How has your 370Z held up?

ImportConvert

How does the vlsd work? Is it a worm gear setup?

Red__Zed

Viscous fluid. Anyone that actually runs the car will switch to a clutch or helical(Torsen/worm) diff

ImportConvert

Never had a car with one of those. Function similar to an automatics tq converter?

cossie1600

Nissan's service is horrible. You have a better chance to seeing god than to get them to pay for an intermittent problem

ImportConvert

Okay, I looked at a few pix of 370Z's on racks on yahoo (mostly exhaust installs).

I did not see any rust that concerned me. Anyone else have info/pix? The whole underside of my Z06 was sprayed with what looks like truck-bed liner from the factory. Keeps out the exhaust/dead skunk/water/whatever very nicely. Nissan does what?

ImportConvert

Wait...Red_Zed...

You said that you replaced the rusted parts yourself. Are you referring to the slender black X-brace rear and single-brace front?

If so, yeah, it's just paint, and yeah, it will rust. For a comparison, the control-arms on my G20 look similarly painted, etc. and I bet are even a similar alloy. Yes, when scraped they rust a bit, but I bet unless I drove it through salt every day it would be fine. If not, it does look like an easy fix as you noted. Pull them, spray with truck-bed liner, replace, done.

Was it some other component you meant?

As to the orange peal. Dude. I own a 'vette. Orange-peal is LITERALLY part of the "feature" on that car (No, I am not kidding, the clear is purposefully sprayed so thick that on the SMC panels near the bases it ALLLLMOST runs. This is by spec, and it makes for a car that doesn't chip like a 370Z, but it's not "pretty" like the Z's paint, either. Hence my desire to wrap the hell out of it. No, this is not GM marketing BS. I was at the plant and observed in detail.)

cossie1600

It's the oil breaking down, turning hard. I thought it was shaving at first, but there was nothing hard and brittle on it. It's just nasty old sludge, think stepping into a pile of donkey poop that is nice and moist.

Viscous
Nissan 240SX Viscous LSD

The viscous type is generally simpler because it relies on hydrodynamic friction from fluids with high viscosity. Silicone-based oils are often used. Here, a cylindrical chamber of fluid filled with a stack of perforated discs rotates with the normal motion of the output shafts. The inside surface of the chamber is coupled to one of the driveshafts, and the outside coupled to the differential carrier. Half of the discs are connected to the inner, the other half to the outer, alternating inner/outer in the stack. Differential motion forces the interleaved discs to move through the fluid against each other. In some viscous couplings when speed is maintained the fluid will accumulate heat due to friction. This heat will cause the fluid to expand, and expand the coupler causing the discs to be pulled together resulting in a non-viscous plate to plate friction and a dramatic drop in speed difference. This is known as the hump phenomenon and it allows the side of the coupler to gently lock. In contrast to the mechanical type, the limiting action is much softer and more proportional to the slip, and so is easier to cope with for the average driver. New Process Gear used a viscous coupling of the Ferguson style in several of their transfer cases including those used in the AMC Eagle.

Viscous LSDs are less efficient than mechanical types, that is, they "lose" some power. In particular, any sustained load which overheats the silicone results in sudden permanent loss of the differential effect.[4] They do have the virtue of failing gracefully, reverting to semi-open differential behaviour. Typically a visco-differential that has covered 60,000 miles (97,000 km) or more will be functioning largely as an open differential;[citation needed] this is a known weakness of the original Mazda MX-5 (a.k.a. Miata) sports car. The silicone oil is factory sealed in a separate chamber from the gear oil surrounding the rest of the differential. This is not serviceable and when the differential's behaviour deteriorates, the VLSD centre is replaced.

ImportConvert

So basically, it dies at 60k miles regardless? How easy is replacement? Does it necessitate removing or adjusting the ring / pinion any, or is it total drop in. Most higher mileage z's are "open" now?

cossie1600

If you want to replace it, you just replace the viscous unit inside the pumpkin. Of course it is probably cheaper to get something else. The viscous unit is sealed inside the pumpkin, changing the diff fluid doesn't really change it.

ImportConvert

So no re shimming or other crap that tends to make diffs whine forever more?

cossie1600

Not on the stock LSD, might be different with aftermarket parts

ImportConvert

I think it will perform ok for my use, so when it dies, its just a drop in and no chance of ruining the driveline by messing up any of the gears wear patterns.

b1adesofcha0s

Never realized you had that many issues with the Z red.

__________________
Project: b1adeZmobile (2009 370Z) | Uprev Tune by AAM Competition | Berk Exhaust
Project: b1adeZmobile 2.0 (2014 C7 Z51) | Corsa Xtreme Exhaust

cossie1600

I am sure replacing a pumpkin is mostly labor as you can find a used diff for <$500. Given how many people crash the Zs, they will be plentyful.

bleufiend

Bought mine used with 5k. White leather on the drivers is showing wear. Passenger is ok. Had an annoying click from the rear that turned out to be one of the clips for the rear spoiler rubbing. Fixed that. The passenger doors rubber seal at the front has split at the top. The radio display at times won't come on if it's really hot. The hatch still won't open the first time I pop it.

__________________
Z34 owner formerly Z33. OZOC FTW.