ANNOUNCEMENT: The new MFactory VTB LSD

[MFactory]

Hey guys,

been a while since I've posted up here, so hope I'm not breaking any forum rules making this announcement (Mods: If I am, please let me know and I'll do whatever is required to follow the rules/signup as a vendor, although this is just an announcement and nothing is being advertised/sold yet)

since the start of 2023, we have been developing a new "Hybrid" Limited Slip Differential (offering features from both a Helical and Plate type LSD), with the latest prototypes (3rd iteration now, and hopefully final) about to go out to our testers in a couple months time. Being OEM for Honda, they are obviously our primary test partner, but as the Ford fitments are actually our 3rd best selling fitment (after Honda and BMW respectively), I thought that I would take this opportunity to announce our latest project (reason for delayed announcement is due to patent/lawyer red-tape) and see if there was anyone in this community that would be interested in assisting us with testing after we've received enough testing feedback from Honda.



So, introducing our latest project; the MFactory VTB Limited Slip Differential (apologies for the "marketing" tone in the description that follows. It's just a direct copy & paste from our website)

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The ONLY Helical LSD on the market with hassle free variable-rate torque biasing
Through our patent-pending VTB system, users can fine tune their own Bias Ratios at the track and at no additional cost, simply by adding/removing the included coil springs. With the MFactory VTB LSD, up to 85% torque bias can be transferred to the wheel with traction! A must-have for serious circuit use. All MFactory VTB LSD's are pre-set to 75% torque bias (unless otherwise requested).

For the technically inclined:
- When driving in a straight line (or minute manoeuvring), torque will be split approximately 50/50 between the left/right axles and the internal gears of the differential will effectively be inoperational.
- If your vehicle axle speeds start to differentiate (i.e during cornering), the differential will compensate for this by biasing the axle speed of the faster spinning axle in direct proportion to the slower spinning axle. If the left axle is spinning 10% above nominal, the right axle will spin 10% slower as the left/right axles in the differential are locked together via the internal gears in opposing directions. 60% + 40% = 100%, with nominal being 50%.
- But if this is the case, then why would a vehicle that is stationary but spinning one wheel not move? This is because it is the differential housing that is providing the forward rotational movement (thus the spinning axle is rotating forward), with the stationary axle rotating backwards internally via the differential gears, effectively cancelling out the forward rotational movement of the differential housing.
- If you had 75% torque bias, this means that the stationary axle will receive 3 times the amount of torque of the spinning axle, but due to there being minimal torque transfer to the spinning axle (which has minimal or zero load, thus spinning purely on momentum), the stationary axle will not have enough torque to move the mass of the vehicle on it's own.
- This is where a pre-loaded differential comes into play. By pre-loading the internal gears of the differential, this simulates load on the axles, thus increasing the amount of torque being transferred through the differential. Once this increase in torque becomes sufficient enough to overcome the mass of the vehicle, the vehicle will start moving. With a 75% torque bias, if the spinning axle has only 20lbft of torque (which may be insufficient), the stationary axle will have 60lbft of torque going through it which is enough to start moving the vehicle.
- This applies to ALL torque-biasing differentials, however, the implementation of the pre-load system is the differentiating factor between the various LSD's on the market

Unlike all other Helical LSD's on the market, the MFactory VTB LSD uses a coil spring pre-load system, NOT Belleville spring washers. Our coil springs provide a smoother transition of load and do not lose their spring rate like spring washers do.

With the patent-pending VTB system, which utilizes dual-pulsing cam technology, both axles are drive-locked, yet can still rotate independently of each other (unlike a Spool), similar to a regular Helical LSD. Due to being in a 100% constant state of torque-biasing, the MFactory VTB LSD will function both on & off throttle, similar to a Plate-type LSD.

The MFactory VTB LSD is the ONLY Helical LSD on the market that is a true hybrid of a Helical LSD (smoothness, noise-free, maintenance-free) and a Plate-type LSD (variable torque/load settings, increased traction under most situations).

Proprietary Friction Discs
To enhance durability and increase frictional performance, all MFactory VTB LSD's incorporate our proprietary friction discs between the gears and LSD housing. Unlike most common Helical and Plate-type LSD's on the market that lose performance over time, the MFactory VTB LSD will provide the same level of performance over the lifetime of the LSD.

