[Shotimes] LSD Conversion KIT for the SHO? Any comments?

[Mike Kopstain]

Edit: We are long winded.  The server rejected my response due to size. :-)

I think we're going to have to agree to disagree then Don.  I'm just
speaking based on my experience.

In all of the 6 months we had a shop, I never once replaced a differential
or came across a customer with that problem.  I did, however, come by plenty
of rod bearing failures, 8 lethal, that I can think of off hand.  Some cars
will knock for a month with no degradation in performance, while some cars
will knock in the morning and be toast in the afternoon.

One case I can think of was a customer with a 91' Mocha plus (that has to
hit home!) that called me in the morning to tell me that his motor was
clacking on startup.  By the time he got it to my house, it was knocking
quite loudly, could barely move under it's own power, and the motor had to
be replaced.  We ended up sticking a 3.2 in it.  I have several similar
stories, but not one of a failed diff.

Even now, I can't remember the last time I heard of a stock differential
failing, save for a car I was going to buy in Michigan.

~ Mike

Midwest SHO - For Everything SHO
www.midwestsho.com
Sales@Midwestsho.com

Advance Motorsports - For everything else
www.advancemotor.com
Support@advancemotor.com

Midwest SHO - For Everything SHO
www.midwestsho.com
Sales@Midwestsho.com

Advance Motorsports - For everything else
www.advancemotor.com
Support@advancemotor.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Donald Mallinson" <dmall@mwonline.net>
To: <shotimes@autox.team.net>
Sent: Friday, February 06, 2004 12:25 PM
Subject: Re: [Shotimes] LSD Conversion KIT for the SHO? Any comments?


> Mike,
>
> No doubt there are cars with bad bearings at fairly low
> miles, but the vast majority of experience with the V6 SHO
> is that rod bearings usually show very little wear up to and
> well beyond 150,000 miles.  For goodness sakes, note that I
> said MOST, not ALL.
>
> The fleet of SHO's is not 16+ years old.  Certainly we are
> going to see more and more failures. But I haven't seen an
> epidemic of rod bearing problems yet.
>
> The differential problem has cropped up more often in my
> experience than any rod bearing problem with the V6.  Both
> manual and automatic transmissions have been destroyed, and
> quite a few of them, by the differential problem.  Again,
> Note that I didn't say ALL and in this case not even MOST
> differentials will fail, but enough are failing that it is a
>   problem to be considered for those of us that plan on
> keeping SHO's a long time.
>
> It is very safe to say that MOSt sho differentials will
> probably never fail in the reasonable life of the car, same
> with rod bearings.  Experience so far is these cars can go
> 200,000 and beyond on the original motor and many have.
>
> Experience on this list is pretty vast, and most people that
> have examined their rod bearings up to and some beyond
> 150,000 miles, have said they look fine.  Certainly for this
> kind of mileage, some failures are to be expected, and some
> have happened.
>
> I usually advise people that plan on keeping a SHO beyond
> 150,000 miles, to pull the pan and check the rod bearings.
> This is good advice for any motor.  But there is ZERO
> inspection or preventative maintenance for the differential
> problem.  Only the Quaife is a nearly fail-safe fix.
>
> I just don't think we have an epidemic of rod bearing
> failures, and neither do we have an epidemic of differential
> failures.  Both are to be of concern and consideration in
> ANY car with the age, miles and probably "high sprited"
> driving that the SHO gets.
>
> Don Mallinson