I need help from anyone who has LSD in their GTS

[RiceBoy Killer]

Who installled your LSD, a local shop or toyota dealer?

If a local shop, how much did you have to pay? Did they have any problems? If so, what kind of problems? Now that the LSD is installed, do you regret having your car done by them? Would a toyota dealership been a better idea?

If you got it done by toyota, how much was labor?

thanks for any feedback

[Kendo]

The local Toyota shops wouldn't touch job as it was non-Toyota parts. So I went to a local shop that works on Honda and Mazda's. At the same time the head mechanic/owner races SCCA and works on several SCCA race cars, so he could understand the desire for better than stock parts.

I had the ACT clutch, Fidanza flywheel, Quaife LSD and Hotchkis front sway bar done at the same time. Labor was $1100 for the whole job. Not cheap but the guy guarantee's that you will be happy. I also had to supply a number of seals and bearings from Toyota, so add another $120.

As for problems. When I first got the car back, all the gears were tight going into and out of. 5th gear was esspecially hard to get in and out of. Took the car back and he re-shimmed the 5th gear from the tight end of the tolerance to the loose end. (Note they have to pull 5th and 6th gear out to get the LSD in, the other gears do not need to be removed).

This shim change made 5th the same as the others. As I drove the car more the shifting became smoother again. Not sure what the issue was. Possibly the Redline MT-90 that I switched to.

No problems since. One week from finding out how everything handles at the first road course Open track.

[RiceBoy Killer]

Originally posted by Kendo
The local Toyota shops wouldn't touch job as it was non-Toyota parts. So I went to a local shop that works on Honda and Mazda's. At the same time the head mechanic/owner races SCCA and works on several SCCA race cars, so he could understand the desire for better than stock parts.

I had the ACT clutch, Fidanza flywheel, Quaife LSD and Hotchkis front sway bar done at the same time. Labor was $1100 for the whole job. Not cheap but the guy guarantee's that you will be happy. I also had to supply a number of seals and bearings from Toyota, so add another $120.

As for problems. When I first got the car back, all the gears were tight going into and out of. 5th gear was esspecially hard to get in and out of. Took the car back and he re-shimmed the 5th gear from the tight end of the tolerance to the loose end. (Note they have to pull 5th and 6th gear out to get the LSD in, the other gears do not need to be removed).

This shim change made 5th the same as the others. As I drove the car more the shifting became smoother again. Not sure what the issue was. Possibly the Redline MT-90 that I switched to.

No problems since. One week from finding out how everything handles at the first road course Open track.

Sounds good. Did they give you any warranties? I mean, you did pay big bucks.

[Kendo]

No written warranty but I know the guy pretty well so I don't expect that he would rip me off. As for the individual components the Quiafe comes with a lifetime warranty (even if raced) so I don't expect a failure there.

The deal with the install is if he made a mistake doing the work and the thing breaks he will fix it. If I abuse it and it breaks it is my problem. I know there is a gray area in there but how do you define abuse and normal wear and tear?

It has been almost 2 months since I upgrade to the LSD. I have just driven it on the road and haven't really raced it. Up until the point I take the car on the track I expect it to be in one piece otherise I will take it back to the mechanic. I have not abused the car.

Once I take my car on the road course for open track events and push it hard, I have pretty well killed the warranty from my mechanic. In this situation it is more than street driving so if something broke I would take the hit.

Things break when pushed hard otherwise everyone who started a car race would finish. To sum it up, if you can't pay don't play.

Not trying to be negative, but this is about the best you will be able to get out of any mechanic who works on your car. This is also the reason that some shops will not put in aftermarket high performance parts. To them high performance means more stress on the parts (why else would the owner want these parts) and if it blows they are going to have an argument over who is responsible for the failure. Better profit margin and less returns if he works on the minivan using OEM parts than your high performance sport coupe.

BTW While I am not into 1/4 mile I am interested to see what your times would be with the ACT clutch, flywheel and LSD.

[RiceBoy Killer]

Thanks for all the information dude. I dont actually have LSD yet. My friend Dan (porkchopspecbluegts) just purchased it (quaife). However, he's getting it installed for around 400 bucks. We have gotten prices ranging from $500 - $1000. This local shop was the lowest one we found. Let's just hope it's not "you get what you pay for" kind of thing. I'm going to wait and see what the results are in terms of better 1/4 times. I just want to make sure that spending this much money will equal what it can do for the car.

[TRlPPlN]

toyota installed mine and charged me cheap labor due to the fact they had to replace my transmission. but they did replace some parts prior for the lsd install. like kendo said...your gears will be f'n tight going in n out. but itll eventually go away. mine is going away slowly...kinda wierd if you ask me. anyways if you decide to go toyota..youll get quoted 1200-1600...:bang:

[RiceBoy Killer]

Originally posted by TRlPPlN
toyota installed mine and charged me cheap labor due to the fact they had to replace my transmission. but they did replace some parts prior for the lsd install. like kendo said...your gears will be f'n tight going in n out. but itll eventually go away. mine is going away slowly...kinda wierd if you ask me. anyways if you decide to go toyota..youll get quoted 1200-1600...:bang:

Which LSD do you have? How much did yota charge you?