Hybrid Ceramic Bearing Technology (Application Dependant)
Depending on application, the MFactory VTB LSD will be supplied with our new Hybrid Ceramic Diff Bearings. Not only are our bearings stronger and more durable, they also offer the epitome of near-zero rotational friction, minimizing parasitic drivetrain losses, thus transferring more power to the ground!

3rd Generation Design
The MFactory VTB LSD is lighter, stronger and more efficient than any other Torque-Biasing Differential on the market today!

VTB System Upgrade (Application Dependant)
Already run a regular Helical LSD and were thinking of upgrading? For select applications, we are proud to offer our patent-pending VTB System as an independent aftermarket upgrade to existing MFactory Helical LSD's. The upgrade kit includes: VTB System + VTB Gears + New Case Bolts.

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As this is not an advertisement, I cannot and will not mention pricing.

If you have any questions though (other than pricing), please feel free to ask and I'll be happy to answer

 

[ronniec687]

Are you looking for people to test these out? I currently have your lsd thats on the market but will be taking my transmission back out to put steel caged bearings on it and replace the plastic ones that i installed on it that were in the ford lsd install kit. Ive yet to run it like this because my gut doesnt trust the plastic housing.

 

[MFactory]

Are you looking for people to test these out? I currently have your lsd thats on the market but will be taking my transmission back out to put steel caged bearings on it and replace the plastic ones that i installed on it that were in the ford lsd install kit. Ive yet to run it like this because my gut doesnt trust the plastic housing.

We will be looking for testers, yes. However, with the new management that we have, our "tester" criteria is very strict, so would need to discuss the details when we're ready to start testing on this platform

 

[M-Sport fan]

Are all of the installation and removal labor costs fully up to the individual tester, or is that something which you cover?

Do you only want beta testers who actively, seriously and consistently open track their Fiestas, or do you also want any exclusively street driven only type testers??

 

[MFactory]

Are all of the installation and removal labor costs fully up to the individual tester, or is that something which you cover?

Do you only want beta testers who actively, seriously and consistently open track their Fiestas, or do you also want any exclusively street driven only type testers??

Our #1 priority in the testing criteria is that the tester must have experience in building transmissions (their own and others), so labour costs are not a factor. We won't allow testers to outsource the installation (which is also part of the testing) to a third party as that introduces more variables beyond our control

When we have Honda and Toyota testing our parts (be it differentials, gears, sequentials etc), we build the transmissions ourselves and provide them with several variations to "hot swap". Those are oem customers though, so is a requirement. With what we are doing with the BMW guys (and hopefully you Ford guys), this is at the enthusiast level

We would prefer a mixture of environments. Even though this v3 will be marketed more towards the racer, it is still perfectly driveable on the street. However, for the majority of dailies, our regular LSD would more than suffice tbh.

 

[ronmcdon]

sure id be interested in this. Is it less noisy and easier to maintain the plate type lsd? does it have more forgiving break in procedure? Really rather not do 30 mins of running figure 8s if possible.
also hopefully it doesn't yank the steering wheel like the wavetrac.

 

[ronmcdon]

also what do you mean by honda oem?

is the helical diff from the factory on the FC1 civic si somehow an mfactory diff?

 

[Dialcaliper]

This is a pretty exciting product I must say.

One question - the description talks about “adjusting bias ratios at the track”. From the diagram it does show what look to be the coil springs inside the center of the diff. Is it correct to say that a “trackside” replacement of the springs would still involve removal and/or some disassembly of the whole transmission and diff, or is there some method of external access?

Also, I noticed that your website catalog includes this new product including part numbers for ours and other Ford applications as well a listed (quite reasonable) price - listed as not in stock of course. Can you comment (acknowledging that this is not intended as an advertisement) simply on whether the catalog is up to date or if what’s listed is just a placeholder? If you’d rather not answer, that’s fine.

 

[Dpro]

sure id be interested in this. Is it less noisy and easier to maintain the plate type lsd? does it have more forgiving break in procedure? Really rather not do 30 mins of running figure 8s if possible.
also hopefully it doesn't yank the steering wheel like the wavetrac.

Have you played with tire pressure I eliminated a lot of that just by reducing my tire pressure a pound.

This is a pretty exciting product I must say.

One question - the description talks about “adjusting bias ratios at the track”. From the diagram it does show what look to be the coil springs inside the center of the diff. Is it correct to say that a “trackside” replacement of the springs would still involve removal and/or some disassembly of the whole transmission and diff, or is there some method of external access?

