Lets try and get the real info on how strong the E21 drivetrain is?
I have always been told that "the diffs are weak and can't cope with big power, 200bhp is the limit"wiz0r wrote:E21s had a reputation for weak rear axles before people started welding diffs up, it might be true they are more prone to implode with a welder though.
Now my problem with this comment is I've never experenced one breaking or seen a report of one breaking on this forum since I've been a member.
There have been two or three reports of broken CV's not the driveshafts (Tommi, Wiz0r & Murran that I can think of). I generally looked at these failures as more due to age and wear issues over 20 years use, they are then asked to cope with a much more violent pursuit (Drifting with a welded diff).
My own experiences with the small case diff has been good. No breakages when running a tuned 2.3 M20 (180bhp), a std 2.5 M20 (185bhp) and a tuned 2.7 (209bhp). There was abuse due to circuit work with curb bouncing etc. The only thing that went wrong for me was a split CV boot.
So my experience is the diff, CV's and driveshafts can cope with 200-210bhp when using an LSD.
What are other peoples real experiences with the std driveshafts and diffs when running higher power outputs?
M10 / M20 / M30 / M50 / M52 / S14 ? What you got?
Cheers
Ben