LSD for C64 gearbox / transaxle

[PublicDrifter]

I am not an owner of either an Elise or an Exige (although I have owned a VX220 turbo) but I am currently fitting an Exige C64 into my Mk1 MR2 rally car. The gearbox I have has an open diff, this is obviously not good enough for my rally car.

I know many different brands are available as the gearbox is used in a lot of FWD jap stuff, and I dont want to just jump at a quaife ATB wallet first.

What do you guys suggest?

[danwebster]

There's not many people that run LSD's in elise / exiges as apparently they will kill you instantly if you attempt to drive around a corner with one...

If you can source one i'd suggest a Torsen diff as they are almost identical in operation to the Quaife but often supplied OEM, I got mine out of an unused rover 620turbo gearbox (although I assume you are referring to the toyota 1zz rather than rover powered exiges).

[danwebster]

But having said that, if you're going rallying presumably you want a diff that'll lock anyway?

[PublicDrifter]

torsen/ATB would be fine on tarmac due to their nice progressive nature, old skool plate / clutch LSD would be better for the very loose stuff and for when we snap drive shafts as with a locked diff you can still get to the end of stage with one wheel drive. torsen diffs wont do the one wheel trick as they need some load on the opposing wheel to work.

I think we will go with the quaife ATB, its about £600ish, maintenance free and wont wear out like a plate diff can.

[danwebster]

If you can find one, the Torsen has the same maintenance free lifetime garantee that the quaife does...might save you a few quid

[tertius]

Surely the Quaife is a torsen (i.e. torque sensing) diff?

[F.C.]

tertius said:

Surely the Quaife is a torsen (i.e. torque sensing) diff?

As I understand it the Quaif is an auto torque biasing diff that works in a different way to Torsen in that it doesn't actually lock up.
So if you lose drive completely on one driven wheel the other will not drive, the system relies on torque feed-back from the opposite wheel, as long as there is some traction / torque on the "unloaded" side the loaded side will drive.
It is this reason that the plate type diff is favoured by rally / "off road" vehicles.
on road you rarely lose drive altogether on any driven wheel.
F.C.

[danwebster]

They're both torque biasing, non locking diffs. One is made by Quaife, the other by Torsen.

Neither will work with with a snapped shaft as they aren't 100% locking, just torque biasing.