Friends and I are considering building an R56 for budget endurance racing. The factory LSD is the critical piece. A few questions:

• Is the diff rebuildable at all?
• Can the lock-up characteristics be modified? (Similar to changing ramp angles in clutch type diffs)
• Are there any other OEM diffs that fit in the trans? Seems to be a fairly commonly used unit.

 

There are, like, a gazillion post about LSDs for MINIs, including the factory one. Do a search on Quaife, or LDS, or Giken (spelling?) or WavTrac and you will pull up most of them.

Here are a couple that have a bit of discussion that includes the factory LSD:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...are-you-2.html

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d-hold-up.html

There are others.

Not aware that the factory one is rebuildable or changeable.
Ford Focus ST uses the same differential. Their LSD is the same as the Quaife but different from MINIs.

Hope that helps.

 

Yea, I found all those. Doesn't seem like many are asking about rebuilding factory units.

I know the 1st Gen Mazdaspeed3 uses the same diff, finding something clutch-type that would fit would be perfect. I may just have to experiment.

 

Look up the Wavetrack. They may be a bit new to the game but I am reading good things about them, at least in the Gen III MINIs. For clutch type, the Giken seems to be the LSD of choice. I have Quaife, but I would think the other 2 would be better for outright racing.

Somewhere on NAM is a post about the design of the MINI LSD. It was described as a "cone" type, but not much else seems to have been discussed about it. If it "legal" in your event to go with the OS Giken. This guy has been helpful to me and is a supporter of NAM:

https://www.waymotorworks.com/os-gik...ntial-lsd.html