Just thought I'd share...
So as some of you may know, I've been having ticking noises coming from my differential for the past year or two, developed from track use. Some research into the factory M-variable diff shed some light on the matter. I used to think it was simply grime on my lug nuts, or other non-issues. However, after getting several opinions from different trusted mechanics, all eyes are pointing at my LSD (probably overheated).
In any case, to save myself time and money overall, I decided to just get a whole new built unit and simply have the old swapped out with the new. It would take longer and cost more to dissect the diff and figure out exactly which parts I needed and which parts I didn't. Since I wanted as little downtime as possible on the car, I went with the whole unit replacement.
I decided to go with Jim Blanton's solution @ Performance Gearing (
http://www.performancegearing.com/function.php) because I was thoroughly impressed with Jim's attitude. He has always been patient with me and provided me with ample personal feedback and recommendations for my particular setup. He has been honest and top notch at communications throughout the whole process, even though I stated no particular referrals from the beginning; I was merely a stranger! As some of you may also know, I'm big on customer service (especially after having a horrible experience with VF-Engineering and trying to get them to help my supercharger kit run smoothly). I give Jim Blanton and his shop full marks and definitely recommend it for those that are considering diff builds/replacements in the future.
Jim has been building salisbury-style (friction disks/mechanical ramping configuration; with both static and dynamic locking) differentials for decades and I can tell that he's extremely anal about his builds because he refuses to sell units separately. I originally inquired about potential purchase of their proprietary LSD only. He told me that he only sells fully-built units to customers because he simply does not trust other differential builders. He does not want to warrant his products for the typical 3 years/unlimited mileage if someone else does the build (where he can't ensure quality, care, and expertise during the build process).
He's building my diff, and it will be shipped out end of this week. He hasn't even collected payment yet! That's trust and dedication right there
In total, I'm paying about $3k (with core deposit) for a full housing with his proprietary LSD, the street/track setup with 40% static lock and 30/50 ramp angles for dynamic lock; as well as slightly downgrading back to the factory 3.62 final drive ratio as compared to my current 3.91
Jim says that practically any mechanic can swap whole housings, so I got a quote from the shop that usually lets me borrow their lifts and wrench on stuff that I know how to do myself. It'll be $400 for the swap labor as the job is listed at 5-6 hours of work.