So I ordered a rear viscous from Planet miata. Now keep in mind, he prices it around 350, which is fair, as partsdepot or whatever gives the same price. However, upon speaking with him he charged me another 125 for the aluminum "apple" and then when I asked him if stub shafts were included, he informed me that they would be 35 each. Seriously WTF . Total for diff = 540 bucks for a 70-80k used diff. It just seems silly. To his credit I got the part fast. Now, today I went to install it. The guy at planet miata really didnt take the diff out of the donor car very well. He smashed the bolts w/ a hammer to remove them, thus making any bolts included, totally unusable unless rethreaded. Luckily my existing ones were still decent.

3.5 hours later I have a new diff and the miata is back on the road.

Lessons learned:
1> No longer order from planet miata, order from Parts store...
2> Diffs are annoying to replace, never blow another.
3> If I end up in PA, return my apple and stub shafts to planet miata guy and demand my 170 bucks back.

 

I'll have a viscous from my 90k 93 miata for sale soon.... shame it wasn't earlier for you.

For what you spent... you could have gone 94+ torsen conversion :(

 

sorry to hurr about your bad experience, but on another note you got a good looking ride!

 

what actually brakes when you brake a diff? just the diff or does the pinion eat up the ring gear? B/c i might be looking in getting a tomei or that style diff and still dont wanna have any issues if the pinion brakes.

 

For the 1.6 diff, it's usually the smaller pinion gear that breaks and chomps up the ring gear as well.

 

Newbsauce, you're saying you put in another 6" diff. in your car after the first one broke? If that's the case, then you're only going to break it again. Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you should've gone for a 7" diff.

 

Yeah, well the original plan was to pick up the diff from PartsGroup for 350 ..which is fair and way under the 1k for a torsen swap. If it breaks again, then it breaks.. and I will swap. I didnt have the money at the time to just drop 1k on a torsen.

 

I just spent 600 bucks shipped for a full 99+ rearend swap.

It isn't 1k.. unless you let the miata specialty shops gouge you.

 

Oh yeah? Well theres 31 ways to powerbomb someone.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powerbomb

Take that.

 

I just finished rebuilding an RX-7 clutch-type that I dropped into a Miata housing. The RX-7 diff. parts were free from a friend, the donor Miata stuff was ~$400, ~$200 for rebuild clutch LSD parts. Better LSD action than a Torsen (doesn't go to open diff. if one wheel loses all traction or becomes airborne and has higher lockup) and cheaper.

 

I bought a 1.8 driveline for $400 way back with plans to either go with an clutch or torsen rear later. The yard accidentally send me an 88 rx7 rear the first time, then sent me a miata 1.8 rear at no charge and told me to keep the rx7 unit. Score. I also found a good 1.8 rear in a scrap pile of a local shop. The owner hooked it on some curbing and snapped one of the arms. The shop just replaced the entire thing and threw out the old one. I cracked it open and it's perfect. Score.

There's not much demand for the open 1.8 stuff, and they're plentiful- driving the prices down. I'd stay away from miata-specific sellers and use normal salvage yards for stock parts.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/90-93...QQcmdZViewItem found this.you should retuen it all to planet miata.

 

Ah its too late.. I spent saturday changing out the diff.. I just wanted to get the car back on the road.. I will start piecing together a torsen swap after the turbo install.

 

I just got done my Torsen swap.....Ordered everything from Planet Miata for 850$.....I was pretty happy. Went in smooth except for the axle nuts. I have the Viscous stub shafts, half shafts, drive shaft laying in my garage from the install. Too bad, I probably would of gave you them for free plus shipping....probably would of been the 35$ though for shipping from Canada.

 

There was a torsen on u-r-g.com for $380 - but was gone a day later. Pays to check often.