Nismo GT LSD Pro 1.5 Way

Time to get a little more serious, so I purchased one of these - a Nismo GT LSD Pro 1.5 Way. The kit is very comprehensive and contains everything to make installing it as smooth as possible. Along with the LSD, you get replacement ring gear bolts, side bearings, oil seals, washers for the drain/filler plugs, differential fluid; and most notably, side flanges (which appear to be two right hand side OEM flanges).

With an install of this magnitude, I enlisted the help of my friend +Dan, the master mechanic. A guide on how to install the LSD can be found here, so I'll just show a few photos. Here, the OEM diff and housing has been removed from the car.

It was then transported in the back of Dan's green FTO in Lancer's clothing, scrubbing all the way to a secret location...

...

Here, we set about using the air tool to do the hard work.

 The diff housing cover was removed first.

This is the OEM viscous unit.

With the viscous unit removed from the housing, it was time to remove the ring gear. This will be reused on the new LSD.

Ring gear is off...

The inside of the housing and ring gear were given a good degreasing. The old gasket goo was also cleaned off the rim of the housing.

The ring gear is all clean, ready to be attached to the Nismo LSD behind it. The bearings have also been pushed on to each end of the LSD.

Carefully bolting the ring gear on with a mallet.

Then tighten the bolts with the air tool.

The bolts were torqued to spec as well.

Carefully lowering the LSD (with bearing outer races attached) into the housing.

It was a tight fit, but it has to be. After some struggle to get the LSD into the housing and have everything bolted back together, I didn't take any more photos. It was simply a matter of bolting everything back together in reverse order of how it was dismantled. I left the initial torque setting of the LSD in the middle setting.

With the new diff installed and bedded in, my initial impressions are that it locks strongly and provides very good feedback about the grip available mid corner when provoked. I seem to also be able to point the nose of the car better mid corner compared to using the OEM diff. Now I wait for a track day to really test it.