Cricket

[turntune]

took delivery of my 4runner axle today....at the exact same day (within the hour) had a friend call me on a 99 miata touring 4.30:1 torsen 2 complete hog head for money I had in my pocket....So, since I have a parts car, 4runner axle swap is put on temp hold (with no power adders other than bolt ons and a street port ((for now)) no need for the yota axle) I get the miata diff Monday so will post some pics.other than that... from the doors back is ready for final prime, next up is tackleing the ripples along the top of the fenders, and finally I've been thinking of converting to fixed headlights....any thoughts?

[turntune]

so in anticipation for my Torsen, today I preped cricket.
started by jacking up onto stands, removing wheels, and brake drums

drained diff fluid while removing brakes

once both sides were removed and all diff fluid was out, I re-installed diff drain plug, removed brake lines from wheel cylinder (brand new wheel cylinder on driv side already has a tear ) removed the 4 12mm nuts from backing plate and with a slide hammer with a hook end popped both sides out

removed drive shaft to pinion flange bolts & nuts, left in trans and propped it out of way, removed hogshead bolts, tap tap and out pops this

factory 3.9:1 open diff, so monday my miata hogshead should arrive and we will see if it truly is "bolt in"

[ian65]

interested to see if it's as easy as well all hope it is...... MX5 / Miata diffs are more plentiful then fb lsd's You running rear drum brakes? I thought only series 1 cars had those.

[turntune]

interested to see if it's as easy as well all hope it is...... MX5 / Miata diffs are more plentiful then fb lsd's You running rear drum brakes? I thought only series 1 cars had those.

stateside s3 12a cars where standard with drums, plus "keen eyed" ppl look for the discs in the rear and know you prolly have lsd...whereas "nobody expects the spanish inquisition"...and theres a certain Honda here that swears he's gonna bust my arse, and leaving the drums for now supports "its stock" (provided the bonnet stays down)...eventually (if not sooner) i will adapt to rear discs with re-speed kit

[turntune]

so, Monday came and went....this morning I call, "It's on the truck coming to you this afternoon"...came and went......
supposedly "We apologise, first stop in the am"....so we'll see




side note-admins, would you rather I do a seperate write-up for the install? or here?

[ian65]

hope it turns up ok!

yeah, a few of us are interested in doing this diff swap so if you could do a separate thread on it and then link to it from this thread, that would be great, thanks

[turntune]

np ian65

well bad news, the diff showed up.....wrong diff! before driver could leave I had on phone....was told "their all the same"...got permission to pop it open and txt him a pic of an open diff
anywho this is a 99 miata open diff pics

keen eye will notice this diff has a different bolt pattern than ours... ...worried I googled a spotters guide and apparently the open diff were slightly different....still nervous as to the pattern on the torsen...will let all know once I recieve

[Lucky]

From memory, I think MX-5/Miata diffs are a minefield even for MX-5 owners. IIRC they came with open, viscous or torsen diffs depending, it's just a case of getting lucky with whichever Special Edition had which kind of diff

[turntune]

so finally after going back and forth with LKQ and them trying to double the price (not kidding, 99 torsen showed up with a $650 bill) I found on on my own....so without further adoo....my 94 Miata Torsen 1 with 4.10 ring and pinion....install to come, need bearing kit (my fb's were badly worn)

close up of Torsen

and finally the pinion's side by side


so it's not the 4.30 r&p, but for $350 shipped I really couldnt pass it up. And, as I understand it, a Torsen 1 is biased towards acceleration....just what the doctor ordered!

[turntune]

update!
I decided to take the easy route, well less time consuming route...I swapped my ring gear onto the torsen

the 4.10 rear isnt really a gain when compared to 3.90...no speedo error w/ stock height tires, plus only required swapping bearings and races and the pinion seal, setting the backlash and was dead on...no need to worry about shims! also of note...pinion shims are housing specific, so if you plan to swap the r&p start with the old pinion shim as a starting point


then I spent the afternoon helping a co-worker straighten my hood, Mr Todd has been a body man for over 40yrs