Captainbilos Posted February 14, 2001 Share Posted February 14, 2001 I was reading the latest edition of evo when I came across the article on the Catereham Fireblade. The author mentioned that the live axle had been modified: - rear discs + aluminium sheilds to strengthen the half shafts. Has anyone else tried to do this? Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robster Posted February 14, 2001 Share Posted February 14, 2001 Phoned Redline today as they seem to know a lot about live axles. Apparently there is not a kit available for this, so no idea how they would have changed the drum brakes. One obvious problem is that it would be hard to find anywhere to anchor the caliper to. As regards the oil, when I went to a quaife LSD in my Ital axle, I was advised to overfill the diff and have had no problems since. I cannot see the advantage of an oil resevoir, as the only diff lubrication problems can be sorted by having the diff baffled to prevent oil surging along the tube and starving the diff unit. Baffling is a common modification. I have also been told that the inherant weakness in the ital diff, limiting power to around 150 bhp is largely overcome by using an LSD (I think it was Steve Perks, SPC) who mentioned this, has anyone gone well over the 150bhp mark??? My car is 155 and the diff has taken a lot of abuse with no problems, Santa Pod(transmission abuse doesn't come any tougher!!!), track days, touring etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eugene Posted February 14, 2001 Share Posted February 14, 2001 180 BHP through Ital axle and 4 speed 'sports' box. On third diff and second axle. Still not going to change things though as it all makes the car very light and there is a lot less power losses through a live axle than with de-dion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark.hall Posted February 14, 2001 Share Posted February 14, 2001 If we're talking Ford axles (I haven't seen the Evo article) I would look to the rally fraternity for disc enhanced axles. I have seen many ads in motoring news with axles thus modified for sale. I'm not sure if it was ever a Ford approved mod though. The Ford technical line may be able to help, they're on 01992 725551. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Walker Posted February 15, 2001 Share Posted February 15, 2001 Paul, Telephone Paul Harvey - he is the person who enginered this axle for the Fireblade Caterham. Sorry I don't know what his number is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I.Mupferit Posted February 15, 2001 Share Posted February 15, 2001 I'm putting 192 Bhp, very carefully, through my Ital axle but am aware that it might/will be a problem some day. I'm interested to learn that the LSD is a lot stronger, does anybody have any experience of this? Brent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Green Posted February 15, 2001 Share Posted February 15, 2001 Paul, PH's phone number is at the bottom of that evo article (I don't have to hand). However he is on holiday at the moment - try him in a couple of weeks time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captainbilos Posted February 15, 2001 Author Share Posted February 15, 2001 Thanks for the info me ol' muckers. Robster, what roughly was the price of the quaife LSD and why did you choose this instead of the Caterham Upgrade (price only or other reason?) Thank again Paul. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captainbilos Posted February 15, 2001 Author Share Posted February 15, 2001 please add an 's' to thank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robster Posted February 16, 2001 Share Posted February 16, 2001 Paul I asked around and found that the quaiffe ATB (automatic torque biasing)diff has a very progressive action so the diff does not suddenly lock. I believe that the Caterham one for the Ital axle is a quaiffe ATB, they use the AP suretrack for De Dion diffs (can anyone confirm this?). I paid £300 for the diff second hand out of the Low Flying. I think SPC are the best place to buy new, as the diff has to be fitted professionally to get the preloading (whatever that is) correct. At the same time they will baffle it against oil surge. This is around £600 all in...approx. The diff I got has a 4.1 ratio, so is shorter than the one that came off, but it makes it accelerate faster! Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captainbilos Posted February 19, 2001 Author Share Posted February 19, 2001 Very helpful, Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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