002-M-P

iTrader: (12)

The Installation Story....

I got my cusco type rs differential in 2 weeks ago and proceeded to install it that Sunday afternoon before July 4th. It was just me, my jack/stands, hand tools, and my apt parking lot. Alone it took me about 2 hrs to get the pumpkin completely out of the car. I was able to get it out without removing my hotchkis rear sways and only removing one side of my exhaust, but I had to take many breaks because it was sunny and about 90 deg.

After I got it out, got the back cover off and the stock vlsd out is when I ran into my problems. I did not realize that the stock side bearings are literally about impossible to remove without damaging them. I tried everything, even broke a 3-sided bearing puller So I said F it, i'll clean up and order bearing tommorow morning. I woke up and called about 10 dealerships around the area and no one had the bearings, so I called up Courtesy, but they don't ship overnight to a non-billing address on a first order. Then called Performance and they hooked me up with a set of bearings and seals for cheaper than anywhere else and had them overnight them to me. Although, being July 3rd that meant I wouldn't get them till July 5th..this is my only car/daily driver...ughh.

Got the bearings in Wed. July 5th about 7pm when I got home from work (had someone drive me) and got to work on my kitchen floor. Setup the LSD to 80% lock and 1.5-Way. Heated up the bearings and got them on the new LSD, got everything tightened up and torqued down inside the pumpkin and sealed it up. Went outside about 10pm and put it back in there with everything ready to go by 12pm (still haven't had dinner). So total working with no problems would have been about 6hrs by myself, but with all my difficulties it was about 10hrs, 4hrs of which got me absolutely nowhere.

Moral of this story is...
1) Buy new bearings and seals BEFORE you try to install it...and...
2) Have a friend help you because that pumpkin is F'n heavy to put back into place alone and its really hard torquing down bolts with no vise and just one person working on a kitcken floor....doable, just not fun.

The Review...

After driving in figure 8's for about 25 minutes solid in a Dick's parking lot(would have been 30 if the cops hadn't told me to leave). NOTE: I know some people say this isn't necessary, but hey...it couldn't hurt. I then drove around for a little while longer and changed the oil (Mobil 1 Syn 75w-90 btw).

All I can so WOW. Its hard to describe...80% lock is probably too aggressive for everyday use for most people, but I love it. At low speed on throttle turns (aka parking lots, turning out onto streets from stop signs, etc) the inside wheel definately scrubs and on new pavement does the chirp.chirp.chirp through the turn. Its kind of annoying, but like the clutch and everything else I have gotten used to it. The unit itself is pretty quiet though. Very little popping noises like I hear people talk about Nismo units...it only pops when you are turning under throttle and let off the power and the unit unlocks (this is a little weird feeling).

What this thing is really meant for...it works beautifully with. The car feels so much more stable and confident in corners. The turn in is just amazing now, doesn't want to push much at all anymore and the controllability of a powerslide is much better and more consistant. I knew it would help this out, but I did not expect it to work so well in just road-holding in general. Take a freeway quasi-tight onramp for example, that I used to take at about 55-60 and felt that was safe but still pushing the car a bit. Now that same onramp I feel just as stable at 65 or so. Now while I know this isn't a track comparison, it still showed me how crappy the stock v-lsd was. People had said this before, but If I had truly KNOWN..I would have bought the new one a long time ago.

As for straight line traction, I can not say yet. I'm still a little scared I'm going to break my axles and would rather wait till I upgrade those before I say anything about its traction from a stop. (I know this is a little paranoid at 424whp on street tires, but this being my DD, I feel it is justified.) But I was hitting second gear pretty hard and it would spin the tires some but not nearly like it used to. That and I used to be able to roll-on spin 2nd gear a bit (not much recently with the 295's, but on colder days) and now it doesn't even seem to want to lose traction at all.

