Nismo Diff evaluation

[mike kojima]

Ok, I finaly got to test the Nismo clutch type 1.5 way
LSD at the SE-R cup race at California Speedway this
weekend.  The diff was installed in the dog car and I
ran it with some sucess in the weekends race.

At first the diff felt a little weird, contributing to
a lot of pull and torque steer, fortuanly this lasted
only about a session and as the diff broke in, the
pulling became unoticeable after 15 minutes of race
conditions.

The Nismo diff uses clutch plates activated by a cam
device that goes on the spider gear pins, when the
wheels try to spin at different rates the spider gears
transmit the differental force to the cames which
apply a clamp load to the cluch packs.  The Nismo diff
also has 4 spider gears vs 2 like the stock diff for
additonal strength as this is the weakest part of the
stock diff.

Nismo sells two diffs, one to fit on trannys with a
VLSD and another one to convert non LSD trannys like
98-99 trannys and G20's to limited slip.

The diff completly eliminated inside wheel spin on
this track which had very tight and slippery corners.
Unlike the Quaife differential, the Nismo unit still
provided plenty of drive when one wheel was in the
air, like when I was banging off FIA curbs.

The Nismo diff also helped to prevent the inside front
wheel from locking up under heavy braking, even from
130 mph.  This enabled me to brake late more
consistantly.

The diff did not hurt turn in like I feared it would
but did not have that neat pull into a turn feeling
that a quaife has.

I think I like this diff more than a quaife, it
provides drive force when one wheel is in the air,
helps under braking and is much stronger.  The only
thing a quaife does better is turn-in under throttle.

This diff is cheaper than the quaife was and best yet,
its avalible for sale!

Mike