Will an LSD really change my car?
 

To those of you who stay away from Nopistons, here is a little thread I started over there . . about how an LSD changes the FC, and what to do about it. I hope you enjoy it. :)
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I finally got around to swapping in an LSD in my 87 base FC. Its other mods were streetport, ported intake manifold, ram/cold air intake, five lug swap, springs and struts, 300zx wheels and 225/50/60 summer tires, a GXL rear anti-sway bar, rear steer eliminator bushings, front camber adjustment slots, aluminum hood swap and about 200 pounds of crap removed from the chassis.

I had the suspension dialed to be pretty neutral before the swap. Some light trail braking could be used to counter the natural turn-in understeer on turn entry, and then all braking could be released to allow the car to glide tightly through a turn at around .8-.9G. But power could _never_ be put down early in a turn, unless I wanted to spin out into a ditch or just spin the inside rear wheel.

So I put a GXL LSD in the other day and it had 15 foot-pounds of static friction between the output shafts, measured with my torque wrench. It had about 110k miles on it and was probably half worn-out, but I wasn't complaining. The open diff had less than one foot pound of friction between the shafts, so it was an improvement.

After installation, the rear felt MUCH more stable, like I put a rudder on the car or something. Power could be put down right away, almost before the apex of a turn, and if traction broke, the car would just go sideways slightly but not spin the inside wheel like before. But the LSD caused some understeer to come back. The car wouldn't glide as hard through a turn like before.

The fix: adding a tad more rear toe-in using the adjustment cams on the front of the rear trailing arms. This increased the slip angle of the outside rear tire in a turn, reducing understeer. The car is great now and just like before, but with that stable feeling that it never had. I can drive it pretty damn hard now and wring it out like the sports car it should be.

So anyways, if anyone cares, when you swap in an LSD to your base model FC, you can get rid of some of the understeer it causes by dialing in some toe-in to the rear wheels.

yes it will change your whole car. It will become an RX-8.

What size spacers do you run with the z32 wheels?

An overpriced, underpowered, pathetic failure? I beg to differ.

No, it will just become a higher model RX-7. Which is good, LSD makes things a lot easier in the rain and on dirt.

i dont see why the RX-8 is overpriced at all
try compare it to 350z or the G35, or a s2000
what u call them ? bang of the buck ?

Yeah, why do people bash the RX-8 ? Just because it isn't as fast as an FD ? I am sure they will end up being alot more reliable than any FD out there. I suppose if straight away power is the most important thing to you the RX-8 would suck.

Start a thread in other cars, I don't want to hijack a thread that's actually informative.

The 300zx wheels required 5/16" spacers up front. The 225/50/16 tires really fill up the front wheel well, but 235's might be possible. The rear wells look like they have room for 245+ width.

I just added a lcd out of a 86 gxl and couldn't be happier, launch traction is great but the best part is being able to drive my car in the rain again, i don't know if it's my roads or what but before the lsd i could spin tires in 5th gear at 35mph when it was raining, Also try doing some drifts now its much more fun, without the posi it was hard to get the rear to break loose using only downshifting now its a breeze