My personal review of the Phantom Grip diff

[Franko]

I installed a phantom grip in my diff over winter because I didnt have the $$ available after a full engine rebuild to get anything better. Anyway I have the car making some very good power now at 10 psi on the turbonetics and the 3 inch exhaust. Its definately more power than what it was making last year at 15 psi with the ssautocrome turbo.

The PG I have is the gold one or whatever that has the green springs. I had the spider gears machined perfectly flat at a machine shop rather than grinding them on a bench grinder as per the instructions. The results of the install... Unbelieveable..

I accelerate hard through first second and third and you can feel the car pulling with both wheels instead of the usual drivers side lightshow that would normally happen. Im actually VERY VERY suprised at how well it works. It actually came out of my friends integra (same part number) and he just gave it to me since it didnt work in his car very well at all. He didnt machine his spider gears though, just ground them on a grinder. The flatter the surface of the spidergears the better.

I just decided to post this because there is alot of fog and mystery about the phantom grip and I thought that I would make a post not asking if it worked or was worth getting, but instead to tell you 'Yes' it does work and very very well.

[FazdaBoy4ever]

thats AMAZING to hear, at the same time i will warn you of the fact people will be asking you how many miles you have on it... i am one of them, especially considering you were just breaking your motor in and im sure dont have alot of abuse under your belt...

im stoked to hear this, id be down for paying that kinda money if it works, i just dont want it to spend the money on something that will break after a month...

btw i believe i just purchased the same turbo you have, how is she?

[ryan1]

thats cool that the integra one fits cause it might be cheaper and egt/pro one. what years integra and any certain integra tranz, that its for?
also its good to see someone actually review something and post there results, not just people saying what they heard.
i know alot of people bash the PG but most never actually used.
good post.

[Shades]

Good to know... now that I have the Mazdaspeed LSD in my tranny now, I have a spare stock G-series diff lying around. I'll have to look at it and see what you mean by the flatness of the spider gears.

Well I just read the PG instructions, no wonder people are having trouble, the clearances are so tight for the install... .003-.005" between the spider gears. If that's not met, then obviously it's not gonna grip. I'm pretty sure the Mazdaspeed one is of the clutch/disc type... same design concept. I'll check it out tomorrow... maybe snap a few pics of the insides.

[Franko]

My buddy gave me the Phantom Grip because where it didnt work well for him he just didnt want it anymore. I figured since it was free that it cant hurt to try it at least. When I cross referenced the numbers of the integra and the v6 mx3 you get the same part number 902-GOLD. I was very pleased.

After I took my transmission apart and took the diff out I brought all the gears to a local machine shop that are known for doing good work. I needed 1 mm taken off each spider gear and about 2 mm's taken off each drive gear (I forget the proper name). I actually had to go back and get them done again because the first time I only took 1mm and it wasent enough. So now this thing is really really squeezed in there. I can remember feeling the professionally machined surface of them afterwards and its so smooth and true, definately better than anything you can do on a grinder.


FazdaBoy4ever, My theory about the reliability of the pg is that you can only push your stock diff so far anyway and really, that limit has not increased. You still use the same gears and hardware that have the same strength as before but now they just just have a little help to keep them going the same speed.
I think that when most people get these put in suddenly they think that they have an indestructable diff and can really pound on it. Its just not the case, its not a quaife or some other quality brand, Its still your stock diff. I still drive carefully not to get wheel hop and I dont do any hard launches. Stuff has to be looked after if you want it to last. I tell ya though, if this keeps working this well I cant see me getting anything else. Going up the road when its raining.. I accelerate hard in third gear and both tires pull then spin and the whole front of the car kinda floats to one side, so its definately working.

