Rallas

iTrader: (9)

I ordered a 3.6 Torsen from the UK. FedEx was nice enough to drop it and booger up the companion flange. No biggie, I have an old 1.8t open diff laying around that I will get a flange from. Since I am opening it up, I am debating on swapping the 3.6 ring and pipnion into my open housing since the 3.6 housing is rusted to crap. Should I be worried about the rust or just use the 3.6 housing as-is? After everything I am spending to build my hopefully 300whp engine while upgrading to 6speed and 3.6 I would hate to damage the 3.6 die to weak housing.

Rallas

iTrader: (9)

Rallas

iTrader: (9)

Martin Y

That amount of rust looks not untypical for a diff that's seen lots of winters with salt on the road. I'd wire-brush the worst of it off to see if it's any more than a crusty surface coating, and if it's okay just use that case to save swapping the pinion over.. A couple of the fins look bad but will probably turn out to be less dramatic when cleaned up. UK MX-5s often have diffs which look like that but the cast steel cases are never the part that breaks.

x_25

It's thick, cast steel. Just wire brush it, hit it with some rust converter, and then paint it.

rleete

iTrader: (21)

That's nothing. I've seen cases with the fins nearly gone. Cleaned up (bead blasted) just fine, and has been holding up to autox for years.