Thoughts on my new 2-way

[RBS14]

Last thursday my new Kaaz 2-way showed up. Finally! its the newer version with more clutch plates and adjustable settings output speeds (you can adjust what %age each wheel spins in relation to the other).

The install: Wow, this was the most time consuming project i've ever done. It's pretty straight forward, but for some reason many of the bolts were torqued down WAY past what they should have been. I actually had it easier than "nokeone" because we did them at the same time, but he was a couple hours ahead of me so i benefited from his experiences. The worst part was getting the differential itself out, it doesn't just pop out. I had to stick a wrench in it and rest it on the oustide of the pumpkin then hit the part hanging over the edge of the pumpkin with leftover steel tubing from my rollcage. Mine cam out easier than nokeone's, he had to literally hit it with all his might. I would definately NOT do this again without air tools. However, only for loosenging bolts, they can get away from you when tightening bolts down. I was a bit scared to do it myself at first, but with the right tools, confidence, and a ton of time, its not that bad. Here's the bare basics of how to do it yourself.

1. take out your pumpkin
2. drain oil and take off your rear cover
3. hammer out output shafts with rubber mallot
4. loosen ring gear bolts and take out
5. remove bearing caps
6. take out diff internals
*NOTE: make sure to take note of which side of the diff has 2 shims and which side has 1. This is extremely important.
7. pry ring gear off open diff
8. bolt ring gear onto new diff (98-115 ft/lbs).
9. replace output shaft seals with new ones (come with diff)
10. put new diff into pumpkin with new provided bearings.
11. bolt down bearing caps (somewhere around 80 ft/lbs, can't recall exact numbers).
12. put output shafts back in.
13. bolt back on rear cover (40 ft/lbs).
14. fill with 1.5 quarts of desired oil.
15. put pumpkin back in car and break in new diff.

Break-in: figure 8's for half an hour, lock to lock in first gear with clutch in around corners, accel to 15 mph on straights. This wasn't fun for us because we got kicked out of the first place we went, so we had to be creative. Change oil right after break-in. You'll see quite a bit of metal/whatever shavings.

Performance: It's great! did a drift event the next day, wow, it's 100x better than a VLSD. I never believed anyone when they said VLSD's wern't good for drifting, they're alright i guess, but nothing compared to this. car feels much more controlled when sliding. The diff engages instantly, as opposed to the lag associated with VLSD's. The fact that it is still basically locked under deceleration is crazy, it makes dori dori much easier. I can't wait to get some more track time in with it to see what all it can do. I could go on for days but this post is already long enough. I'll sum it up for ya.

This thing rocks!

Hope this info will be of use to someone.

Feel free to add more info and ask questions. Anyone compared the new kaaz units to the old ones?

[zero.counter]

Well congrats on you install. I am looking forward to doing the install when I purchase 2-way from phase2motortrend next month.

[RBS14]

Oh yeah, and it does make noise and clunk a little bit, but it's supposedly normal and will decrease with time. It'll never go away which is fine by me. I like having it make noise here and there, it reminds me that it's there which is fun. I'm not down with the clunking tho. It doesn't do either when it's all warmed up. Then it just chirps the inside tire (which it always does). :D

[Heartwork]

awesome that u got your Kaaz in...
i just finished up my Tomei 2 way Technical Advance Trax today, but hadnt have time to actually try it out....just broke it in tonight, and will drain/refill diff fluid tommorow and *test* them on ****ty balding tires...hahah, will do a more accurate testing when new rims/tires goes on next week...but so far its a HUGE improvement and probably one of the best investments i've done so far :aw:

[DRFT]

good install, hope to see you at the next meet!

[FRpilot]

isn't installing an aftermarket differential into a regular pumpkin hard? you make it seem easy. im just worried that if i do it myself and i mess up, my $1000 differential will be down the drain. when you have the pumpkin out, is it as simple as unbolting the top cover, taking off all the bearings and remember if they're left or right side, pull out the open/vlsd and drop in the aftermarket one? and put cover back on? i got a basic idea from other websites and one of the scc articles following project silvia. is it as simple as it sounds? should i be not afraid when i get an lsd?

