Custardpants
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| posted on 29/8/12 at 08:21 PM |
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Quaife ATB feedback
Looking at fitting one, and can't find any feedback from people who are using them for my use, can anyone help?(Will be in an Mk Indy R).
On track I prefer a smooth driving style out of corners and just want a diff which controls/feathers the inside wheel, which I guess the ATB would be
good for. But, I also have access to a lot of taxi ways for drifting practise - what is the ATB like when both wheels are lit under power - this would
be more suited to plated diff I would have thought?
I'd also like the diff to work well with a variety of passenger loads/ track conditions, which again, ATB sounds good for. My biggest worry
though is the ATB diff playing with my required steering inputs from apex to corner exit, but then I also wouldn't want a plate diff to lock on
corner exit when I don't want it to, and upset the car.
I have no experience of these ATB things - only KAAZ diffs in skylines, so would really appreciate advice from those who have used either or indeed,
both!
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madteg
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| posted on 29/8/12 at 08:36 PM |
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I am looking at a plate diff set with a low lock up, £725.00 exchange.
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CNHSS1
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| posted on 29/8/12 at 08:36 PM |
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Ive got quiafe atb, ZF plated and ford oem viscous.
Quaife is all things to all men, difficult to beat with your range of needs. Its so vice free, you wont really notice its there, other than the fact
that the car will accelerate rather than just spin up one wheel.
In a light car, the quaife is fine for drifting. With a clutch kick or even just boot full of loud pedal, both tyres will spin up anyway. The
transition out of the slide may be less on-off than your KAAZ but even thats debatable.
Ifbthe car was solely a track car and possibly on full slicks, then a properley set up plate diff could potentially lap quicker in the dry. In the
wet, the quaife is easier to drive.
The only time i can honestly say ive felt a downside with an atb is on 10" wide hillclimb slicks in the dry with 280+hp. When launching very
hard, the atb biasing left to right rapidly which gives a sort of cyclic 'shimmy'. Hardly a fault, but there nonetheless. On the plate and
even the viscous, you getvthe feel of more drive off the line, but its possible to light the tyres up and go slower whereas the atb doesnt let you do
that as easily.
So in conclusion, get the atb and its as easy and safe to drive in the wet on the road as an open, real pussycat and yet will give you the drive in
90% of track race conditiosn ghat the best llate setup diff would.
Oh and the quaifes have a lifetime warranty--whats not to like!
"Racing is life, everything else, before or after, is just waiting"---Steve McQueen
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AndyGT
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| posted on 29/8/12 at 08:39 PM |
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Had an ATB in my MK2 escort. Only twice did I really feel that the diff didn't do what I wanted and both times it was the road and not the diff
or driver. Adverse cambered road on one and diesel on roandabout the other.
I personally found "drifting" relatively easy and controllable. It was mainly used for auto-testing. If you really don't like the
ATB you could still sell it for reasonably good money.
nothing is impossible
everything is possible
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twybrow
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| posted on 29/8/12 at 10:13 PM |
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I have one in my kit (albeit in a love axle), and I have to say I love it - the only downside I have found from moving away from an open diff, is you
need to be on your toes when going for a spirited drive. With the old open diff, it sort of acted like a traction control system - spinning up the
inside wheel. Now it tends to spin up both/steps out the back end. Great fun if you are expecting it, but slightly scarier if you are not...! It
certainly has no problem doing big drifts either (I am the limit - not the diff!)!
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Custardpants
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| posted on 29/8/12 at 10:17 PM |
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Ok thanks guys, I'll give the quaife a go and report back. Filmed from behind by a VX this was us at bedford in the Indy by the way...you can
see our drive out of corners among other things could have been better - but started to get a lot more out of the car after 3 mins, albeit with my
94kg brother as passenger.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy_WYR5LB6Y&feature=related
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motorcycle_mayhem
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| posted on 30/8/12 at 07:20 AM |
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Too many variables, not just the car, but also what you expect from it (road/race/slicks/etc/etc)
I've used open, viscous (Sierra), Torsen (ATB) and Tran-X plate on various '7's, all underpowered mopeds.
Far too many caveats, but essentially: I loved the viscous as a general purpose all rounder, road, track, wet, dry. ATB in the wet (track) was not
good when riding the kerbs or hard on uneven surfaces, good otherwise., great road differential. Plate was *fantastic* (race/track), with ramp angle
tuning, with residual power on understeer always there. I wouldn't use a plate daily on the road, various reasons.
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Rip Van Winkle
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| posted on 31/8/12 at 05:22 PM |
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I had one in a 2 litre 16v Nova and then in a 300bhp Turbo'd Vectra, and it was soooooo good, you could feel it shuffling the power accross the
axle through corners, nice and smooth, no snatch. The vec had the power to break traction on both wheels at once, so wasn't quite as astounding
but still excellent
The Nova was one of the fastest things down a back road I've been in (I'd seam welded the shell and had tarmac rally suspention on it, so
it stuck well) But the diff made that car, no question.
I realise I'm talking front drive so its not exactly what you're asking, but in my mind, if it can sort out reasonably high powered front
drive cars to such an extent, it's got to be worth looking at for rear.
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Custardpants
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| posted on 8/3/13 at 10:05 AM |
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Well, I went for the ATB and just got back from a dry day at Donington GP. What a difference.
All I can say is that the differential really suits the independent rear of the Indy. With the open diff you reach the limit of what power you can put
down fairly quickly, and you feel like you can't really use throttle to adjust the cornering line properly. The ATB though has transformed the
car, at the limit without power you can just start feathering the throttle and feel the diff start to work, then the car squats down and feels like it
can take another 5mph apex speed.
At corner exits I also without issue just kept adding more and more power from earlier and earlier each corner until I was even able to accelerate
through Craner curves, and get full power down at the apex of the right through the esses, almost felt similar to an evo through there. Just so
impressed with it, and can't recommend it enough to any Indy being tracked. Thanks for the recommendations, the way it works is so impressive
and very smooth.
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Paul Turner
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| posted on 8/3/13 at 10:56 AM |
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Should have posted my comments before, never spotted the post.
When I had my first Caterham it had an Ital axle, the only option at the time was the Quaiffe ATB diff. Bought a used one off a friend of a friend,
brilliant, no noise, in normal driving you were unaware it was fitted. I was sprinting and hillclimbing at the time and my times improved at all
venues.
When I built my second Caterham I used the Sierra diff and the de-dion rear end. The Caterham price for a brand new ZF slipper was so good it was the
only sensible option. Out of the box the new car was faster than the old one using the same engine and gearbox but how much (if any) of that
improvement was down to the ZF diff I have no idea, the new car was very different to the old one suspension wise. The car was brilliant in the dry
but could be tricky in the wet, never had that with the old car. I quickly found that the diff needed shimming a couple of times a year, as the clutch
wear took effect you could tell (especially on slow to medium speed corners) that it was not as effective as it should be and my times were not good.
Luckily a mate was able to do the necessary work cheap but it was still a pain.
When another mate said he was looking for a good ZF so that he could have 2 identical diffs for his race car I quickly sold him mine and bought a
Quaiffe. Strait out of the box I was faster and the car was noticeably quieter. In the wet it was just as drivable as the old car, much better than
the ZF in that respect.
The Quaiffe was fitted in 1999 and I did 4 seasons of competing with it. Its still in the cat 14 years later, never been out, never been touched.
Based on personal experience its the Quaiffe every time for me.
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