24 hr turnaround for the install at unitrax

 

After nearly a year of waiting, I'm scheduled to have my Wavetrac installed this coming Tuesday.
I am certainly looking forward to giving it a try. My feeling is that this car should have come with
a differential solution like this from the factory. and I'd always said if an LSD was produced for
the Crossfire, I'd have one. Can't wait to make that true.

 

you won't be disappointed, can't wait to get your reaction.

 

I'm scheduled to drop it off at Buckhead Imports on Tuesday. I sure wish it
were Wednesday already.

 

Coyote, when you get it done, let me know how Buckhead Imports did, and the price if you don't mind. I've got mine ordered but don't yet have an installer...There is a MB shop right next to my office(Next to Road Atlanta), the guy seems to know his stuff but its kind of a hole-in-the-wall. There is also a Dyno shop next door so I'll do some pulls as well.

 

WhooHoo! Wavetrac is installed. i picked the car up this morning at Buckhead Imports and drove it
the 20 miles back home. Nice smooth ride, with no noise or vibrations coming from the differential.
And, to top it off, the work was done for a couple hunderd dollars less than quote last week.

I wanted to have them check my tune while the car was in the shop, but Tony is out of the office for
a while. Seems he has just added a new member to his family, and will be away for a while as he gets
to know the new baby. Congrats to him and his wife.

So, I've not put the hammer down, yet, to see what kind of improvement the Wavetrac made. I feel
I should give it a little while to properly settle in. But in the next couple of days, I'll give it a work out,
and update the thread to give my thoughts. But, so far, I'm happy with the work that Buckhead did,
and the feel of the Wavetrac.

 

I went by the installer's this afternoon. Car's up on the rack, should be done tomorrow.

Can't wait.....

 

M3Pig, you will definitely like it. I've driven mine a bit today, about 100 miles of rather gentle driving
(for me). Just trying to let things settle in, so to speak. But, a very short while, I opened it up a
little leaving a 4 way stop. Mashed the gas a bit, and started the wheels spinning. Big difference.

In the past, when I'd put my foot down a bit hard, the wheels would spin, and the rear end would
start drifting to the left, then it would come back into line and off I'd go, still spinning the wheels. In
this case, I felt both sides grabbing and the rear end started drifting to the right, but hard pushing
forward. I looked back in the mirror and saw two clearly visible black lines on the road.

Even normal acceleration from a stop feels different. Just feels more solidly planted. All this is a bit
sujective, though. And could be just first ride blush. But I like it. Seems to corner better, too.

The lesson I took from this is that I need to relearn how to launch this car. The dynamics have
definitely changed.

 

I was wondering just how many folks now have the Wavetrac LSD installed. So, I took a look at the first
post in the list, where such had been tracked (at least for those in the group buy), and I notice that either
it has not been updated in a long time, or there have been a lot of delivered units that haven't been
installed.

So, anyone have any idea of how many Wavetracs have been installed?

Been driving mine some more today, and I do feel a difference in how the car moves. I'm not seeing
near the wheel slip I've grown used to when starting off from a stop. To get the tires to spin, I have
to step down harder on the accelerator than was the previous case.

 

Where I feel it the most is cornering. Before I would spin the inside wheel and now I can feel a pulsing when the conditions cause a wheel to start spinning. It's deceptive because a wheel begins to spin, the wavetrac catches it but not before your brain tells you to ease up, the concrete wall challenges your faith, you stay in it and low and behold ..... you don't kiss the wall! I respect the difficulty in finding parts so I'm learning very slowly. A 2012 Mustang smacked the wall at the last event. Sad.

Les

 

So, I had to take the car back to the shop. I drove it to work on Monday (about 37 mile trip each way),
and I noted that when I had my windows rolled up, that I was hearing a high pitched whine coming form
the back. Not real lound, and couldn't hear it with the window down. Figured I'd call and ask the shop
about it when I got home.

On the drive home, I kept hearing the whine, no louder, but there. After I got home and pulled into
the garage, I noticed I was smelling hot oil. First cracked the hood to check the engine. No oil or smell
there. Then went around to the back of the car. The smell of hot oiil was strong. Looked underneath
and found what looked like black motor oil splattered about. When I touched it, it felt like oil. Rather
thin and slippery.

So, I called the shop and had it towed back to them (rollback, not actually towed). I was told
yesterday that what I thought was oil was really grease from the axle. And, that a boot had slipped
and was leaking grease. No one seems to be sure of how that happened, but I can assure you that
no oil/grease was seen there during the install of the diff, and I had no issues with leaking axles before.

