LSD differential wanted

[ticoruiz]

I am looking for a limited slip differential for my 131 racing (SPORT in UK). Any ideas wpuld be very appreciated.
Regards

[Tristan]

do you know if the differential is the same as the internals of an Abarth one?

[mick131]

You could try Colotti, I asked recently about the LSD's they have and the price was 1950 Euro plus shipping and VAT,

Not exactly cheap !!.

[ticoruiz]

I'm affraid I don't know if the abarth one would case in. I never seen one of these, qnd 2.000 euro plus VAT, would be much more expensive than the whole car!. If anyone would have experience with this would be great. Tks Trsitan and Mick

[Tristan]

I could get you an abarth dif a lot lot less than that.......

[theredx19]

would your dad not miss his dif...

[Walezy]

you may fit escort mk1 /mk2 axle . It is possible to buy them in reasonable prices and it will work for sure very good. All you need is to weld all the mountng points to the casing(i did that by myself with Mig welder)and make the prop shaft to fit to the diff(which should not be too difficult to make.

[Tristan]

would your dad not miss his dif...

har de har , I know where there's some Abarth parts for sale.

[Aussie131]

Have a talk to Philip Buggee at Bits of Italy in australia www.bitsofitaly.com
he will hook you up with a cut and shut escort diff that will handle the 131 a lot better because its not a fragile as the factory diff

[markwilliams131]

hi guys i 2 am looking for an lsd for my 131 sport
its just not the same without 1
now romour has it lsd was an optional extra on the sport, raceing
and that came from an ex fiat macanic who was working on them
when they were new now i have had alot of 131 sports over the years
irish cars and uk cars and none of them had a lsd
there must be an easy fix what about the abarth limo will it fit
some say 124 spider has 1 will fit at this stage i think i will just weld it
help

[Thotos]

Yes the LSD was an option for the 131 Sport/Racing. It says so in the handbook and my Silver 131 Sport had one. It's an old fashioned device with friction discs inside. It's works reasonably well for up to 20,000 miles (if you are lucky and don't go round too many corners too fast) but then it looses its limiting abilities as the friction plates wear. It needs to be shimmed fairly regularly to carry on working as a LSD and I am not sure it's worth the bother (and expense).

[markwilliams131]

thanks theo i new i was right
2 things theo i dont do 20 k a year
and do you still have the silver car
is the silver car dudley 

[Thotos]

Yes the Silver car is (Cuddly) Dudley and technically speaking I still have it but there's very little of Dudley left. A lot of what was Dudley lives on in Simon's Racing though! But if you were asking for the LSD, it was taken out many years ago when the pinion lost a couple of teeth. I decided it was easier (and better) to change the pinion and crownwheel combination than try and match a new pinion to the LSD crownwheel. I sold the LSD  to someone who was going to build an Abarth replica. 

[markwilliams131]

o well back 2 the drawing board
any other ideas that wont cost
more than the car

[hicky131]

Other than the escort axle,some people have used volvo axles such as this guy:-

http://www.131abarth.com/my_131_rally.htm

I've got an "abarthed" sport rally car which has a ford english diff.It's had the axle tubes chopped off and replaced with the fiat tubes,thus keeping the fiat stud pattern. Not sure how good it is though,as i've not driven it in anger yet. (The car's getting rebuilt in the not so distant future)
 I've read the cars and car conversions mag from 1994 with the pink 131 sport rally car in it and the owner recons the extra weight of the sport compared to the escort makes the english axle break shafts. He went on to put a ford atlas axle on it and had no troubles since then.Dont know how much money an atlas axle would cost to build though.

If my axle aint any good,i'll be going the independant route via a BMW E30 325i sport diff and getting plenty of use out of the welder! These have an LSD in them as standard and fetch around ?250 on ebay. Its the fitting part thats going to be interesting.
I'd forget about the 131 axle though as it's about as much use as a chocolate fireguard if you're going to give the car some grief,unless you have a vast supply of spare 131 axles stash away some where!