Ive got a question about my Z's rear end. ive only had my car for about 2.5 weeks now. i dont know a whole ton about z's as im coming from the s-chassis world. ive got a 2008 Z and im assuming its a base model( no TCS/cruise) and i was wondering if i had a vlsd rear end. ive been told by a few people that i have an open diff but ive been told by a few people that all 350s have vlsd. ive tried searching and ive come up with both results. any further guidance would be appreciated. thanks z people

 

you have open differential. I have a 07 base z and upgraded to a quaife lsd, which is a great upgrade. You will need to get shim kit if you go the quaife route. If you decide to upgrade to cusco or Kaaz then you going to need some more parts like new output shaft, bearings, seals, etc. I would suggest going with the quaife lsd unless you plan on doing a ton of tracking with your z. If you go with quaife lsd you will need to make sure you get the one made for base model.

 

I am thinking of going to same route as you. How much overall did you spend for everything? How hard was it to do everything? And most importantly, was it worth the money?

I keep reading that the stock VLSD is not worth the work or money.

 

You are going to spend about $1100 on the differential. Then you're going to need shim kit and I got new seals and some other parts replaced also so that was another couple hundred. Then I paid to have it installed and it took about 3-4 hours so add another $400 so total cost was about $1700, obviously if you do it yourself knock off about $400 bucks. I do a couple of track days once in a while every few months and didn't need to upgrade to a 1.5 differential. It is a good unit the quaife. I think if you went with other differentials you going to probably be spending close to $2k because of the other parts you need. So imho I think you should go with the quaife. It is better than the stock vicious differential and yes it is so worth doing this upgrade. You will feel instant response when you step on the accelerator. It is night and day difference from open differential.

 

I've had my 08 base for about a year now, and quickly threw in a Quaife LSD because I drive it year round, including snow, and I take it to the track. A LSD is always a good upgrade, but if you won't be doing either of these things then it wouldn't be worth the time and money. If you do decide to go with the Quaife LSD then unless you are pretty highly experienced with diffs, bring it to someone. It's very easy to remove the pumpkin, so you could always just take that to someone, but if you want to do it right you need to properly measure backlash and gear depth along with many other factors. The whole thing is a huge PITA and you would be doing yourself a favor by bringing it to someone good.

 

Seen it. Believe it!

 

so would a vlsd from a track model not be worth it. and is it not comparable to installing one in an s-chassis? those are fairly easy and i havent really had the chance to get under my car to take a peek at it

 

My VLSD I picked up for $150 a while back made a huge difference on the dragstrip vs my open diff. But on the street it didnt make too much difference. Id only go the qauife/cusco,etc route if you plan on heavily tracking your car.

Swapping pumpkins is easy. Takes about an hour. Just drop the drive shaft and axles and take out the subframe bushing bolt and it comes out.

 

cool. thanks for the help guys

 

You can pick up low mileage vlsd's off ebay for 200 plus shipping then bolt it in.

 

cheapest one on ebay is $350 +shipping

 

OK...... the cheapest one I found was $337 shipped but there are about 15 listings for diffs that dont specify what model car they came out of so they could be a good score.
Regardless paying $350 shipped for a vlsd is a good price for the upgrade to get rid of the open diff of the base model cars.

 

BTW just a heads up theres a user selling a VLSD right now for 290 bucks plus ship in the classifieds. Great investment for a street driven car.

 

i did a little bit more research and the factory open diff can be welded(yes i said welded, once again im coming from the wonderful land of s-chassis). now i know in my small army of s13s welded diffs suck in those mainly because there isnt an once of weight in the *** end. but i was wondering if anyone has experimented with a welded diff in a z. i had originally planned on sliding mine around every now and then. but unlike my 240s which i slid every oppurtunity i had this car will be seeing no such thing. i know welded diffs and tires dont get along with tires very well and ive got 19s on mine and dont feel like spending a grand on tires every 4-6 months. would i be better just saving for a vlsd or trying my luck with welded?

 

You answered your own question.....welding the diff spider gears is going to make both rear wheels spin exactly the same speed at all times. A correctly diff varies the speed the wheels spin(ie-going around corners and making turns)
Your going to eat through rear tires regularly all to save 300 bucks on buying a oem vlsd? Might wanna do things correctly the first time