Road test for the 4.10 LSD

The 323i went out to a job site yesterday and I had the chance to try it out. The only concern I now have is that the rear diff "sings" a bit on the road. I may need to up the weight of the oil to compensate and I really hope it's not a sign that it's going to fail on me.

The LSD is certainly real. I parked on the grass and punched the accelerator to leave 2 tracks in the grass. The old one just left one track.

The speedo is within 3 mph of the real speed as tested by a conveniently-placed radar cart on Route 14! The sheriff that was parked nearby probably thought I was nuts doing a U-turn and coming back around to check the speed. I'm running 14" rims, so the speed could have been off because of that issue. The 320is had 13" rims on it.

One thing that I didn't mention was the importance of following the recommendation of DISSCONECTING THE NEGATIVE TERMINAL OF THE BATTERY before doing any instrument panel work. I did not do this and had to reinstall everything again with the reset of the disconnected battery. Otherwise the clock and other instruments just didn't work as they should. All is back to normal now.

Back to the future....

The CD player installed in this car has a few idiocynchrosies to it. One is the total lack of reception of any radio stations and the occasional lack of control. So be it, I have an original BMW radio/ tape player that's been restored. It's the standard issue for the E21 series and I am torn between being able to use the CD's or having an original radio for the car. The real problem I have is really knowing what the dashboard looked like for an 80's E21 Euro car.

In goes the diff and more....

After a few weeks of waiting, the shop I use for all our cars helped install the 320is's rear diff and speedometer. The owner of the 320is contacted me and I had to tell him the news that the car fell victim to the "tinworm". I managed to salvage the rear diff and speedo as a last effort to save what I could. Now the 3.91 LSD and the speedo are in the 323i.

The photo shows the old rear differential that is now in the trunk of my toyota. The shot shows the rusty rear diff with a liberal amount of PB Blaster on it! I also got a good luck at the other project that I will eventually tackle : the exhaust system. The 323i has the stock exhaust headers (cast iron), a BOSAL resonator and some very small "who know's what" right behind the tailpipes. The lift helped show any rust and it's good to know very little is showing. I did see that someone did "ride the rails" on the frame at some time.

It's great to see the nearly-complete lack of rust on the frame and floor pans. The shop I use has a mechanic that's developed a great rust treatment that he sprays on and it seals the spot so well against oxygen that it basically stops the rust and you can scrub off the remaining rust in a few months and re-apply the treatment to prevent any further rust.

Readers will receive an update once I've managed to run the 323i on the highway to see how the new rear end and speedo behaves. I have to visit a job site on Keuka Lake tomorrow morning. Let you know what happens....

The First Frost

Well the weather is definitely getting colder and the time is near for the 323i to get under cover and parked away for the winter. The challenge will be to clear out the garage to make way for all the cars.

The slippery limited slip returns

I retrieved the LSD from the junkers today and cleaned it up to find that there are NO markings on this differential. No "S" stamped anywhere to show that it is indeed a limited slip differential. Great.
So, how does one confirm that this is really an LSD? Well YouTube is okay, but I found conficting information on the site. This may have been a conversion, so the task before me is to confirm 2 things: what's the ratio of this thing and is it or is it not an LSD?

1) ratio? YouTube did have an excellent solution for this one showing a car on a lift and the tire taped and the input flange taped to show the rotation. Turn the tire 10 times and count the number of times the input shaft turns. Move the decimal point over one space and BAM! Mine turned a total of 39+ times (which corresponds to the 3.91 ratio).
2) LSD or NOT? That's a bit harder. I guess I could pop the cover off and see the guts to confirm it, but one way (this I looked up) was to turn the input shaft and see if both hubs turn. That's the first sign, but it's better to simulate what happens when one wheel is stuck in the mud or snow and see if the other hub moves and if you can keep ahold of the one you're trying to keep still (stuck wheel). I tried it and I couldn't hold the hub still. Good sign.

I kept looking back at my driving tests and this one acted like an LSD, so why not any markings to back me up? There are conversion kits available to make your open diff into an LSD. I just don't know, I guess I'll keep cleaning it and messing with it until I'm convinced.