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MG MGA - Phantom Grip LSD?

Has anyone had experience with a Phantom Grip LSD in a MGA banjo housing differential? For street use? Listed price $US299.95
http://www.phantomgrip.com/
Mike
Mike Ellsmore

That looks more like a lunchbox locker than an LSD.
Del Rawlins

Not in an MGA, but I have one in my midget's 3.9 diff. If you expect a Quaife, buy a Quaife. If you want $300 worth of LSD-effect, you will get it with the Phantom Grip.

This plus race rubber plus 3/4" ARB in my Midget equate to the ability to do a skidpad on two wheels... not necessarily a good thing, but it demonstrates that the Phantom Grip is effective.

Mine is NOT the "track-only" version, it is the street version and does not have any negative effect on the streetability of the car that I can detect. I have been autocrossing a Sprite with open diff this year and severely missing my Phantom Grip.
David "time to buy another one" Lieb
David Lieb

Hi Mike,

Since your in Oz....
years ago a friend of mine built about 7 LSD's out of torana and commodore parts. I sold one with my MGB racer which was a shame, but my brother and I still have two in our MGA racers.
I'm told some of those parts are hard to come by now, but I'm sure you'll find others willing to share the costs.

Cheers
Mark.

Mark Hester

Mike et al...A new one on me, LSD ? ! the device looks like something to stop a plumbing leak.
Can you or some other kind soul explain the following in a few words of no more than two syllables ...
how does this work and what is the difference between a cheapy and a top line model?
neil ferguson



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limited_slip_differential

Mark Hester

Daaah... oh that LSD !!! but let me reset the query...what does a Phantom grip or similar do to convert ? and how ?
neil ferguson

Neil,
The PG drags on the differential gears to resist the "differentiating" action so that both rear wheels want to rotate at the same speed rather than spinning the right rear wheel while the left rear wheel just sits there. The higher the rotational speed, the greater the resistance, thanks to centrifugal force. Stronger springs also lead to greater resistance.
David "the phantom" Lieb
David Lieb

David..many thanks for a very clear and precise explanation ... with up to 5 syllable words!
It sounds like it could be a trial and error process to get the springs right.
Neil
neil ferguson

Neil,
I believe that I could milk 6 syllables out of "differentiating" without even resorting to speaking Southern ;-)

I agree that the springs are critical. In the case of the Spridget unit I am using, Rivergate (the 5-speed people) spent a lot of time and effort getting the spring length and strength optimized for both the street and the track versions of the unit. Hopefully, this work has also been done for the MGA unit...
David "not trying to sell you a Midget" Lieb
David Lieb

David----Can't count,forgot what an LSD is...a bad day over here .....65 yrs gone by and looks like the Alz....... ( what was that word ?) is taking over ...
Just checking I've got my trousers on the right way round.
neil ferguson

How it works is pretty simple (I think) - the internal springs expand the two halves and put pressure on differential gears - the metal block rubs on the boss the differential gear - metal to metal with oil lubricating (not sure where this actually contacts the diff gear?) - a bit like using your hand brake as a cheap LSD in the mud!
Seems like it might be worth the money to experiment with one - Quaife LSD centre list at 675 pounds!
Mike
Mike Ellsmore

I wish Track Tec made a Truetrac for the MGA (or even a Detroit locker
Chris Velardi

Well Surfing these threads are always very interesting I had no idea that you could alter the std dif to a limited slip dif. I am not sure that my mechanical expertese is up to rebuilding a dif as buitifully shown on the Phantom grip website. which is WELL WORTH A LOOK. The duffers way to achieving this would be to remove the rear axel and take it to a specialist shop who maybe has experience in fitting this device.Is there any one in the UK who has experiance and could fit fit one?


David
David swaine

They rather unclearly list Camskill in Whitehaven as their International distributor for the UK on their website. Whitehaven, CU is an interesting attempt to add a US type state abbreviation to a British address. However the Camskill site makes no mention that I could find of Phantom Grip.

I don't think it could be much further from you in Kent and still be in England though.
Malcolm Asquith

They are just down the road from me though! Might be worth popping in for a chat.
Neil McGurk

This thread was discussed between 26/08/2009 and 28/08/2009

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This thread is from the archive. The Live MG MGA BBS is active now.