Goal: Move parts car 3-4 miles to my garage.

Condition of car: Good. Missing engine & transmission. Driveshaft still connected to rear differential.

Plan: Remove driveshaft from differential. Tow car with tow strap behind functioning RX-7. Estimated time: 1 hour.

So, I jack the car up, and start trying to remove the driveshaft. A 12mm socket is too small to go over the nuts, so I try a 14mm... which spins freely. Strange. 13mm doesn't exist on these cars... Turns out it's 1/2". Or, at least three of them are. One is a regular nut, no problem. One is a nylon lock nut... spins, but doesn't back off. Anyone have ideas on how to remove this? The third is the original nut, badly rounded off and rusted in place. I never got around to looking at the fourth one.

So, the driveshaft isn't coming off. I get some bungee cords, make a cradle for it by wrapping them around the exhaust hanger, and head off slowly.

The front of the driveshaft proceeds to flop around wildly. Packing tape around the u-joint works for a short while, but not long. I can't tow faster than 750 RPM in 1st without it making a huge racket.

After 2 and a half hours of this, the car finally makes it to my garage. The engine is in the back of my Subaru. 86 FC NA with an aluminum hood. Would a silver hood look tacky on a dark grey car? And how do I remove those nuts? I'm considering making a trailer out of the back half of the car (the interior is gutted, engine is blown, but the body is in halfway decent shape).

-=Russ=-

 

That aluminum hood is the prize. Be careful with it, they're easy to dent.

I've seen the nut version a "easy out" screw extractors at Sears.
They are on my Christmas wish list..

In general, I always try to use a 6-flat socket on high torque (and exhaust) bolts.
The 12-point sockets just don't have enough grip.

 

Since when does 13mm not exist on these cars? I swear I've used 13's before on a few things.

 

There are many 13MM nuts used. On the turbo, for example.

 

Ok, maybe I'm crazy... does a S4 NA use 13mm nuts? I could have sworn I did the entire rebuild without using a 13mm socket.

-=Russ=-

 

I don't believe there are any on the engine. Not that I can think of anyway.

 

Just a stoopid question, but did you remember to use a wrench on the bolt head on the other side? I did that on my last drive shaft removal. After a minute of wrenching, I realized the nut was just spinning in place because nothing was holding the bolt still. I shure felt stoopid!

 

Not the engine, but my car is an s4 and I've used a 13mm plenty of times.

 

Yea, I did. Took me a bit to figure that one out too, so don't feel too stupid :-)

-=Russ=-