All in all, I am extremely happy with this differential and would recommend it to everyone (but for most people I would say set the lock-up ratio to 60% just so it would be a bit less agressive). Sorry for writing such a book of a post, It just kinda happened Oh yea, and here is a picture of my kitchen post-install, hehe

Mike Wazowski

iTrader: (113)

nice write up. That kitchen is a mess by the way.

gringott

iTrader: (17)

Thanks for the write up.

richie

i like the way you work..... got the beer right next to you =)

Eazzy

iTrader: (8)

Dam proud a ya !!!!!!Fortunatlly now days I have a shop but ----AH the memorys!!!!!
Clean that kitchen --Its a DISGRACE !!!!!!! People have to work there !!!!

BTW -- If a brg has a number it can generally be gotten at the local Brg supplier for cheap cheap. That goes for the Brg Race too. And Seals

Chebosto

iTrader: (43)

did the plate assembly instructions help?

002-M-P

iTrader: (12)

Yes they did. I felt kinda like a moron just because I didn't even realize they were in there until after I posted my questions. But thanks for the help man, appreciate it.

davidv

iTrader: (2)

Excellent detail.

350Zteve

iTrader: (6)

Can these diffs be installed without resetting the ring and pinion lash? I thought you had to reset those measurements.

Sharif@Forged

iTrader: (92)

Nice..hopefully you will still get your apartment deposit back.

Congratulations on tackling one of the more challenging DIY installs on the 350Z.

Eazzy

iTrader: (8)

I was a little curious bout that too

002-M-P

iTrader: (12)

well technically speaking, yes you are suppose to check the lash and re-adjust, but I installed it with the same spacers it had stock and held a set of calipers up to it. It felt like it moved the same as before and didn't look like it went the whole motion of the specified gap I made with the calipers, so I believe its ok. It also doesn't make any extra clunking or anything from being too lose.

PS. Factory Service Manual is most crucial for everything....

PPS. The kitchen is clean as new...gotta love linoleum

Sharif@Forged

iTrader: (92)

We've never had to use shims, or make any adjustments with aftermarket diffs. We also check the lash, and its always been within spec. No extra parts needed.

DarrenA

iTrader: (1)

What about base models without the factory vlsd?

002-M-P

iTrader: (12)

for the base model you will have to get the stub axles that go into the rear diff housing...give performance nissan a call and tell them what you are doing and they will be able to tell you everything you need.

DarrenA

iTrader: (1)

I also have a 3.91 gear I want to drop in at the same time. Will that change the difficulty of the instalation? I'm thinking about trying to do this myself as you have done, but my mechanical skill is limited and I don't want to tear the pumpkin apart and not be able to put it back together.

002-M-P

iTrader: (12)

Yea, I would say take it to a shop if you think your mechanical skill is limited. This is not an easy install (gears are an easy change if the lsd is already out though). But dropping the pumpkin and tearing it down isn't the easiest thing. Then you have to make sure you torque everything right and seal it all up properly.

Z1 Performance

iTrader: (564)

you'll need some really small calipers to check clearnaces on the gears...not an install I'd want to do myself, though a rear diff alone is pretty simple

DarrenA

iTrader: (1)

It sucks because the only people that I trust who say they will do it is a dealership a couple hours away and they wanted almost seven bills to do it. I really wish I could pull it off myself with the help of a few friends. So changing the final drive makes things that much more complex? I'm not too worried about tools because I have access to a pretty big collection. Its just assuring myself that I'll know all of the steps that have to be taken as I go along. Thanks for the help from both of you guys by the way. I actually purchased the parts from Z1

Z1 Performance

iTrader: (564)

Might also want to check out any local muscle car shops that do work on maybe Mustangs, etc., or see if there are any performance tranny places around. With some legwork on your end, I bet you can find someplace closer who can handle the job for you.

Changing the diff alone is very easy - I actually paid someone else to do it for sheer time reasons (he was free that day and we didn't feel like doing it!), but in hindsight, could have easily done it ourselves. I also paid to have my gears installed too, but might tackle it myself if I had to do it again, since we've since done them on the race cars (BMW) without incident. It's just a messy and time consuming job, that's all).

Install on a diff and ring and pinion should be in the $400-$500 range.