Building a car isn’t all fun and games, but if you want your ride to look its best, it’s important to take your time and do things right. The crew of The Build knows this well and has taken plenty of care to make sure their project is completed properly. This week on The Build, the crew cleans up and disassembles the Malibu’s differential. Check it out in the video above.
In addition to fixing a leaking seal, the American Modern crew wanted to paint their differential so that it would look better under the car.
To do this, they had to clean off all the old grime, press out the old control arm bushings, drain the gear oil, pull out the axles and wipe everything down before the paint could be applied.
While this was obviously a tough job, one which took some innovation and finagling, the crew succeeded in pulling everything apart to clean the differential up properly. Once the bushings and axles were removed, and all the gear oil drained and wiped off, the painting process began.
Stuck up under the car, the differential doesn’t have to be pristine unless you’re aiming to have a show car that sits on display mirrors. Otherwise, a good coating of spray paint will do a decent job at covering up the differential and making it blend in well with your vehicle’s undercarriage.
Now that the differential is painted, the American Modern crew can move on to replacing the rearend cover with a chrome component to spice things up a bit. Then it’s off to replacing the leaking seal and moving further along on the project.
Be sure to check back next week to see the crew of The Build start in on the engine tear-down process.