Welded Diff on a DD?
 

i like donuts and not the kind u eat.. also im partial to wet roundabouts and empty wet junctions at night. :biggrin:

currently on my 2nd diff.. blew up the stock 3.38 open. replaced it with a lower milage 3.38 open and new fluid but now it one wheels like hell. i miss the LSD properties of my old diff before it went bang.

i might go for a 318is LSD but welding might be easier if i can live with it on a daily driver. think i could get it welded without having to remove the diff from the car? was a big enough pain inthe backside to swap in the fresh diff after the old one went.. id like to avoid doing that again unless its for an LSD.

im thinking a welded diff would allow me to perform crop circles in the dry whereas a 318is LSD might not given my measley 115ish hp from my 8v 1.8l

you can weld it with the diff in place but it would be a better idea to remove it just make sure you FILL those spider gears up with welds and not just a few tacs

and only e30 and ti diffs will work so the 318is ones will not work.

but i would spend the extra bit of money and buy a e30 lsd

mines not a compact

You will be miserable with a welded diff. They are more for track purposes.

i know they eat tyres and chirp the inside wheel turning tight at low speed but if its not too bad i think could live with it.

maybe another option would be get another open diff and weld it up? tho i did manage to snap 2 of the 6 bolts for one of the driveshafts when installing the replacement diff. do they tend to go brittle over the years or something? not sure how ill get the remnants of the 2 bolts out.. drill and re-tap maybe?

suppose that could be another plus to getting an LSD.. i wouldnt have to deal with those sheared bolts and could replace them all with new ones.

trouble is i have spent alot on the car already and its not even in a sell-able state yet because i have to finish the arches. i decimated, rolled and pulled them in order to fit ET15 Racing Dynamics RGR's meant for a 5 series.

im kind of in a state of limbo as to what i want to do.. i put alot of work into the car so far and theres lots more to do but i miss the sound and grunt of my last E36 (325i) so half of me wants to keep this and boost it or something silly like that and the other half wants to sell up and get another straight 6. i have thought about a swap since i know where my old 325i now rests but its automatic, engine in somewhat unknown condition with about 130k miles and it seems like too much hassle when i could get a 323/325/328 for £1000-£2000 and just transfer most of my stuff over to that car.

:useless:

I wanna see your car!

check the photo gallery. this is my 3rd E36. had an E30 as well among other cars, 3rd 318i also.

Ooo I like! The fenders look pretty good to me.
I think your car would look way cooler with amber corners
though!

trust me they need to be finished.. u cant tell from that far away but they are all dented around the lip on the front. i have to filler them in and get them repainted. im currently running OEM 15's because i got new 215 width tyres and they rub like hell in he back even with the arch work. the sidewall is fatter than the last pair of 215's i had on there but even those would rub the outer part inside of the arch if that makes any sense. im going to get 5mm taken off the wheels. they will still rub a bit but it should be ok. it rubbed a bit before i put on the new tyres anyway but not too much and not against any edges or anything that would damage the tyre.

in the front i had to completely fold (read, clamped) the lip flat and pull it out an inch along with cutting the plascit arch liner where it met the inner arch. the back arches have had the lip folded flat too and been pulled about 1/2 an inch along with the top front corners of the rear bumper having to be cutaway behind the surface.

i had ebay clears then went back to amber then to OEM clears. recently i have been tepted to try amber again since fitting the RGR's. previously i had E46 17's in silver.

im also loosely toying with the idea of rat rodding the car and painting it matt black and fitting a roof rack. dunno..

Anyone know of any DIY on how to remove the spider gears in the Diff. I just opened the back cover of mine and noticed that 3 teeth are missing from them. Its very hard to come by a diff in these parts of the world as well as have access to replacement parts (spider gears). I have two options. 1. Weld Lock my Diff and bare the downsides about this. 2. Remove the damaged gears and have the engineering shop rebuild them. Any helpful advise will be appreciated.

It's pretty easy to disassemble the diff, all you have to do is unbolt both output flange cups. I believe on the small case diff there are 6 bolts on each side. Once both are removed the internal unit will just fall out.

I found an awesome thread on E30tech.com that detailed taking apart the whole unit, here's the link. http://www.e30tech.com/forum/showthread.php?t=44131

You have to be very careful to keep the shims on the side they came off of. If you are just having the spider gears fixed it shouldn't mess up anything with the shims (I think).

Nice thanks alot for that will have a go at mine tonight :D