[RBS14]

Originally posted by FRpilot
isn't installing an aftermarket differential into a regular pumpkin hard? you make it seem easy. im just worried that if i do it myself and i mess up, my $1000 differential will be down the drain. when you have the pumpkin out, is it as simple as unbolting the top cover, taking off all the bearings and remember if they're left or right side, pull out the open/vlsd and drop in the aftermarket one? and put cover back on? i got a basic idea from other websites and one of the scc articles following project silvia. is it as simple as it sounds? should i be not afraid when i get an lsd?

As long as you are methodical and make sure you remember which side everything comes off of, it isn't that bad. It's not technically hard, but does take full concentration when doing it the first time. I thought the exact same thing you did when i ordered mine. Two things i hightly recommend you have are air tools for loosening and a friend to help with various things. There is a writeup on FA with pics too. That's what helped me the most. Deffinately check it out.

[tsunami0ne]

Originally posted by Heartwork
awesome that u got your Kaaz in...
i just finished up my Tomei 2 way Technical Advance Trax today, but hadnt have time to actually try it out....just broke it in tonight, and will drain/refill diff fluid tommorow and *test* them on ****ty balding tires...hahah, will do a more accurate testing when new rims/tires goes on next week...but so far its a HUGE improvement and probably one of the best investments i've done so far :aw:

You make it sound like YOU broke it in. Give credit to where it's due! DonFactory had to mentor your ass during the installation and break-in. If you want some free DRIFT FLUID, there is some leftover Valvoline 80w-90 you can have which hopefully equates to 1.2L.

I wouldn't do anymore testing on your "slicks"... you're gonna pop your tires and die.

jaime's face when I did a donut in your car ->:eek:

[nokeone]

hey nice write up...

you did make it sound a bit easy though...lol

not that it was terribly difficult...just VERY time consuming and tedious...i would honestly rate it VERY low on the technical difficulty scale..right down there with Coil-Overs install (for reference)..just a matter of having the right tools, strength, and innovation to come up with ideas on the spot to make things work...(such as prying the stock internals out with a set of vice grips and a 4 ft pole used like an axe to hit the vice grips, which were attached to the stock internals, and pry them out with sheer force)

the hardest part was by far the actual removal and install of the pumpkin because the damn thing weighs so f-in much..and i would def recommend having both rear tires off the ground so that they may be turned independently of one another to grant easier access to the axel-diff bolts..

but really, since the Kaaz diff was an all encased single unit which entirely replaces the original internals it really is as simple as removing and replacing parts for parts...no real confusion...

anyway yeah, comparing this to the VLSD i had for a few months prior it is night and day..instant response, strong, predictable, controlable, etc...

can't wait for the next event...this past friday at Buttonwillow it truly made linking corners at full drift possible with a stock powered KA..

:D

Kaaz 2-way (new version) gets a 9.5 out of 10 rating in my book..

[RBS14]

Yeah, that's the biggest difference, the predictability of the car. It definately makes linking corners at full counter much easier. :eek:

[FRpilot]

you both make it sound so easy. but i guess its just pull out the old differential and drop in the new one since the kazz unit and most others are just the entire differential. sorta like changing a clutch huh? its not like you have to do a complete overhaul on your tranny and replace the internals. maybe i'll mess with a pumpkin from a junkyard and see where i go with that..

