This weekend's project: VSLD Swap

kcbhiw

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64 Valves, 16 Cylinders, 7.2L, 622 HP
This weekend's project: VLSD Swap

Well, upon discovering that Miata #2 is (now, "was") equipped a viscous limited slip differential (thanks again, Paul ;) ), I've been dying to swap it into my auto-xer. So I decided to tackle it this weekend. Upon removing the VLSD from #2, I had the stock unit out and the VLSD into #1 in under two hours. The funny thing is, it took me less time to swap the diff. than it did to remove the A/C. I can't wait until the next auto-x to see if there is any improvement (there better be). There was a SIGNIFICANT difference between the two when messing with them while out of the car. On the standard diff., while holding one of the output shafts (locking it), it easily spins the other very easily. On the LSD, it's very difficult to hold the output shaft while turning the input shaft. Hopefully, I'll be able to put a bit more power to the ground when exiting a corner.

I'll put together a HowTo for those that are interested...just for something to do, heh.
 
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Bender said:
I thought some people preferred non-LSD cars for auto-x or is it just my imagination?
I haven't heard anything like that. As I would exit a corner with my open diff., I experienced massive wheel spin on the unloaded rear wheel. I attempted to compensate through a larger front sway bar (rear bar is illegal in my class) and rear strut adjustments. It helped some, but I still had a lot of wheel spin. I would lose time since I wasn't able to gain traction and basically had to wait for the car to settle before I could get full acceleration again. I'm looking forward to the next event to see how much of an improvement there actually is.
 
I heard that the car would rotate quicker/easier without the LSD. If true, maybe it more than offsets the gain in traction out of corners in auto-x racing.
 
A how-to would be great! I've been contemplating on how tough it would be to swap a 1st get RX-7 LSD into my Miata.
 
Natey said:
A how-to would be great! I've been contemplating on how tough it would be to swap a 1st get RX-7 LSD into my Miata.
Not a problem. I'll put one together this week. Installation and removal is actually pretty straight forward, but there are a few "peculularities" involved.

Bender said:
I heard that the car would rotate quicker/easier without the LSD. If true, maybe it more than offsets the gain in traction out of corners in auto-x racing.
I'm not sure who you are hearing this from, but the folks with LSD's in their Miatas that I've raced are significantly quicker. Perhaps it's the driver, perhaps it's the hardware. I can't quite see how the car would rotate less with a LSD. However, that's nothing that can't be compensated for with suspension tuning, alignment, and tire pressures. The way I've set up my Miata, it's very "twitchy", easy to turn in at a second's notice. With that, it's almost scary to drive on the interstate due to it's alignment, but on course, it turns very well. The LSD will allow me to put a bit more power on the loaded wheel versus the unloaded wheel, which will, in turn, hopefully yeild a slightly faster corner exit.
 
Most autocrossers prefer the Torsen LSD from the 94 and later Miatas than the VLSD
from the earlier models. My 92 w/ the VLSD still experience a little wheel spin int the unloaded corner of the rear tire. But I guess without it should be worst.
 
maitai92 said:
Most autocrossers prefer the Torsen LSD from the 94 and later Miatas than the VLSD
from the earlier models. My 92 w/ the VLSD still experience a little wheel spin int the unloaded corner of the rear tire. But I guess without it should be worst.
Unfortunately, the Torsen is illegal in ES (considering the 1.6's were never eqipped with it. Obviously, cheating has its ways, but I'll pass on that (rather contradictive considering I'm running 95MY wheels, heh). I'd love to have a Torson or even the MazdaComp clutch type over the viscous, but I have work with what's available to me :(.
 
I was just wondering about #2 the other day and was going to PM you about it. Good to hear more about it again. Looks like your getting a better deal with more things you find. I've been dreaming of finding one with the same condition/same relative price as mine. I didn't figure it had an LSD since it was only an A-package. Anyways...sweet find. Hows it look now? What else have you done to it? Any new pics?
 
Luv2RedLine said:
I was just wondering about #2 the other day and was going to PM you about it. Good to hear more about it again. Looks like your getting a better deal with more things you find. I've been dreaming of finding one with the same condition/same relative price as mine. I didn't figure it had an LSD since it was only an A-package. Anyways...sweet find. Hows it look now? What else have you done to it? Any new pics?
I honestly haven't had the time to work on it. Between the rediculous amount of travel for work and a lot of my 'free' time being devoted to racing, I really haven't had the chance to work on #2, unfortunately. It pretty much looks just like it did in the last batch of pictures I sent out. :( The fenders and bumpers are primed and ready to go on. I'm going to hold off for the time being on the painting, so I'll just prime everything up for now just to keep the water off of the metal. I do drive over to Wayne's place to start it up and drive it around for a bit every now and then.

I discovered it had the VLSD by calling Mazda USA and having them check the VIN.
 
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