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Thanks for the heads up, I've read that the Quaife diff needs a non oem sized bearing/race to fit the Getrag housing. Hope to check it all out next week when it arrives.
Nope, its the real deal for $433 for the 8.8 and $297 for the CTS. Have one in my lap petting it like a furry kitty. They were a Quaife dealer and now make the Wavetrac lsd as their own product and are blowing out the inventory. Grab on for the CTS diff while you can! $297 now that's cheap!
PS. Sorry for the drift off topic but all of Ryans work is what inspired me to go the LFX route and I figure this is pertinent.
Last edited by csdilligaf; 09-22-2018 at 03:42 PM.
Reason: more info
As mentioned in posts above for the CTS/Solstice Quaife kit, the bearings that come with it are what it takes to make things work. I gather the factory bearing will not fit the Quaife so they supply ones that do. They are the same people I got my 8.8 from and will respond to email plus you can easily look the business up on google and call them like I did. Cheaper on ebay than in their online store.
https://autotech.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=quaife
From their site
"QUAIFE QDF23B: GM Pontiac Sky / Solstice incl turbo / 2003-2007 Cadillac CTS V6 / Opel GT 2007-2010 Kappa Platform. Special sized Carrier Bearing needed for 1 side (see related item above) " Check it out on the above link
Just wanted to ping you a bit and see what your current status is with the clutch. Still running the stock clutch/flywheel? I've been having a similar clutch disengagement issue that reared its ugly head in the form of a roasted clutch at the dyno yesterday, so I'm trying to make sure I don't run into this issue again with the new clutch/flywheel.
We finally got around to putting the stock setup back in last month, shifts are now much more tame - except for 4 and 5th, I think we've got a bad syncro (or the damn spec clutch damaged it, I don't recall it behaving this way pre-spec). 4th occasionally grinds on a quick shift, 5th almost always wants to grind - haven't figured out what makes it happy yet. How far on the clutch pedal is your friction point? At the bottom or top?
I've been worried about this as well. I was down to visit Ryan and to see his car and he mentioned that he had gone back to the stock clutch but had not put any hard testing on it yet. I've read all the bad issue's that the V6 Camaro forum talk about and they seem to really complain about clutch problems even with the stock set up. Some say they get about 17K miles or so before it fails. I am taking a hard look at a possible trans swap to a lighter but stout tranny that might work. One thing that I would pre-requisite would be a trans with a real pilot bearing, what were they thinking? Options might be 2005-2010 Mustang 4.0 T5, TR3550 or the BMW that all the K Miata guys use. So I am in the market for one of those old Spec flywheels to put a pilot bearing in and make it work. Hint, Hint..... I think the Asin AY6 bell housings on ebay are cheap enough to modify and make work.
While I was researching I also saw a lot of those reports, but a frustrating lack of resolutions as the cars were generally cared for under warranty. I don't know if a pilot bearing will solve the woes, however. To illustrate "what they were thinking" - this is a traditional gearbox. Short input shaft on the left, counter shaft, long output shaft. The AY6 is what's known as "tailset" - Long input shaft, short output shaft. Since the input shaft is supported by the tranny case at more points, it shouldn't wander as much. I've seen a few people talk about putting a pilot bearing in, but have yet to see anyone actually do it - since you'd need to extend the shaft and machine a bearing face to it.
And just for another information point - this is our input shaft. I don't have any pre-spec pictures, but I'm pretty sure the shaft splines weren't as pointy before.
I also considered making a broached fixture to go over the input shaft with bushings for drill and ream to install a pilot without tranny disassembly and we could all just pass it around. But I like the idea of a trans with a little better 1st gear.
Just swapped to the stock clutch and flywheel a couple weeks ago. Haven't yet had a chance to drive any more than moving around the shop. Engagement point is close to the floor, going to try to bring it up a bit higher, still need to bleed the clutch hydraulics again. I finally bit the bullet despite the 20lb gain in the hopes that I would have a trans shifting without complaints. I had a good lap ruined at the last event because it wouldn't go into 5th. Can't be having that. I'd love a lighter trans option.
I'm in the midst of swapping out my clutch. I figured it was worth trying to replace it and dial in before taking a huge leap into something more custom. If this bites the dust again soon, I'm going to likely start looking into how much of a headache it will be to mate up a super magnum with a custom bellhousing
Well I decided to bite the bullet and do some experimentation.
