ok everyone i have the opportunity to purchase the highly sought after gmr torsen differential. its brand new and never used. now for my dilemma....... i need to replace my torque converter and tear the trans apart to make sure no metal got where it shouldnt be etc. replace clutches yada yada and while its apart i am going to do my turbo upgrade instead of tearing it apart twice. if i buy the torsen i probably wont be able to drive turbo monte this year because i wont have enough money do do all of this. if i dont buy the torsen i could probably fix turbo monte and have the turbo upgrade done by the end of june........ but if i pass up the torsen i may never find another one. everyone i talk to told me the torsen is nice but breaking a HD diff is not common and i would be fine with a HD diff and the only reason why i would want the torsen is if i am road tracking the car but as far as 1/4 mile drag and street driving the torsen is overkill for me....

what do you guys think? what would you guys do in my position?

btw i do have the money for the torsen thats not a issue but that money could also buy my turbo headers and my upgraded turbo if i decide not to get the torsen.....

 

How bad would it be to buy the Torsen and just sit on it. Maybe do the transmission next year

This way you can keep driving the Turbo Monte this year, and then gather your other parts too.

 

thing is i cant drive it anymore until i replace the torque converter and install new seals and clutches etc in the trans. the torque converter is shot and is dumping metal all through my trans

that was my plan until i seen all the metal in the trans fluid and realized i cant drive it anymore until its fixed.

 

That's a really tough one then.

I would probably get the torsen still, just because they are pretty impossible to find. How built up is your transmission right now.

 

i have a 300m input, hardened pump shaft, valve body upgrades, shift kit, z-pak, gmr channel plate sleeve, hardened 4th gear hub, HD diff, 3500 ati stall (this is the stall that is junk), 7/8 chain and gears (have a 1" chain and gear set sitting in the garage waiting to be installed) meziere flex flate in garage waiting to be installed. i will be buying cartuning's 3rd gear hub and also there trans pan spacer when i buy the turbo upgrade.

its a gamble for sure and thats why i asked for opinions because ive been beating my head on what to do for a month now. if i pass up the torsen i may not find another one but my car is drivable again. if i buy it then my car is down for a while but i know i have a torsen.

if i dont buy it i may get lucky and find one a year from now again and there easy to install with the trans in the car so thats no biggie..


see why my head hurts when i think about this?

 

You already know the answer John... By upgrading the Turbo your going to be applying even more insane amounts of power to the wheels which of course goes through the tranny. Most people tell you the HD is hard to break? But they will break, I blew through one and I had Intense Racings Gen3 LSD and still popped it. Now with the GMPP LSD I no longer fear damaging it when I'm getting on it. I would get everything together and do a complete build so you don't have to do it again. So she sits for a year, mine sat for almost 2 years being built and Sam's almost 4 years now. Remember the old saying: There's never enough time to do it right the first time, but theres always time to do it over...

 

Ha, I too am having the Cartuning Tranny pan spacer installed next week. Gives us 4 more quarts of fluid so when cornering our pickup does not come uncovered. Good upgrade...


I had a torque converter fail on me too, the fins started seperating from the housing from all of the extreme fluid pressures.
We bought a new one and had it opened up and all the fins fully brazed to the housing so they can't tear away under extreme loads....

 

i understand your thoughts greg, as far as the intense lsd they were always junk lol. the other reason why i want my car drivable this year is

1: to defend my 1st place title at gm nationals in june
2: to have turbo monte for the wedding in september

as it is i wanted turbo monte to make the huge car meet in michigan in may but even if i dont get the diff i still wont make that

 

LOL, your Insane but thats whats cool about you. To funny how you really lit up your tires last year and literally smoked out a fair amount of the event. LOl... I can understand what your saying. Your going to do whats right in your heart, Sept. it's still possible... You just need to sell off a few of your blasters while the market is hot and you can get top dollar and then you can build away...

 

In my opinion, do the diff and rebuild etc. Then just wait until next winter to do the turbo upgrades. It sucks not having a fun car.