Mx5 Lsd, Needed Or Not?

[markcoopers]

Evening all,

Toying with getting an early Mk1 MX5 as a blatting toy, but have got hung up on the need for an LSD or not. Sure we are all men and in my Westy it was needed, but i am not so sure in an MX5 as a road car. OK i do want it to move about a bit and drift ect to a degree, but this is on the road so nothing silly just fun. So is an LSD a must?

If so, are they common and easy retro fit?

i ask as condition of car is more important and beggers/choosers etc.

thoughts from those in the know?

[housebeautician]

Mark

Just as a matter of interest i was talking to scruffy the other day and he has a mx5 up for sale.

Might be worth giving him a bell.

Tony

[Mark (smokey mow)]

On the road driving sensibly then no you wont notice the difference. But if like a westfield you want a bit of slidey tail action then maybe

I'm sure one of the other SDV guys can explain how easy the diff is to take out, but from what i've read in the past and how mines fitted in the westfield there's not a lot to it if you're handy with the spanners.

LSD's are pretty common and can be picked up second hand for around £150-200

If you're looking i know of a clean 1.8 eunos locally with only 33,000miles up for £1800.

[Cleggy the Spyder Man]

too heavy and not enough power in the dry I would have thought

but in the wet that would be a different matter

why not just go buy another Westy - you know you want to (I want you to too :-)

[AdamR]

The LSDs came as standard on the import version, which has more power anyway, so that's the one you want ideally!

In reality the viscous diffs seem to get pretty 'open' once warmed up, mine don't lock very much at all (have two mk1 Eunos, one road and one race car).

This is on about early 1.6s by the way, I'm not too well up on the 1.8 or later models...

[Mark (smokey mow)]

VLSD's were only fitted to the 1.6. 1.8's with LSD's in most cases had a Torsen.

[SteveRST]

I've got a mk1 1.6 import eunos as my daily drive and have tracked it at brands as well as several airfield days. It is a brilliant car . Imports tend to have lsd as standard and better spec as well as less rust , so thats what i'd go for.

Lsd or not ? It depends how u drive or expect the car to behave , but I'd always go for a lsd in a rwd car. I bought my latest westy with an open diff and it was ok but I had bought and fitted an lsd diff within a few months. So much more fun and involving.

Aanyway back to the mx5. I've only got viscous lsd but is seems to lock pretty good. Get good drive out of junctions (hate it when inside wheel just spins with open diff!) and it gives good traction out of corners and fun on roundabouts when provoked. Car doesn't have the power to really require lsd for straight line stuff or dry conditions , but if your buying it as a fun thing then lsd should be right up there imo. I had a s1 Elise for3 yrs and the lack of lsd on that was one of its biggest weaknesses. MX5 cost a tenth of that and realistically more fun on the road.

So yeah , imho lsd is necessary. So many cheap mx5 euros about it's a buyers market.

[markcoopers]

Drove a Mk1 1.8 in the wet today.....great fun with no LSD. In the dry I would imagine it will stay planted to the road and perhaps frustrate at tighter bends, but certainly on the road no reall issue without.

Didn't like it thought, so off to see another in the morning