On flat and level ground with the car in neutral, and no brakes applied, when shifting into 1st or reverse, the car just rocks forward or backwards ever so slightly. With the rubber bumper on the pedal assembly removed, the issue would go away. Because of this, I decided to order another master cylinder with a larger bore, but equal stroke. The one I was supplied with from V8R was 0.57 in^3 displaced volume, and the new one I ordered was 0.77. The Master cylinder does, unfortunately, need modification to fit with a die grinder, but the test was a success. The bite point moved up significantly and I no longer had the "rocking" issue. In my opinion, the 0.77 in^3 was a bit much, so I think the goldilocks replacement is one with a 0.67 in^3 with equal stroke. Wilwood part number 260-10374. I'll be installing it early next week and will follow up with how it feels then.
Just wanted to give an update: With a not too significant amount of modification, I was able to get the MGW short shifter for the t56 to fit on the exocet, and man does it make a world of difference. It's not cheap, but it totally changes the feel of the transmission in my opinion. That in addition to the larger bore master cylinder improved the shifting quality immensely.
That's good news. Can you post up a few install pics? I assume it is this Shifter? Did you have to modify the ball on the bottom to accept a clevis or was it ready to go?
Sorry for the lack of updates gents, things always get crazy at the end of the season and with the additional chaos of moving our Goodwin Racing home to a new larger location I've been even more tied up than usual.
We won the Pro Am round 3 at Buttonwillow which also meant winning the ProAm season for Limited class (the season points are measured against competitors with all drivetrains).
For that event I got the repaired GT1000 wing back on the car. Had to trim it down a lot in angle to balance with the 2017 front end. It was a hot day but still the first time I was able to take Riverside completely flat out, so the wing is definitely an improvement over the last... which is saying quite a bit coming from a massive Kognition airfoil before. I used to enter Riverside at about 110 mph and bleed down to 106 or so at the apex before accelerating out. This time I'm entering with my foot on the floor never lifting and at that same point I was doing 106, now I'm at 114 mph and climbing.
Power felt low all day and I had worries the engine was getting tired. Then in the last session after splashing some fresh gas in the power came back. I did some backtracking in my head on the age of the E85 that I had left in the tank and it was just at the 3 month mark in age. One of those things.. you know E85 ages out but then when you have an experience like that it really underlines it for you. I'll be ensuring I get fresh fuel for every event in the future.
Following that, all eyes have been set on Superlap Battle. The primary focus has been rebuilding the 2018 front aero, with a trip back up to Blackbird Fabworx. We ended up cutting the splitter in half, putting the good half back in the mold and building out the other half fresh the same way we made the original. Pretty darn cool to do the whole layup and put it under vacuum and the finished half and the fresh carbon half just suck into the mold like a glove and cure together. Not saying it was easy, but certainly rewarding. Thanks to Chip (csdilligaf on here) for CNCing some aluminum bits that needed to go in to the splitter at the last minute for me.
Finished splitter came back to San Diego with me and then it was thrash time to rebuild the brackets, ducting, front bumper, etc. for that front end. The last of the VIR damage disappeared with the addition of some carbon/kevlar fenders.
Tired of the issues with the SPEC clutch I swapped to a Luk factory clutch/flywheel. Not ideal, but given the choice between 20 lbs and a clutch that works, I know what I'm picking.
Lots of other small updates like changing to Stoptech's race floating rotor that allows a little more float which should help with knockback from the flexible factory front uprights. Full inspection on the car, replaced several bits, etc. Another corner balance and alignment and then we were ready to do a shakedown of all the new stuff.
With Superlap Battle coming up on the 8th, I went out to Streets of Willow this past Saturday. Great shakedown overall, worked through the many little things that always pop up on shakedowns with new parts, and the car feels great. The good news is the clutch is shifting way better. The bad news is that 5th gear is toast, too many times grinding into gear and the damage was already done before I changed to the factory clutch. It got worse through the day to where at the end of the day it refused to go into 5th any more.
Despite that, we happened to set a new Miata lap record for CCW... while coasting down the straight in 4th, and on the street tires we run at GTA. So, a lot of things are working right. Both aero and mechanical grip are dialed.
So, we're back at the shop and last night I got the drivetrain out. I have another MV7 here, it's the one I was running in 2017 that never shifted right because the shifter pivot was seized. We fiddled with the pivot for a couple hours and got it freed up, so in it went! This trans has had plenty of grinding into gear on the old spec clutch as well, so its health is unknown but it was still working when it came out so now with the good clutch in it hopefully it's happy. Sit rep as of last night:
She's back in the car now, getting the last bits bolted on and fluids in tonight. Fingers crossed the trans is good and we'll be rocking and rolling in two days at Buttonwillow.
08-29-2018, 08:12 PM
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