La Tempesta

I have been away on holiday for the last week (to Ischia, Italy), and upon returning I found a parcel slip in my mail box. It was for a replica A.5.0114 DIASS tool from Totally Alfa in the UK. Gary Fisher at Totally Alfa is naturally a much better toolmaker than me, so the contrast between the tool I got in the mail and my own feeble attempts at toolmaking was simply enormous. The tool costs around £34 plus shipping, and the quality seems to be very good. It takes a 1/2″ drive. Unfortunately, I don’t actually need the tool at the moment, and the pinion ring nut is hidden behind the (mounted) prop shaft flange.

Props to Ruedi Aschwanden (“tubut” on alfabb.com) for creating the measured drawing which made it possible for Gary to fabricate the tool.

The handbrake assembly have been in pieces since mid April, so I figured I’d rebuild it while waiting for the bearings. The short cables from the diff housing to the wheel hubs are the only thing that isn’t new. The first thing I did was to dose the parts in engine wash, clean them with a brush and wash them with water. Once they were squeaky clean it was time to start assembling. The left and right assembly plates differ as to where the hand brake cable opening is, but apart from that they are identical. The small parts are interchangeable. Every moving part and metal-to-metal surface was greased up before I started. There was one pretty big problem though: I bought new shoe retaining springs from Häckner, but they haven’t been filed flat and does not compress enough to let the retaining pin extend all the way through so it can be turned. Since the old springs looked like new I decided to use them and throw the new ones in the parts bin. The assembly took me a couple of hours.

Before leaving, I fabricated a tool to loosen the ring nut on the pinion drive at the front of the differential. It needs to come off so I can get to the oil seal behind it. The original DIASS tool has number A.5.0114. I made it with a cutting disc on an angle grinder, a square metal file and a 32 mm 1/2″ socket. The job took about an hour, including hunting down red hot bits finding its way into my shoes