Date: Sat, 2 Oct 1999 21:56:26 -0700
Reply-To: Todd Last <Rubatoguy@MINDSPRING.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Todd Last <Rubatoguy@MINDSPRING.COM>
Subject: Would you be interested in a limited-slip diff for your Vanagon?
Content-Type: multipart/mixed;
Hello to the list!
Having a 2WD and wanting it to have some off-road and foul-weather
abilities, I've been trying to find a limited-slip differential for the
Vanagon.
I initially looked at locking differentials, and based on comments from
folks on the list, a locker has more drawbacks than benefits.
Supposedly, ZF makes a limited slip that works in the Vanagon
transmission, but I have not been able to find anyone who can confirm
this. What I did come across, after talking to a friend who works for a
VW magazine was something called a "Torque Biasing differential."
Apparently this is the hot thing among Water-cooled FWD VWs. There is
one manufacturer for this product.
From their web page: http://quaife.co.uk/product/atb.htm
"The QUAIFE Differential powers both drive wheels under nearly all
conditions, instead of just one.
With an ordinary open differential, standard on most cars, a lot of
precious power is wasted during wheel spin under acceleration. This
happens because the open differential shifts power to the wheel with
less grip, along the path of least resistance.
The QUAIFE, however, does just the opposite. It senses which wheel has
better grip, and biases the power to that wheel. It does this smoothly
and constantly, and without ever completely removing power from the
other wheel.
In drag-race style, straight-line acceleration runs, this results in a
close to ideal 50/50 power split to both drive wheels, resulting in
essentially
twice the grip of an ordinary differential.
In cornering, while accelerating out of a turn, the QUAIFE biases
greater power to the outside wheel, reducing inside-wheel spin. This
allows the driver to begin accelerating earlier, exiting the corner at a
higher speed.
The QUAIFE also controls loss of traction when the drive wheels are on
slippery surfaces such as ice and snow or mud, providing the appropriate
biased traction needed to overcome these adverse conditions. The
QUAIFE Differential provides constant and
infinitely variable drive. Power is transferred automatically without
the use of normal friction pads or plates seen in other limited-slip
designs. "
Well, the bad news in all this is that while they make units for: VW
Beetle 1302/1303 , VW Beetle swing axle,VW Golf/Scirocco/Jetta/Passat -
with 020 transmission, VW Golf/Corrado/Jetta/Vento/New Beetle/Audi A3 &
A4/Seat Ibiza/Skoda Octavia - with 02A or 02J transmission , they do not
make one for the Vanagon.
The good news is that they are willing to make one, if there is enough
interest. I'm posting the email I got from the US distributor, in hopes
that someone might be interested in organizing a group purchase, or
perhaps one of our vendors would be interested in arranging something
with them.
Is anyone interested in taking this and running with it? From what I can
tell, this could be used in both 2wd and 4wd Vanagons. They wy=ould need
25 orders to tool up for the Vanagon.
Regards,
Todd
'88 Westy
====================== Forwarded email ===========================
Mr Last,
Thank you for your interest in Quaife. Your inquiry with Quaife UK was
forwarded to us since we distribute their products here.
Although we do not currently make a diff for the Vanagon, it could be
made if enough people were interested in doing it. Depending on its
size, the price could range from $800 to $1300 each. We have done many
productions of diffs for car clubs lately with special pricing for all
who pre-order the diff, once the diff has been designed and quoted.
After the initial group gets their diffs at the special price, the diff
would then be available for sale through us at our standard price
(whateverthat may be).
The other option is for you (your club) to organize a buy of the entire
production run of 25 units as a single purchase. This would essentially
mean that the diff is yours to sell exclusively, as long as it is
re-ordered on a regular basis (once every year or so).
If you would like to pursue any of these options, please contact me at
800.553.1055 to discuss it further. We would need a sample
complete diff (with spiders, etc) and at least one output flange (CV
joint flange) to start the quote process.
Our address is below. Again, thank you for your interest.
Regards,
Dana
_____________________________
Dana C. Clark
AUTOTECH Sport Tuning
32240-E Paseo Adelanto
San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675 USA
tel 949.240.4000
fax 949.240.0450
dclark@autotech.com
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