cygnusx1

First off ask her why she's afraid? Is there something that happened in her past that leads her to fear cars? noises? If so, you are only going to freak her out more by throwing her in the hatch and doing donuts (not recommended therapy). Print this out and hand it to her. See if she sticks around. http://www.coping.org/growth/fears.htm

Slow. lol, Unless a tire breaks completely loose and spins wildly.

John, it sounds like you understand it. We are not quite 100% sure how it works either, but getting closer.

I just looked for the patent for it, but I only found their patent for the ball/plate differential, United States Patent US6463830 (also interesting). I didn't find the patent for this version. I'll keep looking.

LOL! Yah that was a funny movie. Uncle Fungus!

No matter how cool and crafty the engineering looks on paper...it don't cut the mustard unless it has been tested on a track and evaluated by drivers/teams in the know. IMHO, it's really cool, classic, mechanical engineering. How it performs on the track or on the street, I don't have a clue. Flexi, I also use Solidworks 2007/2008/2009 at work. I have a few questions about it's application: Was it really a factory supplied diff in the JDM Silvias? Do the splines match 280Z/280ZX inner axle stubs? Does it fit into the 280Z long nose R200's?

Distributor bad? My L28ET dizzy became intermittent and started sending erratic signals to MS. It only failed when it was really hot and then worked again in my case. I got rid of it and went with EDIS. Just a possibility? What does your tach do when you are cranking the key?

Billy Mays, eat your heart out!

I see exactly what you mean. So the drums are actually going to spread sideways a little against the clutch springs (belville washers) to increase/decrease breakaway. However that would not allow them to spin freely opposite eachother without "lumping" over. How do you model a zig zag track around a cylinder in Solidworks? I did it in a round-a-bout way using my knowledge from a 1 week crash course I took for work. Can you send me an sldprt file? I can PM my email address.

Yup, that's it! You get one breakaway torque under decel and a different breakaway under accell because they are on the steep ramp during accell and shallow ramp during decel. No? John, picture holding the left drum and right drums clammed together in your hands. Rotate them opposite eachother, twisting them. The ball tracks will wiggle back and forth as they spin. This would make the ball-pairs zig and zag left to right, following the horizontal straight tracks inside the outer housing.

Wow great photos. It looks like a nice piece of machinery! I think I am correct in that the left side and right side spin opposite eachother as the balls "carousel" left to right in the tracks. This eliminates the spider gears! Very cool design!

Here is another try at the video showing how the two drums could rotate opposite eachother inside the ring gear case, eliminating the need for spider gears. The answer is either this, an internally slipping splined section, or hidden spider gears. I don't think there are spider gears here which is why it's so innovative. Baltec-Internal-Differential.zip

It looks to me like the 32702-02GXX Mechanical Speedo Pinion Drive for the trucks AND the Z32 tranny, is available with 17,19,20,21 and 22 teeth Replace the XX with the tooth number of the pinion you need. http://mynissanparts.com/parts.html I need to figure out what pinion will work with the Z32 trans and the R200 3.54 rear and stock 280Z speedo.

Excellent point! Attached is a short model and video clip of what I was thinking for differential action, replacing the spider gears. Note the two cam drums rotating in opposite directions. Baltec-Counter-rotate.zip

That was my initial hunch also. I then thought that if the two drums rotated opposite eachother at the same rate, the tracks would be the same distance apart all the way around all the time. See what I mean? /// /// The balls and plates would just zig and zag left to right maintaining equidistance.

Is the spline part of the drum or is it an insert that can spin inside the drum? That is the key to understanding this. I love puzzles.

If that's the case, then how do the output shafts rotate opposite of eachother? Each drum has to have a splined section within it that could rotate independantly which is not shown in any photos. The spider gears are mechanically replaced by the balls and tracks. All engine torque is driven through the balls, not the tabs on the clutch discs. The tabs on the clutch discs should only see breakaway torque when a wheel gets loose. I agree that it looks like the ramps increase-decrease pressure on the clutch packs with accel/decel but viewing it that way makes you wonder how does it perform "differential" duties without spider gears...as you both realized. I think that the two grooved drums can rotate independantly as the balls track around left-right like a merry-go-round when it breaks away.

I think that the balls and grooves do nothing more than transfer torque from the ring gear to the clutch pack AND allow opposite rotation of the left and right outputs. They are a clever, direct, replacement for spider gears. Nothing more. All the breakaway torque is achieved with a spring loaded clutch pack.

It looks to me like its really close to a posi with a "non-smooth" breakaway torque. At this point I think it's best for drifting, but like you Ken, I need to digest the photos more. OK, upon further "mental-modeling" I seem to understand how it works. The balls and plates, are free to move left and right inside the case. Imagine holding the case in a vice. Apply torque to ONE of the output shafts. The "zig-zag-ball-track" from the rotating output shaft will cause the ball-plate assemblies to slide laterally and "cam" the other output shaft (which is out of phase with the opposite track) into turning the opposite direction. Think "barrel-cam". Now that we see that the left and right shaft are mechanically linked via the ball-plates and cam tracks, resistance to opposite rotation (breakaway-torque) is purely a function of the spring loaded clutch pack in between the two output barrels. Ignoring ball and track friction. Understand? In theory, this should be a smooth acting breakaway, but with torque being applied from the input shaft, the friction in the ball-tracks could cause some stiction and inhibit smooth breakaway. In fact, under large input torque, depending on the phase of the balls with the cam track, it could be a rising breakaway torque with rising input torque. (I really can't fully model this in my head without seeing it first).

If boring out the horns is too risky, and you dont want the hoses and clamps showing, fab up a couple of short aluminum collars from some pipe or large rod, fit to the TB's and the horns, and press them on. Then set them with a couple of grub (set) screws (with locktite). You dont want them coming loose and getting sucked in, so a press fit might be the best. The IAT sensor really does not need to have a huge influence on the FI system, especially if you are going NA. I would think that fitting it anywhere in one of the TB's or runners would suffice if an airbox was not being used.

That is very crafty Pete! I can already hear the sucking sound of the thottle blip in my head. It will be interesting to see the how it moves the power/torque curve of the motor around.

I think it's bugged!

Still have the WRX? I still have mine with 130K miles on it and was planning on keeping the old WRX as a backup. I would pick up a 370Z in about a year as my new DD for fair weather. I definitely need to test it before I make my ultimate decision though. Congrats on the new Maxima!

Got any datalogs/msq's you can post along with the details of your setup/firmware/hardware? Im sure it must be a setting or condition elsewhere negating the warmup enrichments.

SOH CAH TOA