Differentials

Is it possible to remove all or most of the weight adding gears, housing, etc. from a stock diff and then weld it? Same benefits, cheaper price?

PJ

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83 Rabbit GTI - future ITB
 
Oh yeah - contact information. Although it looks like you guys dug it up.

APTuning 717-272-0916. Talk to Mike or Mark. The pricing for the Gen1 with bearings and a bolt kit installed will be $560.00.

We hope to try one out at a few track days this fall, and plan to build a brace of transmissions over the winter with them (3 ITB cars and 1 G-Prod car).

I am pretty excited about trying this out, because I halfheartedly tried to get a spool made last year, thinking that the reduced weight would be nice. Of course since the 5th gear is loose on both of my transmissions, I need to dig up some other parts before the winter rebuilds.

Chris

(edit for missing word)

[This message has been edited by shwah (edited September 22, 2002).]
 
The spool sounds like alterative to welding, but if I'm going to spend 550 plus, why not just move up to the quafe. I ran across the Phantom Grip LSD, their at Phantomgrip.com. Looks like a price of about 300. Has anyone used this in a golf..

Golf/GTI ITB 40

[This message has been edited by loboracer (edited September 22, 2002).]
 
No personal experience but reports on the Phantomgrip have been mixed...

Kirk

PS - yeah, I know. I could have googled it myself.
 
The pricing is not as close to the Quaife as it appears IMO. The spool has a new bolt kit and new bearings pressed on when you recieve it, while the Quaife is bare.

For those of us who feel that a locked differential performs better than a quiafe this is a good option.

Chris
 
Not sure how much the bearings are, but an ARP bolt kit is ~$50. Add that to the $800 or so that an 020 Quaife costs. I gotta admit though, I'm curious as to why the spools cost $560, even w/ bearings and bolts. A Richmond spool for a Ford 9" is only $180, and it's made from 4140 CrMo steel. I'm certain there's an economy of scale effect here, but I don't see a 3x upcharge over common stuff that's out there (yeah, I know it's for a Ford).

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MARRS #25 ITB Rabbit GTI
SCCA 279608
 
Well, I'm definitly looking into this as an option for next season, especially since my welded diff tranny grenaded, while I was loading it up on thursday night for our race weekend. Mind you I put approx. 25+ race starts on this with no damage other than a single broken outer CV. I haven't torn it down yet, but on initial inspection through the hole
smile.gif
in my bellhousing, it appears the weld didn't hold up. It was arc welded as well.

On a side note, a fellow competitor, who couldn't make it for this weekend was nice enough to lend me his quaife equipped gearbox to try out. And needless to say, I have scratched it off my list of things I might want. IMO, if you want grip, get locked, I was at best a second per lap slower with the quaife than with my welded diff.

The one thing I liked about it was how easy it was getting around the paddock, but who cares about that!

Steve

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87 ITB Scirocco
www.geocities.com/highspeedconnectionracing
 
For comparison:
Spools are now $460.00 (yes the price dropped)
Quaifes are $819.00
And VW Motorsport diffs are $1195.00
Diff bolt kits are $44

The quaife is very effective in the rain, on straights and sweeper (carousel) turns. The spool has the disadvantages of a welded diff but will not allow wheel spin in tight corners.

The VWM diff does everything right. The VWM diff is the best (you get what you pay for)



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Bill Sulouff - Bildon Motorsport
Volkswagen Racing Equipment
 
Actually the $460 number is for the spool only without the bearings and bolt kit. I asked about this today and was going to post it here, but Bill was right on top of it.

Also for those wondering where the cost is in these peices, I asked about that last week...As you can imagine it is not the material, I mean steel is not THAT expensive. It turns out that the expensive part was the custom tooling for broaching the splines, and thus the machining is pretty pricy.


Chris

[This message has been edited by shwah (edited September 23, 2002).]
 
Steve,

I believe that Bildon can get them. It's my understanding though, that there is a very limited supply of them. They haven't been made (for an 020 box) for several years IIRC.

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MARRS #25 ITB Rabbit GTI
SCCA 279608
 
While I really try to refrain from "advertising" here...yes they are available and supply is no longer a problem.
Check out our site.



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Bill Sulouff - Bildon Motorsport
Volkswagen Racing Equipment
 
There is one disadvantage to the spool/welded diff that no one has mentioned yet. Carroll Smith noted that if you break an axle (or a CV) while under power with a spool/welded diff, the car will turn IMMEDIATELY (and faster than you can react) in the direction of the axle that broke. If there's a wall there, you will hit it. If you are in a corner with the power on, you will either go off the outside immediately or spin to the inside immediately.

Just thought I'd point this out. The other diffs (VWMS, Quaife, OPM, Phantom Grip, etc.) aren't quite as susceptible to this as they will allow the other axle to slip.

MC
#14 GP VW Scirocco
 
Mark, that's correct, but it's not as violent as what you describe. During the last race weekend @ ThunderHill, I was exiting thrn 11, and was going down the "back stretch" and when I grabbed 4th gear, the car pulled to the right. I backed off and checked out the steering, everything seemed to be OK, ie no flat tires, etc. Got back on the gas and the car pulled to the right. I slowed down and pitted. Needless to say, the left inside CV joint was gone. During dis-assembly, there was PLENTY of grease inside the boot, but the cage and balls were missing (destroyed). That's the first CV failure I've had with a locked front diff in 4 years of racing. I always rebuild / replace both 1/2 shaft assemblies every winter, and carry each side as a spare.

My $0.02 worth



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Tim Linerud
San Francisco Region SCCA
#95 ITB GTI, GP for 2002
http://linerud.myvnc.com/racing/index.html
 
Interesting that it pulled to the RIGHT when you broke a left CV. I assumed it would pull in the other direction. Maybe Carroll Smith wasn't referring to FWD cars? Or maybe the toe-out caused it to pull to the right?

Hmmmmm.

MC
 
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