LSD for MX5

C

ChrisDe

Member
I'm going to look at 2 MX5s tomorrow with the idea of hopefully buying one of them and using it as a drift car. One is a mk2 and one is a mk3 (I know, not really much point getting a nice mk3 one just to drift it... but hey, going to look at it anyway). Both are 1.8 litre and I believe neither of them have an LSD. EDIT: it turns out the mk2 one might have an LSD as it is an "Icon" model... but the jury seems to be out on whether or not that definitely has one in UK spec.

So first question: Without doing anything to the diff, will this thing be able to drift much at all (on a wet track) ? I'm used to an M3 where you can easily spin up the rear tyres just by flooring it, but I'm conscious that it's not going to be that easy in an MX5. Bearing in mind I'm a beginner, is it going to be very difficult to get much of a drift going with a completely stock MX5 (again only talking about in the wet) ?

If I really do need to do something to the diff, I know I could just get someone to weld the diff but it seems like the more "proper" option is to get an LSD fitted? Anyone got any suggestions on what to get or what to avoid? I found this one: Kaaz LSD for Mazda from Driftworks.com but one thing I'm not sure about is in the chart there the latest model MX5 it lists is a 1998 onwards model, so if I did get a 2006 mk3 would that not fit? or is it just that literally any model from 1998 onwards has the same system and this LSD will fit it fine?

Thanks
Chris
 
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in short, it is absolutely pointless attempting to learn to drift in a car without an LSD or a welder.

i highly advise if your going to buy an mx5, buy one with an lsd. There are tons of mk2s that come with an lsd as stock. It would cost you a shit load to fit an aftermarket diff so why not just buy one with a factory lsd in the first place.

Personaly i would stick with a mk2, they are significantly cheaper and with the factory diff they drift very well, even absolutely stock.

No it wont be as easy an m3 but it will be fun and you will learn a lot trying.

I would then use the money saved to invest in a set of coilovers which will help a lot
 
Hmmm ok thanks for your thoughts. I can't find any that have got an LSD (at least none that are in my price range), and will it really be that bad to get one installed later? In that link I posted the LSD is about £750 quid, and I can't see it costing an absolute fortune to fit it (but what do I know). I'd rather pay an extra grand to get an LSD installed if that's going to be better and reliable (and legal) than a welded diff.

Also can you just clarify, you said from the factory a mk2 will drift very well but you said there's no point drifting a car without an LSD or welded diff. So do you only mean an mk2 with factory fitted LSD will drift very well?
 
Exactly that yes. Only an mx5 with an lsd will be worth drifting.

Im wondering if your a bit confused about which models have an lsd in, maybe it was my fault for wording it wrong, mx5 is a torsen lsd.

As far as i remember all or most 1.8 imports come with one as stock

Other models that have one as stock:
Icon
Sport
Euphonic
RS
Phoenix
Arizona

just off the top of my head. I could be wrong but i thought most of the 1.8's had an lsd as stock

Im no expert but ive had a couple. I recently sold my mk2.5 with bucket seats, hardtop, coilovers, rims and an lsd for £2200 so use that as a guide price, im sure theres plenty on ebay.

Hopefully someone will come along and confirm this.

how much is your budget?

Its great your happy to spend the money but a grand to install a diff?! thats a lot of money considering you can pick up a whole decent mx5 for a grand.


Also one thing that i can definetly confirm for you, is welded diffs are 100 percent legal, no idea whose told you otherwise. And also a perfect solution to this if you buy a non lsd model. Welding a diff costs less than £100 all in and will lock up as good as a Kaaz lsd, and better than a factory lsd.
 
You say 1.8 imports, but as far as I know none of the ones I've looked at have been imports. This is one I'm going to look at tomorrow, it is an Icon so should that have an LSD standard? Mazda MX-5 1.8i Icon 2dr

I've googled it but it seems like a lot of "it should do" or "I think it has" and no definitive answers. I don't want to buy it and take it to a drift day and find out it is terrible because it hasn't got one... I'm not mechanically minded at all (as you can probably tell) so I would have no idea how to check before I buy the car. Not even sure if there is any way to check without taking it apart. I've found some sites that say the Icon has a torsen LSD but then also a site that says "the Japanese 1.8 models from 1995 onwards came with a Torsen LSD etc which UK cars never had"
 
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I bought a Mk2 1.8iS, which is a common UK model that comes with a torsen diff, for less than the price that Kaaz diff costs on its own. With a years MOT.

Just do that.
 
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If I could find one I would. Searching auto trader for 1.8iS brings back 0 results within 100 miles of me. If the Icon DEFINITELY has an LSD then fine I'll buy one of those, but like I said I found some websites saying the UK version doesn't
 
Mine wasn't even listed as an iS, most aren't, as most owners don't know what they are. Just an MX5 to 99% of owners, no different badges or bodywork.

Just look for one that looks like an iS, the right wheels, Nardi wheel, leather, chrome sill plates, and buy it, as it's an iS.
 
I don't want to try find a 1.8iS based purely on looks and potentially get it wrong and buy a regular 1.8 that doesn't have an LSD. So it seems like the safest option is to buy an Icon but there seems to be so much conflicting information. According to a lot of MX5 specific websites, the Icon is based on the 1.8iS and has a limited slip diff but it supposedly also has certain other things like beige leather and other stuff that none of the Icons I can find for sale have... so does that mean they also might not have a limited slip diff?
 
