OK OK!!!! I'm finally getting off my lazy ass to put in the LSD today!!!

Alright, enough PM's with the "hows the LSD working?"...hell I dunno, I haven't yet put it in, so I finally got around to jacking up the car and getting the diff out to put it in. Many thanks to sycE46 and his diff DIY, used that to get the thing out, took me just under 2 hours to get the damn thing out, my back is still a bit messed up so I move real gingerly nowadays trying to let it heal up, of course, the diff must weight 50lbs itself, so I'm taking a chance there, but am tired of not seeing any progress on the car. So it's opened up right now and draining the old diff fluid, and man....that stuff stinks like burnt garlic and crap all rolled into one. I'll take some shots of the new diff sitting in the housing after I get it all shimmed up and the gears are meshing with each other as close to right as I can get it before putting on the new cover. Going to take my time, so I don't know if it'll be done today or tomorrow. I'll keep you who are interested posted.

Here's the stinkyness


And here's the fresh gear


Which side of the tranny is the CDV at also??? Need to see if that's in there and swap it out. Might invest in fresh tranny fluid too now, even though in a month or three I'll be pulling it apart anyways for the new engine/clutch, want to see if there's any performance to be gained back by doing that with the CDV removal.

Looks like fun!

CDV is on driver's side if you have one. My '00 323Ci did not have a CDV.

Cool, I've got the same year/model as you, hopefully I won't even have to worry about it. Also searching the diy's, looks like the clutch and brakes share the same resevoir and fluid...that's interesting, didn't even realize it. Alright, gotta go get them gears out

i dont rememebr reading about this LSD at all. Can you give aus a qucik synopsis of where you got it, price etc!

Originally Posted by BMWDon

Cool, I've got the same year/model as you, hopefully I won't even have to worry about it. Also searching the diy's, looks like the clutch and brakes share the same resevoir and fluid...that's interesting, didn't even realize it. Alright, gotta go get them gears out

If you clamp the clutch line carefully, you shouldnt have any trouble bleeding the clutch. Dont worry about the brakes because the reservoir is split so you wont drain the brake reservoir if you lose all your clutch fluid somehow.

Garrett, I'm sorry, you'll have to do a search bud, search under my screen name and kaaz lsd, you should find the info, just got back from passportbmw, got two new oil seals for the output driveshafts, might as well make this 50K diff like it was brand new and not have to worry about these parts for a long time. $20 each seal...modding beemers ain't cheap, atleast for the folks who don't know how to work on their own cars to some extent , gotta get back to work.

Here's a shot of the ring gear off the diff, once I shake and bake the bastard, I'll put it onto the kaaz lsd unit.



This has been the biggest pain in the ass to date to get off, it's bigger around than most of you folks wrist, and there's two of them, one for each side holding everything in. I didn't have snap ring pliers big enough to handle these dirty sobs, went ahead and used vise grips, seriously scared the whole time that once they locked into place, they would catch a chunk of my palm and I'ld be one weeping bastard trying to get out of something like that with one good hand But I was cautious and didn't loose any fingers or meat


And here we have the hardest part to come that I can think of...the damn pressed on bearings. I still don't know how I'll get them off without breaking them, going to think awhile, will call passportbmw to get pricing for new ones if it comes to it


any bets I can't get them off without busting them up?

ok, got one bearing off in great shape, the other one I can't even begin to move, no damage, but no movement, need to get my buds blow torch and heat it up some tomorrow...enough for now. Hope I get it off too, just called passportbmw, they claim they have no service numbers for diff bearings...ha! nobody would ever think to work on their own diff right? no way some dipsh!t would ever order a set!! great, hope this foker comes off tomorrow

Like I said, looks like fun!

Did you replace the output shaft seals yet? Or at least pull out the old ones? Did you need any special tools for that? Or for putting the new seal in? The Bentley manual says you need a seal puller to get the old ones out, and a special BMW tool to seat the new ones. What's your plan of attack?

Originally Posted by slow323ci

Like I said, looks like fun!

Did you replace the output shaft seals yet? Or at least pull out the old ones? Did you need any special tools for that? Or for putting the new seal in? The Bentley manual says you need a seal puller to get the old ones out, and a special BMW tool to seat the new ones. What's your plan of attack?

