My car is a 1990 Formula with the 10 bolt rear, drum brakes, and 3.08 gears. I have been wanting posi since I got the car, and I could never afford even the cheapest of posi units from summit, nevermind installation.

Yesterday, I was browsing Ebay, and I found a few used rear ends called the "Zexel Torsen" and they are supposed to fit my car. My question is, are these a good rear end? Would they work with my stock 3.08 gears? ALso, one seller wrote that he never actually tried the rear end to see if it works, but that torsen's dont wear out. Is that true?

I then went to read up about how they work, and I guess somehow the wheel with better traction gets 5 times the torque of the wheel with worse traction. Would this mean that I couldnt do a posi burnout and lay 2 strips?

Finally, I have no tranny / rear end experience. How mych would a reputable tranny shop charge for the work to install a posi unit?

 

Yes they fit these rears (assuming that you get the model that was in one of them in the first place; from a 98-02 Z28 or Trans Am). Yes it is somewhat true that they don't wear out; that's maybe a little too enthusiastic of a claim, knowing as we all do that EVERYTHING eventually wears out. But it's true that they don't wear out the same way as most other posi units, because they don't use clutches.

However, most of them are for 3 series rears (3.23 or higher); since they came in high-perf cars with appropriate ratios for high-perf use, there are VERY VERY few for the grocery-cart type gas-mileage gears such as came in the low-perf V8 3rd gens (LG4 and TBI cars). There are ways of putting 3 series gears on 2 series carriers, by using a spacer; but there's no way to do the opposite. At least, not any more: the store that sold those spacers that take space OUT instead of putting space IN, went out of business a year or 2 ago. They were also the last source I knew of for drill bits that drill square holes, and starters that fit on a 14" flywheel bolt pattern but work a 12.8" flywheel.

But if you find a 2-series Zexel, it's VERY easy to install; a shop would probably charge one to 2 hours of labor, max. I doubt a transmission shop would do it. Look for a drive shaft type place in your locale. Hit the Yellow Pages.

 

Alright, thanks. Heres what I was looking at:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/7-5-7...spagenameZWDVW

 

Well he SAYS it's 2 series; so it SHOULD work.

Of course, we all know about "the seller says" and "should work" and stuff like that.

One way to find out: and you know what that is.

If it doesn't, then it's up to you to find the "greater fool". One good thing about that: the "greater fool" is ALWAYS out there, somewhere. Doesn't matter how great a fool you find, there's always a greater one. You can take that to the bank.

 

Do a search on here for "zexel-torsen". There was a thread on here about a year ago that had the part #'s listed for the 2 and 3 series torsens. That way, you can make sure it's the right one before you buy it. In a way, you're lucky that you're looking for a 2 series. More people fight over the more desirable 3 series units if it's a bidding auction. I didn't even realize they made a 2 series torsen until I stumbled across that post on here. Of course, I was equally amazed when my buddy told me his 95 LT1 Formula only got 2.73's from the factory.