You say you bought the same turbo as me? Is it a ball bearing model? If it is then you will be very pleased. This thing spools so fast.. the most noticeable part of it is during gear changes, usually you would change gears and you can hear and feel the turbo getting up to speed again. Thats the way it was with my other turbos and the same in my friends car. With this turbonetics though.. it spools up SO fast after a gearchange that you feel the power instantly. Ive never seen the boost gauge move so fast before. Im going to have to run a fatter wastegate line because its not giving enough air pressure to it fast enough to open it and wastegate cant keep up with what just happened. The boost goes past 10 for a split second after the change then right smack on 10 again, it just cant open fast enough. A good complaint I suppose.

[therieldeal]

how much did the machine work cost? did you have the diff pin welded in after you reassembled?

[ScOrTGtC]

interesting.. did you have any pix when you intalled this.?

[Franko]

The machine work cost me 60 bucks and no I never welded the diff pin.. I never knew to do such a thing at the time. Im sure it will be fine, I cant imagine how the dowel that holds it in could come out because that bastard is really in there.

Unfourtinately I never took pics of the install which I regret now, I took a million pics of everything else but that.. I only got a couple of the transmission apart but none of the diff stuff. Crap.

[therieldeal]

i heard that the roll pin actually breaks, not so much that it falls out. just shears off and thats it..

[MD323]

my transmission is an example of diff pins shearing, and some one else had it happen on here too, I think it was ryan actually

[therieldeal]

yeah ryan had it happen, shot right into the bellhousing and doused his clutch with ATF

[MD323]

yeah ryan had it happen, shot right into the bellhousing and doused his clutch with ATF

mine went right through the back of the housng where the speedo goes and thru the bell housing.


if the phantom grip lasts awsome! if not atleast we will have proof now of why

[FazdaBoy4ever]

FazdaBoy4ever, My theory about the reliability of the pg is that you can only push your stock diff so far anyway and really, that limit has not increased. You still use the same gears and hardware that have the same strength as before but now they just just have a little help to keep them going the same speed.
I think that when most people get these put in suddenly they think that they have an indestructable diff and can really pound on it. Its just not the case, its not a quaife or some other quality brand, Its still your stock diff. I still drive carefully not to get wheel hop and I dont do any hard launches. Stuff has to be looked after if you want it to last. I tell ya though, if this keeps working this well I cant see me getting anything else. Going up the road when its raining.. I accelerate hard in third gear and both tires pull then spin and the whole front of the car kinda floats to one side, so its definately working.

You say you bought the same turbo as me? Is it a ball bearing model? If it is then you will be very pleased. This thing spools so fast.. the most noticeable part of it is during gear changes, usually you would change gears and you can hear and feel the turbo getting up to speed again. Thats the way it was with my other turbos and the same in my friends car. With this turbonetics though.. it spools up SO fast after a gearchange that you feel the power instantly. Ive never seen the boost gauge move so fast before. Im going to have to run a fatter wastegate line because its not giving enough air pressure to it fast enough to open it and wastegate cant keep up with what just happened. The boost goes past 10 for a split second after the change then right smack on 10 again, it just cant open fast enough. A good complaint I suppose.

that makes very good sence!

btw no im too cheap for the bb but i just came across a great deal on a miata manifold already flipped, a turbonetics evolution wastegate, and the T3/T4 turbo. no biggie, i originally was going to be satisfied going back to just my vj20 so this will be nicer than what i had!

thanks for the info and the review on the PG, it will help SO much!

[dave0r]

from stories of PG installed in mazda's the only BAD point that ive found is that it DOESNT stop the diff pin from with braking or "wiggling" its way out, which is really the open diffs weakness.

did you weld the diff pin in place? or did you just leave it as is?

I decided not to run a PG in my car, found a MX3 LSD diff instead and im swapping that over.I dont have to worry about the diff pin issues that punch holes in the box

it should give you good 60 foot times now

[QuicKSilveR]

i've done a diff pin and blown spiders. I've also blown spiders with the diff pin welded. And the welded pin also like to crack. Stupid little spider gears.

LSD is definately the way to go, especially if you want to do burnouts at the drags without blowing up.