My immediate thought was they were referring to rear diff cars. I can not imagine anyone pulling the trans axle of a FWD car at the race track outside of high end race teams that have big budgets and even then it seems a bit too much.

 

[Dialcaliper]

Have you played with tire pressure I eliminated a lot of that just by reducing my tire pressure a pound.


My immediate thought was they were referring to rear diff cars. I can not imagine anyone pulling the trans axle of a FWD car at the race track outside of high end race teams that have big budgets and even then it seems a bit too much.

Agreed. That said, some FWD transmissions have diff access that could theoretically be done without removing the transmission. Unfortunately ours doesn’t

 

[MFactory]

sure id be interested in this. Is it less noisy and easier to maintain the plate type lsd? does it have more forgiving break in procedure? Really rather not do 30 mins of running figure 8s if possible.
also hopefully it doesn't yank the steering wheel like the wavetrac.

As this is still a Helical, there won't be any noise and is maintenance-free (other than the external friction discs, but those are designed to last a very long time. Even when the "friction" part of the discs are fully worn down, the LSD will still function fine, albeit at a slightly lower torque bias)

The only break-in procedure required from a Helical (which applies to anything you change in your transmission, be it oem or aftermarket) is manually turning the transmission by hand before you bolt it to the engine in order to pre-lubricate all the surfaces/bearings, and then doing a regular "bedding in" for a few hundred miles.

For your torque steer issue, a Helical should minimise this rather than increase it. As much as we like to say that a Helical LSD is Plug & Play, it is still highly recommended to setup your chassis components to complement the change in traction characteristics

also what do you mean by honda oem?

is the helical diff from the factory on the FC1 civic si somehow an mfactory diff?

We have been an oem gear supplier to Honda for well over a decade now. These are being tested on their 10th/11th Gen race cars. We don't supply their consumer division unfortunately as they work on a very tight budget (they pay circa $100'ish per differential. There is no way on earth we can match that, even at the quantities they require), but we have private customers also testing on the older FN/FD's. Saying that though, we are currently in discussions with Dongfeng (Honda China) in putting them in their 12th Gens. I actually have a meeting with them tomorrow about it! haha. Likewise, we are also in discussions with BYD (although I'm not sure if those would be popular in the US market) as we currently supply them with our Carbon Brakes (their U8 SUV and U9 Supercar)

 

[MFactory]

This is a pretty exciting product I must say.

One question - the description talks about “adjusting bias ratios at the track”. From the diagram it does show what look to be the coil springs inside the center of the diff. Is it correct to say that a “trackside” replacement of the springs would still involve removal and/or some disassembly of the whole transmission and diff, or is there some method of external access?

Also, I noticed that your website catalog includes this new product including part numbers for ours and other Ford applications as well a listed (quite reasonable) price - listed as not in stock of course. Can you comment (acknowledging that this is not intended as an advertisement) simply on whether the catalog is up to date or if what’s listed is just a placeholder? If you’d rather not answer, that’s fine.

Yeah, my apologies. That was part of the "Marketing tone" that I was referring to being a cut & paste from our website. While it can be done, it would require dropping your transmission everytime, not something the majority of customers would do, especially for street cars. Unfortunately, there simply isn't any way of doing it externally unless we went mechatronics, but that's a whole different ball game. There is a reason why genuine e-Diffs (think Ferrari, not the pseudo torque vectoring mass market stuff) cost thousands of dollars and require additional TCU's.

For the catalogue, the listings are ball-park based on our current Stage 1's (which these will supersede), but will be as close as possible to it. Final pricing won't be confirmed until we've finished any revisions. Just our new ceramic coatings on some of the internals make up around 30% of the manufacturing cost as that part has to be outsourced.

 

[ronniec687]

We will be looking for testers, yes. However, with the new management that we have, our "tester" criteria is very strict, so would need to discuss the details when we're ready to start testing on this platform

Great looking forward to hearing the details when available.

 

[cidsamuth]

I was trying to hash through and understand the benefits over the Wavetrac, which I assume is the competitor you reference. In the end, I think I'm reading you say two main benefits:

1. Start up from stationary in low traction environments (like ice). This is likely a non-issue for track cars but relevant for street cars.
2. Longevity of the zero-load advantage you get when installing the LSD in the first place, which probably benefits track cars the most.

Did I get that right?

 

[MFactory]

I was trying to hash through and understand the benefits over the Wavetrac, which I assume is the competitor you reference. In the end, I think I'm reading you say two main benefits:

1. Start up from stationary in low traction environments (like ice). This is likely a non-issue for track cars but relevant for street cars.
2. Longevity of the zero-load advantage you get when installing the LSD in the first place, which probably benefits track cars the most.

