--Rebuilding the axle is exactly the same as on other (G50 and later) 911s. You can stop reading here if you already know how to work on the torsion-bar cars.--
10) Remove the four clamps that secure the rubber CV boots. Depending on the clamp style, you may need a jeweler's screwdriver to pry up the little metal flap that holds the clamp. Discard the old clamps.
11) Slide each boot a couple inches toward the center of the axle, so that they slip off the tin flange that is pressed on to each CV.
12) Pop off the large metal cap that covers the outside of the inboard CV. I found it easy to use a small punch and hammer. This exposes all the grease. Using the same method, pop off the other two metal covers, one from the inside of that same outboard CV and one from the outboard CV. Take care not to tilt the CVs too far in any direction, because this can release the ball bearing from their cage.
If one or two do pop out, try to return them to their old positions.
13) Now you have the boots and all the metal covers off the CVs, and you are almost ready to disassemble the axle. But there is one last thing: On the inboard CV, hiding under the grease on top of the end of the axle, there is a circlip (AKA lock ring), and the axle won't come apart from the CV until you release this circlip. Pull it off using a circlip pliers.
14) Separating the inboard CV: You may get lucky here, and be able to slide the CV right off. I wasn't. I ended up putting the axle loosely in a soft-jawed vice, so that the inner piece of the CV was resting on to top of the vice jaws. Then I sat a socket on the axle in the center of the CV and hit it repeatedly with a large hammer. The axle will finally separate, and you have to catch it before it hits the ground.
15) Now that the inboard CV is off the axle, pull off both old boots and the metal covers that the boots were clamped to. Clean up and keep these covers, because you will reuse them.
16) Clean and repack the detached CV using the grease that came in your CV kit. There is a debate about whether it's a good idea to use solvent (Brake Kleen, etc) on these CVs. I always did in the past on my '75 and '88 911s with no ill effects, but decided just to clean these ones up with
paper towels as well as I could, and repack them.
17) Separating the outboard CV: This is what separates the men from the boys, and it turned out I am a boy. Starting with the 3.2 Carrera axles, the outboard CV is pressed on to the axle, and there is no easy way to remove it without a real shop press. If you're just replacing boots, this is not a big
deal, but if you're replacing grease as a maintenance item, getting all the old grease out of the inboard CV is tough when it's still attached to the axle. You can take the axles to a shop to have them separated, or do the best you can with the CV attached. You have to pick your method and live with it here, and I decided not to worry about separating this joint, but to get as much old grease as I could out of the CV, then repack, reboot, and reassemble the axle.
18) After considering the options presented in #17, clean and repack the outboard CV.
19) Slide the metal cover for the outboard CV over the axle and tap it on to the CV. It's a good Idea to temporarily slip a couple bolts through the CV bolt hole and the metal cover when you are doing this to ensure that the cover is lined up correctly with the CV.
20) Slide two new CV boots over the axle. Attach the new outboard boot to the metal cover using a new large clamp, then use a small clamp to secure the small end of the boot to the axle. The small end of the boot should ride in the shallow depression in the axle - you will know this when you see it. The clamps are provided with the rebuild kit.
21) Put the second metal cover over the axle and maneuver the new inboard boot onto the cover. Clamp the large and small ends of the new boot.
22) Tap the inboard CV back on to the axle, taking care not to cock it on the axle splines. The axle needs to protrude from the CV by about 1/8", enough to expose the groove that the new circlip will ride in. A large socket on top of the CV, straddling the end of the axle, helps here. Place the bolt-end of the socket on the CV so that the axle end can rise up nto the socket as it comes out of the CV, then hammer on the socket.
23) Replace the circlip with the new one from your rebuild kit.
24) Tap the new metal cover over the outer end of the inboard CV. Again, temporarily putting a couple CV bolts in the holes helps you to line up the cover correctly.
25) Insert the 6 CV bolts through the inboard CV. Don't forget the three brackets that act as washers under the bolts. It's OK to reuse the old bolts as long as the heads are in good shape (not marred or stripped) and they have not been over-torqued. Wipe as much grease off the protruding threads as possible - torque on these bolts is supposed to be measured dry.
26) You're now ready to reinstall the axle on the car. As the Haynes manual says, "installation is the reverse of removal." Maneuver the axle back on, rasing and lowering the suspension a-arm as necessary to clear the transmission and shock absorber. It's a tight fit. Torque the 6 CV bolts to 60 ft-lbs, tightening them in a star-pattern as you would with wheel lugnuts. Set the parking brake.
Then tighten the 32mm nut to 360 ft-lbs. This is beyond the scale of any torque wrench I own, so I set my air impact wrench (rated at 350lbs) to maximum and had at it. Finally, reinstall the air duct and oil line brackets.