My specialty removal tool was a big flat head screw driver used like a crowbar and a hammer to give me some leverage

To install, going to tap tap tap it in, going around the edge after each tap...I'm suffistimacated

Originally Posted by BMWDon

I'm suffistimacated

Yes...indeed...

good luck

Originally Posted by xS3x

good luck

Thanks man, I know I'll get it done, but for those who consider this as an "option" to what we know is out there: Samirs $1600 units....I don't suggest doing what I'm doing.

I paid $1250 shipped, and now $40 for two new seals, I suppose I didn't have too, but I did to make sure, if I didn't, it still would of cost me $45 for the specialty tool to remove my old seals the bmw way, and there's no garauntee they will come out in good enough condition to reuse them anyways. So now I'm looking at $1300 and 2 days work (assuming I can get the other bearing off and everything back together tomorrow). If you want to save $300 but put in the time and effort....more power to you. If you want to have a pro do it and know it'll work when you get it back in, get the units from Samir@Rennsport. All it takes is the extra core surcharge (which you'll get back obviously) and the turn around/labor time.

I explored this as a diy'er looking for options to the slim pickin's out there. If I had lived on the west coast and could drive to Rennsports facility, I wouldn't have even tried

I think I'm going to go throw the two diffs in the freezer in preperation for tomorrows job at hand

wow... makes me want an LSD. Can't wait to see how this turns out

WELL CRAP!! I didn't play with this thing saturday, there was a celtic festival and I wanted to drink beers that day. Sunday I sat the old open diff next to the new kaaz unit, and man....there's just too many differences in the important distances to make this fit, there's no room for movement in the housing, the ring can't be moved left to right more the 1/100's of an inch, and in order for this unit to work, I need it moved in one direction about 1/4 of an inch or 7.1mm. And with the pinion gear an immovable force, it's not going to happen like this. I've written kaaz in hopes of getting a simple answer like they sent me the wrong part, but I got a feeling they won't know either. Wasn't there something said once about the input shaft being slightly different on some of the 3 series bmw diffs? Like the 3.07's/3.15's had a different input than an oddball ratio like 3.23's? Any guess that the 328 (the actual model number Kaaz says this LSD is for) either auto or manual has a different input/pinion gear size, equalling a slightly different placement for the ring gear to set? Only way I can see this working is to take it to a shop and have 3.5mm shaved off both the back of the ring gear and the lsd's ring gear mounting surface, which shouldn't be a problem getting it done, it'll be a matter if it'll effect the structural strength enough to disintegrate later in it's life.

Again, go with a Rennsport unit....much easier

Maybe it's for an E36 328? In any case, hopefully KAAZ can help you.

As far as I can tell, all the non-M E46 diffs are interchangeable, except different bolt patterns on the input or output flanges. Internally I believe (but I'm not 100% certain) they are all the same.

Originally Posted by slow323ci

Maybe it's for an E36 328? In any case, hopefully KAAZ can help you.

As far as I can tell, all the non-M E46 diffs are interchangeable, except different bolt patterns on the input or output flanges. Internally I believe (but I'm not 100% certain) they are all the same.

That's what I would of guessed as well, that internally, they are all the same. But who the hell knows, trying things out for the first time, you get to find out all kinds of neat sh!t, like what works and what doesn't Hopefully KAAZ will help out, I sent them a simple picture of the difference I'm talking about, but today, I'm putting a measurement comparison of all important dimensions on paper and sending that to them so they can see the differences, I'll put that together and upload the shot so you guys can see as well.

Now here's a thread that caught my interest. We need more of these.

Originally Posted by BMWDon

...I paid $1250 shipped, and now $40 for two new seals, I suppose I didn't have too, but I did to make sure, if I didn't, it still would of cost me $45 for the specialty tool to remove my old seals the bmw way, and there's no garauntee they will come out in good enough condition to reuse them anyways. So now I'm looking at $1300 and 2 days work ...

What about a set of ouput bearing shims to set lash and bearing preload? Even if the ring gear were in the right position, you will still need to fine tune the lateral position of the center section a few thousandths of an inch. Also, bearing preload is determined by the thickness of the shims. Incorrect preload will lead to shortened life.


Ed