Last week, before getting hurricaned by our friend Nicole, we dropped off our MR2’s E153 five-speed transaxle and a shiny new Quaife helical limited-slip diff at Precision Transmission in Ormond Beach.
Precision has a staff full of racers, from GT1 drivers to ChampCar competitors, so bring-your-own-part situations for track-focused cars don’t make them give you weird looks. What did produce …
Not having a working speedo would drive me crazy. I'd either put it all back together with the factory diff or search to the ends of the earth to find the parts needed to make it work with the quaife diff
While its sweet that you found a bonus, does that take some excitement from going to the Quaife? Going from LSD to different LSD instead of open diff to LSD? Or is the Quaife that much better?
So uhh...whatchu doing with that extra E153 VLSD...
Never had a race car with a speedo. Wouldn't miss it. For street driving there are so many GPS devices available to provide speed info for a driver if needed.
I knew I was correct to hoard a C52 speedo ring gear for the day I can afford a Quaife QDF15E for my AE92.
Purple Frog (Forum Supporter) said:Never had a race car with a speedo. Wouldn't miss it. For street driving there are so many GPS devices available to provide speed info for a driver if needed.
The real problem is when neither the speedo OR the gas gauge are working. I just top off pretty much every time I drive past a gas station....
Purple Frog (Forum Supporter) said:Never had a race car with a speedo. Wouldn't miss it. For street driving there are so many GPS devices available to provide speed info for a driver if needed.
Ding ding. This.
Now that we'll have a modern ECU-controlled powerplant, doing an OBDII-based digital dash with a GPS speedo will likely be our easiest route.
maschinenbau said:So uhh...whatchu doing with that extra E153 VLSD...
I'm easily tempted. Whatchu got?
I opened a Samurai diff to install a locker and found a mini spool.
After trying the spool, I pulled it back apart and installed the locker. A spool is pretty hard on tires on the street.
Huh. I was expecting you to find a note about the car's warranty being expired and a phone number to call to get one.
TJL (Forum Supporter) said:While its sweet that you found a bonus, does that take some excitement from going to the Quaife? Going from LSD to different LSD instead of open diff to LSD? Or is the Quaife that much better?
I dunno if MR2s VLSDs are like Miata VLSDs, but if so then it probably stopped being an LSD about 20 years ago. :)
codrus (Forum Supporter) said:TJL (Forum Supporter) said:While its sweet that you found a bonus, does that take some excitement from going to the Quaife? Going from LSD to different LSD instead of open diff to LSD? Or is the Quaife that much better?
I dunno if MR2s VLSDs are like Miata VLSDs, but if so then it probably stopped being an LSD about 20 years ago. :)
It's pretty telling that JG has maybe 1000 track miles on this car but never noticed the limited slip.
Other clickbaity titles:
"The truth about what was inside our transmission"
"What THEY don't want you to know about our transmission"
"This secret weird trick about our transmission!"
Tom Suddard said:It's pretty telling that JG has maybe 1000 track miles on this car but never noticed the limited slip.
I was thinking about this, too, and I think what it comes down to is a couple things:
1) Relatively low-powered mid-engined cars are not particularly LSD-dependent. Plenty of Elises handle GREAT with no LSD, and if you ask Lotus they'll tell you that the LSDs are really only necessary for autocross.
and
2) I had nothing to compare it to. Maybe driving back to back with an open diff car I'd have picked up on it more.
Which also kind of begs the question "Why fix it if it ain't broke?" Which is a valid query. First, we were in there anyway. Yeah, that's a way to justify a LOT of stuff, but it's certainly not a spurious justification. Second, I LOVE geared diffs. I've never driven a car that wasn't improved by a torque-biasing differential. I think they have a much more "natural" feel than clutched diffs, if that makes sense. I think they improve corner entry in a more intuitive way than clutch diffs do, and I also like that they don't really have any wear parts in them.
Ooh, and while we were talking the trans shop just texted to let me know it's ready to pick up. $636.98 for install of the diff and carrier bearings, inspection of existing stuff and doing a little bit of deburring and hand polishing while they were in there.
I once opened a guitar amp to install a hot-rodded part and found that very component already installed by a previous owner.
Womp, womp.
Does the Vlsd use the same axles as the open/torsen?
Sometimes the axles are different splines and such.
I loved the Quaife in my Taurus SHO, especially with the extra torque from the 3.4L V6 with the bespoke offset ground stroker crank. The beauty of the Quaife is its smooth action, which makes it so advantageous in a FWD application or in the front axle of a AWD vehicle.
Keep in mind that the Quaife acts like an open differential under braking. Also you have to keep both tires planted on the pavement for the ATB function to work correctly - one driven tire up in the air or off line on say wet grass will render it ineffective. That is way the Wavetrac maybe a slightly better choice (if available), but that is a while different discussion...
BTW, the action of the Quaife still heats up the fluid more than an open differential, just maybe not as much as other types of LSD.
TJL (Forum Supporter) said:While its sweet that you found a bonus, does that take some excitement from going to the Quaife? Going from LSD to different LSD instead of open diff to LSD? Or is the Quaife that much better?
I went from a clutch LSD to a Torsen and tool 3+ seconds off of my lap times. It also completely changed the personality of the car...for the better.
In reply to JG Pasterjak :
Porsche sells many 911's without lsd's, in fact, on most you can't even option it. My 996 turbo doesn't come with one and you can't buy one from Porsche for it. However when I installed a Guards lsd, it dramatically changed the character of the car and I no longer light up the inside rear wheel on corner exit of the track. Dropped an easy 2 seconds/lap with it.
So I'd say that just because a manufacturer doesn't equip their cars with one doesn't mean they don't need one. More likely the manufacturer didn't want to spend the money to put one in, or thought that the buyer wouldn't check that option box and be willing to pay for it...
Was hoping they'd find something crazy or interesting.
Tom Suddard said:codrus (Forum Supporter) said:TJL (Forum Supporter) said:While its sweet that you found a bonus, does that take some excitement from going to the Quaife? Going from LSD to different LSD instead of open diff to LSD? Or is the Quaife that much better?
I dunno if MR2s VLSDs are like Miata VLSDs, but if so then it probably stopped being an LSD about 20 years ago. :)
It's pretty telling that JG has maybe 1000 track miles on this car but never noticed the limited slip.
You know Tom, I'd say something like "sweet burn!" to that quip of yours, but... too soon. Tooooo soooon. =P
If youre selling that LSD, shoot me a PM
Im not sure, honestly if I have one or not. Im interested in buying.
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