hydratrak
hydratrak
Author
Discussion

warpig

Original Poster:

336 posts

235 months

Tuesday 19th August 2008
quotequote all
do hydratrak diffs run the same ratio as standard diff? seems my speed six has one fitted
cheers dan

brogenville

941 posts

231 months

Tuesday 19th August 2008
quotequote all
Slightly taller ratio I heard, which, according to someone I heard on here, means that your car is theoretically geared to achieve 200mph. Always good for pub braging rights!

trackcar

6,453 posts

256 months

Tuesday 19th August 2008
quotequote all
SP6 cars run lower ratio diffs to compensate for their lack of any mid range

brogenville

941 posts

231 months

Tuesday 19th August 2008
quotequote all
trackcar said:
SP6 cars run lower ratio diffs to compensate for their lack of any mid range
Erm... I suppose its not the worst way to tell someone that they should have bought a V8! hehe

warpig

Original Poster:

336 posts

235 months

Tuesday 19th August 2008
quotequote all
so why would some one have speced one in my car, surely it would make the slowest model cerb slower
and no i don't wish i'd bought a v8, i love my six wink

brogenville

941 posts

231 months

Wednesday 20th August 2008
quotequote all
warpig said:
and no i don't wish i'd bought a v8, i love my six wink
I'm just joshing! Just seemed like a harsh put down from jules.

The hydratrack isnt the best lsd, but I think its still better than any open diff in a car like a cerbera, regardless of the engine type.

trackcar

6,453 posts

256 months

Wednesday 20th August 2008
quotequote all
warpig said:
so why would some one have speced one in my car,
erm they were std fit on sp6 models at least in the early days, later on TVR possibly saved some money per car and fitted the std (much better) friction diff as std but certainly in the early sp6 days hydratrak was std fit. Like I said the sp6 cars have lower ratio diffs to make them quicker than they would otherwise have been with the V8ratio.

brogenville

941 posts

231 months

Wednesday 20th August 2008
quotequote all
trackcar said:
warpig said:
so why would some one have speced one in my car,
erm they were std fit on sp6 models at least in the early days, later on TVR possibly saved some money per car and fitted the std (much better) friction diff as std but certainly in the early sp6 days hydratrak was std fit. Like I said the sp6 cars have lower ratio diffs to make them quicker than they would otherwise have been with the V8ratio.
I assume then that the magazine reviews that always say that the hydratrak was an option on 4.0's and 4.2's are incorrect?

Also, I thought all contemporary TVR's only ever had either a hydratrak lsd or a (BTR?) open diff?

trackcar

6,453 posts

256 months

Wednesday 20th August 2008
quotequote all
magazines are often incorrect, but then so am I hehe but all the early SP6 cars I saw had hydratraks fitted. They weren't std fit on 4.2 cerberas though they were an option. 4.5s had them as std. The std diff is a LSD aswell but a friction type and much better for it, the hydratrak versions are the work of the devil himself and they are designed to limit your fun by allowing one wheel to spin up .. in that respect they behave more like an open diff. Where they were fitted as an option it is questionable whether it's an improvement ..

WorAl

10,877 posts

218 months

Wednesday 20th August 2008
quotequote all
trackcar said:
magazines are often incorrect, but then so am I hehe but all the early SP6 cars I saw had hydratraks fitted. They weren't std fit on 4.2 cerberas though they were an option. 4.5s had them as std. The std diff is a LSD aswell but a friction type and much better for it, the hydratrak versions are the work of the devil himself and they are designed to limit your fun by allowing one wheel to spin up .. in that respect they behave more like an open diff. Where they were fitted as an option it is questionable whether it's an improvement ..
I've just bought an S6 with a hydratrack diff and it and was told by the second owner (TVR being the first owner) that it was an extra, this is a '99 car.

brogenville

941 posts

231 months

Wednesday 20th August 2008
quotequote all
Any idea then why TVR thought that the hydratraks were better then?

Better torque handling perhaps?

Brummmie

5,284 posts

251 months

Wednesday 20th August 2008
quotequote all
Possibly less dangerous, spins the inside wheel like my ol Tranny instead of sideways fun action?

warpig

Original Poster:

336 posts

235 months

Wednesday 20th August 2008
quotequote all
mine lights up both the rears under hard launches and slides to the right.
what were the other ratio's avalable, the hand book does't list any other than standard

Phil_D

127 posts

266 months

Wednesday 20th August 2008
quotequote all
Anyone have a proper diff for sale ??? I have a Hydratrack unit and tbh find it useless...

Peppe

376 posts

251 months

Wednesday 20th August 2008
quotequote all
My Cerb SP6 which I was told it was a 1999 when I bought it seems to be a very early one, it is registred in may 1999 but the chassis is built in 1998.
It has the same springs and dampers as a 4.5, the normal BTR diff, 2 turns look to look steering instead of the 2.5 turns as some magazines say, and so on. It seems as that the only differencies is the engine and other tyres, 225/50 16 all around.
I also have a early version of the SP6 engine which differs some from the later ones, I have started a topic about it on the SP6 forum.


WorAl

10,877 posts

218 months

Wednesday 20th August 2008
quotequote all
Peppe said:
My Cerb SP6 which I was told it was a 1999 when I bought it seems to be a very early one, it is registred in may 1999 but the chassis is built in 1998.
It has the same springs and dampers as a 4.5, the normal BTR diff, 2 turns look to look steering instead of the 2.5 turns as some magazines say, and so on. It seems as that the only differencies is the engine and other tyres, 225/50 16 all around.
I also have a early version of the SP6 engine which differs some from the later ones, I have started a topic about it on the SP6 forum.
This is because the first 20 or so were built based on the V8 models, just been informed tonight as i have the same setup as you. but with a new engine in.

So you have all the running gear of the V8 with the S6 engine in



Edited by WorAl on Wednesday 20th August 22:41

Omerta

2,013 posts

281 months

Wednesday 20th August 2008
quotequote all
trackcar said:
all the early SP6 cars I saw had hydratraks fitted.
How do you tell which type is which?

brogenville

941 posts

231 months

Thursday 21st August 2008
quotequote all
Phil_D said:
Anyone have a proper diff for sale ??? I have a Hydratrack unit and tbh find it useless...
Racing Green offer a quaife upgrade for the hydratrak. Should be very good:

http://www.thetvrshop.com/TVR/Parts_details/TVR%20...

WorAl

10,877 posts

218 months

Thursday 21st August 2008
quotequote all
Can someone please explain the problem with hydratrack's then?
are they better or worse to stop you spinning out on corners in the wet?
is it another one of these its not pure cerbera moments like having an S6 instead of a V8?

trackcar

6,453 posts

256 months

Thursday 21st August 2008
quotequote all
The hydratrak is rubbish because its a speed sensitive diff, meaning that it transfers power to the non spinning wheel depending on how fast the spinning wheel is spinning ..

this means that you have two courses of action to get a cerb accelerating .. either back off the throttle to get the spinning wheel under control, or add more throttle to make the spinning wheel spin faster. The first course of action is the safer of the two, but you might as well just have an open diff in that case.
If you add more throttle to get more power to the non-spinning wheel it might then spin up itself at which point you have both wheels spinning very quickly and you might find yourself in the hedge backwards. As a supposed safety item it's pile of poo in many peoples opinion and ruins a lot of fun.