[DeTomaso] A ZF Type Question

[Chris Difani]

I was checking the torque settings on the side plate nuts, when I discovered 
that one nut wouldn't take more than about 10 ft lbs of torque. It would 
keep turning.... not like all the others...

Now the only work that's been done on this is that RBT went thru it, checked 
it all out, replaced some synchros, and then polished the case. No one else 
has messed with it.

This nut is on one of the studs that holds the side plate on. The plate that 
the drive shaft connects thru (it's late, and I'm not good with proper names 
at this time of the morning....). The "black" plate that's on the side of 
the ZF (one on each side).

Now I haven't investigated further, but I have this suspicion that the 
threads have some kind of problem. It just "feels" like that. All the other 
nuts were nice and tight. The way they are supposed to be. Solid.

This one isn't.

So my question here is, any particular repair process preferred over any 
other? Helicoil; drill and tap to a larger thread, and install a "stepped" 
stud (12MM on the case side, and 10MM on the black plate side); TIG the hole 
up and then drill and tap to original specs; or?

I have the ZF out of the car so access is not an issue. I would prefer not 
to have to disassemble the entire transaxle to fix this. At this point I'm 
leaning towards the helicoil solution....

Or I could slap some metal filled epoxy in there and just leave it 
alone.....

Thanks,

Chris

Chris Difani
'73 L #5829 "LITNNG"
Sacramento, CA
Email: cdifani at pacbell.net