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22nd February 2018, 12:12 PM
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Apikol Rear Diff Mount
So, I fitted a new Apikol main rear diff mount today.
It's a job I've been meaning to get to for months, ever since my off-throttle to on-throttle jerking and 4th gear thumping started back up again after a bad incident involving a bad 1st-2nd shift when my MAF failed. It's not too bad a job. Remove the rear exhaust section and loosen the heat shielding forward of the diff and you give yourself all the required access. A transmission jack was handy to support the exhaust during removal, and the diff with the mount removed. The standard mount has a 10mm hole through the centre bush. The Apikol Mount has a 12mm hole (actually pretty certain it was ½"). Not sure why they've done this, but it actually turned out the be fortuitous. The old mount was actually OK, but the mounting bracket on the chassis had been flogged out a bit. The bolt and nut had loosened slightly over time and were allowing movement of the diff. Tightening of the bolt would only be a temporary cure, as it would be purely a friction hold with a little bit too much allowable movement in the bracket. There was limited room to work, but we fitted a 12mm tear drop burr into my mates air drill and ground out the bracket (and the handbrake mounting clip) to 12mm. A visit to the bolt shop later and we bolt the Apikol mount into the bracket with a couple of good fitting washers (good size guess with mudguard washers that were a beautiful neat fit into the bracket). Tighten everything down bloody tight with 2' bars, and everything was reassembled. Final verdict: Drives beautiful again! Smooth shifts, no jerkiness... It's nice and tight the way we've mounted it. Anyone else considering the Apikol mount, just be aware of the ½" hole through the mount. If your bracket holes aren't flogged out like mine were, you might want to find a lathe and a bit of aluminium and turn up a ½" to 10mm reduction bush. Also replace the cone-lock nut on the original bolt (assuming mine was original). Nylock will do at a pinch, but a cone-lock is best. Sorry, I didn't document in photos... This is the only one I took!
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Cheers Marty  ____________________ Current: 2001 Audi S8 - Brilliant Black with Black interior, C5 RS6 rims (whenever I actually put them on...), Solar Sunroof, Tinted side and rear glass, RNS-D, Grom, Bose, clunky old phone in arm rest! 2002 Audi S8 - Project Replacement head coming arrived  thanks to MJSilver with Black interior. All features as the '01, with the 'S' mode auto shifter. Dodgey rear tint (need to find a way to get rid of that). Family: 2009 Volvo XC90 V8 R Design - has a louder more obnoxious exhaust than the S8, sounds great! Love this thing - Q7 was double the price, and certainly not double the car! Sold: 1997 Audi A4 - Hamilton's Club Sport, Achat Grey (will miss the old girl) Last edited by 27litres; 22nd February 2018 at 12:23 PM. 
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