Quaife LSD

[500AMM]

Hello.

I have just inquired for a Quaife LSD and contacted them directly. I was passed over to one of their vendors in UK, Birds Garage in Buckinghamshire. In accordance to their homepage they provide Quaife to BMWs only, but they have supplied to the 036 diffs too. They offered a Quaife ATB kit including instructions for fitting into the diff. Some minor machining is required. The price is slightly above £900 + 20% VAT and shipping. My concern is the durability for the high torque in my supercharged car, but they said it was no problem.

Any comments to the function and price?

http://www.quaife.co.uk/
http://www.birdsauto.com/

-arnt-

 

[gsxr]

Hi Arnt,

Bird's Garage was no help when I tried to buy from them. I can't remember if their price was too high, or if they just didn't respond to my email. I ended up buying mine from Abbott Racing (click here), the contact back in mid-2010 was Giles. Very nice, easy to deal with, fast shipment to USA. And, the price was a bit lower than Quaife's MSRP at the time. Current list is £790 (approx $950 EUR, $1265 USD) so it should NOT be £900+VAT+S&H. Something more like £750 would seem more reasonable to me.

The Quaife has a lifetime warranty (even in competition use) because it's bulletproof. Trust me, you will have NO problems with your supercharged 6.0 car. You'll break axles before the Quaife breaks a sweat. The QDF5V weighs 50% more than the factory clutch LSD and double the stock open diff. It's almost a solid chunk of steel.

Birds has obviously never done this install, they are wrong about machining required. There is no machining required. It's a bolt-in for the 500E diff. I personally did this install in my '92 500E. The procedure is the same as a factory diff (use the FSM procedures for setting backlash & preload, usually no changes to shims are needed). The only difference is that there are no C-clips for the axle stubs. Some people just leave these off entirely, or you can modify a later clip to allow some minor retention... this must be tested on your old/stock diff on the workbench to ensure you can remove the axle stub, otherwise it may be "permanent" once inserted into the Quaife...!!!

 

[jhodg5ck]

I didn't install any clips, ran all around Road Atlanta..No Problem!

I will say, that with out some Serious rubber the stock tyres still get utterly overwhelmed and the ASR still cuts out Lots of the fun, you really will want an ASR defeat once you get this thing in.

but def one of the Best mods you can make to your 036!!

jono

 

[500AMM]

Thanks guys.

It's good to get the need for maching disproved. I've got the installation instructions from Bird's and I couldn't see the reason to machine and tapp a bolt hole in the axle stubs just to keep the shafts in place - they do never fall out anyway. The only situation they could slide out is when the wheel hubs/suspension are taken off.

So the price is a bit steep, then I better inquire at Abbot Racing too. Both are in UK so they should refund the VAT on export to Norway anyway. I have also figured a bit on OS Giken. As I understand from earlier discussions they may be expensive, but good quality. However, as long as Quaife do the job and it's not a friction LSD, it seems to be the right choice for me.

ASR defeat switch is on the way, I follow Rik's procedure. I recently bought a E420 valve body from a board member too, so bits & pieces for the driveline are slowly coming together now.

Cheers
-arnt-