How to visually ID the "stronger" rear end pumpkin
 

Hi all

I just bought myself my "victim" for turboing

Its a 1995 NA 1800 and I want to make sure it has the stronger rearend - It might seem silly to ask as its accepted that all 1800s have the stronger rear end - but this car has a 16 digit VIN and I am looking for visual clues to what rear end is in the car.

please help

by stronger do you simply mean Limited Slip?

all +94 miatas have a 7" ring gear.

I would like to know if it is the 7inch ring gear - for strength and it would be nice to know what diff it is - although thats definetly in the nice to know at this stage - with the car having a really long VIN and being "different" to the USA delivered cars - I cant find a hard and fast rule on what diff it has - I know I want it to have the 7inch ring gear with a LS lurking inside

Its a 1995 1800 NA 5mt,

All 1.8's have the 7" ring gear. Call Mazda with the VIN and they should be able to tell you if its a torsen or not.
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lev I would love to ! but the stealers here arent interested unless its a new car - I cant even order an accel cable from them - this is Africa and sometimes what you take for granted doesnt exist in this part of the world at all

If it's a 1.8, I'm pretty sure it's the 7" ring gear regardless of the market. There's a good writeup on miata.net in the garage for how to identify various types of diffs.

take pictures of it and post it.

Thanks braineack for that link

heres a pic of the unit from under the car

those "two flat" areas seem to indicate its a 7"

My biggest concern was when I ran the VIN number to decode it - it says the vehicle is a 1994 build 1800 so I had a concern it somehow had a 6"

well actually no, the wings on the flanges and the two stubs on the bottom make me think otherwise.

if you confused think what I am going through !

on that m.net link - there is a picture

http://www.boostedmiata.com/new_miat...n/CIMG1343.JPG


and the text says the broken one is off a 1.8 - to me the broken one looks like what I got - or am I silly ?
the driveshaft flanges have got me

would the VIN help out ?

EDIT : ok I am really confused - looking at this and other pics has got me confused / concerned
I think its a 1600 rear end
ho hum dee ha hum

I dont mind posting it since I am 10k miles away

see how flat the bottom in. it's all flush. you have two tabs that jut out. like the bottom housing in that pic, which is a rx7 rear.

just measure the distance between the two bolts on the stub shaft flange.

Here are a couple of side by sides I had. 00 is the clean one with no gaping hole in the bottom. The other is a '92 Hope this helps.
http://www.systemstrategies.com/miata/IMG_7704.JPG
http://www.systemstrategies.com/miata/IMG_7705.JPG

Looks like a 1.6 to me. Here's a 1.8 swapped into my 90.

Measure the distance between the centers of the universals. A 1.8 is roughly 32 inches, a 1.6 is about 34 inches. That would determine the size of the rear, but not whether it is a torsen or not.

it is a friggin 1.6 after all !!

I am gutted ! I hoped I bought an 1800
based on it being a 95 / the vin number NA18.........it wasnt sold as an 1800 I just assumed it was - assumption is the mother of all f£$£$ ups !
Now I have learnt about coil pack location......duh !

oh well its cheaper to boost the 1600 in any case and I will toss in an upgraded rear - the rest of the car is so sweet 55k miles on a 1995, 2 owners from new and the coldest aircon ever !

the 1.8 diffs should have the rubber damper where the driveshaft connects to the diff. where the 1.6's don't. (euro-spec at least)