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Quaife LSD Install into 1990 FWD Eclipse Turbo

                                                                            (written by Kris Dickson)

I've thrown this page together to try and help others in the DSM community that are like me and
want to upgrade their cars and save money by doing the work themselves. I was going to install
a phantom grip LSD but couldn't find any real resources online that would guide me on the install
and all the information I could get on the product was vague. This page details what it takes to
install a Quaife Limited Slip Automatic Torque Biasing differential into a Eclipse/Talon/Laser. If
you've did a clutch change before then you can expect the Quaife install to take a few hours more.

Lately I've been getting ten or more emails a week asking some questions so heres a short faq
covering some of the basics.........

Q1. What is the Quaife part number for the Eclipse?
A1.  The box says  "Quaife ATB Differential Part #76.309.150 for application Mitsubishi
Eclipse/Talon/Laser AWD/FWD 1990 through 1998".

Q2. How hard is the install?
A2. Not all that hard if you've changed a clutch before and know how to remove the transmission.
See the rest of this page.

Q3. What else do I need to buy apart from the quaife?
A3. You will need a speedo ring gear (approx $20) that has to be heated and pressed onto the Quaife. You will
most likely need two new diff bearings (part #22602/$20 each) and a shim spacer kit to take up endplay
(part #22611/$20).

Q4. When I split the tranny open a gear falls out. Is this normal?
YES....just remember to slide it back in when you are putting the tranny back together.

Q5. Where does the plastic rod thing go that came out of the tranny?
A5. It can only go in one way. Just mess with it and you'll see.

Q6. Do I really need the shim kit. Where do they go and how does it work anyway?
A6. The shim kit (#22611 is  FWD part number) consists of a bag of five large washers of varying thickness's. The shims are used to
take up endplay so your new diff seats snuggly into the diff housing and can't slop back and forth.
You have to decide what shims to use (if any). A shim or shims can be fitted just inside the diff bearings on the diff
itself.

A parts diagram is listed at the bottom of this page showing a schematic of what is what. Just for the record I got
my quaife from Road Race Engineering.



1. Heres a pic of the quaife and the ACT2600lb clutch. Since
the tranny was off it was time to do both.


2. Take the tranny off the car and remove end cover. The end cover bolts have been removed in this image.


3. When you remove the end cover you will be presented with a sight similar to that shown below.
The gears shown have to be removed so that the center casing can be pulled from the differential
housing. To do this you will have to remove two 36mm nuts. To stop the gears from turning while
you slacken the nuts try placing a penny in the gear teeth and let it bend and lock the gears
together.
    Once the 36mm nuts are gone, you can disconnect the selector fork by punching out the retaining roll
pin at the base of the fork. Now, gently remove the gears with a prybar or a gear puller. 


4. This picture was taken after completion of the procedure above. The next step is to disconnect anything that
is stopping the main casing from lifting off of the diff housing. To do this we have to remove the three bolts that
hold the selector rods in gear (easily spotted by looking for three bolts in a line). They intersect the three circular
holes you can see with one of the selector rods sticking out up in front of my thumb nail. As you remove each
bolt a spring and ball will come out with it. Keep this stuff in a safe place.


5. This image shows what you'll see when you lift off the main casing. A gear will fall out as you lift the casing up.
This is normal. It can only go back in one way so don't sweat it yet. You can see the stock diff is just resting
in there. It can be lifted out at this point.


6. This is a better picture that shows the open stock front differential turned over 90 degrees
and sitting on its side. You can see that the standard speedo ring gear is cast into the old diff.



7. This image shows the bell housing with the diff removed and the quaife sitting almost ready
to go in. I've aleady heated the new speedo ring gear and pressed it onto the quaife.


8. As mentioned before, a new speedo ring gear has to be used with the quaife since the standard
ring gear is cast into the old diff. You can pick up the new one for 20 US dollars. It has to
be heated up and chapped on with a small hammer.
    At this stage I placed a thin shim over the differential and pressed on a new bearing.



9. The final drive gear has to be removed from the old diff and bolted onto the quaife. Remember
to use locktite and get the bolts nice and tight. I used another shim on this end then pressed on a new bearing.



10. In the image below the Quaife is ready to go in with spacers fitted and new bearings. One of
the spacers (or shims) is resting between the speedo ring gear and the new bearing in the pic below.
The spacers can be bought as a kit from mitsu. The part numbers are different for the AWD and
FWD but I think the washers in the kit are the same.



11. A Mitsubishi drawing of a FWD differential assembly and the part numbers are listed for
reference. The spacer kit you might need is the part known as 22611. The idea is that you get five
washers of varying thickness and you have to choose which ones you need to take
the slop out of the diff. The spacers go between the diff bearings and the diff itself.
The outer rings that reside on the outer side of the bearings can be re-used. Not everybody
needs to use a shim kit but I did (big time).
 


 



12. A general guide to choosing the thickness of the shim that goes on the speedo drive gear side
of the diff is to place the diff into the housing and look and see if the final drive gears meet perfectly
height-wise (22605 and the small gear on the transmission shaft). If the gears look mis-aligned then
try a different shim.
    To find the thickness of any shims you might need on the other side of the differential try sitting the
diff in the tranny and connecting the casings together. Once the casings are joined by one or two bolts
you can push and pull on the diff to feel for slop. I opened and closed the casing three times to measure
the diff end play before I was happy with the shims I had chosen. To put things in perspective I should
mention that ome people use the old diff bearings and don't even need any shims. I needed them big
time to make sure the quaife was a snug fit to the housing.


13. Re-assembly is pretty straightforward from here. Now that the Quaife is in finish the rebuild and
go for a test drive. Feels good eh??? I still plan on getting AWD though ; )

Hope this helps fellow DSM'rs. Any suggestions can be sent to kdickson@austin.rr.com (dixie, Austin, TX)
Keep upgrading guys. Thanks go to some of the folks on
http://www.notabusinessracing.org
http://www.dsmtalk.com
http://texasimports.net/
http://www.forcedperformance.com