I was lucky enough to bring home a Cusco final drive from my trip to Japan. I'd like to thank the guys from Area 86 in Chiba for getting my parts in on time before my flight home. I arrived on a thursday, ordered my parts on friday, and got them tuesday. Not to mention they were super courteous and hospitable and always tended to customers with a smile. They even go out to the parking lot with you when you leave. Now thats service!
Once I got back to Manila, I had to look for a shop that would properly install the part. I called one of my old friends that used to fix up our cars during our Honda days, and he told me that he could do the job. Thanks to Titan Works, the install was done in 5 hours. Sorry for the crappy pics, I forgot to bring my camera for this install.
Cusco 4.55 Final drive
Differential disassembly:
[IMG]http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k89/tyroneongpauco/IMG_3621_zps37***d6e.jpg[/IMG]
Install:
Install is a pretty straightforward affair. Only difficulty is pressing the bearing into the new pinion gear. Changing the ring gear is pretty easy, just reverse the dissasembly method.
Initial impressions:
It's obvious that this mod does not add HP, but it feels otherwise. Racecomp Engeneering said it felt like it added 10-11hp, and I completely agree. It feels like when I added the HKS intake and overpipe. The car feels completely different from stock, the gear change comes up pretty quick, and the the revs fall back in the powerband from redline. Almost feels like a honda. ALMOST is the word, because this engine could use at least 2000rpm more N/A. Nevertheless, this mod really wakes up the car! Revving out gears takes a lot less time, and overtaking requires less downshifts. The car just feels a lot more "crisp" if I could describe the feeling. This is really worth the money!
Video of 1-2 paddle shift:
[ame="http://youtu.be/A7sXEwLionw"]http://youtu.be/A7sXEwLionw[/ame]
1-2-3 shift:
[ame="http://youtu.be/ijI1bu35sro"]http://youtu.be/ijI1bu35sro[/ame]