Ok, where to start. I have 28,xxx miles on my car and my diff went for the 2nd time! I do not launch my car and do not drive too aggressively. My car is still under warranty, so hopefully it wil be covered. If not, what is involved in making a ulletproof diff? I was thinking of getting a reinforced pumpkin (2004) from Comptech (I know I won't have a core), a new lsd (need help on reccomendation), and Rick's gears. Also, while they have it apart I want to put a new clutch and flywheel in. I'm looking for something to hold the power for forced induction and will last as long as possible. Also I need to have the trans grind tsb taken care of. I was thinking about installing a 2004 6th gear as it is numerically lower for better cruising, especially if I do the 4.57 gears. Anybody know how much it would be to do that? Anyway, thanks guys. Xviper, you're my hero

 

 

It's very strange that your diff would go for the second time. I can't imagine that you got a weak diff twice. I've always believed that "maintenance" for this diff is key. Don't go by what Honda recommends for a schedule. You must use better judgement on this one issue. With any new car or with any new diff, it is important to change that first load of fluid early (like after a couple thousand miles) and then every 10K miles or so. Do it more often if you consistently drive it hard in hot conditions. For you, it might not be a bad idea to get some of those fluid changes analyzed. This might give you a clue as to whether or not you really do drive it aggressively too much. Each person's idea of "not too aggressively" may differ from each other. I'm on my original diff with 4.44 gears and my car's been blown for over 18 months. The diff has never been a worry for me. As for "dropping the clutch", it's the way you do it and when you do it that determines how much abuse results.
And on that subject, I've indicated before that it might not be how hard you drive this car (in reference to the diff) but rather, how you drive it hard. I've always believed that diff temp is very critical for this car. It is a small unit with very little fluid volume to keep it cool. If you've just brought the temp way up like in doing an extended run up to high speed, maybe next is not the time to do it again or to drive it aggressively again till you slow down a bit and let the temp of the diff come down. My temp experiments have shown that the diff temp rises dramatically with heavy load and road speed. It also drops very quickly if given the chance.
Perhaps for your driving style, a Comptech re-inforced housing might be the way to go. It certainly won't make it "bulletproof" as very harsh treatment can still break it. Make sure that the inner and outer pinion bearings get changed when the work is done. A slight overfill of about 100cc is not a bad idea. Give it a minute or two of steady state coasting to let the thing cool down after a hard run before taxing it again.
Rick's has a very good deal on for the 4.57s (check is website). He's also got a deal for the Comptech re-inforced bits as well. The work takes about a total of 7 to 10 hours, so you can calculate the labour from this.
As for changing 6th gear, this would be a very expensive job and personally, I don't see the benefit if you're just going as far as 4.57s. If you do put the new 6th gear in, you must be temped to mash the gas in 6th and run it up to speed. This is one of the worse things you can do. This is one of those "high load" conditions I was talking about where the diff would heat up like crazy. You're better off with the 6th you've already got - a bit more mechanical advantage.
And if money is no object, take a look at some of threads going on right now about the aftermarket diffs. Those might be an option for you as well.
Clutch and flywheel? Hardtopguy has a nice package set up at the moment for a Comptech flywheel, OEM disc and ACT HD PP. This is on my list when my clutch needs attention.

 

As always, thanks for your help. Btw, the diff only had about 8k miles on it. I was looking for an aftermarket diff, but none seem to be available. Ever since I got my car back with the new diff had been making weird clunking noises. I see what you're saying about the heat. I don't usually wot until 3rd gear, but the heat thing could be it. Is there anyway to attach a resevoir to add more fluid, or is that a dumb idea? I guess that would require some sort of pump. Also would the oem clutch face be better than the act as far as long term reliability? Is it just the pressure plate that wears out? Thanks

 

I wish I had bookmarked a couple of those threads for you. In the last week, there have been threads about aftermarket diffs. Sorry, if it pops up again, I'll try to link them here for you.
The fact that your latest diff came back making odd noises from the beginning indicates that the guy doing the work did not set it up properly. I'd be willing to guess that the calibration was done all wrong.
As for the OEM vs ACT disc, the ACT disc is just a slightly beefed up OEM disc. Some may say it's not worth the money. It's not that the pressure plate wears out, but by putting in a heavier clamping force one in, there is more force put on the disc and this helps it to last longer and work better.
It's NOT WOT in the lower gears that generate the heat nearly as bad as WOT in the higher gears. This is because it usually happens in the lower rev range in the higher gears (5th and 6th) and this is the area where you try to push power and torque back to the rear wheels where resistance is the greatest. WOT in the lower gears is easy. There is higher mechanical advantage there. This is why I suggested to NOT go with the '04 6th gear.
You don't really need a pump for the diff fluid. You just need a bigger housing to hold more fluid. Most other rear diffs take 2 to 3 times the volume ours does. Funny you mentioned about the bigger rear diff fluid capacity. Although I know of no such diff casing, there was a thread posted up here about a couple of weeks ago where it showed the Spoon site putting out a new casing for our diff with gigantic cooling fins. They obviously consider the diff temp to be important too. Here is the thread I did on my cooling fins:
http://forums.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=201218

 

TraackStar,
I was talking with Woodwork (American Honda) about the 04-05 trans and he left me with the impression that the gears are not interchangeable with the earlier transmissions. The syncros are different widths thus the gears are not the same sizes. It would require a whole lot of machine work to make one gear fit.

 

Wow, you guys are amazing! Where did you learn all this? I told the dealership about the noise and they just said it was normal I called quaife, but the said they don't make it. If they had a run of 30, they'd get to work on it however. I looked in some super street mag or something last night and a guy said he had a quaife diff in a comptech housing. I'm going to beg Honda to give me an '04 and see where that gets me.

 

Could the 2nd diff have gone because the technicial who put it all together did not shim it up properly???

 

I'm thinking that was it because everytime I put my car into gear, and started rolling away it would make these clunkin noises in the rear. It was even worse when I put in into reverse. Everyone that sat in my car made comments about, so it wasn't just me being paranoid. HOnda told me that's how a lsd should sound.

 

Is there a possibility that they have put wrong fluid in? ie, auto trans fluid... It has happened before.

my take on pumpkin is, go with comptech reinforced. still, you don't want to launch it or abuse it but at least it will give you peace of mind. I cannot describe this part on the housing but I think that part makes the diff much stronger.

like xviper said, once you get new one, do fluid analysis.

also, if you want the comptech, order it in advance. it takes 2 to 3 month.