Ok so I'm buying my drift car project for this summer. (86 rx7 gxl) Its got the Viscus LSD in it i believe. So i need to lock it to drift right? If so i can just weld the spider gears right?

 

S4s have a clutch-type LSD. Yours is an S4 being an '86. You got lucky, most GXLs I've seen (like mine) have open diffs.

You can drift with the OEM LSD just fine, but if you want it to lockup harder you can shim it. As a last resort you can weld it though.

 

So i can just check by lifting up one wheel and spinning it cant i? If it spins free for many rotations its an open one if not its lsd right?

 

^^^^ there has been alot of debate about using that method, alot of people really dont know, i dont either so i usually take the fill plug out and try to take a peak in there

 

lift the whole rear up. spin one tire and have a buddy hold the other. if he can keep it from turning in the same direction easily it's open, if not, it's probably a LSD. Either way, weld it. I know people who have gotten lucky with shimming it and it works for them but it's 20 years old already, just weld it and be done with it

 

dont weld it. thats the wrong way to learn. use speed and weight transfer and youll be like DK

 

I wouldn't say it's the wrong way to learn. You develop different technique learning with a welded. I had to drive differently on a welded vs an lsd. It's not like it was a "small" difference either.


If you want to know what's between your axles bad enough, just drop the subframe and have a look or remove a stub axle and look inside. You can see the layers of disks/spiders through the open hole. I dont know anything about vlsd's other than they're pretty much like a helical with fade and more mild lockup from what people say about them. IMO, i think they're **** for anything other than playing around or a dd.

If you DO have a clutch type lsd, DO NOT WELD IT. Go to mazdatrix and buy ONE clutch disk. Oem. Take your diff apart, inspect everything and CLAMP the thing in a vice to pack in the extra disk. You can shim stuff and flip springs too if you want to do it flatrate.


LSD additive makes them last longer but lock up isn't as hard from what people have told me. WHen you start randomly shimming, it's a different ballgame because you're increasing friction and break away.

A welded is fun. I recommend everyone try it so if you can get your hands on a spare to do up, go for it! Try both!

Good luck.

 

I would have rebuilt my my LSD had I had the money, but I'm a broke drifter so I took it apart, pulled two clutches out to make room and welded that bitch up. I haven't looked back since. But someday I will go back to a LSD, a MazdaSpeed LSD to be exact. It's cheaper then most and works great from what I've read. But I agree that you should try out both, but only if you can afford it. And that there is a big difference between the two.

 

That's the thing i was working at but can't get my hands on a diff just yet.

Ford clutch disks look similar to ours. I wanted to see if they would work. Would mean cheaper reubilds! I wouldn't consider myself "broke" but i can never justify dropping a shitload of money on a car i just enjoy and whatever. I have no aspirations to go pro or broke trying to. Lol!

Buying ONE disk to toss in or cutting some shims is the way to go if someone is super budget. My reasons is you can't "unweld" an lsd. You can but you can't. People GIVE open diffs away though. Keep that in mind. The **** thing is running that bitch 3.9 ratio if you're underpowered. It kinda sucks but you get used to it.

 

I have a welded diff on my pars car if you wanna pay shipping..