Neverdone

Can you take a photo of how you installed the diff that isn't just a MS Paint version of an old photo?

The problem with the lift IS the front end profile. It channels air the hood, which has a shorter distance to travel to the back then over the top, and it makes lift. Short of stopping the amount of air that enters under the car, you'd need to remove the hood to stop the path of air from traveling over top and creating some sort of turbulent mess of air, which would probably increase drag. Making a spoiler to create downforce on the steering rack would negate some of the lift, but then you're channeling a lot of air up into the engine itself, which would increase drag. What's the end goal you have for your project? What do you need to prove on a base level?

Just know that that tabco panel won't get you the lip that the weather stripping attaches to. You may have to end up making that out of blank sheetmetal. Either that or you magically find one that isn't totally rusted out on a donor car that someone is literally parting out that hasn't also been rusted to hell and gone.

I have no idea where you've going with this build, but I'm very excited for you to get there.

It would be weird if they supplied them with different differentials seeing as they were on a Global platform. I can tell you that they do in fact work on a 2005 STI R180 that was obtained from a USDM car.

Because you're not a contributing member.

I know their warehouse had a huge fire and burned a lot of their equipment down. Not sure if they ever got it back up and running. That fire was a while ago in May. They haven't posted anything on their facebook page since June. If you havn't given them any more for anything, you might want to try a different option.

Leave the engine swap til the very end. Do literally everything else first. Start squirreling away money right now as often as you can. If you can get that done for less then 20k, you've got connections to shops and suppliers that most people don't. Make a spreadsheet with as many parts as you can list that you'll need for everything, they all add up. Try and include links to them when you find them so you can actually buy them when you get the money. If you havn't done so already, I highly recommend taking a body restoration class for a local community college or something. Other then that, good luck!

What other engine are you putting in there...?

Those are BMW E21 Recaro seats with what looks like some sorta custom center section. https://www.2002parts.com/bmw/e21-recaro-seats.html

Very cool. You going to make any of those updates to help alleviate some of the installation issues?

Did you try clicking on the link that he provided in his first post to get to the companies website?

God damn man. You're gonna have such a nice Z when this is all done. Fantastic work, as always.

Not really. Does the Subaru STI R180 version that you have for the 510 (Option #2) also work for the S30?

Any plans to make an R180 based version that works with an S30?

Upgrade everything that you want to upgrade other than the engine first. Then after you've got all of that dialed in and installed, if you're still not happy with the engine, then look into what you want and what your budget will allow. This will cut down on undriveable downtime which is miserable. Also cuts your total budget for the car into smaller chunks, and makes it easier to manage.

an LS is also vastly more expensive then a traditional 350 swap. He should do whatever he wants to do.

if no one's done that yet, your best bet is probably to start digging through Ford Ranger forums.

If you need to move the diff aft, you can put a shim of some sort inbetween the mustache bar and the bushing surround. Not 100% sure, but that could fix your power brace issue too.

Have you tried loosening all the bolts and then wacking the shit out of it with a mallet?

I think you're drastically underestimating your two steps of "fabrication and tuning", and everything that would go into that. You'd be doing a lot of work for an engine that's possibly heavier and doesn't make any more power then the stock power plant. Any reason why you wouldn't just do the AWD swap on your SL, and then turbo the stock power plant?

Interesting fact about the BMW steering rack. Subaru Forester outer tie rods screw directly onto it and have the same taper as the Datsun knuckle, and the BMW inner tie rods are only about a half inch or so too long on each end. I actually just shortened the shifter arm on my Z4 trans that I'm mounting to my S52 last wednesday. Another fun bit of "Did BMW design this engine for this car?" https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-bmw-parts/shifter-arm-bracket/41128246251/ The shifter arm bushing mount fits almost perfectly where you'd want it to at the back of the shifter hole, and only requires a little bit of bending. Good times.

Feel free to be my guest to give a guy money who literally advertises this photo as a sign of his work. This isn't about being superficial. There's so much then that. Please read the disclaimer to his website about his parts and tell me that doesn't worry you at all.

First off: BOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Second: You'll probably have an easier time selling that if you spend the 250 or so dollars on some interior vinyl to make it look less "project car".

Or just pay what he's asking for. You sold it to him for 3700 5 years ago, he wants 4600. That's actually 900 dollars difference, for him storing it for 5 years. If you know of a place that'll store a car for 180 bucks a year, let me know.