LSD options for 6-cyl E39

[scottieducati]

I'd much rather "offroad" in my wagon than a silly 4x4, so you're wrong here.

Rallyyyyyyyy!!!


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[scottieducati]

This seems relevant.

https://www.driving.co.uk/car-review...uring-se-1999/


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[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

I do a ton of gravel driving out in Lovettsville, some of the gravel roads are actually full of curves, and I always have fun sliding the car around, if I had a limited slip in the wagons, I’d for sure have a ton more fun.

[KeysCoupe]

Back to the LSD question, I come from the Z3 side of the forum, and have been playing with LSDs for a number of years. All 6 cylinder Z3's got an LSD. The M series got a clutch plate type, and the regular Z3 got a Torsen type. All the 6 cylinder Z cars got a "medium case" 188mm diff (the 4 cyl cars got a "small" 168mm). BMWs big cars, usually with a V12, got the "large" 210mm diff. I believe the M5 got the 210.
I picked up a 2.93 diff for my touring that will eventually get installed. I have a 525it, but have an E46 zhp 3.0 and 37bz 6 speed going in, and the car currently has an ESS twinscrew, so I think the 2.93 will be a good choice. I haven't opened up my 2.93 diff yet, but it appears to be a 188 medium case. If this is correct, I could simply pull out my open diff case and replace with either a clutch type or Torsen case, reusing the original ring gear.
LSDs were quite common in earlier models like E30, E24, E28, E36, Z3, and several others, all 188 medium case. I still have more than a dozen in various ratios in my garage. I need to go down and start comparing some of my existing LSDs with the E39 diff to see what will be needed to end up with a cheap LSD for my touring. There are generally two styles of housing castings depending on the subframe mountings, and rear covers differ from model to model, but these interchange. Axle flanges differ in size, but again, for the most part interchange in a minute. Pinion flanges are another difference, but these too can be swapped if neccessary.
Anybody else looked into this option to get an LSD in our E39s?
-Donny

[wagons ho]

Yes, the early cars got lots of gear ratios, and available lsd.
The 188 case has unboltable side carriers, the integral e39 small housing does not.
The 188 carrier is wider.
In addition, I don't think the covers interchange.

[KeysCoupe]

I'm not home now, but hope to be back Tuesday. I'll get down to the garage to size up what I have laying around. I think I have an E34 LSD or two to size up with that 2.93 E39 diff to see what the mounts look like.
I've sold a couple 210 diffs to the E36 LSx guys, so there may be ways to make E34 diffs to fit our cars. Lining them up side-by-side next week will tell if there's any hope.
-Donny