Howdy folks, my car is currently getting its gearbox rebuilt.  While the car is in bits wondering if should go for a LSD or not? 
 

I’m using the car mostly for track days and occasional special drive and less of an everyday car. So thinking the extra traction out of corners might come in handy? 
 

Any experiences of adding an LSD? Was it noticeable? 
 

Any idea if it can be added easily at a later stage or will require taking engine and gearbox out to install? So if I’m going to do it should I do it now? 
 

thanks in advance for any guidance or feedback

Difficult decision. LSD may give you more understeer at slower corners but should even out on fast corners. If fitting the lsd you may then need to adjust suspension settings. I prefer it and have the 400 lsd fitted to my S1. Also get the 400 series flywheel and clutch fitted while the gearbox is out. If you are going to get the lsd do it now to save the box coming out again.

Of course in the very wet, or if you put a wheel on the grass you can get a fishtail effect so you will need to be aware and balance the throttle, although the Bosch nanny aids may click in more often and save you.

 

36 minutes ago, electro_boy said:

Howdy folks, my car is currently getting its gearbox rebuilt.  While the car is in bits wondering if should go for a LSD or not? 

If the ‘box is coming apart, you might as well get one fitted (I would). 

Otherwise, like you said, getting one installed later would require everything to come out again (🤑). 

I had exact same question a few months back while doing a gearbox rebuild. I opted to stay without - after a long think, there aren't many instances where I felt a locking diff is needed. The only big one in my opinion is exit our of very slow corners, like uphill serpentines, wet road, where I would ocassionally light up the inner tire when TC is fully off. In sport mode, ABS will correct almost perfectly.

In my opinion, NA doesn't have the grunt to justify it. But I can understand why 400 series cars would have it. So I decided to save myself a thousand.

If you ever felt the need to have it, have it installed of course. If not, I'd spend the money elsewhere.

Hey Paul, I already have the lighter fly wheel and clutch from the 400. Love the increased response from the engine. 

hmmm gonna think about this a bit more.  It’s not clear cut, no one is saying yes absolutely get one it’ll make things so much better.

The cost so far is a bit higher than I was hoping and the LSD will add another ~£1000 on top so not sure I want to go ahead … 

 

It is a nice to have for a track day hero ( like myself 😃). On its own it isn’t needed but like anything for track every little bit helps, and if you are going full track mods then it is the sum of the parts. It really depends on how much you want to spend to still not be as fast as Randy in a bog standard Elise. 🤣

If you didn’t drop the grand on the LSD, what would you spend it on?

Car related purchase … it would probably be track days and tuition next year.

non car related purchase, ski holiday or furniture for the house we’ve just moved into.  

Interesting.  Objectively:

Furniture would be the most useful 

Ski holiday would be the most memorable

Tuition would have the most long lasting benefit

Track days - I’d guess you’re gonna spend that money anyway…

Subjectively, I think the LSD would be the one you will likely have the most remorse about not getting.  The way I’m wired for example, that would do my head in, so I’d say it depends how much of an objective vs emotive thinker you are.  

I’d guess the latter given you have an Evora 😉.

 

I was about to say the opposite! To me, if it’s a choice between theoretically gaining an umpteenth at the limit, or actually getting out and ragging it on track, I’d rather spend the money enjoying the Evora at speeds that would otherwise lose my license…

I think we’re actually on the same page.

I was picking up on the OPs original comment that he uses the car mostly for track days anyway. If that’s the case, I can’t imagine that would stop - especially if the LSD is installed.

If it wasn’t installed though, every lap would be a constant reminder..

Thanks all for the feedback and advice it was greatly appreciated.

In the end, I decided not to install the LSD.  The total cost was too high (more than I had planned for) and I couldn't justify it as it didn't seem like there was going to be huge increase in performance.  I use the car for a bit of fun not competitive and am more than happy with the smiles per mile it currently gives so I feel there was little extra to gain for me by adding an LSD.   

At some point down the road I may install a gearbox oil cooling kit sold by Hangar111.  It's around the same sort of price but can be installed at any time, just needs the under tray off and will greatly help with the reliability and robustness.

If I had a Evora S then I think I would have got it installed.   I'm sure I would've gone for some power upgrades downtime road and could have justified the LSD more.  

But I want to keep the NA engine NA and I don't think I can add much more power than currently (~310bhp) without spending silly money.  

Edited November 27, 20231 yr by electro_boy

@Phaeton91, I incorrectly worded my initial post.   I meant to say I mostly use the car for fun rather than daily driver.  Not that I mostly do track days, I try to do a few year.

Interesting thread! Sorry to be a late in the discussion, but I have stayed out of the forum for some time since I have .... had the gearbox rebuilt and fitted a LSD .... and while having the car apart being doing a "few" other mods.

Given your arguments, it is probably the right decision you made.

For me, with an Evora S with 450 Nm, I rarely experience traction issues with semi-slicks, but came to the decision as follows:

• When I elaborate with damper settings; loss of traction is always the first issue that limits me in the rear. Then I back off one click and is good again.
• No matter what I do, how unbalanced the car is, a more settled chassis always pays off in lap times => I want to turn up the damper stiffness
• A number of indications led me towards the decision to design a stiffer rear anti-roll bar => traction issues will increase
• I currently work with Nitron and in a dialogue of next step, we were in complete agreement that we do not do any revalving until a LSD have been fitted. It has been a recommendation from their side since before.

So, I would rather say that the LSD, a Drexler in my case, may pay off in secondary effects rather than in primary effects (=Traction / No traction).

If you had/have the chance to drive different models of Porsche 944 Turbo (LSD standard from -88), you will find that it is much easier to sort out the settings / driving style of the later one. My experience is that you get a far better front/rear balance with LSD in a 944 when you can disregard traction in the equation. Maybe that car is more extreme in this sense, but at least a good example.