[PorkchopSpecblue GT-S]

The local dealer on Rt 22 for those who know, was going to charge 900 + tax. Called 3 other places and they all quoted me about the same. I was like no way!!! This is nuts. I found some one to do it for $380. He said he has installed a clutch and flywheel in a GT-S before and it has no problems. He is also willing to give me a waranty. Thats all I want.

[Kendo]

The clutch and flywheel are much easier to install than the LSD. I can believe a price of $380 for just installing those two parts. The install for the LSD is what really takes the time, and the skill, as you are pressing and pulling gears. Just ask Larry what he thought about his experience with installing the Phantom grip LSD in his car.

BTW In my original $1100 price I forgot that also included a $80 competition 4 wheel alignment.

[TRlPPlN]

Riceboy...i purchased the helical trd from david draper last year. toyo charged me close to 700 bills for the labor. again this is because they were changing my tranny cuzz of bad synchros. when i looked at the work order they ordered bout 3 new parts to put in for the install. ill try to get the part numbers tonite if you want. also heres another thing..i took the option for toyota to install the lsd because the dealer ship will have the lead technician do the install. that lead techincian will go by the book step by step that toyota/trd has for the lsd install.

[icyjaws]

Its deff not fun playing w/ the inside of the tranny. I dought the guy whos quoteing you 380 knows what he's in for. I could be wrong but for your sake i hope not. I know whne we had larrys tranny out we called a couple of places but most of them said they wouldn't evn work on it and to take it to toyota. pretty sure atleast good luck

[kpsilverman]

Does anyone know if they mess with the 3rd gear when they install LSD? All my other gears were good xcept my 3rd gear. Which does not grind or anything but has been feeling a bit notchy!!

What gears besides 5th and 6th do they touch?

[TRlPPlN]

Originally posted by kpsilverman
Does anyone know if they mess with the 3rd gear when they install LSD? All my other gears were good xcept my 3rd gear. Which does not grind or anything but has been feeling a bit notchy!!

What gears besides 5th and 6th do they touch?

when i got mine out...all my gears were notchy too. but its starting to go away. i guess its "breaking in"

how long have you had yours??

[RiceBoy Killer]

Trippin: if you can get them, we wont mind having the part number(s). This way, we can compare them to what the shop says on Monday, like parts they would need to replace or what not. Thanks.

Jim: Thanks for the feedback. How's the 2 running??

[larryd]

haha.. lemme tell you what.. first off dont even think of doing it yerself unless your an ASE certified tech who specializes in trannies..

now to my sob story.. the clutch and flywheel is cake.. man when we were done we could done a new clutch and flywheel in like 2-3 hours... but the LSD.. HAHAHAHA.. mine was simple in that you just put the Phantom Grip thingy inside the open diff.. so I didnt even have to remove the Diff.. but taking the tranny apart was a nightmare.. getting it back together was way beyond anything id ever even want to think about again.. the guy who quoted you 380 has NO CLUE at all.. 380 for clutch and flywheel yea.. 380 for LSD.. HELLNO.. Id pay 1000 easily if I had the choice again..

[PorkchopSpecblue GT-S]

Wow that hard core huh Larry??? You guys are scaring me. The guy did say it comes with a warranty. He's gonna have the car for 2 days. So it sounds about right.

[icyjaws]

its running good lou hopefully in the next couple wks i'll bring it up to e-town one wed night.

[TRlPPlN]

Originally posted by RiceBoy Killer
Trippin: if you can get them, we wont mind having the part number(s). This way, we can compare them to what the shop says on Monday, like parts they would need to replace or what not. Thanks.

Jim: Thanks for the feedback. How's the 2 running??

Riceboy..will do when i get home from work dude. so check up on it later. more than welcome to help out nc.org folks!!

[larryd]

Originally posted by PorkchopSpecblue GT-S
Wow that hard core huh Larry??? You guys are scaring me. The guy did say it comes with a warranty. He's gonna have the car for 2 days. So it sounds about right.

yeah like no joke dude.. i would seriously save up and pay someone to do it right.. when you tranny gets all messed up, it just aint worth it

[Brett]

You get what you pay for...

[TRlPPlN]

these were the parts that were ordered prior to installing the LSD...

33481-20160 Gear, Speedometer DR 46.00
90366-40094 Bearing, Tapered ROL 44.25
90366-40097 Bearing, Tapered ROL 39.68

Description; removed the old clutch and installed a new one supplied by the customer. dissasembled the new transmission and installed the customers positraction differential (LSD). required 2 new bearings and a speedometer gear to install the diff.

please note: the service manager told me the reason why they ordered these parts is because at times when technicians take em off they get damaged and was also noted on the manual. so they ordered the parts before even installing the LSD. they also replaced some seals but that was normal.

[Kendo]

The seals mentioned are just for the the drain and fill plugs on the transmission. My mechanic managed to pull the speedo gear without breaking it so I have a spare right now. The bearings should be replaced as it is always a good practice to replace them after pulling a shaft. There are no gaskets, they just use silicone type sealent.

[Mas]

Kendo,

What was the name of the place (phone and contact if you've got it) in Denver that did your LSD.

I'm in denver and having a b^tch of a time finding some one I'd trust to do the job

Thanks,
Mas