After breaking in the LSD by doing figure-eights in a parking lot for about 20 minutes, we swapped in some fresh Motul 90PA diff fluid and headed to the racetrack, where we've done all of our G35 testing. Our previous best lap time, with the factory VLSD in place, was 1 minute, 23.8 seconds around this 11-turn, 3km circuit. With the ATS Super Silent LSD in place, that time dropped to 1:22.9, almost a full second quicker. As you can see from the speed comparison between the ATS-equipped lap time (page 92, blue line) and the factory VLSD lap time (red line), maximum speed on each straightaway (as represented by the peaks across the graph) was significantly higher because of the ATS clutch-type LSD's ability to put the power to the ground more effectively. This was very noticeable from the driver seat, where early application of the throttle generated some useful rotation of the chassis and some easily controlled power slides. The factory VLSD was never able to transfer enough power to the tire with the most traction such that throttle-on rotation or oversteer was achievable in anything but the slowest and tightest corners, but with the ATS LSD power-on oversteer can now be induced even in higher-speed sweepers and full-on Formula D drifts are a piece of cake in the tighter turns.
A bit of die grinder action was required so that the Nismo finned diff cover would clear t
OK, so ATS's metal clutch-type LSD is vastly superior to the factory viscous LSD in a high-performance environment like our test track, but what's it like on the street? Well, to be perfectly honest, there's still some chatter and a bit of binding when the diff fluid hasn't fully warmed up, but once it's up to temp this LSD lives up to its Super Silent name. Upon the advice of Yasu, we're going to try adding some Nismo friction modifier in an effort to eliminate the fairly minor chatter issue we've experienced during warm-up, but even if it's never 100 percent silent the on-track performance gains are so significant that I'm personally more than happy to live with a little noise during the first few corners of the day. Once we've tested the friction modifier and put some more miles on this differential, we'll report back on how silent it really is.
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This speed comparison graph shows consistently higher top speeds with the ATS LSD onboard
Sorting The Details
NISMO clutch line: If you take your 350Z or G35 to the track, upgrading to a Nismo clutch line is a very good idea because this braided steel heat-wrapped line offers some much needed thermal protection from the exhaust manifold on the driver side. Without it, you may find the clutch fluid boils after a few hard laps around the racetrack, just like we've had happen on Project G35 before installing this part from www.mynismo.com.
NISMO 50mm long hub bolts: Nissan hub bolts are notoriously soft and prone to sheering off if you over-tighten the lug nuts. To prevent this and to give us the ability to run wheel spacers on Project G35, we installed a full set of Nismo 50mm long hub bolts provided by www.mynismo.com.
Project Kics R40 lug nuts: To accommodate the longer Nismo hub bolts, we needed a set of open-ended lug nuts. A set of Project Kics R40 locking nuts were ordered from Mackin Industries. These lightweight masterpieces feature a two-piece design where the top of the lug spins freely from the tapered centering ring. This ensures a precise hold and minimizes scratches to the lug seat on your wheels.