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Re: Quaifes? (archive)
[ Follow Ups ] [ 3-series (E21) Message Board ] [ Msg. Board FAQ ]
Posted by dhs on January 11, 2001 at 12:01:28:

In Reply to: Quaifes? posted by Lance on January 11, 2001 at 10:26:11:

This is a little blurb from a website based around this guy Larry Wildmer (T.O.O. below). He is a god, IMO. The man's company builds for F1, Nascar, ProStock, to name a few. I believe he knows what he is talking about, but take it for what it is worth. Don't let the honda references throw you, that is what the board is focused on.

Shiro
User ID: 0701364 Dec 7th 1:51 AM
I have a few questions about the application of Quaife's and reliability.

I fully understand the purpose of the LSD, and kind of understand the differences between the different types (helical, clutch, viscous, and detroit locker).

I have heard from several different sources that helical-gear type LSD's (like the Quaife/Torsen)
are great for straight line racing (drag racing)
but aren't as suitable for course racing.

From what I've heard, if the inside wheel comes off the ground through a turn, the wheel has the chance to accelerate. When the wheel then becomes loaded again, the worm gears have been known to strip or break from the strain.

This can't be correct, can it? I thought that, due to the design of the Quaife, power would be transferred away from the "airborne" wheel, reducing load when the wheel came back down.
Then again, many teams use the detroit locking-style differentials.

Can you please clear this up for me?
T.O.O.
User ID: 8882983 Dec 7th 2:19 PM
The Torsen style diffs are illegal in NASCAR, due to their advantageous cornering capabilities.
Personally, I've always felt that the Quaife's strong suit was on road racing tracks and they just happen to work well in straight line competition too.
We build all our cars for handling quality first and drag racing is secondary (at best). We have never broken a Quaife, period. Our test runs where visitors frequently "see God" is full fast off camber corners and if either inside tire is touching the ground during these turns, we're not going fast enough. We exit most of the corners in second gear at full throttle for those of us used to driving 400 hp FWD cars and as violent as touch down is, the car never twiches and it's totally under strict control.
I've replaced the Honda "R Type" diffs after "exploding" 4 of them in sweeping turns at mid power, so in this case the Torsen configured unit that Honda makes, won't cut it.
The quaifes aren't designed with a particular power limit in mind, so they tend to be an overkill and they are just what the doctor ordered for most of our customers and the "staff". We pay retail for our own too.


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