Once the block had been fitted it was time to start looking at a way of mounting the front differential. On the Niva the front diff is suspended from the engine by the engine mounts and a bracket which bolts onto a mounting boss on the engine block . As I am using the standard Niva engine mounts the diff ended up more or less in the correct position by bolting it to these mounts, all I had to do now was figure out a way of holding up the diff head. I ended up extending the LH mount to pick up the other mounting pad on the diff . Here is what it looks like.

Once this was done it was time to have a serious look at the oilpan (sump) to diff interference. The oilpump pick-up, once bolted in place, just cleared the cover plate on front of the diff. The first picture is a detail shot showing just how close it is. The round disc is the bottom of the pick-up, the rusty brown diagonal bit is the cross member. The second picture is a more general shot from a different angle.


Although the pick-up cleared I decided to trim it back a little to make it easier on myself when time came to fabricate the sump. This was done by prying the pick-up open, hacking a bit of the cast aluminium housing and folding the sheet metal back over. Not the prettiest to look at but who is going to see it when the engine is all together.

When this was done it was time to turn my attention to another clearance problem. This one involves a little pipe which runs down from the oil-air separator on the side of the block which is part of the crankcase ventilation system.