[dude04]

hi all,

i spent a lot of time and effort getting my mfactory lsd installed into my 2007 manual e92 (large, welded diff) at a reasonable cost. i hope the following information also saves you time and money. i will not go into the DIY aspects of diff removal as this is covered elsewhere. this is more of an Australian-specific guide on getting your welded lsd upgraded - a process which is offered in the UK and USA for a decent price but not so much here.

-i learnt that my diff was the large welded style. 'welded' meaning the crown wheel is welded to the differential by BMW and requires machining work to separate. search the forums for heaps of discussion on this topic and for guides to determine what kind of LSD your car has.

-my LSD arrived from mfactory without shims or circlips. they were later sent to me (once mfactory revived their stock) but my diff installer completed the job without them by instead re-purposing shims from other vehicles (and increasing their bore to suit our cars). luckily my installation did not require thicker circlips only the machining of my oem ones. speak to your diff installer on the topic of shims and circlips - he will be your best guide on whether you need to source new shims and circlips or whether he can re-purpose your existing ones / make do with what he has.

-i contacted many (20+) machining/engineering shops on the topic of machining the ring gear from the diff and received a variety of answers; from 'yes' and then never replying to my email, outright 'no', to 'sure, it'll cost ya $2000'. in the end i was lucky to find a down to earth, friendly, communicative and very fairly priced machining shop. for an idea of the machining work that needs to be done see techevo's generous write up here:
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1064264

lsd installer
'Mick' can be contacted on 0407 413 104 and is located in Haberfield, Sydney. Mick works for a big name diff shop some days of the week. other days he works on private jobs. he's a very honest guy who won't mess you around the slightest and has been doing this thing for decades. so far between my group of friends he has installed 6 lsd'd and 1 gear set without a single issue with him or his work. let him know that you got his number from 'Louie with the BMW'. i won't tell you what i paid because i did some work for him (I.T.) and we came to an agreement that way but i can guarantee you he is very competitively priced. you will need to take him your pumpkin already removed from your vehicle.

machining work
Roger and Eric of Timeler Engineering can be contacted on timeler@bigpond.com or by phone on 02 9796 7273. shop address is 25 rosedale avenue, greenacre. as per Techevo's post above, they broke the weld, machined back the surface of my ring gear to flat and tapped the holes in the ring gear. one task they did which Techevo did NOT need to do is create a spacer plate to go between the LSD and now-machined ring gear. this was necessary to restore the same geometry of gearing height etc. as per prior to the machining. maybe Techevo did not need to do this because the Quiafe LSD is different in dimensions to the mfactory - he actually needed to grind down his ring gear whereas mfactory people will require a spacer. i paid $660 for this work.

the order of my installation
1. sourced LSD from mfactory also requested bolts
2. used vin and realoem to determine and order the precise part numbers of the following parts which should be changed: output shaft seals (x2), input shaft seal (x1) and pinion nut (x1). i bought my stuff from ecstuning, loads cheaper than the BMW dealerships locally.
3. purchase one of these 50mm thin wall spanners to crack the drive shaft nut: http://www.cripedistributing.com/kd3...ut-wrench.html by far cheapest i could find it (thanks to the original post on n54tech for finding this supplier)
4. remove diff from car (see other DIYs)
5. take diff, seals and drive shaft nut to lsd installer for break-down and measurement. take away ring gear + oem diff (welded) and bolts (from mfactory) to Timeler engineering
6. take machined, ground and tapped ring gear as well as spacer plate (if necessary) back to diff installer
7. re-install pumpkin into car
8. done

a side note on bearings
plenty of discussion on this elsewhere. in short: bearings are made under license to BMW. although you will find SKAF (etc) part numbers on the OEM bearings nobody will sell them to you over the counter. places like mfactory (when in stock, they didn't have when i bought), diffsonline.com will sell them to you. no other bearing supplier i contacted could supply them. in the end i decided to re-install my oem bearings after inspecting my oem bearings to be in good condition. if i would have found bearings at a reasonable cost (the cheapest i was quoted was ~$600USD) i would buy them. one bearing supplier (bimmerdiffs) told me they would also start supplying them mid 2015. i expect as time passes (and maybe the licensing expires?) the bearings will become more commonplace and thus cheaper.

breaking the pinion nut
removing the pinion nut is required to change the pinion seal. see here for the tools required to do this: http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1102585
if you use my diff installer he's ready to go with these tools, as i'm sure a lot of big (expensive) diff shops are.

if i've missed anything please let me know and i'll amend. if you have any questions feel free to ask.

good luck!

