E36 BMW M3 Diff on cossie beam?

[lee2cossies]

Anyone know whats involved in fitting one to a cossie rear beam? It doesnt look to much hastle to make it fit,obviously custom shafts etc,but unsure of the ratios and that.Any ideas? would it be worth doing?

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[GARETH T]

why?

[STUCOS]

Know a guy who runs m3 evo g/box and rear diff in his cossie powered mk2 escork ,WHY because much better and cheaper than wank ford stuff

cheeRS stu

[GARETH T]

is it really stronger i dont know?
but im sure once you paid for someone to make you up a set of one off shafts, and bought the diff, you'll be up to the price of a nice re-built uprated unit

[STUCOS]

Garath m3 evo produces a fair amount of torque,this guy used a complete m3 rear end,so oe shafts,but understand what toy are saying on cost

cheeRS stu

[Mike1]

Originally Posted by STUCOS

Know a guy who runs m3 evo g/box and rear diff in his cossie powered mk2 escork ,WHY because much better and cheaper than wank ford stuff

cheeRS stu

Is it this Escort?

[GARETH T]

Originally Posted by STUCOS

Garath m3 evo produces a fair amount of torque,this guy used a complete m3 rear end,so oe shafts,but understand what toy are saying on cost

cheeRS stu

is the evo diff different from a normal m3? as i know someone whos done a few in!

[STUCOS]

Yes mike,thats rich's car,

[james kiely]

is the diff physically bigger than the 2wd cossie one?

cheers james

[turbotoaster]

i think the guy on driftworks ran his m3 turbo up to nearly 800bhp and he uses it as a drift car, from what his spec said hes running standard box and diff, so might be a cheaper setup that a tremec and 9" diff if you can get a good deal on them

[fuzzy]

a bmw lsd will cost about Ł300. a custom prop about Ł200 plus custom driveshafts another couple of hundred quid. Ł700 before you start. how much is an uprated cosworth diff?
my standard e30 lsd took alll the cosworth 330bhp abuse i could through at it for a couple of years no problem..

[GARETH T]

they sounds good in general then! i would say that if you can make up all the fitting bits yourself then have a go, but if you have to pay for all the bits to be fitted then you might aswell go down the route of tried and tested, as im sure it would work out better on the pocket in the long run

[lee2cossies]

I was looking at a few of the maltese cossies they use them for drag racing.Can buy one for Ł300 and their rated to 600hp aparently,my cossie will only ever be 500 so it should be fine.I could modify the beam and shaft myself,only thing i would have to do is pay to have them balanced,just an idea thats all,before i go and pay loads for a quaife diff. Oh and i should be able to do proper dounuts then unlike the crap sierra diff! Anyone know the diff ratios? And how they would work on a 2wd cossie?

[fuzzy]

ive heard of a few ratios for e36 diffs . 2.79 , 2.93 ,3.25 ,3.64 ,3.73 ,3.91 and 4.1. usually the m series diffs are lower around the 3.25 mark. i had a 3.91 lsd on my cossie bmw and the acceleration was quite savage for a stage 3 also using a t5.

[alanfordtw-15]

the best bmw diff to use would be an e39 m5 diff, rated for 1000hp standard. not sure on avaliablity/price though.
the m3 diff would be a stronger diff than a ford one anyway, as im sure bm diffs are mild steel casings and ford ones are alloy

[lee2cossies]

Interesting.Think its definetly worth having a play about with.Ford diffs are crap and bmw ones always seem to be good,and havnt heard of many breaking even with huge power.Had a look at whats about but cant find any m5 diffs to see what they look like but seems to be plenty of e36 m3 diffs around.Il do a bit of research on the diff ratios and try and work out which one is best.Does anyone know if the casing for a normal e36 bmw diff is the same as a m3 casing? if so il just get a cheap normal dif to have a play around with my spare beam.

[fuzzy]

not to clued up on e36's . e30's were my thing.

[dojj]

the diffs look remarkably similar when you get them side by side, even the bolt holes in the output shafts look like they may be a close enough fit to be useable

[m4rkl]

e36 m3 evo uses the biggest diff in the 3 series range with a 3.23 ratio.

[GARETH T]

and there was me thinking it was torque that breaks diffs, not the amount of work its done

[DangerousBryan]

m3 evo diff is different to m3 diff as well. m3 diff is 3.15 and evo diff is 3.23. 325 and m3 diffs are the same size. evo ones are bigger again.

[lee2cossies]

What would be the best ratio diff to use on a sierra on 18" wheels? and would a normal m3 diff be able to handle 500hp?

[fuzzy]

for acceleration or top end? my 3.91 was savage in accelerating but ran out of go about 130mph on 17's and 2wd t5.
i tried a 3.64 for a short time but it definately lost the edge in accelerating.