No idea.

I use the same procedure on all 5 MX5s I've had.

1- Find cheap MX5 with a long MOT.
2- Buy it.
3- If it doesn't happen to come with a torsen or welder, give someone who can weld and spanner the car and £50.
4- Come back and collect the car with its newly welded diff.
5- Sell it before MOT time for pretty much what I bought it for.
 
lol fair enough if you're happy to do that but personally I just want to buy something that is going to be right straight away, especially as I've only got 3 weeks until the drift day
 
OK so just to make things even more confusing, it looks like there are two "Icon" models (one mk2 and one mk2.5 facelift) and one has an LSD and the other doesn't, according to the information I can find anyway. So there goes my plan of "just get an Icon and that way I definitely know it has an LSD".

Stavros you mentioned being able to tell the difference between the 1.8 and the 1.8iS visually, but I'm struggling to be certain which ones are an iS. On any car sale website it won't seem to let me enter "iS" as a search term (or it just ignores it). It seems like maybe the mk2.5 Sport also has an LSD but again I get conflicting information on this from various websites.
 
who the hell uses auto trader anymore? thats where your going wrong

And PLEASE dont even consider handing over £4500 for a mk2 mx5! that is absolutely ridiculous!

You can get one for under 1k. check ebay

here is mine i sold last week for £2200: 2004 MAZDA MX5 MK2.5 EUPHONIC 1.8 LSD DRIFT RACE | eBay

use that as a guide price!


Do as stav says above, £1k will get you a perfectly good mk2, probably with an lsd. Worst case it doesnt have one, pay £100 to have it welded up, Saving yourself £3400!
 
or search one of the many other models i listed for you.

The sport for example, all came with LSD, hundreds on ebay.

Heres the first one that came up:

2001 MAZDA MX-5 1.8 S-VT SPORT SILVER 6-SPEED | eBay

has a torsen diff, 6 speed box and loads of others bits and up for offers around £2300, so would probably go for less than £2k

I dont have time to spend all morning searching for them for free but im sure half hour of hunting would find loads more deals, probably even better, that was literaly the first one that came up

If you want to pay me £100 ill find you one within the hour!
 
Biggest give away imo is 99% of mk2s that had abs also had an lsd. Like the aforementioned iS models.

I think my last iS mk2 cost me 1300 with a hardtop in good nick. My mk1 before that cost 1k and I spent 100 getting the diff welded by someone.
 
1.8iS came with these wheels, 15in 5spokes with a very tiny dish (lightest of the wheels too, not like you'd notice). Most iS aren't listed as them, but the wheels usually give it away.

And the ABS thing as above.

image001_zps6a27070d.jpg


If you spend more than about £1500 on an MX5 as a 'my first drift car' you're an idiot.

A grand will get you a car that is capable of keeping up with most 'drifters' driving 400bhp cars, I've never paid more than £750 even with coilovers and a welder.
 
lol yes I know you guys think its a waste of money and I appreciate you are just trying to help, but its my money and I don't mind spending it. I'm selling my Lotus Elise soon so that will get me about £15K so I'm not too bothered about spending £3K on a replacement "fun" car. I haven't been looking on ebay etc as I'd rather buy from a dealer - I know f*ck all about mechanics so I'd rather buy a car from a dealer than a private sale, as at least then if there's less likely to be something wrong with it and if there is I can take it back and get them to fix it. I know its only going to be a drift car that I smash up, but that doesn't mean I don't care if it breaks down - if anything the fact that I'm going to be abusing it makes it even more important to me that I don't get something too sketchy to begin with (there's logic in there somewhere...).

So yeah, I understand most people wouldn't dream of spending more than a grand or two on an MX5 drift car, but I'm happy to do it if it means I get a more reliable car out of it. I think I've found that the mk2.5 "1.8i Sport" models all come with an LSD so I'm going to go look at one of them this afternoon.
 
Why not get something else if you're gonna spunk more money though?

MX5s are awesome IF...

A- You don't want to spend shitloads.

B- You are REALLY fucking determined to learn to drift good so don't want a car with power which slows down the learning.

Considering you will wanna put different suspension and a drivers bucket seat in it at least, 90% of 'dealers' will tell you to fuck off if you bring it back broken anyhow. And most dealers are way more shady than private sales, I try and avoid dealers at all costs as they buy cheap with issues and good at hiding messes, which is how they make a profit.
 
But then if I look at something else the cost goes up again because I still have the same issue of not wanting to buy privately. I don't want to spend shit loads, but to me like £3K isn't shit loads so I'm happy to spend that on an MX5.

I know what you mean about dealers, I've had my share of terrible cars from dealers BUT because they were from dealers I've always been able to get a full refund or get them to fix the problems. If I had bought those same cars from a private sale I'd have been stuck with a piece of shit car.

Yeah a dealer will tell me to fuck off if I've modified the car, but I won't be modifying it just yet and its only the first few weeks I'm bothered about having their warranty for. Basically I don't want to buy something and find it blows up after a week and I can't get my money back. If I've had it a few weeks and not found any problems then I'm happy to start modifying it and accept that they won't fix anything after that
 
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