For the longest time I suspected that my tranny's differential bearings have failed, because fluid would leak through the passenger side CV seal. Well I have read that you can drive on bad bearings for a while, but sooner or later would have to be changed... (I drove to Chicago(320mi) like this ) well.. turns out that my bearings might still be okay, but instead I found something else:

Today I decided to jack the car up and look at it once more. I could not believe my eyes. The passenger side axle had POPPED out, not all the way, just some, to where it was still driveable. I looked at the bracket that is supposed to hold it in place, and it is completely ripped off the block. The reason I think the bracket broke off is because when I did the 5spd conversion, I dropped the bracket and broke it, but since then it was JB welded back together.. The only problem now is that the bolts that held the bracket completely snapped off and are now somewhere on the road. This leaves me with the other half of the bolts still in the block... . Good thing my 3.5 is going in, as I wouldn't have a clue how to get those out. Well here are some pics:

 

wow.... that sucks... you might have to drill the bolts out... i dont know what to tell you, dont use broken parts in the future.

 

Yeah you would have to try to drill those bolts out and use a broken bolt remover kit (probably a better word for it but oh well). I know it has saved me a few times. That sucks to hear about that.

 

I will try to get the bolts out when I remove the engine.. I think I have to reuse the VQ30 oil pan for the 3.5 swap, so I will have to try to take the broken bolts out one way or another, but nonetheless much easier when the engines out of the car.

 

man that sucks. well here comes another 3.5 swap. full or just bottom end swap?

 

I'll be using the 3.5 with 3.5 IM, 3.0 oil pan, timing chains/covers, 4th gen ECU. As of right now i'm undecided on which cams to use.

 

wow that is scary.

reminds me I need to change my axle ASAP. . .

 

With the Y-Pipe or center member removed - you may be able to find a shop who can remove the left over bolts using a welder. Basically you just use a MIG welder to tack a little metal onto the end of the broken bolt. You do it slowly to keep the heat down and add metal to the broken bolt a little at a time. Once you have it protruding past the block you can tack weld a nut onto the newly created 'stud' and back it out using a wrench or ratchet.

JB Weld is an Epoxy. While it's tough - never use it for something where it's put under a great deal of stress. It does work well in the right situations - but the drivetrain isn't one of them.

 

Yeah, I learned the hard way I should have gotten a new bracket from the start. But I am happy that it wasn't my diffy bearings causing the leak.

 

You'll probably need a new axle seal on that side and hope that no damage was done to the bearings or the splines on the carrier.