Hey Greg, when you get the pieces, do you think you can pick me up an extra set and we can get these done together?

James Yom

 

James, I actually made the parts earlier today since I was in hurry-up mode and wanted to get my car street-able so I could finish my initial STR setup. I made two sets, one at 5/8" thickness and the other at 3/4" thickness. I may be willing to sell whichever set I don't end up using. Otherwise, the price for raw material from McMaster is pretty low. ~$13-14 for a 12" aluminum bar, plus tax and $4 shipping to Los Angeles.

Key equipment that helped when making these pieces if you don't have access to a decent shop:
-A solidly anchored vice for holding the raw aluminum bars.
-Step drill bits that could go up to 1/2" and 5/8".
-Jigsaw (we made one set with an angle grinder, but the jigsaw was slightly faster and made cleaner cuts).
-Workspace that can be covered in aluminum shavings and oil.

All tools used were hand-held. I ended drilling the holes one one side mostly to 5/8" using the step bit instead of trying to create a slot for the oval. This shouldn't matter if there's enough room to get the bolts in. Fiberglass would've been easier to work with, but I'm not sure what kind of a mess it would make compared to aluminum.

 

so for those that went to a 1.5 way clutch type LSD. What results did you see? Really interested to see if this was as good of a mod as everyone thought.

 

^ me 2

 

I don't have direct experience yet. I have heard everything from numerous drivers on both sides of the fence: exceptional purchase that allows early throttle, it induces dramatic understeer, diff tuning is a can of worms, to being unsure it will solve anything. The same debate existed in the STU M3 community and very few people bit.

 

Plan on spending an entire season tuning around the diff. The end result is much much better than the Torsen in terms of predictability and drivability. Is it faster? I don't know, but its easier to get the car at the limit and hold it there. Also a lot easier to steer the rear end with your throttle foot.


It will make the car off throttle push like crazy until you get the springs/alignment right. Not necessarily a bad thing for slaloms but not so great for sweeper entry.

 

Greg, I will gladly buy whichever set you don't end up using. Those parts definitely look like they'll get the job done. Why Gendron never even offered these as an option with all those early boot tear problems I don't understand.

Are you trying to get your car up and running for the Turkey weekend event? That was my initial goal but I don't think I'll have time to get it done before that. Oh well. STR in SoCal is THE place to be! Glad to see you're jumping in as well!

James Yom

 

Yeah, for the Sunday champ event with X-runs. I don't like getting up early after Thanksgiving day.

I put the 3/4" sway bar spacers on yesterday, and there is a ton of clearance to the steering rack boot. The 5/8" spacers should be fine, too.

I need to get my ride heights and alignment finished tonight so I can finally put some miles on this suspension and get back to my eTuning. Taking a quick test drive around the neighborhood, it definitely felt more responsive and felt like it had a lot of available grip. Only downside so far is that I think I'm scraping the catback exhaust flange on my garage entrance where it dips down at an angle.

 

Don't flame me for this. I'm just passing on information. I talked to small fortune racing (maker of gendron bar) about maybe getting the new mounts. He was talking about the benefits and how it lowered the bar about 5/8 of a inch to help keep it out of the boot for us lowered car guys. I then mentioned that some guys where making spacers for the mounts that we all ready have. He said that the honda mounting points werent the strongest to start with and spacing them out makes it that much "softer." he said he had a guy do some testing and called them talking about how loose the car felt after installing the spacers. So this guy took them off and tested the car without the spacer and the car tightened back up. From my understanding this is why he never offered the spacers with the bar. The mounting points won't be strong enough and will cause flex.

For 2011 season I'M going with the bearing mounts.

 

You've mentioned this before but could you elaborate?

In Blytheville the rear of my car was a bit overbearing, but a huge alignment change preceded it so it made sense. After a rear camber change the car is back to being extraordinarily predictable.

The narrowest window in my car, in terms of drivability, are slow corners. If the exit speed and transition from brake to throttle is not timed correctly, the car will either understeer on throttle, continue understeering on lift, or pull out with perfect rotation.