OPM versus Phantom

I'm hoping someone can explain to be the real difference between the OPM LSD versus the Phantom Grip. I know that there has been a few discussions on this, and am not looking for a personal preference as much as technical differences. The only thing I see different is they both are spring loaded, but the piece the springs are pushing against in the OPM is a clutch type of material and the Phantom grip is a harder compound metal I believe. Are there any other real differences? I currently run a Phantom and will have to do something else eventually (probably a Quaife), but I am interested for my own knowledge.

Does anyone have a pic of an OPM unit?

Spanky
#73 ITC '90 Honda Civic WDCR

Didn't find a picture, but here is OPM's FAQ

http://www.opmautosports.com/products/faq.html

talks about OPM, Quaife, and the "Phantom Slip" oops, I mean Grip

Don't waste your money on the Phantom.



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Tim Linerud
San Francisco Region SCCA
#95 GP Wabbit
http://linerud.myvnc.com/racing/index.html

[This message has been edited by seckerich (edited February 15, 2005).]

steve eckerich
could you drop me an email i have a question off the topic
john costello
[email protected]

Bunk.

The OPM diffs (as near as I can tell) contain no clutch material. See pic. This is the OPM unit I got for my Suzuki Swift. It's not worth it's weight in dog crap.

http://csl.forcefed4.com/roydean/opmlsd.jpg

I am not sure how you can say something is "bunk" or "not worth it's weight in dog crap" just by looking at it.

Frankly, I don't care if my OPM diff literally is made of "dog crap" it works.

I have to believe there is more to it here. I'm still psyched that I'll be receiving the UPS delivery today from OPM. Too many very good racers swear by their LSD.

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Dave Gran
NER ITB #13
'87 Honda Prelude si

Taking out any personal opinions, judging by that picture, it looks to be just a little more robust than the Phantom Grip, but not much different.

One more vote for the OPM unit. Yes its not the most sophisticated piece, but, it sure does work in my CRX. Plus, Tom is a great guy to work with, and will always answer questions. Alot of really fast guys use it and its a great bang for the buck.

--Bill

How much for one of those OPM(s)?

Mine was $700 plus I had them do the instal for an additional $300. (As I'm getting made fun of for having the package delivered to my work and it is beside my desk.)

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Dave Gran
NER ITB #13
'87 Honda Prelude si

I have also been looking for which method of LSD or such I will use, and after doing the research I found that too many guys running up front at the ARRC recommend the OPM. That pretty much says it all.
I will be sending my tranny after my race feb 20th. After I try it out at Road Atlanta Pro IT race in march I will give a full synopsis on the differences between it and my Phantom grip I'm using now.

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Quote:

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<font face=\"Verdana, Arial\" size=\"2\">I am not sure how you can say something is \"bunk\"</font>

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I can say it's bunk because:

A: People are saying there are "clutches" in the opm diff.
B: There are NO clutches in the opm diff.

Because A!=B, then one has to be false. My personal experience (see picture) is that there are NO clutches in the OPM diff. Additional experience of creating 100's of standard cubic feet of inside tire smoke on just about all "low speed" (ie, less than 30 mph) corners is the rest of the proof I need.

The diff DOES work well in the rain... but in the dry it's no better than an open diff.

[This message has been edited by seckerich (edited February 15, 2005).]

So does it have a clutch material?

I guess I should have been a little clearer at the beginning of this. I'm not looking for opinions ( I will make my own), I'm jsut looking for the technical differences between the 2. The picture was a help, thanks, but is there something missing in the picture that I should know about?

Thanks

Spanky

I'm sure if you give OPM a call to further explain their product, the will be happy to.

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Dave Gran
NER ITB #13
'87 Honda Prelude si

I have to admit, being a suzuki swift owner, that the diff's are extremely small and probably create their own set of problems.
I remember someone sent a swift diff to Quaife to see if they would build a prototype. Unfortunately we couldnt get enough buyers to meet the minimum number of orders. Anyways, Quaife guys said it was simply the smallest diff/tranny they had ever seen.
But, this said, I have spoken with steve ekerich and he has built for SPU turbo swifts, along with GP swifts (all of which make much more hp then me) and made them work to the car owners satisfaction.
He even offered to build me one and let me use it. If I liked it, I would then send payment.
A pretty strong statement in my opinion.
matt

seckerich
YES! you have said more than enough.

Roy Dean was kind enough to supply pics and his opinion about what he got for his $$ which was his attempt to ask the original question posed by the author of the thread.

Makes me think twice before buying an OPM product.

Clutch is behind the side gear, for those wondering.

Reminds me, I need to e-mail OPM, they've had a Festiva diff (maybe smaller than the Swift) to see if they could do it for over two years. Maybe it got sent out to a Swift owner?

[This message has been edited by seckerich (edited February 15, 2005).]

mr craven, and anyone else new on here who may be disallusioned with the OPM diffs performance.
The fact of the matter is really quite simple to follow.
There are guys on here that run OPM diff's who go to the ARRC and do well.
nough said
matt

how come no one else has pics of an OPM insert? id like to SEE what makes it different than a PG unit. ive seen some pretty clear pictures of a PG and there definately seems like something is missing. the picture above doesnt really show anything.

i dont need to be convinced OPM is better than Phantom Grip. i even have a OPM LSD and can say it works fine. i just want to see the "clutch" material. i got my tranny straight from OPM already assembled, so i never got a look inside.

btw, heres some very clear pictures of installation of a PG unit.

http://www.overboost.com/story.asp?id=1210

well I can give you one really big difference between the phantom (which I have on my swift) and OPM's.
Phantom has it in print that their LSD is "not for racing"!
I think that says it all...
matt

Quote:

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<font face=\"Verdana, Arial\" size=\"2\">I remember someone sent a swift diff to Quaife to see if they would build a prototype. Unfortunately we couldnt get enough buyers to meet the minimum number of orders. Anyways, Quaife guys said it was simply the smallest diff/tranny they had ever seen.</font>

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Heh... that was me. I sent this very diff to quaife about 3 or 4 months before I sent it to OPM (who promised it to me within a couple of days, but I didn't recieve it for a few months). The guy from quaife's exact words were "I've seen larger diffs on golf carts."

[This message has been edited by Roy Dean (edited February 15, 2005).]

Quote:

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Originally posted by tderonne:
Clutch is behind the side gear, for those wondering.

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Um, not on mine. No clutch material. And if there WAS, it would be really really small.

Still no pics of this "clutch" material huh?