I live in excremento and "In my opinion" you are way overthinking this. Drive the car, you got great advice here.

 

I was under the impression that they were using a new nut and it still came loose
If that is not so then I stand corrected. You should always use new locknuts, what are they $3?

I was also under the mistaken impression that pinion depth was backlash, thanks for the clarification.

For what it is worth, though, the solid distance piece in my differential is "very precisely" machined and pinion depth and preload is spot on, no issues at all from the differential since installation.

 

I suppose what I should have said is that the crush sleeve is flawed in that it doesn't allow for any error in installation, as you were saying that they use too big steps and tighten it too far. Once it is crushed it is crushed, you can't uncrush it. You have to buy another one and try again to get the preload right. If you don't use a new crush sleeve after going too far then you are going to have problems with the nut loosening too.

 

i use 75w-140 with 8-10oz of severe sae 250. it has been working great. i have a stage 2 puddy mod diff because my stock one wasnt like my 8k launch at the track and boggiing lol. my bearing cap was about to grenade but i caught it in time.

 

I just upgraded my diff from a HTG 4.57 setup to a Puddy Mod 4.44 Stage 4.
The 4.57 was incredibly noisy, in part due to the design and in part to the poor setup. The 4.56 is quieter by design, but will still whine. My original 4.57 setup was one of the early runs of that gearset - and put together for the HTG by someone that didn't spend the time to do it correctly. The HTG has since sourced a much better builder, in fact I believe Puddy now builds some of his diffs.
To eliminate any question and prevent receiving another problem diff - I just went straight with someone I know for a fact builds diffs right the first time - Puddy Mod Racing.

I decided on going with the Puddy Mod Stage 4 with 4.44s due to the sterling reputation Puddy has for building near-perfect diffs, to have the assurance that I'll never exceed the diffs power handling capability (the car will likely never see more than 400whp) and to have a gearset quiet as OEM.
I couldn't be happier and the difference is incredible.

The 4.57 was a good fit for an AP1 when I also installed an AP2 transmission.
4.57s in an otherwise stock AP1 can get a little annoying on the highway - 4.77s are downright painful. Drive your car around on the highway in 5th gear and that's what it'll be like with 4.77s in 6th - I've driven two S2000s with that gearset and you loose a lot of general drivability.

The 4.77s in an AP1 (with an AP1 transmission) are not a bad track only gearset, although 1st is almost a useless gear (in and out of it so fast - pretty much only at starts), 2nd gear in certain situations is just a little too low and 3rd is slightly too high.
4.77s with an AP2 transmission is not a good match. You might as well throw away 1st gear altogether in that setup because it's really too low.

4.57/4.56s are much better in an AP1 - with an AP2 transmission. The AP2's lower 1st through 4th (a little lower in 5th) make it an especially pleasing track setup, and the taller 6th gives you back some of your highway cruising ability. It's likely the best option for a regularly tracked car that still sees moderate street driving (slightly more a track car than a street car).
4.44 is the other side of that coin - it's the best choice for a car that's realistically used for 'normal' street driving greater than 90% of the time - but the owner wants a significant kick over the stock 4.10 gears. This gearset is also a near perfect match for an AP1 with an AP2 transmission.
I truly enjoy my S2000 more than ever with the 4.44s. The difference with the Puddy Mod setup compared to the old HTG 4.57 setup is substantial.

Surprisingly, my car is not slower with the taller gears - I'm sure in no small part to actually having a diff that's properly setup. The 4.44 and 4.57 ratios are very close - but the drivability is night and day. I literally couldn't drive my car at 55mph due to the incessant gear whine and the slight drone of the Comptech exhaust. I actually enjoy the sound of the exhaust now - where it previously was painful to deal with when combined with the diff noise.

Thanks to Puddy for all his hard work. Also thanks to his partner in crime - Dave - in Tampa that helped install the diff. Couldn't have been a better experience - and well worth the $$.

 

ronnuke Posted on Jun 7 2010, 04:18 AM
Hmmm...
IMO its much harder to properly install a solid sleeve and there is much more room for error with a solid sleeve.
That doesn't make it flawed.. just more difficult.

As long as one sticks to the manual the crush sleeve is a walk in the park.

It sounds like you need a reason to justify your (most likely expensive ) solid sleeve.




slipstream444 Posted on Jun 7 2010, 02:45 PM
How can you tell if an S2k has 4.57's?
They never never ever drive 55 mph!

Have you ever ask a passenger about the noise?
Last time I did that he answered: "What noise?"
It seems like the whine is precisely centralized at center of the driver's head.
Punishment?

Oh well..

 

Thanks slipstream! that was very informative and helpful =)

 

I'm running 4.57s in an AP1 with an AP1 tranny and a Comptech blower (~ 320 RWHP depending on the dyno). Seems about perfect to me.

I don't think I'd ever go back to the 4.10. I love the extra quicks down low and still get 24-25 mpg in disciplined freeway driving. The problem with that is my set whines the worst at around 70 mph steady state in 6th. It's really quiet at 80+.

The shift beeper does sound a lot like Morse code in 1st at WOT though.

 

I didn't have to pay for it, it came with my differential swap out when I had my 4.56's installed through HTG done by Puddydad. I merely asked for the upgraded hardware and solid distance piece and it came that way already installed. I have very minimal whine (to be expected with 4.56's). But as I recall if I did have to pay for it, it was only $110. Cheap for the peace of mind it gave me, knowing that it had to be right with the precision it takes to get the solid distance piece machined just so, to get the preload right. If I had to pay for it again I would.

 

there's nothing wrong with 75w-110 for summer use, in fact it is pretty spot on IMO. 75w-140 would be a good choice as well.