[harms]

Good write up. I'm sure this will help someone out.

[Socket]

Originally Posted by harms

Good write up. I'm sure this will help someone out.

Did you get your LSD installed yet Harmsy?

[harms]

Originally Posted by Socket

Did you get your LSD installed yet Harmsy?

Nah I'm using it as a door stop. Limited Slip Doorstop right?

[Socket]

[QUOTE=harms;18354039]Nah I'm using it as a door stop. Limited Slip Doorstop right?[/QUOTE

[harms]

Back on topic -

OP, i noticed you didn't replace the 2x small and 2x large dust shields? Are they easy to retain? (I'm going to do an LSD install soon just wondering what parts i need to order)

[DR-JEKL]

Great thread mate!

If anyone out there doesn't want to go through the welded diff machining process i will have my large pumpkin bolted diff setup available in 2 weeks time for sale

[vtl]

Good writeup! Such a ripoff to get an LSD installed here in Australia. I was quoted $4200 for a Quaife install from SouthernBM. I ended up going for an M3 LSD which is cheaper and at least gives you fatter axles. It requires a custom propshaft but at least thats easier than finding someone who will machine a ring gear.

How does the diff drive? Does the e-diff lock still engage (dsc light)?

[dude04]

Originally Posted by harms

Back on topic -

OP, i noticed you didn't replace the 2x small and 2x large dust shields? Are they easy to retain? (I'm going to do an LSD install soon just wondering what parts i need to order)

hello - yes very easy to retain. not at all necessary to replace imo. they come off and go back on without any damage at all

Originally Posted by vtl

...
How does the diff drive? Does the e-diff lock still engage (dsc light)?

with dsc on it allows some slip but then tapers it off.. it allows some fun yet still provides a safety net. as an example if you apply maximum throttle out of a corner you will get wheel spin and a little bit of angle but not much. for maximum fun though, you must still turn it completely off.

[MFactory]

Good writeup. Hope you are enjoying your LSD

For those still deciding on an LSD (be it an MFactory/Quaife/Wavetrac etc etc) but getting put off by your welded diff, we now have our new bolted Ring & Pinions available. These are brand new Ring & Pinions (not machined oem ones) that will bolt up to any aftermarket LSD.

Coupled with our new custom shim kits (for both the pinion and the differential), installation is very simple and a lot cheaper than getting machine work done to your oem diff

[dude04]

Originally Posted by MFactory

Good writeup. Hope you are enjoying your LSD

For those still deciding on an LSD (be it an MFactory/Quaife/Wavetrac etc etc) but getting put off by your welded diff, we now have our new bolted Ring & Pinions available. These are brand new Ring & Pinions (not machined oem ones) that will bolt up to any aftermarket LSD.

wow that sounds like a pretty good option - wish this were available at the time i did mine. i am very much enjoying my LSD - thanks also to Stephen (MFactory) who was always very helpful in answering my queries and request.

[Scotty89]

They're not much chop without shim kits.

[MFactory]

Originally Posted by Scotty89

They're not much chop without shim kits.

Did you even read what I posted?

We have shim kits for both small and large cores available now.

P.S We're the only ones with these shim kits. You are not going to get a shim kit with any other LSD manufacturer, so stop putting the blame solely on us. Seriously, just stop it.

[Scotty89]

Sorry. Just frustrated.

Can you please let me know where I can buy the new shim kits?

My diff is model MF-TRS-05E92

Thank you!

[Socket]

Id be interested in the price of a shim kit for small bolted auto diff

[donR]

Just PM M-factory with your receipt/purchase details re: Shim kit.