[Paul_RS]

By the time you mess about custom making bits and pieces you'd be better off buying an uprated Ford diff that fits straight in. I've had no issues with my standard 7" diff and its had quite a few full bore launches!

[lee2cossies]

Would like to keep the ratios similar or as close as possible to as they are.

[lee2cossies]

Originally Posted by Paul_RS

By the time you mess about custom making bits and pieces you'd be better off buying an uprated Ford diff that fits straight in. I've had no issues with my standard 7" diff and its had quite a few full bore launches!

Il have 500hp one day when i finish my car and dont think the standard diff will cope.Iv got a spare beam im going to chop up and have a mess around with anyway to make it adjustable so a bit more fabricating is fine,and secondhand quaife diffs areŁ700+.

[GARETH T]

if your going to chop a rear beam,, i would also think about rear suspension geometry at the same time

[fuzzy]

i thought new quiaffe diffs were about Ł700?

[JonnyBravo]

Quaife or plate diff they still use the original cwp which IS a weak link.

Either go 9" or as your saying find something thats more suitable from another car.

Some people don't break the 7.5" units, I guess thats as their either not that hard on their car or its not making the power they thought.

I've only known one person personally with a genuine 500+hp engine in a Saph and that would smash ANY Cosworth diff you put in it with the way he drove it, a 9" was the only solution for him but that doesn't mean there aren't cheaper options available

[lee2cossies]

Just looking for a cheap alternative really and dont mind messing around to make things fit.Iv been told that the m3 diff will handle up to 600hp and is a much better diff than a cossie one.They are popular in malta with drag racing on sierras.
As for the suspension geometry,im just looking to improve the camber,once i have finished il have it all checked properly and set up by someone who knows what their doing.

[Glenn.]

interesting thread. Do bara not make diffs or do they only do gearboxes.

[lee2cossies]

Think they do diffs also but probably cost a lot more than what it would cost me to make a bmw one fit.

[dojj]

Originally Posted by JonnyBravo

Quaife or plate diff they still use the original cwp which IS a weak link.

Either go 9" or as your saying find something thats more suitable from another car.

Some people don't break the 7.5" units, I guess thats as their either not that hard on their car or its not making the power they thought.

I've only known one person personally with a genuine 500+hp engine in a Saph and that would smash ANY Cosworth diff you put in it with the way he drove it, a 9" was the only solution for him but that doesn't mean there aren't cheaper options available

surely you don't mean jb

[janvanv]

The 5 series BMW diff I have sitting on the shelf has a ring gear a good step smaller than that a Ford 7 1/2' one but the diff is a nice strong ZF 4 pinion diff.
Halfshafts are about same diameter as 2wd, and the CV joints are the 4x4 or Scorp smaller diameter CVs but with M10 bolts.
MOST BMW ratios are crazy 2,87 or maybe 3,08 for their larger powered cars which seems odd but then again their box ratios are often 4.2 or so for 1st gear so it works out for them, Combing a BMW box and Ford diff or BMW diff and ford box is going to be weider than weird.

I've seen some really far-sighted and brilliant , and dashingly handsome guy way out in the far north West of America using Toyota MkIII Supra 8" diffs with honkin' huge stub shaft diameter and easy to fit and find and he made some sweet adaptor plates to allow using either 2wd Cossie or 4x4 sized CVs.



Stock ratios are 3,9 for early, 3.73 for later manual box and 4,3 for autotragique slush box.

[lee2cossies]

Thanks for that,at last a valid bit of info! Could you give me any email adress or web site or anything for this guy? As i said im considering all options just trying to get some info before i go and buy something and make it fit.

[scoooby slayer]

Originally Posted by JonnyBravo

Quaife or plate diff they still use the original cwp which IS a weak link.

Either go 9" or as your saying find something thats more suitable from another car.

Some people don't break the 7.5" units, I guess thats as their either not that hard on their car or its not making the power they thought.

I've only known one person personally with a genuine 500+hp engine in a Saph and that would smash ANY Cosworth diff you put in it with the way he drove it, a 9" was the only solution for him but that doesn't mean there aren't cheaper options available

i think you must be refering to glyn ?

[JonnyBravo]

Yep, I have never been in a car driven like that to this day

He's crackers, but also has a unit full of spares so isn't afraid of having to go down the route that some would consider to be OTT

Good idea shown above though

[pacwest]

Originally Posted by lee2cossies

Thanks for that,at last a valid bit of info! Could you give me any email adress or web site or anything for this guy? As i said im considering all options just trying to get some info before i go and buy something and make it fit.

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[Chip]

Interesting thread, im a massive fan of using OEM parts from other cars that are up to the job, its invariably cheaper than fancy aftermarket bits and often better made.

Would be great to see someone doing an off the shelf E39 diff conversion for cossies or something along those lines

[pacwest]

I'm a big fan of the supra diff. I've seen it done too many times with excellent results to look at anything else.