You forgot ring and pinions. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> That's a bit different, though, We know they're out there, (available in Korea) but getting them over to the US is a different story...

I'm still trying to find information on the how we could get accessories and whatnot from Korea (Tanker bumper, R+Ps, etc...) but have yet to find any useful information... Sorry. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Addit:
[color:"red"]Morgan: R&P, Tanker contacts.[color:"black"]


Just dobbed yourself in for that position... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

On a serious note if you need translators for the websites and so on (due to the poor accuracy of the altavista and others translation software), contact the Korean community at your local university.....may have to sling them a six-pack for an afternoons entertainment though. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/drunk.gif" alt="" />

Please, Oh, please, could someone summarize this for me. Can I use a LSD from a Miata in my front differential or not? If so, what problems am I going to encounter? Thank you.

Hi Maraguez,

The Ring gear fits.
The bearings fit.
The distance between the bearings is ok.
The offset of the ring gear is ok.
The whole Miata diff fits the Sportage housing.
The ring gear meshes with the pinion gear.
The axle splines fit.

Now the bad part.....
The groove to retain the axle snap ring is different....looks like some machining is required.
Updates to follow.

EDIT: No machining needed, just a new snap ring.

Will the machining be too difficult. I know a friend who is a machinist (tornero) and he is a very good one.

The machining shouldn't be too difficult. It's just a groove. The difficulty is putting the diff back togeather with the teeth EXACTLY the same way.

Good News.

It looks like no machining will be needed. Probably the snap ring on the axle stub will need to be changed but the LSD is looking like it won't need to be modified.

ron and i talked last nightand while i had him on the phone, i went ahead and tried to insert the shaft with snap ring. i got the shaft in, but it took some hammering on it, and upon trying to remove it, the CV came apart, so what it is looking like is this: the shaft fits, the snap ring is in the right place, the diff has a groove for the snap ring to fit onto, BUT the snap ring may be a little too large in thickness or in over all diameter and rate. the snap ring is too strong, it looks like. so, what ron and i discussed is that we prolly just need a different snap ring, but we could also just get away with maybe closing the stock snap ring a little, making it a tighter diameter, slightly, and allowing it to pop out of the diff a little more easily for removal purposes. as it is, the snap ring doesn't need to hold that much tension as the CV's allow some extension and compression and the stub shaft slides in and out of the hub at least a little. the main reason the snapring is there, in my humble opinion, is to keep a decent seal at the housing and it does not need to be super strong to do that.

so, maraguez, to summarize it- yeah, you can use it, just bend the snap ring down a little or use one with a slightly smaller diameter and less spring rate.

ps- a correcttion to what i may have posted before- there are only 2 solid worm-gear pieces inside the Miata Torsen diff, not 4. what i mistook as a separation between 2 parts, was really the snap-ring groove.

oh, and one more- just so you guys know, the CV's we have up front are not strong. they will survive ok with an open diff for the most part, except in certain situations, and they may do ok with an LSD, but i am curious to see how many break with a locker.

Hi Dave,

Good talking to you again last night. So far my research has shown that Mazda has used both 1mm and 2mm cross section snap rings on various 26 spline axles. My Sportage shafts look like 2mm. I will try to pick up some new ones at the Mazda (Miata and RX-7)and Kia (Sportage)dealerships this weekend.

By the way, I have verified that the splines on the 28 Spline [color:"blue"] Rear [/color] axles are larger than the 26 splines. No carefull measurements yet but it is aproximatly 28.5 or 29mm.

I have been looking into both of those things, I've come to the same road block that you mentioned... the language barrier (that and the whole shipping barrier...). Alot of the good info is also in Thai, as mentioned previously somewhere. I DO have a Korean teacher here at UNM... I may have to look into that.... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />