Weld the diff? (Page 1 of 2)

I did it on my old rallycross XR4.

It was fine for what I was doing, 5-10 minutes of flogging it in first and second gear. But the CV joint bolts would loosen up quickly, which is why I HAVEN'T tried it on the Lemons car. Still trying to figure out a way to get some more traction for the uphill in the Merkurian Falcon at NHMS.

That's exactly the problem we were having.  Short of a spendy diff from mc2racing, there aren't alot of options.

Thanks for the input, like fiasco said above, we had a hard time not burning the inside tire coming out of some of the corners, and I wasnt sure if having the traction of two tires would help it bite better, or if then I would jsut have two tires burning rubber and losing traction.

You should do it.  For no other reason than to entertain us.  Besides, it will make it feel more like a race car when you're slow driving the paddocks and making sharp turns.

just put in a second handbrake and brake the wheels independently

If you like broken axles, welded diff is a great way to do it, but that's just speaking from experience

they are. We helped push them out of the garage and push start them in october. It was entertaining watching the inside wheel skipping.

ABSOLUTELY SUCKS sooo many ways when pushing

I drove the V8olvo at Sears last March . Saturday saw A LOT of rain. I really thought that the welded diff was going to be a nightmare to drive in the rain. To my surprise I had great traction out of the corners. even the really tight Turn 7 and Turn 9 chicane  I also used the welded diff to get the car straight out of the Turn 11 hairpin.

My 2¢ (I also drive a locker on the street)
- The car will push when you are off throttle.
- The traction will be extraordinary when on throttle.
- If you have an unbalanced car the welded diff will make it worse.
- Use only on solid axle RWD cars.

DO IT. What's the worst that can happen?

I'm well aware of the drawbacks in the low speed steering department.  My 72 cj5 is locked front and rear, making hte steering wheel just a suggestion instead of a command.

Also in the same vehicle, I'm not stranger to broken axles, spider gears, and differential cases.

I'd be a lot more likely to do it if it were a solid rear axle, but the Euro-ford (like euro Disney, but euro ford is more of a mickey mouse operation) IRS doesnt exactly scream beef when you look closely.

Andrew(fiasco),
   I know on the MC2 website, their diff options are supposedly based on a GM 10-bolt (7.5") differential carrier.  I wonder if we could grab a gov-lock out of a camaro or 1/2ton truck and retro fit it into the merkur housing.  Not that the gov-bomb is know for its reliability either, but a junk yard option from a full size pickup just feels so much more lemon-y.

I'd do that, but my welds aren't enywhere near that nice, lol.

I bought a mini-spool for our 7.5" GM rear end, haven't tried it out yet. It replaces the spider gears with solid chunks of metal. The great part is, you can remove it if it breaks or you don't like the way the car handles

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/1977-98-G … 31915.html

The mini-spool (gold) goes inside of ring gear carrier, replacing the spider gears

Here is a forum post about adapting a Trans-Am LSD to a Merkur IRS housing

http://www.shoforum.com/showthread.php?t=93018

This!  Get rid of the IRS and go stick axle! Weld it up and your done.  I AX an old Mercury Capri with a locked rear end and we use race slicks and not street tires. I have a friend with a Pinto and we welded up the 8 inch rear in his too.  The way to drive the car is to brake in a straight line, turn in late and then power out. This reduced the tendency for the car to push on corner exit. What you don't want is to enter the corner to fast, then it will just want to plow/push. With street tires you could also learn to "toss" the car into the turn "dirt track" style and scrub off speed but for an endurance car that's not what you want to do.

I think you could accomplish more with air pressure adjustments and spring rates.   for cars properly adjusted the air pressure will be different and all the tires as the spring rates also. the car only has 2 ends work on the one hand it doesn't work. make one change at a time, keep track of what you're doing, all cars will be different sort works in one car won't work in the other one.

Yes he should work tire pressures.If put more air in left front than in right right rear. Car will act like posi.