I`ve been thinking about R200 or R180 modification for a year now, but I`m a straight forward person, and I have reached the conclusion that I`d rather invest 2-3 grand in a lifetime warranty LSD with limited or no need for modifications and be done with it, As the car will need other things done to it.

I heard that all lsd diffs that have a ratio below 3.9 (Yep I`m taking everything under one assumption here as I can`t afford to put my guess on a 2 grand investment.) Gives a terrible vibration inside the car and people getting headaches of it, so I`ll be going for 3.9 or 4.11 personally.

And what more: I think I know what engine I will be swapping with.
I have been thinking about a Volvo T-6 engine (Volvo engines is one thing we scandinavians actually drown in.) And this specific engine is a Volvo 3.0 litre Inline 6 24valve DOHC, Twin Turbo, and thats standard nowadays! I`m fully aware that Twin Turbo has it`s short comings, but even stock T-6 setups are clocked at 274-302 HP and 402-423 NM torque hehe AND THEN you can start thinking about the potential when you actually start tuning the thing. And we drown in Volvo 240`s, I could easily swap in with a Volvo 240 5spd gearbox, (Which are known to take V8`s bolted straight on.) then all thats left is some minor modifications and customization, and thus by using the T-6 monster engine and Volvo 240-960 specification gearboxes, have a virtually unlimited and cheap supply of scandinavian muscle under my hood, befitting of and true to a Norwegian ZX.

I have heard that the Quaife`s have their shortcomings, on that note I`m not going to ask which ones, as I have the search function at my disposal, just thought I`d drop in my personal preferences and thoughts.

RvH

 

Edit: Nismo moved it, my bad.

 

I'm not sure where the <3.9 = vibration induced head aches. If that were true, then every 300ZX made between 1987 and 1989 would have that problem since they all came with 3.7:1 R200's.

People who naysay the Quaife or Helical or Torsen/Gleason differential do so primarily because they despise the exorbitant cost. If you don't mind doing a little disassembly and grinding on your own, the OBX for the R200 can be had on EBay for about $375 here in the states.

You'll want to break it down and clean up all the edges with a grinding tool to remove all the casting flashing and replace all the bolts and washers with good quality ones that can be had from this guy for about $40:

http://rbryant.freeshell.org/obx_washers

He's got a full write-up on that link for "rebuilding" the OBX Torsen LSD's.

We put one of these in our 24hrs of LeMons entry...

 

the OBX is a helical LSD right-o? people seem to have beef with the HLSD setup why is that? not to great at locking until late in the rpm range or something kinda like the VSLD?

 

It's because the Helical is a torque multiplier so it requires at least some force from both wheels. If one wheel comes off the ground 1000 X 0 = 0 force transferred to the wheel on the ground. Unless you're driving a Volkswagen that lives with at least one tire off the ground it's not an issue.

The other complaint is from people that complain that it comes on too soon or too late, both problems are because they don't have the pre-load properly set for what they're trying to accomplish.

A properly setup helical LSD is just as effective as a clutch pack with none of the wear issues you get with the clutch LSD or the "suddenly going open" you get with a viscous when they over heat.

Of course, the Quaife also comes with a lifetime unlimited warranty if you buy it directly from Quaife in the UK or one of their approved distributors in the US. DO NOT BUY FROM QUAIFE USA! They are only a distributor in the US and they don't honor the unlimited warranty.

 

Vicious units wear out quickly. At least that's the word on the street about the stock 350Z vLSD.

 

yeah my VLSD on my Z32 worked AWESOME when i first got the car then it started to get kinda iffy so i changed the fluid then i was down to a one tire fire right after the fluid change. i used royal purple and all!

 

I wouldn't say they wear out quickly, but they do loose their performance as they heat up. Once cooled down, they should be back to "normal". You should have no permanent loss of performance with a viscous LSD.

 

thats what i thought to... but something went wrong with my diff because it just didnt lock like it used to. not at all....

 

Diffs are indeed not the green woods and rivers of gold that they are made out to be. Used to drive an Audi 100 FWD 1.8 1986 (Off-topic car, but same idea.)

Now that it`s been a while since "it" happened, I`ve had some time to look at it from a more technical standpoint: I think the pinion gears went off little by little. I often got "lagg-spurs", felt like pinions somewhere in the drivesystem jumped over notches whenever I took it out of the garage in reverse near the end, as well as when setting it in motion forward, (Yes I clutched properly, hehe.) and at the end the right drive axle for the front threw in the towel, a loud crack, and I was jerked forward against the steeringwheel. when parking it and I was looking at cracks and oil leaks, and left wheel drive only ( LFWD? ) That said, the car was not exactly flawless before I acquired it, so many other things probably contributed to the end result.

More recently I saw the Drift Bible made by Tsuchiya Keiichi (Which, to my knowledge, carries the alias Drift King.) And they tossed in 2 clips of 1 example each: The same car (The ever popular Toyota AE86 Corolla.) drifting around a column, with the camera angle set down, so I saw it from above. The first one with the car drifting perfectly around the column, the second one making the car look like it was driven by a novice drifter, making small skids and the car had a big roll. Actually it was the same guy driving, but the differential had not received maintenance for some while. Which just goes to show that even with a differential made to, "last", will not keep up with constant abuse if it does not get the proper attention. And of course this would apply to Quaife diff`s.


About the -3.9 vibration, actually I only read about a few cases of it happening to a older Z`s (1970-1983 models.) Which had specific -3.9 LSD`s installed, and I can`t remember which make the LSD`s were. But it was definitely on a forum, I cannot remember whether it was zdriver or hybridz, where 2 of those cases were mentioned, one of them was in a "Which LSD are you running?" and another one was in a "Which LSD should I choose?" thread. It was described as, in the lines of taking a ride after finishing up the work on the diff, and after 5 minutes the headache occured. Might be because the diff was new and it had not been driven in, etc. And this remains my only reason not to get a diff with any lower ratio (As I do not know what the ratios translate to, less ratio, better drifting?)

In any case, sorry for not being specific about that earlier.


RvH