Who's Running A Kaaz?

[Birds]

Installed a 1.5 way in my R33 GTS-T recently and she's very, very clunky. I know they are supposed to be when turning corners at low speed, but this is a very violent kind of clunking...talking, like someone hitting the underside of the car with a hammer. I can feel it through my seat! I did the break in procedure, and it did feel better after that...it stopped clunking when turning with deceleration / throttle off...but still does it plenty with throttle on, ala turning at an intersection or stop sign. Strangely, if you have enough throttle on when taking the corner (put your foot into it), rather than clunking it will just tyre chirp/pivot which is much more pleasant.

I drained out the oil today and put in fresh oil with some anti chatter / friction modifier...took it for a short drive and that seems to have helped a bit. But I am hoping it will go away in time. I don't mind some minor clunking, it's to be expected from a diff designed for racing...but this heavy shit has to go.

What are other peoples experiences with their KAAZ diff? The grip of this thing is fantastic. Ordinarily, driving in a straight line in the wet with second gear coming onto boost would be straight into a fishtail...this diff just held it's course on the straight and narrow. So can't complain about it's functionality, just the clunkiness on turns that is driving me nuts. Sounds like a friggen driveshaft is about to snap

[turboedsloth]

I have a 2way in my 32, have had in there for 6yrs i love it. Was very clunky at first, first oil change used ls140 and friction modifier. Hardly clunked after that.

What oil did you use?

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

Did you break in the diff by doing figure of 8s?

Also when you installed the diff centre, was it a backyard job? if so the back lash might be off.

I had very similar problems with my old 180SX which I bought, it would violent clunk and shudder as you have described, turns out the back lash wasn't set properly by the old owner.

[Birds]

Yeah I did figure 8s...that got rid of the clunking when turning under deceleration. Didn't do much for acceleration though. Had it installed by professionals...backlash seems to be okay, but will get it checked by them. Should the backlash affect it much when it's turning under load though? I would have thought throttle on/off would produce a backlash clunk, but not while turning with throttle constantly on?

[Beer Baron]

personally what you describe sounds perfectly normal to me. I've owned probably close to 10 cars with various jap LSDs in them and most are like that. clunk so bad you think the arse will fall out of it one day. that's why they are supposedly for competition use. they are fairly savage in a road car.

[turboedsloth]

Birds, its fairly normal for it too clunk that harsh at first. It might take a little while longer for it to calm down, seeing as it is a new diff. If the backlash was wrong the unit wouldn't last that long. You didn't use 80/90 when you changed the oil did you?

[Birds]

I changed it for LS90 (monograde) and used about 100ml of Dana friction modifier...drive home tonight wasn't as bad, seems to take a bit more steering angle to start the clunking. I've done about 300km since installing...maybe I need to be more patient with it. Really wish I could just take someone with KAAZ experience for a drive and have them say "that's totally normal, you won't snap a drive shaft" lol. Need that reassurance cause the whole reason I upgraded my diff was to get rid of ye olde clunking standard diff haha...exchanged one problem for another! Don't wanna put too much friction modifier in as it supposedly wears out the clutch plates faster and reduces the effectiveness of the lock.

KAAZ do say their product is only designed for race use so I guess that's the warning everyone should heed,but doesn't. Will have to hit up some events to make it worthwhile putting up with it in a road car!

[turboedsloth]

Come get me and i'll tell you what its like

I think i have a video of one i built after it had bedded in and it was getting quieter. Will try and dig it up when i get home tonight

[ARTZ]

this is kind of an irrelevant question, but why did you get the Kaaz and not the Nismo Birds?..

[Birds]

KAAZ was cheaper. I originally wanted a Nismo but $1600+ fk that. Heard good things about the KAAZ and it's serviceable worldwide,including Australia, so rebuilding is easy.

[R31Nismoid]

Nismo was $1600+?

Did you know Link have specials on ATM as they are getting rid of all their Nismo stock?

I got a Nismo front diff for my GTR for the same price it was delivered ex-japan

It shouldn't be "too" clunky though. Perhaps a minor adjustment to the backlash now it's got a few KM's on it. Few people have had that issue in the past.

[ARTZ]

yeah i saw nismos somewhere a while back for under 1300$..

blowed if i can find them now though.

[Birds]

I'm talking Pro TT in a 1.5 configuration (2 way I've found to be cheaper across brands)...I did see them for $1300 on eBay at one point (talking 12-18 months ago), but by the time I got around to actually wanting one, the seller had no stock left. Now the eBay price is $1600+ last I checked. Biggest appeal for the Nismo was the half shafts that came with it...that and everyone raves about them. Had no idea about Link...however, I did buy this KAAZ about 6 months ago, only just got round to installing.

I got the KAAZ for $1150 delivered to my door IIRC. Couldn't pass that up for a 1.5 way that everyone raves about as much as the Nismo. Driving again in the wet tonight, I can see why. You can hear your wheels spinning, yet you continue to pick up speed. Now if I can just get it to drop most of the clunking, it'll be the perfect diff...

Might have to look closer at the backlash then. There was only a little play when I had it up on a hoist today...only a few degrees of tail shaft revolution...hardly enough to cause anything serious I would think.

No idea where my crown and pinion is from lol, I stole it from another R200 with ABS. 4.08 ratio

[HEKT1K]

KAAZ was cheaper. I originally wanted a Nismo but $1600+ fk that. Heard good things about the KAAZ and it's serviceable worldwide,including Australia, so rebuilding is easy.

http://www.nengun.com/nismo/gt-lsd-tt-pro

$1383 delivered. I wonder how these would go with noise etc vs the KAAZ.

Will be watching this thread with interest

[KiwiRS4T]

Are Nismos not just rebranded US lsds including Kaaz?

Use Motul 75W 140 special diff oil for lsd(which I believe is the same as sold by Nismo).

[R31Nismoid]

http://www.nengun.com/nismo/gt-lsd-tt-pro

$1383 delivered. I wonder how these would go with noise etc vs the KAAZ.

Will be watching this thread with interest

$1500+ once you get stung with tax

[turboedsloth]

Nismo was $1600+?

Did you know Link have specials on ATM as they are getting rid of all their Nismo stock?

I got a Nismo front diff for my GTR for the same price it was delivered ex-japan

It shouldn't be "too" clunky though. Perhaps a minor adjustment to the backlash now it's got a few KM's on it. Few people have had that issue in the past.

Don't you have to be a trade member to get stuff off them Ash?

[Birds]

http://www.nengun.com/nismo/gt-lsd-tt-pro

$1383 delivered. I wonder how these would go with noise etc vs the KAAZ.

Will be watching this thread with interest

Where'd you get that price from? I logged in and it quoted me about $300 worth of shipping...

Total AU $1,558.22

Are Nismos not just rebranded US lsds including Kaaz?

Use Motul 75W 140 special diff oil for lsd(which I believe is the same as sold by Nismo).

So I've heard...thanks for the recommendation, might try it next oil change if things haven't quietened down by then.

$1500+ once you get stung with tax

As above, and yeah, good point on the tax.

I will keep this thread updated with my progress. After Googling the issue, seems it's a very common thing to have, so I'd say what I'm experiencing is, as Beer Baron said, quite normal for a brand new Jap diff.

[turboedsloth]

Just out of interest, did you get it from a distributor in Australia?

[HEKT1K]

$1500+ once you get stung with tax

Ah. My bad.

Birds when i log in that's the price that comes up. Maybe i've selected a cheapo shipping option or something