I'd also like to say that the folks at the shop I've spoken to have been very professional in their
approach. I'm not complaining about their work or their response to this issue, at all. Just trying
inform and get info/advice.

So, they made that repair, and I'm now waiting to hear if the whine is gone (could it have been an
axle?) or if there is more work to determine the cause. These guys seem to be doing good work,
but I am concerned that the whine noise is due to an incorrect lash. Have any of you guys with
the Wavetrac installed heard any high pitched whine noises? Any have any trouble with axle boots?

Thanks,

 

coyote,
the whine is most likely the rubber boot.. should be no problem now.
I did hear though, the wheels squeeling as i pulled into parking stalls for the first few weeks. it seems the rear was extra tight for a while. now after a frew thousand miles seems normal.
I had to replace the seal on one side as it was leaking between the seal and the housing after install.
you are going to love the feel.
john

 

Leptronjohn,

Thanks for the quick reply. So, sounds like you've been down this road, and I appreaciate
your sharing. Makes me feel a little less concerned.

 

This is right down my alley! Mine made noise from the beginning, which was on the highway driving to the race track. After racing and not breaking it I decided it could wait until later. When they originally opened my differential it was almost dry which left me wondering if the noise was the bearings but over time it became clear that it was both. Fast forward to the present. I bought new side bearings, seals and a selection of shims and took it back to the shop. The contact pattern on the gears was too deep in the grooves. They adjusted the meshing with the shims I purchased and replaced the bearings. I still have a bearing noise but the whine is gone. When they opened it up it was full and clean. I'm using Motul 75-140 competition oil in mine now. The bearing noise I still have will be tracked down soon. I just hope it's not the pinion bearing.

Les

 

Hi Les,

Thanks for that info. Just picked mine up a while ago, and made the 20 mile drive back to the house.
All suburban roads, none greater than 45mph, but it feels good. I didn't hear any whine, but I think
I'll have a better chance of detecting that tomorrow morning when I make the long drive down i75.

The guys over at Buckhead Imports took a good look at everything, including using a stethescope
to prove for sound sources. After fixing the axle boot issue, checking the differential and putting
it to road testing, they report there is no more issue with the whine. Also had it put up on the dyno
or a couple of pulls as a "stress" test. All seems good.

I'll know for sure, tomorrow morning, if the whine is gone, but I don't hear it at speeds up to 50mph.
Good luck in hunting down the source of the noise you are hearing. Post up a response on the
thread to le us know how that is going. I'd be real interested to hear what you find.

Thanks again for your input.

 

We did the install on both my cars. Les is right on, as they have to be perfectly done, and aligned. There shouldn't be any noise whatsoever. I took both cars out from the garage, and lit'em up. 0-100 and back down. I was in love with the cars all over again...best mod so far. The cars handle normally for me now. I never liked the open diff from day one....

 

Has anyone done a writeup for removing and installing the diff that doesnt require an alignment. I remember someone mentioning it, but cant seem to find it for the life of me.

I was able to find the other one
https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum...hort-cuts.html


Also has anyone done a install tutorial for actually instaling the wavetrac, and the possible requirement of shims and P/N's

I havent had my car out at all this year, and installing the diff has been nagging me in the back of my mind; i want to get-r-done and i have all the dial indicators to setup gear mesh

 

This weekend was a fun weekend. Spend a sat pulling the diff out, i was able to do it without affecting any suspension alignment bolts, and without having to drop the exhaust.. Fun

Sunday i pulled the old diff out, and began installing the wavetrac. I was going to do a whole writeup, but burried in this thread was this link http://mbworld.org/forums/w211-amg/2...e-install.html The install for the crossfire is 99% exacty the same.

I measured the stock backlash on the crossfire and it was 0.0045" (0.1143mm) after the wavetrac was installed it was 0.0055" (0.1397mm) all is good! well within the 0.10-0.16mm spec mentioned

Today i spent some time reinstalling it back into the car, i should have it all buttoned up soon, cant wait to try it out

 

Sounds like you did have quite a bit of fun. Wish I had your skills and could have done my diff myself.
I'm still hearing a bit of a whine, and a clunk noise when going into reverse. But, I'm barely able to
do a simple job like installing the NeedsWings pulley saver kit (my project this past weekend). I fear
I'm going to have to take mine back for reevaluation. I don't know, maybe I just need to replace the bearings where the axles meet the diff?

Anyway, I hope your test drive has good results. It will certainly change the character of the car.
Good luck,

 

Looks like it works! and i wasnt even trying hard. Time to do a bit of break-in on the diff takin an easy and then finish off the original aged PS2's



Let me start of my seriously saying that this wavetrac's power delivery is silky smooth, and the car is MUCH more predictable. A thing of beauty!