Miata Mailing List: April 1999, Message #41

sponsored by

Help!
Every time I think I have this situation straight, I get a different
story. 

(Randy Stocker helped me before. *Thanks Randy*  But I carelessly
deleted his email.)

Here's my sad story: 

I have a base '96 miata with an open diff. It has the "newer" single
half shafts (Slide straight into the diff housing.)  I wanted an LSD, so
I bought a '95 Torsen I diff. It has the two piece half shafts that bolt
to flanges on stub shafts that stick out of the diff. I got these half
shafts, the stub shafts and the entire carrier assembly. 

I've had the parts for a while, and after 2 different day-long attempts
at swapping them, am completely stymied not to mention disgusted.  >:^< 
My desire was to perform this operation in (what I thought would be) the
simplest manner: Swap everything - Diff carriers and half shafts. 

No dice. Got the '96 half shafts out of the open diff by disassembling
half the rear suspension. But couldn't get them separated from the wheel
assemblies.  Not even with a press!  >:^( 

Now I have another option.  I have access to another diff.  A '96 Torsen
in the same type carrier as is on the car.  I thought "That's great! 
Now I can just swap this new carrier with the open one and be done with
the whole mess!"  :^)

Uh, no...  I'm now being told that I can't use the half shafts that are
(permanently!?) attached to my car because "the half shaft ends that
slip into the left and right side of the Torsen II diff are of unequal
lengths".  >:^( 

Is that right?  Or does that only apply to the Type I Torsens?  Aren't
the Type II left and right shafts the same part number? (MD03-25-500C) 
At this point I'm so desperate I even tried talking to two different
Mazda parts counter guys.  (These are the same guys who once tried to
insist I take an incorrect PS hose because "it has the correct part
number". This, even though it looked NOTHING like the hose I was trying
to replace and I had said hose in my hand at the time.) 
Guess how much help they were...  
   
Anyway - I'm headed to Atlanta tomorrow to see my buds at RSpeed.  Joe's
being kind to me and having my new bronze-colored Volk Racing TE-37s
shod with 215/40-16 Pirelli P7000 summer tires for me.  I wanted Toyo
T-1s, but got tired of waiting for them.  I'll have Joe snap a digital
pic and post it on their sight for the world to see.  :^)  

If someone can give me the poop on this, I'll see if I can smooze,
cajole and give big $$ to Hector to swap these things for me.  But I
don't want to waste his time with my own confused misunderstandings. 
Anyone have a definitive solution?  Can you explain it so that I can
understand it enough to explain it to Hector?  

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

Steve Lewinski