Differential Cover Factory vs Aftermarket
 

Hey guys, I am in need of a new differential cover. Before i order I was curious about what is so special about the differential cover with fins? or any aftermarket compared to stock. Any opinions. Help would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

-Raj

Fins cool diff fluid. That's all.

Oh cool, I didn't know they could cool the temp on differential fluids. Any brand recommendation?


-Raj

How many aftermarket diff covers do you know of? I'm only aware of the nismo one.

Differential Cover Factory vs Aftermarket
 

I only did a search for factory. I found one aftermarket and I thought I found another besides the Nismo but I may be wrong. Will it still hold the same fluid? (capacity wise)


-Raj

I believe so. Should be about 2 qts.

Thanks for your help. I'll order one tomorrow. Would you believe the Nismo is better than stock?


-Raj

I use it. Don't have any real evidence it's better as I don't actively take temps of my diff fluid but I can't imagine it hurts. It is a little less convenient though to lift the car since you can no longer really use the diff as a jack point.

Oh ok. Do the fins get in the way of Anything mechanical like an aftermarket exhaust?


-Raj

As a matter of fact, I did need to trim a fin down so that it wouldn't vibrate against an exhaust flange. I have the Ark DT-S. Your miles may vary.

Would I be damaging the fin if I trimmed it? Would it weaken/cause a leak ?


-Raj

No

Just placed the order, thanks for the advice guys

The factory one seems to work great if your going to modify it to run an external cooler with Pump.

I don't think the differential has any heat related issues. So just use good fluid.

There are plenty of people who have had problems with heat on the track when using the stock diff :twocents:

yea, mine throws up fluid. ive heard from many members that the cover doesnt help alleviate much, but its more of a might as well for me

Interesting... Does this only effect the track cars?

It depends on use. Obviously people who track their cars put much more strain on the LSD than people who only drive their cars on the street. Even if you're doing hard launches all day, you're not subjecting the LSD to the type of lock/unlock cycles that track driving exerts.

:iagree: It's a heat thing. So it's definitely seen more often under the extremes of racing. You could probably get it heated up on the street pretty good too, but you'd be driving like a real a$$hole.

I haven't seen it vent out with my quaife and royal purple oil. But I do auto X so its one lap and done, plus long spirited drives haven't seen any vent out either.

I upgraded mine when my diff bushing threw up all the jelly filling. As I understand it that in addition to the fins for cooling assistance the Nismo cover is stronger. The company I bought it from say that have pulled several stock covers with cracks in them. I wouldn't of had made the upgrade just for it but my pumpkin was on the ground for diff replacement. Additional cost was basically just the cost of the cover.

The Nismo Finned differential cover is supposed to be stronger than the OE cover, The fins help with the heat transfer from the fluid but is mainly aimed for the guys that do lots of spirited driving on the canyons and such. if you plan to use the car for competition use a proper differential cooler with cooler core and pump is HIGHLY suggested.

I got a reply here but still none on the other thread ....


-Raj

FWIW, I use the arc cool fins on the diff cover too. I have no way of datalogging its impact (if any) on the dif, but it definitely helps pull heat off of the oil pan.

Changed my diif fluid with motul no issues, pushing over 600whp..

Where did you get them? Google comes up dry for places to buy them

I bought mine from chops lol

Assume that's a forum member

Correct. I think he got them straight from Japan. Maybe PM him?

you can buy them from RHDJapan.com. depending on exchange rate, they'll sell for 20-30 dollars. then factor in shipping since they come direct from japan. they're kind of expensive..

The whole build is expensive so what's another $30 on this if it helps keep the oil pan temps down:tup:

I might as will try to order one tonight does anybody know the wait time from Japan?


-Raj

Nengun has them too -- they definitely work. It pulls my oil temps down by at least 10-15* based on the OEM gauge and during dyno-run intervals, cool down rate is much faster, confirmed after dynoing on the same day with another Z in FL some time ago.

It adds metal and uses a heat conductive adhesive (not merely double sided body moding tape), so as jerry-rigged as it sounds, the laws of thermodynamics are still effectively applied.

ARC - Cool Fin - Nengun Performance

I doubt it would take more than a few weeks -- although, if you are springing for the finned dif cover, while adding more fins certainly won't hurt, they won't be critical either.

That said, you can add them at any time and it's a good bang-for-buck mod to be sure.

FYI guys, they're pretty small. id order a few extra and then just resell here for what you paid. RHDJapan took me about a week or two.