[nokeone]

Originally posted by FRpilot
you both make it sound so easy. but i guess its just pull out the old differential and drop in the new one since the kazz unit and most others are just the entire differential. sorta like changing a clutch huh? its not like you have to do a complete overhaul on your tranny and replace the internals. maybe i'll mess with a pumpkin from a junkyard and see where i go with that..

yeah that really is all there is to it...

but like scott said, i would never do it again without air tools and a lift...some of the bolts were torqued down to several hundred foot lbs...it took a 4 foot breaker bar to get some of them loose...also a vice would have come in handy...ever try holding somethin when someone else is trying to apply 110ft lbs of force on it?..lol..not so easy...i'm in no means out of shape (quite the opposite actually) and it still took just about everything i had to physically get some of the bolts loose and some of the others retightened...i was definately sore the next day...

it's funny...some of the things that made it so much easier for Scott to get his done, after i had experimented, were techniques tryed in anger..lol..the use of a 3 foot piece of pipe brought down with about 300 lbs of force onto a set of vice grips to pop the original diff out..lol..yeah that was pure anger and frustration...

but yeah...i would like to dispell the fear of a diff modification...we did these with no directions (other then torque specs) and only hand tools...it's just VERY time consuming..took us literally 10-12 hours :eek: to do both cars, start to finish, and break the diffs in (45min), and replace the fluid immediately after break in...so definately a serious undertaking..i would have liked to have broken it up over 2 days..

with air tools, lift, and experience i would be confident in start to finish of one car, including break in, in 4 hours..

:D

happy drifting..

[TheTicTac]

Installing LSD's are pretty easy, I remember the days when people were so scared that they had to pull of the diff then bring it to a shop. WEAK :rolleyes:

[tougebear]

Originally posted by RBS14
Oh yeah, and it does make noise and clunk a little bit, but it's supposedly normal and will decrease with time. It'll never go away which is fine by me. I like having it make noise here and there, it reminds me that it's there which is fun. I'm not down with the clunking tho. It doesn't do either when it's all warmed up. Then it just chirps the inside tire (which it always does). :D

It will get really annoying if you drive your car everyday, especially, in traffic.

[Dousan_PG]

i never found my 2way lsd annoying at all, daily driven traffic parking lots etc

its actually quite funny and entertaining
especially watching mothers and fathers with their young children give me dirty looks and evil eyes hahahaha

[RBS14]

Originally posted by dousan36
i never found my 2way lsd annoying at all, daily driven traffic parking lots etc

its actually quite funny and entertaining
especially watching mothers and fathers with their young children give me dirty looks and evil eyes hahahaha

I find it quite entertaining too! I assume the ppl giving you the dirty looks are because of the chirping inside tire. I love the chirping tires. Its the best!

[Dousan_PG]

yep
supermarket, mall, street corners, etc etc...hahaha
its pretty funny

[Steeles]

I love that mine did it in front of a cop turning from a dead stop barely moving and you could hear it like I was burning out haha cop had this weird look on his face as I turned past him I leaned out the window and yelled that it was a posi unit he nodded and smiled.

[nokeone]

haha...yeah i guess it is rather amusing...although at times i find myself still putting in the clutch when making a u-turn or somethin and then resuming accel once the wheels are straight...it's like i think i am going to hurt it otherwise when it's not warmed up...lol..

[tsunami0ne]

Originally posted by TheTicTac
Installing LSD's are pretty easy, I remember the days when people were so scared that they had to pull of the diff then bring it to a shop. WEAK :rolleyes:

:boink:

[tsunami0ne]

Originally posted by RBS14
I find it quite entertaining too! I assume the ppl giving you the dirty looks are because of the chirping inside tire. I love the chirping tires. Its the best!

Try it with cheap $10 tires to change that chirp into a 5 second screech(screech time varies on pavement.)

One time I was making a right turn near a bus stop, and some girl who was sitting down got up and started yelling stuff that i couldnt hear because my tires were screeching while she waved her finger at me angrily.... she must have been turned on by me.

[Yoshi]

great thread, how about we FAQ this one mods?

[Steeles]

Originally posted by nokeone
haha...yeah i guess it is rather amusing...although at times i find myself still putting in the clutch when making a u-turn or somethin and then resuming accel once the wheels are straight...it's like i think i am going to hurt it otherwise when it's not warmed up...lol..

hahah that usually ends in much tire smoke and me sideways. Imnot patient enough to wait till the car is straight :)

<---giving drifters a bad name on the street