets are 16 thou so following KC's instructions allow 2 thou for compression and 2 thou preload I need a gap of 14 thou - with all the shims in I have 6 thou. SO you are saying if I use Loctite 515 master gasket I can pull 1 shim and be close enough?

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David L


My greatest fear in life is that when I die my wife will sell my Mini and tools for the price I told her I paid for them!

Assemble it with Loctite on the RH flange, shim until you have .002" gap on LH flange when finger tight, then Loctite it and bolt up.
Note if you are using the later angular contact bearings with `thrust' marked on them, they should have .005" preload.

BTW I stand the box on its RH end when shimming, that way the shims don't move and get bent when the LH cover goes on.

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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.

No gaskets on my turbo box and it's been together over 10 years now - I use Loctite Blue RTV but agree on 515 as suggested by the good dr.

The only leak I've got is small seepage from the driveshaft seals but not enough to cause drip - I think they have gone a bit hard from age and the hot oil conditions from having the turbo on.

Daniel

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Mafs waz not my strong subgeckt at skkol