my friend james said something about some people "shimming" their lsd clutch packs instead of rebuilding them. what are the pros/cons and how is this done?

 

Your friend James is a dumbass! Don't listen to him. He probably owns 3 1gs that don't run! He probably thinks the noise coming from the back of the car is a bad pinion bearing when it's really loose lugnuts...oh wait...

Love ya man!

Chris

 

If James wants a good, relatively new LSD he should buy it from the guy with all the third gens in town. Or he can check lug nuts for noise.

 

I think if my car had weird noises coming from the back, I would check the lug nuts, not sell it to some guy in Louisville thinking the diff was going out.

Also, I think Miss Mazda knows where there is a diff that this James guy really really wants, and she has more pull with that 3rd gen guy, so maybe she can pull a couple of strings for him. Pretty please!

As for the shimming statement, it would still be considered rebuilding to the extent that you are pulling the lsd and disassembling it. According to the lead mechanic at a local race (YES, race not rice) shop, the road racers are placing shims under the clutch pads to increase the locking force of the diff and to extend the overall life of it. I too, would like to know what others have to say about this and whether or not it is feasible or even reasonable.

 

i don't like you guys and you will all burn in hell.

anyone else?

 

We shim the LSDs in our FB race cars. We don't do it to get rid of noises, but to lessen the amount of slip.

Mazda built those diffs with more slop than you would really want in a race car. To cure it, Mazda Competition sells a thicker clutch disk. All we do is take out one of the stock disks, and replace it with a thicker one.

 

In our Improved Production category (Australia) many of us have gone away from using the LSD and gone to the Torque Biasing Diff from Guru Racing. Much improved over the Mazda LSD by far. I have heard they have sold several into Texas and now Ari Yallon has a couple of the Gen 2 in stock as well as the Gen 1 I think.

Any of you guys tried them yet?

 

well this was talked about as a cheap ghetto way to tighten it without spending all the $$$ for a rebuild. iwas just wondering the pros and cons as well as how to do it.

 

Seriously I'd guess you're going to run into the same expense as you were looking at just for a rebuild. Like Buttlips says you'll need the thicker plates and not just a simple piece of shim stock. Have you priced the parts through Mazdaspeed? I'm guessing yes.

Chris

 

Just checked the price of the plates and discs. You'll need 8 of each. Price for the parts for the comp LSD are $21 per. So with all new friction parts you're looking at $170 or so. That's for the comp pieces. They don't list the pieces for the stock LSD on the website. I would guess they're similarly priced. That's much cheaper than you were thinking a while back.

Chris

 

Whoah! You guys are confusing me! Ok I am trying to rebuild a LSD clutch pack. Mazdacomp says they have friction discs & plates for THEIR competition differential. If I have a stock diff, don't I have to use the stock replacement type? They do have oversize stock friction plates/discs but in the manual there is a certain specification you are shooting for. Are all the racers just sticking in all oversize discs/plates and just throwing it together? Please let me know!

 

lol, thing is chris, i still owe you for the rearend. that was why i was seeing if this was a super cheap alternative. like wedge a hunk of oak in there, lol.

 

Got $10? Know a guy that can weld it.

Chris

 

lol. so i can hop around corners? no thanks, i'll just throw saw dust into it.

 

Nah do it dog. Then you can say ya got your drag setup! You already have the struts set as minimum rebound for that killer weight transfer.

Chris

 

lol. the damn thing used to have quite a bit of power on oversteer in the wet. now you'd have to floor it to get it to step out. i need another job.................too many things.