PART 1
I couldnt find a guide here but found a couple elsewere so thought il put one together
Disclaimer: I am by no means competent in this department and am only educated by people on the tinterweb who maybe just as incompetent as me, shimming a diff is still a pikey solution, to properly refresh a diff the viscous unit needs replaced which is ££££, this is based on my late manual uk spec s14a, if I F up on anything here just say so and il edit the thread
Problem: standard VLSD is tired, temprimental and often likes to spin up the inside wheel which is boring in a RWD car
Solution: Buy a new LSD (£££), weld your diff (££) or shim it (£.p) and hope it locks better without acting up like a welder
I choose to shim because a new LSD will bankrupt me and a welder aint versatile enough as I use my car for grip, drift, long/short distance, county rd fun runs, snow plough, minor off roading... BUT bear in mind shimming like this is a guessing game, you might feel no difference or it might be locked up like a welder as all we are doing is mashing the gears together.
What you will need:
A shim, fresh diff oil and thats it! assuming you are tool'd up already
Its a good idea to get driveshaft seals while your at it as mine were a bit mongofied and they are cheap anyway, il update with seal part no.s and a guide how to remove/ install the diff from the case when i put it back in (sometime this decade), about £16
Shim part no. from nissan4u.com (double check for your self though), about £7, I had to wait 6 weeks for mine
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SELECT T=0.83
'94, April —
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SELECT T=0.75
'98, October —
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SELECT T=0.89
'94, April —
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SELECT T=0.92
'94, April —
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SELECT T=0.95
'94, April —
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SELECT T=0.98
'94, April —
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SELECT T=0.78
'98, October —
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SELECT T=1.04
'94, April —
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SELECT T=1.07
'94, April —
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SELECT T=1.10
'94, April —
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SELECT T=1.13
'94, April —
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SELECT T=0.81
'98, October —
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SELECT T=1.19
'94, April —
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SELECT T=1.22
'94, April —
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SELECT T=1.25
'94, April —
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SELECT T=1.28
'94, April —
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SELECT T=0.84
'98, October —
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SELECT T=1.34
'94, April —
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SELECT T=1.37
'94, April —
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SELECT T=1.40
'94, April —
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SELECT T=1.43
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'98, October —
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'94, April —
Some say they are 0.8 standard, some say they are spec'd individualy
You can put a 2nd shim ontop of the original but I decided to repace the standard one for a 1.4
I think clive has 2 0.8 shims and its like a welder (which may have free'd up by now), let us know how many/what shims you all are running and how it feels
Whack out the drive shafts:
remove the rear cover bolts and remove cover:
Remove caps, pull out the diff and all shims, label shims and caps so you refit them the same side (I kinda forgot)
Undo the ring of bolts:
This has to be one of the hardest things iv done in my entire life, I put a breaker bar on one bolt, wedged it under a heavy table loaded with crap (not ideal as this ends up tightening), bit of wood under the diff, then a ratchet/pole to undo all the other bolts
Undone the last bolt by sticking my wheel nut tool through a hole and it came out ok, kinda like this:
I didnt have airtools at the time but I think gunning them off would be the way to go.
Tap the ring on opposite sides to knock it off:
Flip the diff round and undo these 2 screws, they are FT so use a properly fitting screwdriver or you will round them:
Twist the 2 sections so the holes are mismatching the tap with screwdriver to seperate:
Part of being a man is not reading things properly and some proper stupidity, that in the middle is not a shim! Try as hard as you like but you will never get it out as its one solid piece
EDIT: as al said below it is a shim but no need to remove it anyway.
lift it out, you are now holding the viscous unit that does all the majic, I find it amazing this little unit has to deal with so much abuse:
Flip the diff over and knock out the gear thingys:
And voila! there is your stock shim:
Either double up with a new shim or chuck in your new thicker shim, as said earlier im only refiting my new 1.4 shim and leaving out the old one:
Smother some diff oil onto the shim then put it in, 4 gear thing next, then viscos unit, then redo the 2 screws FT!:
Refit the Crown wheel, use some locktight on the bolts and tighten the bolts as much as possible using a normal sized ratched in a cris cross pattern, then get your breaker bar/ torque wrench out and torque them up 132-152nm, I done them to 138nm (got bored of taping the + button:
EDIT: Refit the longer driveshaft through to line everything up before tightening, guess what I didnt do
Tap out the old seals:
UPDATED the thread but cant post more than 30 images in one thread
So I split it into 2 parts, see below