Stronger axles while retaining 4WS?

[Fourdoor]

I know that you can just delete the 4WS system and upgrade to 4bolt rear end and axles from a 1G DSM (did that in late 90's on prior GVR-4). I was thinking about getting another GVR4, but I actually just won an auction for a 3000GT VR-4 Spyder. So, this is more of a "what if" question to see if anyone was able to do upgrades without losing the 4WS. One possibility I considered was seeing if the axle shaft itself could be replaced (between the existing CV joints) with a stronger one (from 4 bolt rear end, or aftermarket) rather than replacing the entire axle.

Later,

Keith

 

[gvr4ever]

The internet is void of information it once held. Pretty should you could get a 3Bolt LSD with AWS. As someone who recently got rid of AWS, I feel like it was more of a gimmick than something that was actually needed. Near the limit, it was my understanding that AWS could cause snap oversteer. Either way, I'm fine without it and I don't want it back. After all these years, it's just a failure point. I say, let her go.

 

[raptorWagon]

You can keep 4WS with a 4 bolt (after all, 90+ Evo Spec GVR4s had a 4 bolt and 4WS), you just need to utilize the stock gvr4 3 bolt housing. Swap the 4 bolt diff guts and everything into it. Mitsuturbo runs that exact setup and made a thread 13yrs ago on it. He's also resealed his 4ws in recent years, which negated mostly custom made seals to rebuild it as none of those bits are available either.

4WS 4 Bolt install with 4WS thread

 

[MustGoFaster]

As a person that learned to slalom a car in an autocross with 4WS, and then deleted it (Stealth TT, same system) I can tell you 4WS is not a gimmick. It for sure works, and changes the driving feel of the car when pushing the limits of grip. Most people aren't going to drive the cars hard enough to feel it. The best way I can describe it, is it makes weight transfer from side to side, at the rear of the car happen at the same time as the front of the car. That doesn't sound like much until you have to re-learn to drive a car because you got rid of it.

Since swapping the 4 bolt diff into the 3 bolt housing is an option as mentioned above, that is the way to go.

 

[gvr4ever]

As a person that learned to slalom a car in an autocross with 4WS, and then deleted it (Stealth TT, same system) I can tell you 4WS is not a gimmick. It for sure works, and changes the driving feel of the car when pushing the limits of grip. Most people aren't going to drive the cars hard enough to feel it. The best way I can describe it, is it makes weight transfer from side to side, at the rear of the car happen at the same time as the front of the car. That doesn't sound like much until you have to re-learn to drive a car because you got rid of it.

Since swapping the 4 bolt diff into the 3 bolt housing is an option as mentioned above, that is the way to go.

Didn't it only work above 30MPH? I enjoyed it for long sweeping curves on a HWY with stock suspension. I guess if you learned with a system, and got rid of it, it would feel different, but it barely turned the rear wheels.

 

[MustGoFaster]

You are correct, specs are on at/above 31mph and I think 1.5 or 2 degrees of steering angle. I just wanted to share my thoughts/experience with it, as I did notice it making a difference in certain situations. Most drivers won't notice it, but it does make a difference when changing direction.

936/1K has had it deleted. I will not be going thru the trouble to put it back in. But if I had it still I would keep it working.

 

[GSTwithPSI]

As a person that learned to slalom a car in an autocross with 4WS, and then deleted it (Stealth TT, same system) I can tell you 4WS is not a gimmick. It for sure works, and changes the driving feel of the car when pushing the limits of grip.

Go slalom in anything without 4WS, I promise you the result will be faster.

4WS is absolute dogshit for handling. The best thing you can do with the 4WS to get the car to handle better is delete it, then weld the trailing arms so they aren't flailing about, thereby eliminating the equally dogshit "active toe-control link" feature, which is essentially the rear toe-in/out constantly changing under accel/decel and during cornering.

A proper alignment that yields predictable handling is the A#1 key to being fast on the track. There's no possible way to achieve that with 4WS. Sure, you can keep 4WS and do fine, but you'll always achieve better results without.

I think Anthony still has 4WS on his Galant for some stupid reason @mitsuturbo. He Autocrosses the hell out of his car. Perhaps he can chime in. I think he was gonna trade up for a Lotus, though. Probably because it would handle better than a GVR4 w/ 4WS

 

[MustGoFaster]

I have a C5Z that I autoX now, and driven plenty of others. I was more intending to say that it does something (other referenced it as a gimmick). The system in stock form, does work and does change the handling of the car. To say anything about it being faster would require some back to back testing. I think we can see in most forms of motorsport, 4WS is rarely implemented, so the weight to benefit ratio probably isn't there.

 

[gvr4ever]

I personally found the 4WS to be helpful on the HWY going around long curves with stock suspension. It seems to have reduced lean and made the car feel more stable. I can't fathom how that would help out in auto cross. Modern suspension and tires are going to help out WAY more than 80s tech a 4WS system. Gimmick might have been too harsh, but it is absolutely outdated. If 4WS was the secret to going around corners, all cars would still be using it.