Hi all! I am in the midst of swapping my diff, and am upgrading the diff cover while I'm at it. I got the finned nismo cover from Z1.

Is there any trick to installing the vent tube? Mine will just not go in the hole its supposed to. Tried all the usual pounding, oil, freezing etc etc.

Maybe just a manufacturing defect, or they sent me the wrong vent tube?

 

You freezing the tube or cover or both? It's interference fit so it should be hard to install but not impossible. Are you using something to strike it at the base?

 

It can be tough to install. You need to somehow put equal pressure on the collar at the base of the tube. I think I finally got mine installed by holding it with some channel lock pliers at the base and hitting the pliers with a hammer.

It wasn't one of my finer moments, but it got the job done.

 

Hi All - thanks for the responses. I got 'er figured.

We had frozen just the vent tube and not the cover itself for just a couple of hours, and were trying to bang the tube in with channel lock pliers and a hammer. That didn't work.

Plan B - froze both the tube and the cover, overnight, and went out and bought some proper pin punches, then in the morning banged on the collar of the tube with the pin punch + hammer. This worked.

On to the RTV !

 

I would love to have been in the room when they were designing these finned differential covers.
"Should we just send the covers with the vent tube already attached?"
"No, just include it in the package and make our customers install it themselves."
"Hmm. Okay, but we're going to make it nice and simple for them to install then, right?"
"Oh, god no. We're going to make it so the vent tube is actually THICKER than the metal that it's trying to go into."
"Couldn't we just put some threads on the cover and the vent tube to make it easier?"
"We could, but then our customers wouldn't want to smash their face against a wall after failing to install it several times."

I've tried punches, open ended wrenches, pipe wrenches, and pliers. So far I've only been able to get it to swivel around in the hole. Trying the vice grip method next.

I'm sure I'll get it eventually, but I sincerely hope they fired the sadistic ahole that decided this vent tube design was acceptable.

 

Thanks for the laugh. I hope you get it!

 

Laff.....

Freeze the tube overnight.

Heat the cover in the oven for 30 mins at around 250°

Guaranteed fit. Once in and the temps stabilize, it won't come out.

Did that with a bearing shell/pulley and a supercharger bearing. Six years later, that thing still isn't coming out.

 

I just use a visegrip and put just enough pressure on it to gently hold the vent tube, right on top of the fat part. Then use a hammer and tap the jaws of the visegrip until the vent tube bottoms out in the hole. Ive probably replaced 30-50 of these on other Numerous Nissan models.

 

I ended up getting it later that day. Just had to come in here and vent during the process.

Freezing the tube didn't help at all in my case. Ended up just needing a hammer, small punch, and lots of persistence. Everything's been re-installed for about a week now. Gotta say, going from the crappy open differential to the OS Giken - *chef's kiss*