Good afternoon, first off thank you all for the add to the forum! So here's what I'm dealing with right now, I have a '96 Civic with a B series swapped into it. I'm rebuilding the transmission right now because there was some bad bearings in it. The car as it is right now is set up for dirt track oval racing. I plan on doing some dirt oval stuff with it, later switching over to more traditional road racing and autocross. My problem is should I weld the differential or not? I know this is very common in the dirt track scene and is very helpful, but I'm not sure how well it'd work out on asphalt. I've read some places that it makes a big difference in a good way, while other folks have said it's a surefire way to make the car handle horribly. Also here's some info on the trans, it's a hydraulic Y80 out of a LS Integra with the longer 4.26 final gear. Does anyone have experience with this or any advice? I would get an LSD but seeing as that cost more than I paid for the whole car and motor I'd rather not go that route. Any advice you all might have would be greatly appreciated!

 

Welding the spider gears for dirt racing is fine... doing this for ANY pavement operation... track or street... is a BAD idea.

 

As for what a quality LSD costs... not considering one because the cost for it is greater than you paid for the whole car is a pessimistic, "Glass-Half-Empty" way of thinking.

Here's how you SHOULD be thinking: "I got such a good deal on this car, I can spend another $800 on a bad-*** LSD for the trans and STILL only have $1500 in the whole package... and now it will corner like a mother !!!

That right there is called "Glass-Half-Full".