Obx Helical Differential

From what I understand, these parts are Chinese made.  I don't care if it's designed here in America, it's made over there... so of course I'm wondering if the quality is there.

Does anybody on this forum have any experience with the OBX brand Helical diffs?  

I know many people prefer clutch type lsds, but I'm more into grip than slip.

There's one on ebay for basically 400 bucks located here at http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/OBX-Helical...bayphotohosting

I know all about setting up a differential with shims and running patterns... so please, just try to keep it to just dealings with OBX and if you've had a good experience or bad one  

This of course is for an r200 on my 1988 s12 vg30e...

They aren't too bad, I know some people that run them and have no complaints.
I would only question long term reliability.

long term... i plan on having the car for about 2 more years... so think it'd work?

Yeah I am a huge supporter of helical differentials. They really are a great design as long as your not trying to hardcore drift. For grip they are perfect. As seishuku said they generally get positive reviews. The biggest thing to watch for is to make sure everything was assembled right and everything is properly tightened down. Sometimes due to poor quality control in China bolts occasionally are missing or are not tightened down properly. Other than that everyone has said it works great. Most people who bash them tend to be uninformed and are simply prejudice against it cause its made in China or its OBX or whatever reason they have. I don't see any reason why it wouldn't last a long time (at least 10+ years). I think seishuku just mentioned that because they are fairly new and people have not had them for more than a few years due to them being new.

My one recommendation is that upon arrival you do a complete disassembly in order to check tolerances, de-burr all gears, apply thread locker, and properly torque all bolts properly..

Essentially the design is sound, where the faults lie are with the metallurgy and assembly, at least one of these can be fixed easily.

-Dan

Great stuff guys!  Thanks for the input.  I'd order one now if i wasn't going to Indonesia for a couple weeks next month......  It will have to wait till I get back at the very end of August or sometime in september/october.

Just figured i'd plan ahead.

I want a race car, but not to race my stupid Porsche that's fast but expensive... lol...

Thanks again, oh, keep the replies rollin :-)

Often times people have said they received the OBX unit, and it was missing critical washers, etc..... a trip to Home Depot to get the washers can usually resolve it. These things are notoriously simple to assemble, which means getting it straightened out when it arrives isn't difficult, but it also begs the question, why don't they just do it right from the factory? Anyways DO A GOOGLE SEARCH on OBX and in a number of forums you will find stories of what was incorrect or missing when the diff arrived in the mail, and what was done to correct it.

Once you verify it's properly assembled, it should be as good as any Quaiffe unit... except of course that the Quaiffe unit has a rock-solid lifetime warranty and of course the OBX does not

ArroOnce you verify it's properly assembled, it should be as good as any Quaiffe unit... except of course that the Quaiffe unit has a rock-solid lifetime warranty and of course the OBX does not

Quick question with these "Differentials" if my R200 is done, as in it whines like a 3 year old on a cross country adventure, would purchasing this and installing it be all I had to do or is there more to it that I'm missing? Would I still need to get a new diff from the junkyard and this as well? Confused on this its a dumb question I realize.

A whining diff is usually the ring and pinion gear (backlash or incorrect gear mesh), or the side bearings (worn bearings).
The diff center (what the OBX unit is) would only solve anything related to the differential action (turning a corner or traction issues).

Another catch to the whining is what kind of subframe/dif mounts you have...stock should be pretty damn quiet, delrin or whatever plastic/hard mounts would cause more noise for obvious reasons.

A well used differential/ring & pinion might require you go out and either get one from a junkyard or get some new bearings or new ring and pinion... of course you should get new bearings if you're replacing the ring and pinion.

It all depends on how much it costs to get another diff vs bearings.  you might just want to pull yours apart and look at the bearings and see if they're bad looking/pitted.  Check the pinion bearings out too (which means you'll need a new pinion seal) so you'd have to remove the carrier and beat the pinion out.

Up to you on what you wanna do... if you go the money, replacing the bearings, ring, and pinion would not be a bad thing to do.

Anyone have fitted one?

Thanks mate

alundraThanks mate

mchttp://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=123939

BoostedVGGood thread!

same here...i doubt coming across a affordable 87-89 300zx turbo rear is going to happen any time soon.

I'm so tired to spin wheel on exit curve on track on WOT, i used to accel gradually...