Did I get that right?

1) It is primarily an issue for street cars, yes, but also applies to Drag Cars (although I'm not too familiar with the Fiesta drag scene) and to an extent circuit
2) Yes, as our coil springs will not deform like spring washers do, our LSD will not lose this function, ever. Even "if" the springs lose a little length (or height, depending how you want to call it), there is enough margin in them to ensure that the springs will never be "loose" inside the cam; there will always be tension in the springs for the lifetime of the LSD. As I'm sure some of you on here are aware, we are the global distributor for Swift Springs and know how to make springs that are very durable

 

[Dpro]

I was trying to hash through and understand the benefits over the Wavetrac, which I assume is the competitor you reference. In the end, I think I'm reading you say two main benefits:

1. Start up from stationary in low traction environments (like ice). This is likely a non-issue for track cars but relevant for street cars.
2. Longevity of the zero-load advantage you get when installing the LSD in the first place, which probably benefits track cars the most.

Did I get that right?

Actually I think they were pointing to Quaife because Quaife actually uses the exact spring washer that they are mentioning!

Wavtracs setup is different but the funny thing is Wavetrac mentions ordinary spring packs which is what Quaife uses and what Mfactory is referring too. Wavtrac goes about it a little differently. Many ways to achieve the goal .

As for those asking about TQ steer you will most likely get TQ with this Mfactory as much as you do if you run the Wavtrac it literally boils down to how the diff engages exacerbating the situation. Anyone with a Tune that props up TQ or a bigger turbo on our cars is going to get some TQ our cars where never designed for as much TQ tunes and turbo’s wind up putting out.

It‘s really a case of mitigating it through suspension, mount and tire pressure tuning and I have to day for the amount of HP my car delivers now I can say after everything else tire pressure really helped a lot . Play with your tire pressure. When I ran factory recommended pressure ya I got ultra sharp turn in but I also got a huge yank to one side when I nailed it . Now all I get is a small wiggle back and forth and that as just by adjust tire pressure one pound lower front and rear.

 

[Woods247]

Well shart. @MFactory I just went from your Helical to a Wavetrac because inside wheelspin at corner exit was awful. So awful I loaded the trans and broke the pinion and ring gear after an airborne curb strike in T3. Fortunately the diff was undamaged but I needed to resolve the issue. I would’ve loved to purchase and test this. I have several videos you can review of your old diff at Road Atlanta (including the failure) if you’re interested in seeing where the helical diff struggles at that track.

 

[kivnul]

Will this have similar longevity/ruggidness of your current LSD? I've gone through 2 so far and am a bit gunshy at this point.

 

[MFactory]

Actually I think they were pointing to Quaife because Quaife actually uses the exact spring washer that they are mentioning!

Wavtracs setup is different but the funny thing is Wavetrac mentions ordinary spring packs which is what Quaife uses and what Mfactory is referring too. Wavtrac goes about it a little differently. Many ways to achieve the goal .

As for those asking about TQ steer you will most likely get TQ with this Mfactory as much as you do if you run the Wavtrac it literally boils down to how the diff engages exacerbating the situation. Anyone with a Tune that props up TQ or a bigger turbo on our cars is going to get some TQ our cars where never designed for as much TQ tunes and turbo’s wind up putting out.

It‘s really a case of mitigating it through suspension, mount and tire pressure tuning and I have to day for the amount of HP my car delivers now I can say after everything else tire pressure really helped a lot . Play with your tire pressure. When I ran factory recommended pressure ya I got ultra sharp turn in but I also got a huge yank to one side when I nailed it . Now all I get is a small wiggle back and forth and that as just by adjust tire pressure one pound lower front and rear.

Both of the brands you mentioned use Belleville Spring Washers and function identically, other than one of them having an extra couple of parts added (the zero load system)

 

[MFactory]

Well shart. @MFactory I just went from your Helical to a Wavetrac because inside wheelspin at corner exit was awful. So awful I loaded the trans and broke the pinion and ring gear after an airborne curb strike in T3. Fortunately the diff was undamaged but I needed to resolve the issue. I would’ve loved to purchase and test this. I have several videos you can review of your old diff at Road Atlanta (including the failure) if you’re interested in seeing where the helical diff struggles at that track.

Thank you so much, I will definitely keep that in mind