Brain teaser. Issue I currently have.

[JPerfect]

"The differential housings looked the same. (The E30 318's had a smaller differential housing). The output flanges on the ti were smaller. I suspect that the flanges would be interchangeable by popping them out, but I haven't confirmed this. The input flanges had the same bolt spacing, but the ti's flange was a continuous ring, as opposed to the E30's individual fingers. I couldn't tell for sure if they would bolt up the same or not. Again, if they don't, it's possible that the input flange could be exchanged."

I grabbed that from the Notebook
http://www.318ti.org/notebook/suspension/index.html

Now, here's my situation. I got in an accident a while back, and I had a mechanic fix my driver's side wheel/trailing arm/halfshaft, and afterward, I noticed the wheel stuck out about a half-inch more on the driver's side than on the passenger side. He said all was well, and it drove fine, but I still decided to inspect. I saw nothing wrong with it. However, as soon as it was time to do the brakes and replace the rotors, I noticed that the new rotor wouldn't fit on that side. it seemed too small. I compared it to the rotor on the assembly, and the rotor I had bought was, in fact smaller than what was on there. I tried it on the other side, fit perfect. After pulling out my hair for a while, I was convinced I got a trailing arm from an E30, but there were no markings or labels anywhere on it, so I didn't know. I recently bought a new hub to stick in there, but now realized that the old one ain't comin off. Haha, I tried for two hours with all sorts of tools, winches, pulleys, clamps, and claw clamps. No avail. So I put it all back together and it sits as it's been.

Anyone know if I can get that hub replaced for a decent amount? Will I need a different halfshaft or CV joint for that side? Is the trailing arm in fact any different? It looks exactly the same, but looks ARE deceiving on this car.

Any input at all would be great.

Thanks,

-Jeff

[campaiar]

On the diff question, the small E30 case is the same as the stock case for the TI. The pinion flange spacing is the same and will bolt right up. The output flanges are different because of the E30 half shafts. The E30 only used one half shaft and it fits the small and large case diffs. Therefore, the output flanges on the small diff are bigger and wider to accomodate for the space the large case diff would have used.

The output flanges can be removed along with the output flange seal/bearing race assembly and the TI assemblies can be used in their place. The seal/bearing race assemblies must be changed due to the diameter difference in the output flanges.

I've done this before and it works well.