I have had my car back for a while since I had a number of great tweaks done to it and I'm very happy with the results.

The well-laid Dynamat along the bottom of the car, extending to the back over the wheelwell humps has proven to reduce rear tire noise and overall noise quite a bit. The additional 36 lbs. was worth it in my opinion, and the added weight is mostly at the lowest part of the car. Using the mObridge hands-free phone with the reduced road noise is a pleasure and not a strain on the ears or voice. Additionally, the voice quality at both ends is very good. I'm very satisfied with both these modifications,but there's more...

While at S-Car-Go (San Rafael, CA.) where Arron (Marin Sound Works) was plying his craft with the Dynamat, etc. Rob suggested that I have the very tops and bottoms of the springs wrapped with a coiled plastic and have thin Teflon washers installed to further reduce noise and make the car feel smoother. That install bore great results as well. The car is now smother on the freeway and quieter as well. It's a small mod but also well worth it.

I also had the rear lower control arms changed out to a set that allows the rear tires to stay flatter on the road when road conditions would cause the stock ones to come to their limits of maintaining the proper tire/road geometry.

Now to the Guards Limited Slip differential. It is the 60/40 clutch based system. It really hooks up when "getting on it" coming out of a corner but if one steps on the throttle too soon it will definitely push - plow is more like it. I'm a newbie but I don't think that this type of LSD is suited for autocrossing as well as the "torque biasing" type is, but with the big increase in power (EVT 700 kit) it was recommended that I go with the former type. I can see why that makes the most sense now having tried it. It really allows the car to lay power down to the ground when it comes time to let out the steering wheel on exiting a corner - Yeah, it really hooks up! It's fun on curved on-ramps. By the way, I didn't have the LSD option on my car so my comparison is from that viewpoint. I have a Quaife LSD on my E39 M5 that I have just started to use and enjoy the hookup while turning tight corners on the street at low speeds - say at a 90 degree turn at an intersection. I could feel the hook up verses the stock M5 diff which I believe was an LSD as well. I think the Quaife is a torque biasing type.

Here are some pics of the final Dynamat install (thanks to Arron of Marin Sound Works!) He installed the mObridge bluetooth system and a Passport 9500ci. I'll come back to post pics of the 9500ci install and wrapped springs when I get them. The 9500ci is great but I need my arrows so I'll put my V1 back in as well it think. They don't seem to affect each other's performance.

Check out the attention to detail with the Dynamat layout. Not pictured is the material laid just forward of the wheel well, where the gray felt is still attached. That was covered too. If it seems like I'm trying to plug these guys your right. They did a great job for me and Rob has done more for my car than I mentioned here at this time (valve issue, plugs, and a few other things not relevant to this post). Thanks Sharky! for "riding heard" on some of the other things that were done.

Oh, another thing was to have Swepco oil used as it has higher lubricating properties than Mobil 1, and the like.

 

Can you please tell ME how much did this LSD costed you and for it was build track ???

 

The unit was $2800 US and I believe it was built for the track as these guys are pushing me to do so. Which I will do at some point.

The 996 version is several hundred dollars less. The 997 one has an additional bearing I think, which is why it costs more.

 

How long did it take to install all that dynamat?

 

Would love to see some pics of the 9500ci install, it is something we are looking into hardware wise and have a few on the way.

Brian

 

It took about 40 hours to do the whole job which was to basically gut the car's interior, meticulously cut and fit the material, and then to reinstall the interior.

There are no buzzes or rattles. Aaron at Marin Sound Werks, San Rafael, CA. did the work and he can be reached at 415 747 8249 if you have any questions.

Here are some pics of the interior parts out of the car.

 

I will take some pictures and post them on this thread. Right now the car is getting a brake bleed and a ride height adjustment.

One thing that going on now, that was also an issue with the Passport SRX install I previously had (that someone else did), is that the external speaker puts out low level engine whine. I had taken that speaker out (SRX). Aaron called Escort and they admitted that that they have had other people call about this issue. The speaker is powered right off the fuse box where the power is the cleanest but there's still some whine with a choke installed, so Aaron is going to put a filter in the audio signal line from the control module in hopes that it will cure the low volume engine whine. We unplugged the external speaker's power and still heard the whine so it is not coming from that power source.

The whine is only noticeable at very low speeds (up to say 20-25 mph) when it's quiet outside - no other traffic. In fact I had forgoten about the issue over the last days.

 

Why did you go for Guards LSD not Qualife for 997 TT ???

Will qualife works the same ???

 

I don't know if Quaife make a clutch type LSD but here is a link to an explanation of LSD's, mostly about the Guards type LSD:

http://www.guardtransmission.com/velocity.htm

 

No Qulafe makes LSD like on your M5 )))...I think its open diff...and its availible for 997 TT as far as I know

 

What I'm saying is that I don't know if Quaife make a diff. like the Guards. My M5's Quaife is a Torque Biasing unit. My 997's Guards diff. is the type with pressure plates and springs. I'm pretty sure you could get a Quaife for the 997 TT. I saw a quaife at my Porsche tuner sitting out on a counter.

 

So your tuner reccomended u Gaurds ??? Why ???

 

We were considering both type since I was not going to be on the track with the car much. But with the power output I have (650 -700hp) it was recommended that I go with the Guards.

I was out last night on some very, very twisty canyon roads where 40mph seemed like hyperspace given the short distance between tight curves, and I was totally impressed with this new diff. The car hooked up so much better coming out of the corners and if the rear end broke loose a bit, it quickly regained full traction to the point where my body would, for a moment, still be in the momentum of the car's initial rotation after the car became re-glued to the road. I didn't get the front end push as I did before on my local increasing radius freeway onramp, probably because I was learning to feather the throttle better. Well, on the onramp I was just feeling the car out, testing it, plus, the tires were a bit cold as well.

I would highly recommend the Guards diff. It could be just fine for autocrossing as my romp last night led me to believe, but I haven't done any so...

I'm a newbe to this so that's about all I can confidently say about my setup.

It's a huge improvement though!

 

My car will have this power level at the wheels and also doesnt have a diff...now I thinking which one should I get as well

Sorry for so many questions to which may be you dont have answers but why you where reccomended for HIGH HP output Gaurds over Qualife ???

Did you installed LSD with EVT 700 kit or after ???

How did the car felt before LSD installed ???

 

I was going to try explaining what I really don't have enough knowledge about so I found this thread on another board. It may help your understanding. Go to post #15. By the way, the clutch type requires some maintainance from time to time due to the clutch action of the plates inside. http://forums.clubrsx.com/showthread.php?t=238708